Ask about Kabbalah

[agricola]

About the only book of the Hebrew canon that contains material which seems to be clearly mystical in nature is Daniel, which is very 'late' (probably mid 2nd century BCE), but a lot of early mystical teachings focus on the visions of Ezekiel (merkavah mysticism - merkavah means 'chariot' - used the image of the wheels within wheels and the fiery chariot as visual images for meditative states).

Ezekiel of course is around 5th century BCE. I would think of him and those visions as a kind of 'primary' mystical experience, and the schools of meditation that dealt with the accounts of those visions in attempts to ALSO 'rise up' to 'see heaven' as the secondary mystical experience. Kabbalistic thought is a secondary mystical method which attempts to train people to reach the same mystical visionary state as Ezekiel did, when he 'saw heaven' and angels and God - that is, quite literal 'union with the divine', which is the aim of mystical systems. These are a kind of peak experience, and not something people sit around in forever - like 'enlightenment' in a Buddhist context: you 'get it' and then you return to normal life, forever changed by the experience, perhaps, but not consumed by it.

The story of the four sages and their visit to paradise ('the garden') applies here: Four famous rabbis visited the garden (arose to paradise) and the experience was life changing for all of them:
one died (presumably, happily)
one went mad
one became an apostate
one returned unchanged (Rabbi Akiva)

So the danger of an altered mental state is certainly recognized in Judaism - this is 'dangerous material' and not only ISN'T taught to everyone, it SHOULDN'T be taught to everyone, because it isn't a safe thing. I don't know if that qualifies as 'gnosticism' exactly, though.

[agricola]

Frankiel once again - and we are really approaching the last parts of the book at this point -

..

.arriving at your true self

(through taking on a practice to deepen your spirituality) ..

.does not mean you no longer have to follow the rules or do the activities of a practice. On the contrary, you will have found much more meaning in the rule,

..(remember, 'the rule' here means the doctrines and practices of your faith community, and 'the practice' means the specific path you chose to deepen your spirituality)..

.for you will have internalized it, making the practice your reality.

The Soul's Mission

As we grow, we continue to grow - we get more responsibilities, and we 'shine' our particular light out in to the world (and cosmos) more and more brightly.

Think of times in your life when you felt "This is really me!"

...this could be a brief moment, or an extended period where maybe you were working on something and it was going well and you were satisfied with it, and got up early and went to work eagerly - or maybe it was when you had a conversation with someone and truly developed a relationship, or you had a great afternoon creating, art, or literature - something that truly spoke to your inner self.

You were, for that time, free of self doubt, regret, or worry; free of demands other than your own inner motivation, and (were) immediately present to what was at hand.

At that moment, you were part of what is called the chariot of God....you were manifesting your divine image to the fullest extent...you were connecting with oneness (God)....in full waking consciousness.

[agricola]

Frankiel -
as we develop spiritually, we can have more and more of these moments or experiences - the veils (hiding our inner light) part more and more - we connect more often, and more easily - to the oneness of God - we pray more effectively, we learn more about ourselves....all good stuff and Frankiel goes into it for more than a page.

So this is essentially the goal of kabbalistic practice (as opposed to just studying about it) - you develop a closer and more direct connection from Tiferet (your heart, your inner 'splendor') and Keter - the Crown which is the initial divine spark, and you become, essentially, well centered (Tiferet is central to the Tree of Kabbalah, and represents the heart of humans).

And naturally, being centered, you are now able to 'do' (change things in this world) more effectively and in the right directions - just like a gymnast must be fully 'centered' in order to perform properly - if the gymnast is not centered properly, she will fall and fail. (this is a pretty good analogy I think, so I will keep it). Just like the gymnast, we need to PRACTICE hard and long, in order to become properly centered - it doesn't happen just because we'd like it to. We have to set goals and keep to them.

[agricola]

Ch 8 Revealing your Soul
- The Light Radiates from Within
the final chapter
Frankiel starts off this chapter with a quote from a Christian mystic, Hildegard of Bingen:

The word stands for the body, but the symphony stands for the spirit. All of Creation is a symphony...which is joy and jubilation.

Once you are centered (and working on it) you start seeing everything differently - you don't see yourself as the champion of your successes, and you don't see yourself as being punished when things don't work out - you are LESS self centered by BECOMING MORE self centered! (small pun). You have a better understanding of how the world/universe/creation works, and where you fit within it (you and everybody else).

[agricola]

The effort of Practice opens new doorways. Our increasing willingness to take responsibility for purposeful living - the work of Tiferet-Splendor - expands our horizons and gives us new vision. Since we no longer see ourselves as victims of circumstance, we begin to understand that the experiences of Gevurah-Restraint that used to seem like punishment are actually gifts. Since we are practicing becoming humble and restraining our ego, we begin to recognize experiences of Chesed -Expansiveness as great blessings, instead of brushing them off as coincidences or taking credit for ourselves....As we learn to empty our minds and become more receptive, we may even recognize illumiations from Chochman-Wisdom.
Traditionally, all these developments are portrayed as 'ascents' to higher realms...

