Canakkale, 1911

Shalach Manot

"Women of the Amorgos island, 1911."

“Shirts! Shirts!”
The boy was standing in front of the mosque just down the street from his family’s house. Would you call it a street? It was dirt, it was never paved or stone, but as the men came out of the mosque, the boy sang out in a clear voice, “Buy a Shirt!”
He had said to his mother, “Zip, zip, you make them so fast, why not make them to sell? One seam here, one seam there, I’ll sell them for you. I’ll go in front of the mosque, and when the men come out I’ll make some money, and bring it home to you.”
It was the Ottoman Empire in 1911, in a port across from Europe—on the Asian side of the Strait of Dardanelles. They were living in a magnificent nowhere-land, with melons in the attic, beehives for honey on the windowsill, his grandfather’s vineyards full of grapes, but with nothing much a man could do. Study the Torah—the Hebrew Bible—it was the most important thing. The men studied with the boy’s father on Shabbat. But it was not enough. His father had the shop, with kerosene lamps and the dishes and glasses that came in huge wooden crates from Austria, but how many dishes could you sell in Canakkale? His father sat in the shop and read the newspaper. He knew how to read, so he relayed the news to everyone. What was the news? What did it have to do with them? Slowly, week by week the newspapers came from Istanbul and raised the same questions day after day. The lid was coming off, you could watch it jitter and settle and jitter again, or you could think about it.
The boy’s mother was up at five every morning, sitting at the sewing machine. She sang as she worked, a steady breathing of thought and cloth strategy, her right hand on the wheel. She was like his father standing to pray, but she was seated with a firm hold on the earth, her foot on the treadle. Praying was breathing between here and God, and sewing was breathing between cloth and God, with a voice in Spanish words. The boy sat by her side, the cloth moved into creation while she sang. “Ken me va kerer a mi, ken me va kerer a mi? Who is going to love me? Knowing that I love you, my love for you is the death of me.” But if cloth could become shirts, sung and sewn into creation, that you could wear on your back, then nowhere could become somewhere and a man could grow up through life like the turning of the events in the Joseph story, until the powerful man wept to see his brothers, and they all wept finally and knew even a boy thrown into a pit could grow up to be a vizier.
A boy could grow to be a man, might grow tall.
First the men took off their shoes, lining them up in pairs. Then with their clay libriks they poured water on their faces and their uplifted forearms, the sky overhead bright as a blue pillow of light, the breezes cool. Inside they prayed on the tiled floors. They did want the shirts, the men as they came out of the mosque. How could you say no, they were cheap. Everyone needed a shirt at this price. Anyone would buy them, and it was the boy’s idea. He had been proven right. Once as a boy you’ve been proven right, thinking for the family, you can keep going, jumping up in the favor of your mother’s eyes, and your own eyes.

***

He was the oldest now. His oldest brother had been sent off to Jaffa to study the new science—agriculture. It was a scholarship from the Alliance Israelite Universelle. The very name of the school was like the bright wild shake of a tambourine to the mother and father, and to the five hundred Jewish families of the town. The boy himself went to the Alliance school in Canakkale. It was different from the ancient Talmud Torah with the children huddled around tables, taught by poor old shrunken men in raggedy beards. At the Alliance, Monsieur Toledano, the director who had studied in Paris, stood up tall and wore a top hat. The boy’s mother had insisted the next brother go along with the eldest to Jaffa, although it tore her heart out to let the two of them go. But the Alliance was right that they had to save themselves from being ground into the earth and had to find the sea of emancipation. The sea was big, the world was wide, although the town was tiny, clustered, and safe like a breeze-blessed paradise at the center of the world. The town was at the Narrows of the Dardanelles, the same straits that were a birth canal for Europe, with the snow cold waters rushing down from the Black Sea through the Bosphorus through the Sea of Marmara to here where the ships of the world went by. His mother’s rich brothers sometimes sat at the tables by the water (she didn’t have the money or, with six children, the time to sit there), drinking tea, watching the ships of the world pass by with their colorful flags. You could see Europe right across the Straits, it was right there.

