‘Kabbalah’ is derived from a Hebraic root word that means “to receive”, “to accept”, and by common usage, “tradition”. Looking at the various meanings of the word gives us our first clues. Tradition is that which is received and accepted; that which is received and accepted – in other words, knowledge, passed down over the millenia – is tradition. The knowledge itself is tradition; the teacher just a vessel. This, then, is the nature of the Kabbalah: the first and ultimate knowledge, greater than any master. It takes the form of a large body of teachings – written, oral and practical – about the nature of God himself, the birth of the soul, the process of the creation of the universe, the purpose of life on Earth, and what happens afterwards. In addition to the wisdom it contains, the Kabbalah also gives specific techniques for improving your mind, body, soul and life.
The heart of Kabbalistic thought is nothing less than the most profound expression of mankind’s desire to understand the divine – how can a mere mortal, created, flawed and unworthy, possibly find a way to truly know God and discern His purposes? This question has driven the development of the Kabbalah, taking it from its very earliest origins through to its current prominence.
This question is hardly unique to the Kabbalists, of course. We all feel the need to find some sort of personal answer to the deepest questions of life, even if the answer some people choose is just that everything is all some sort of random huge coincidence. Every culture on Earth throughout history has come up with some sort of explanation as to how the world was created. The answers range from the very simple to the very complex, from Fiat Lux to the veils of Maya, or the mathematical laceworks of the Big Bang. There seems no doubt amongst us, as a species, that somewhere along the line, something was responsible, whether it was the First Word, the Sundering, or the accidental collision of a pair of 11-dimensional ‘branes.
Kabbalah Art 05 by Michalska1
The problem we have lies in working out exactly what it was that happened, and what we can do to find a point of contact back, a way to break back in to the infinite realms. One of the greatest modern scholars of the Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem, conceived of the structure of religion as something that had evolved over several discrete stages. In the first, ‘primitive’ stage, religion does not admit any significant differentiation between the universe and the divine. Stars, heavenly bodies, storms, oceans, deep forests, all of these are direct and immediate parts of the God/s. When lightning strikes, the Thunder God is angrily smashing his fist onto the earth. When there is a solar eclipse, the Sun God is dying. This animistic attitude paints mankind as the plaything and victim of the divine – in close touch with God, but helpless in the face of his cruelties and whims.
The second stage is the ‘creational’, in which God is responsible for the formation of the universe and everything it contains, but He is not part of it. There are many wonders in nature, but they are evidence of God’s power and creativity, rather than a manifestation of his body. When the seas rise up, it is because God’s winds are blowing, rather than because the Sea itself is angry. Scholem saw this as Israel’s unique contribution to world theology. In this model, God is all-powerful and all-loving, but withdrawn from the world. Mankind can rely on God’s mercy, but he cannot get close to Him, nor easily communicate his needs to Him.
The third and most advanced stage of religion is the ‘mystical’, and it is the province of the Kabbalah. In this final form, the circle starts to close back towards primitive animist, but from the point of view of empowered understanding and loving communication. God’s created are able to uncover the paths by which they can make their way back to God. They can therefore form very personal, open relationships with him; the Lord of All becomes the Loving Friend. By treading the paths of the Orchard – that is, by studying the Kabbalah – the mystic is able to finally come to the perfect relationship with divinity, in close contact with God, and certain of receiving His blessings.
The Kabbalah is a map and guide, but at the same time it is the territory itself. It represents the world, but also creates it and maintains it. The solid ground beneath our feet is formed by the interplay of the forces it describes, expressed and channelled through the Tree of Life. The Kabbalah is a description of creation, a blueprint for creation, and the very substance of creation itself, and all its complexities and intricacies have developed from that one fundamental question of how we can know God.
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