But Frankiel thinks that is too linear - we should think more holistically..

The deeper truth is that the fabric of consciousness, from the molecular level up to the Divine, responds to our purposive movement. When we make choices, our actions set up currents of events that eventually come back to us in one form or another....(and) the universe will respond and exercise its powers in return - at all levels...

So Frankiel would like us to think 'spiral' rather than 'straight line relationship' between the sefirot within ourselves and within everything else.

[agricola]

Angels -

Every event is a message from God...Your job is to decode the significance of the message in your life.

Since every choice made 'echoes' throughout the 'worlds' (the world of Manifestation and back 'up' through all the various 'worlds' of the sefirot) - then all our choices are significant - and there are no trivial events.

Angels are encounters with directed energy, sending us messages,...I am going to use the word 'angel' quite broadly to describe a variety of fairly common experiences...We experience these energies around places, people, and the intangible dimensions of life. While this usage may seem strange at first, it is in accord with the mystics' insistence that angels exist at every level of being. To use an analogy from modern physics, different angels exist on different frequencies. As we hear different kinds of music and conversation when we tune into different radio wavelengths, so angels 'appear' to us in different ways'.

OK, I just want to say that this KIND of view of 'angels' is very Jewish, and very much NOT the typical Christian view. Angels in Christianity are distinct beings, with independent existence apart from God, they have names, duties, and characteristics. This is NOT that kind of angel! Don't think 'Touched by an Angel' (cute show, but totally not Jewish) when Frankiel talks about 'angels'.

Mystical/kabbalistic/Jewish experiences of 'angels' - that calming feeling people get when they are out in the wilderness, enjoying nature. That is an 'angel' (or an angelic experience). Hearing certain music and feeling totally transported out of yourself - an angel/angelic experience. Seeing the kind of art that makes you lose yourself in it - angel/angelic experience. These are angels/angelic experiences of the Chesed-Expansiveness sort.

'Guardian angels' - the experience of being warned, or of being protected.

So we need to PAY ATTENTION so we perceive these energies/experiences when they are at hand. This kind of 'angel' will support you, nourish you - 'save' you.

Then there are aspects of experience that go beyond...here is where we fine, in traditional context, the word 'angels' used most often: an experience of the supernal comes with such force and clarity that angelic energy appears to take quasi-human form...

So some angels aren't 'seen' but are 'perceived'. Others are 'seen' and appear to be humans (to us) although they really aren't. And some angels are seen and described (Isaiah, Ezekiel) as distinctly NOT human - angels of fire, angels that are wheels with eyes, angels with many wings and faces...

Sometimes, says Frankiel, angelic energies kind of collect around people - they are LIKE angels. These people, or these groups of people, continuously support and encourage you and allow you to achieve things you couldn't do before.
Such gifts are great blessings, says Frankiel (the gift of finding these people who produce, or carry, or collect, this special energy).

Seeing a loved one who recently died - whether in a dream or not - that (can be) is another kind of angelic experience (this is NOT 'a ghost').

Ancient Jewish teaching:

...before every human being walks a retinue of angels, shouting, 'Make way for the image of God!'

(I read that story, it is from the Talmud).

[agricola]

There once was a man named Zusya, who was very devout, and who had many devoted students. When he was ill and on his deathbed, he began to cry and could not be consoled. His students tried to comfort him, by telling him he had nothing to fear from death and judgment, because he was 'as kind as Abraham! as devoted as Isaac!'
Zusya told them: 'God is not going to ask me 'why weren't you like Abraham? why weren't you like Isaac?' God is going to ask me 'why weren't you ZUSYA?'

This is a really famous Hasidic tale, and it is very much in line with kabbalistic thought: God expects us to be the best we can be, of OURSELVES, not in imitation of others, however wonderful. Be the best AGRICOLA, be the best ZEEK, be the best TERESA, be the best KLP, the best BH.....One reaches that goal by improving our inner understanding, our connection through Tiferet to Keter, our balancing of the 'pairs' of the other sefirot - we build our true 'self-esteem' (the clarity of full understanding of our true selves) through developing our spiritual understanding and our relationship with God becomes clear. This is not 'self-esteem' without foundation, but a clear-eyed assessment of our true worth (we are usually better than we fear, and less than we would like, right?)

The only place where this spiritual growth can occur is from our humility - we develop 'equanimity': a kind of balanced view of everything.

The Code of Jewish Law begins with the phrase 'I keep God before me always' which, the mystics say, can also be read as, 'I make everything equal before God.' Kabbalah teaches that if we are moved one way or the other by events or people, experiencing approval as pleasure and disapproval as pain, we are not yet ready for the advanced spiritual path.