***

The boy knew the smell of kashkaval because when he worked at the grocery that year, the owner asked him to carry a whole half wheel of it across town. It was heavy for him, so to brace himself he carried it high on his chest, but his nose could not move away and the cheese was so pungent it stank. That smell he knew well (and eventually he would eat kashkaval years later). What the boy never knew was about Ovid’s Leander, thousands of years before, swimming across the same straits in the terrible rushing current every night from Abydos on the Asian shore a short walk from Canakkale, to his goddess Hero across the water holding a light up in her tower. And he never knew about a limping rich English poet jokingly trying the same swim in the dark of night about a hundred years before the boy set up his gymnasium of branches and rope in a little garden. The boy did not know either about the nearby city of Troy, a half day’s walk away, being attacked by the Achaeans across this same water—the Dardanelles, the Hellespont—and all the tales sung and then written down about those wars, jealousies, wrenching deaths and armor. What the boy knew was that among the Jews of Canakkale, the men sang the Hebrew prayers every day, praising the same Ashem the Jews had sung to after Ur, in Egypt, in the desert, in Jerusalem, on the Iberian Peninsula, and here where they were welcomed to settle and sent ships for, in the Ottoman Empire.

* Shalach Manot is the pen name of a writer who lives in a New York City apartment looking out on a brick wall. Manot’s credits include fellowships from the Mellon Foundation and City University of New York; short stories, essays, and an NPR play about the Spanish Jews; and the new book, His Hundred Years, A Tale (2016), from which "Canakkale, 1911" was taken.

Extreme Religion

Arthur Green

(An important discussion of religious extremism in both Judaism and Islam by Rabbi Arthur Green. — Netanel Miles-Yépez, editor)

"Religions are terrible things if you take them literally. My goodness, imagine, you read in today's newspaper about what's going on in Iraq and Syria, and the quotations from the Qur'an without any context, without any change. It's as though we're still living in the 7th-century, and the idea that you can take women of a tribe you conquer if they are not subjugated Peoples of the Book, if they are so-called, 'pagans,' you can kill all the men and take the women and make them sexual slaves, it's terrible. .  . . ."

Kabbalah: The Toledano Tradition: Part II*

Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi

4. PSYCHE

In Kabbalah, the most immediate and important area of study and practice is one's own self. Without knowledge of human nature there can be no wisdom or understanding, indeed any development. The lower Trees of Jacob's Ladder, that is, of the body and the psyche, are the two most accessible. When the anatomy of the physical organism is put on the Tree, the whole of the organic evolution can be seen. There are, for example, the seven levels of Nature. At Malkhut are the mineral, metal and elemental dimensions. Above, at Yesod, are the lower plants; then come the higher plants. These are followed by plant-animals; over them are seen the invertebrates, above which come the higher animals. At the top is humanity which incorporates all that is below. As regards the physical body, the four Worlds are seen in miniature in the mechanical, chemical, electronic and conscious levels.

All these levels are in the potential of the fertilised egg of the mother. However, according to Kabbalah, the body's configuration already exists in the World of Formation. Called the zelem or shadow, it is gradually filled out as the individual grows physically from infancy to adulthood. The zelem also carries the psychological character over from the last and previous other lives. This accounts for the difference between siblings, even though they have the same family and ethnic genes. The embryonic body is connected with the psyche at the moment of conception and is fused with it at the moment of birth.

Some people can remember their birth and even what occurred prior to it. Such a memory can recall departing from old friends in the higher Worlds or having a flash forward insight into their fate, which is partly determined by the state of the cosmos. A birth chart is about the astrological principles that govern life on Earth. For example, there can be no summer and all its activities without the Sun being in a certain position in the northern hemisphere. It has also been noted, over thousands of years, that people born in the winter tend to be introvert while the zodiacal position of the Moon appears to influence the character of the ego. The disposition of the planets has a similar effect on various aspects of the psyche. A strong Venus, for example, seems to generate a sensual temperament, while an afflicted Mars stimulates indecision.

The psyche is half-embedded in the body. Where they interact is the domain of the Nefesh or the instinctive mind. Freud called it the "Id", the sexual drive with its libido and mortido principles, that is, flight or fight, submission and aggression reflexes. In contrast, the soul triad of the Tree pivots on the Self of Tiferet that relates to Jung's view of individuation. The lower part of the psyche intermeshes with the electro-magnetic field of the body. The result is that the psychological capacity to act, think and feel is greatly influenced by the senses and the state of the body. The ego or ordinary mind is more or less automatic, due to the demands of the body and the attitudes and habits acquired from the family and society. These are stored in the upper side triads as the Super Ego and Ego Ideal, which manifest as the unconscious punishment and reward complexes that govern most people's lives.

The ancient and medieval Kabbalists did not know about the anatomy of the body in detail, but they did understand the levels present within. They saw the carnal organism in terms of the four elements; earth being its solids, water its fluidic processes and air as the activating life principle. Fire was related to consciousness. The rabbis also recognised the mineral, vegetable and animal levels of intelligence within mankind and classified individuals according to their conduct.

The psychological Tree is a very complex entity. However, everything is integrated and interacts through the sefirot, triads and paths. In general, the side pillars and triads are concerned with active and passive functions, while those on the central column are associated with various degrees of consciousness. Body awareness is easy to identify and so, to a degree, is that of the ego. The feeling triad can be identified with psychic sensitivity, such as picking up others' moods, while the awakening triad is where we are particularly alert.

The triad of the soul is the place of Self-consciousness and choice. It is here that free will is exerted. However, this can only be applied to the full when the individual has their psychological centre of gravity well established in this soul triad. For most people, the soul lies hidden in the unconscious.

The soul triad is centred between the emotional complexes and the triads of concepts, to which it has access and by which it is influenced. The emotional triads contain all the personal experiences of pain and pleasure which evolve into a vast number of interconnected memories. Some of these are easily accessible and some are not, for a number of reasons. They can range from lack of potency to strict repression. For example, one cannot remember people who are not memorable or those one would rather forget. The triads concerned with concepts are about the values of one's family, ethnic background and culture. The left-hand triad is about structure and restraint. For example, an orthodox Jew would never consider eating pork or think robbing a bank acceptable, while their right-hand dynamic triad would consider giving to charity and devout prayer as obligatory. This is the power of cultural conditioning.

The great triad of Tiferet, Binah and Hokhmah is the transpersonal spiritual dimension that is deep within the unconscious. For those who consider inner development, this is the Land of Milk and Honey. Such a spiritual experience of this cosmic order is obtained through the psychological Hokhmah or Revelation, Binah or Reason and Daat, the veil before the Divine triad at the head of the Tree of the psyche. This has, through Keter, its Crown, direct contact with the bottom sefirah of the highest Tree. Here is where the three upper Worlds of Formation, Creation and Emanation meet. Below, at the place of the Self, the Keter of the body, the Tiferet of the psyche and the Malkhut of the spirit come together. This means that there are three aspects to the Self; Truth, Goodness and Beauty. Once the essential simplicity of the Tree and Jacob's Ladder has been absorbed, it is easy to comprehend the system. This is why the study of theory is important.

There are three spheres of influence. The Personal Consciousness is centred on the ego and mostly concerned with the routine of life. The Self with its three levels is the pivot of the Individual Unconscious. From here it is possible to attain an insight into the Collective Unconscious, the Spirit and the cosmos. Here is the place of prophecy and the gateway to the Divine.