(Doesn't this sound very Zen?)

[agricola]

Equanimity, however, isn't 'the end' - instead it gives us a kind of stable platform where we can feel a yearning to connect to God more closely - sometimes we feel very close to God, and other times we sort of 'oscillate' and feel like God is very far away. We alternate between 'union' and 'separation', or 'running' and 'returning'.

Running (toward), or 'union' or 'closeness' (devekut in Hebrew) energizes the upper sefirot (Chochman and Binah) but we don't tend to stay in that close union very long - we return to normal life. Sometimes in our normal life we have a hard time remembering - or believing in - the experience of closeness. This is normal.

The mystical masters also tell us that these experiences have emotional correlates. We feel love and expansiveness in the phase of running. When we return, we feel our smallness and distance....these emotions are called love and awe: they correspond to the sides of Expansiveness (Chesed) and Restraint (Gevurah). The Tanya* describes them as two wings of a bird, both of which are needed to fly upward, that is, to achieve closeness to God. In love, we can identify with God and long to connect with the Divine. in awe, we stand back at a distance, so to speak - sometimes, as Kierkegaard wrote, in 'fear and trembling', for, as we say earlier, God is sometimes a consuming fire.

*The Tanya is the work of the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, the founder of the sect of Lubavitch Hasidim.

[agricola]

In Kabbalah, the phase of 'returning' (to regular life) is JUST as important (and just as 'spiritual') as the phase of 'running' (feeling that emotional closeness to God). You can't go 'up' without going 'down', and God is present in everything, everywhere - so we can 'manifest godliness' not only by the 'going up', but also by the 'going down' - we can (and should) see these as EQUAL. We must manifest godliness EVERY DAY in our everyday lives and not think of our everyday activities as somehow 'mundane' and separate from God, because they aren't.

Kabbalah (and Judaism generally) doesn't separate 'holy' activities from 'mundane' activities: ALL ACTION IS (potentially) HOLY ACTION, so to speak. Some elements point 'upward': prayer, study, meditation. Some elements bring energy 'downward': charity, caring for your health, obeying the mitzvot (commandments).

Doing life right, then, is the same thing as doing 'religion' right. Doing life right moves the energies of the sefirot - in yourself and in the universe - appropriately. We see ourselves and the universe more 'correctly'. We begin to understand and see more goodness in the world. We begin to see the greater, grander picture, and our place in the 'story' (kind of like those photos of the entire Milky Way, with the little arrow pointing to our sun off to one side saying 'you are here').

And everything spirals up through the sefirot and down again - to the world of 'manifestation' (our 'normal' world) and

we see that our deeds in this world ...have the potential to be infused with the energy of the Divine. ....as manifestations of the divine soul, we can make life meaningful, vibrant, thrilling, joyous.

Our energy sent out into this world, spirals BACK and up to the very top (to Keter, to heaven) and back again, filling our hearts again and again (or more and more) with love and passion for God and goodness.

Kabbalah...is rooted in a tradition of caring for the world. This intense sense of responsibility has sometimes faded into the background, but it is absolutely essential. Once can only rise as high as one can bend down. If we are not involved in compassionate action on behalf of our families, communities and societies, our ability to ascend will be limited. Conversely, if we do not have a spiritual practice that asks us to soar to the heights, we will be restricted by the natural forces of the social and physical worlds in what we can accomplish.

End

[agricola]

So - there you are. Or here we are.

I used to know a married couple, who kept changing churches. They'd join a new congregation, it seemed, about every couple of years or so (sometimes less). Always, they'd start out very enthusiastic. Everything was great. They were so uplifted. And as time went by, at every place they went, that faded. The uplift dropped, the enthusiasm gone, things became routine. So they'd leave, because they 'weren't getting anything out of it'.

Some of the groups demanded a fair bit of compliance to the rules, too - they tended to stay at those longer, because they got a lot of feedback or attention, I suppose.

The point is, that couple thought that 'spiritual experience' was always about the 'highs'. They would join a church and it would all be sparkles and light, and they thought that if it was REAL, then it would STAY that way.

What kabbalism says is, that's all wrong. You can't just live on the mountaintops, you have to go through the valleys too. And the deeper and darker the valley (...the valley of death....) then the higher you can rise up after you pass through. Because the spirit is EVERYWHERE, not just on top of the mountains, and God is in the mundane daily grind just as much as God is 'up there'. We just have to learn how to 'see', and then we can infuse our daily grind with holiness, through our proper attitude and intentions - because, what we do here (in 'Manifestation') is connected and affects all the ladder of the sefirot, right up to Heaven (i.e., God) (this is one of the kabbalistic teachings which some people latch onto and start making up 'magic').

When the end of time arrives, THEN the 'up there' aspect of God will be united with the mundane daily grind, and everything will be 'one with God': End of Time.

So - comments? anything?