This is the broad outline of the lower half of Jacob's Ladder. One may react intellectually or emotionally to its wondrous elegance. However, it is action that is required to make such knowledge real and part of one's life. It is not enough to read every book on Kabbalah or even practise some of its exercises. Nor is it enough, as one group did, to sing and chant texts they did not understand, believing this would enlighten them. It is only by a commitment to applying increasing consciousness to the theory and practice that Kabbalah becomes real.

5. SCHOOL OF THE SOUL

A school of the soul might take place in the back room of the synagogue, the salon of a private house or even out in the open, as described in The Zohar. The meeting place is the Malkhut of the Tree of a school. Like any organism or organisation, a school is based on the sefirotic model. Otherwise it will not function as a complete entity.

The next element, at Yesod or the Foundation, is that of the students. They may meet at an annual congress, a weekly gathering or an everyday meeting. Some schools may come into being for a short period, others for just a teacher's lifetime or be in existence for several centuries. They may consist of a handful of committed individuals or a large ongoing stream of people passing through an organised system of training. Unlike the usual academic or religious establishments, a school of the soul may have no fixed outer form. Moreover, it may be radical or conservative by nature, depending upon the need of the time and place.

One example of an unconventional school was the medieval rabbi who had his wife teach basics to newcomers. This was done discreetly as it did not conform with the current culture but she had the knowledge and skill to teach and was better at introducing the system. Contrary to common belief, as there were women Judges in the Bible so there have been female mystics. The wife of the great Rabbi Akiba, according to legend, had greater foresight than he.

Schools have different levels within the ways of Action, Devotion and Contemplation. Some are preparatory groups which introduce people to the theory and practice of their particular line. A course might take a year with each individual tested to see how committed they are to the Work. They might be asked to do certain mundane duties such as cleaning, buying food or taking notes. The story of Jacob having to work many years to make Rachel his wife is symbolic of this. Often the most seemingly keen quickly drop out, usually to go to another school and then another, all of their lives, always backing off when real effort is required.

There are schools of the soul and teachers that are not what they appear to be. For example, a school may be no more than a shell of what was once a living tradition. In another case, a school might be run by people who are too concerned with the money it can generate. Such organisations are usually maintained by people who are more interested in power than development. Some of the hallmarks are a certain arrogance, excessive discipline and intolerance.

In a living school there is usually an openness and respect for other esoteric traditions. The teacher treats everyone as an individual, regardless of how long they have been on the Path of Truth. A genuine school of the soul helps the student to become increasingly aware of their inner processes as well as their fate and the higher Worlds.

The awakening triad of Tiferet, Hod and Nezah is concerned with meetings and initiations. The real process of initiation takes place within each person as they begin the next phase of development. It can sometimes occur during a meeting stimulated by a remark from the teacher, during a ceremony or even at home. It can also happen while on an inner journey to the celestial Jerusalem. This is a kabbalistic exercise in which, through a guided meditation, one might visit the Academy on High. Through an act of conscious imagination, it is possible to encounter one's own Inner Teacher. Such a moment of vision and revelation can change the outlook of a lifetime.

The soul of a school usually takes its character from the school's founder. They may have long passed on but their legacy continues until it is no longer relevant in a new period. Often such advanced people will choose to be reborn to renovate the school or start another that has a new mission. An example of this was the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Hassidic school, who had to transform a very difficult historic situation.

The spirit of a school is a combination of its oral and written teaching that links it to a mainstream spiritual tradition, such as Kabbalah. The intellectual structure of philosophy, law and science together with the dynamic factors of religion, art and literature are the basis of civilisation. At the centre of the spiritual triad is Daat, the esoteric factor of direct knowledge and experience. In Islam the Sufis hold this position, while in ancient China the Taoists represented the mystical dimension of the empire. Without the presence and influence of the schools of the soul, there would be no civilisation.

In the topmost triad is the essential Teaching, which is universal. An example is Neoplatonism, the teaching of Plotinus of Alexandria, which has underpinned the philosophical and inspirational aspects of the Christian, Islamic and Jewish mysticism. Such real knowledge is to be recognised by Native American, African and Asian shamans as well as by the spiritual masters of India, China and Japan. It is only the outer form that is different.

The importance of Kabbalah is that it is part of the Judeo-Christian-Hellenic tradition that underlies the history of Western spirituality. This was recognised in the Renaissance by the European intelligentsia. Indeed, Kabbalah made a contribution to the various schools of the soul such as the Alchemists and Freemasons. The Alchemists invented a complex, technical language which only the initiated could understand. Their texts and practices talked about making gold out of lead. This was a symbol about transforming the grosser parts of a human being into a more refined spiritual vehicle. It was based upon kabbalistic principles, as was Freemasonry that used Solomon's Temple as a model.

At the present time, Kabbalah is undergoing a reincarnation, not out of ancient or medieval texts and practices but contemporary science and psychology which are the equivalent to the language of symbolism of the Bible and the metaphysics of the Middle Ages. There was tremendous resistance to philosophy in the Middle Ages with books being burnt and people declared heretics for introducing a seemingly radical new form. The same resistance by the ultra-traditionalists is occurring in this 21st century but no one can stop development if it is meant to happen. There is no religion higher than Truth.

6. CONCLUSION

The process of human evolution began with the first two souls incarnating on Earth. It continues within each of us as individuals. In potential, everyone is unique. This is seen in the astrological birth chart which sets out the pattern of the current life. However, not all avail themselves of their full possibilities but prefer, for that life, to remain at a level that is comfortable, either because they do not wish to make any effort, or they choose the familiar rather than risk the uncertain on the road of personal development.

This choice also relates to societies. Some communities choose to remain within an old and familiar pattern while others, at crucial points in their history, realise that change is vital to their collective development. In the former case there is no evolution and so, as has happened throughout history, they stagnate or disappear, overwhelmed by a more dynamic culture. Those that do rise to historic opportunities flourish, or flounder if they misuse their moment of destiny.

Fortunately with each reincarnation of an individual or soul group, the possibility of activating their potential is always present. This is dependent partly upon what their distant or recent past has brought into the present. If it is negative, a lesson has to be learned but, if positive, they can then fulfil the role for which they were "called forth, created, formed and made", as the Bible puts it. Here is where the chain of fates becomes destiny within the fabric of history. This is seen in individuals and soul groups who move through time, being reborn at just the right time and place to stimulate a new phase of art, invention or discovery and even a great civilisation. Such individuals and soul groups at the spearhead of history volunteer to reincarnate when they are needed because of their long experience, skill and vision. They could remain in the upper Paradise or one of the seven levels of Heaven but, from time to time, they choose to descend Jacob's Ladder to help humanity to fulfil its mission. This is a very long-term operation that has been going on over tens of thousands of years.

Far into the future is the End of Time and the Fourth and final Journey, when every person and community will have completed all that was possible in this cosmic cycle. Then the Great Ladder of Existence will be rolled up and every being will return to the Divine Realm. According to tradition, they have to account for their performance before taking their original position within the radiance of Adam Kadmon. At this point the final brush-stroke will be made, as the accumulated experience of all humanity adds the Light of Self-consciousness to the eye of this Divine Self-portrait. When the Absolute gazes upon this now complete image, God beholds God in the Mirror of Existence.

So it is that history is much more than one's own personal journey, the saga of humanity and the story of the universe. History is about your moment by moment contribution to evolution, as the future becomes the past in the process of the Eternal Now. Here is where I AM THAT I AM is present in each and all of us. Such is the kabbalistic view of history.

* Selected chapters from A Kabbalistic View of History: Introduction to the World of Kabbalah. Text and illustrations © Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi. Published by Kabbalah Society (www.kabbalahsociety.org)

Kabbalah: The Toledano Tradition: Part I*

Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi

1. ORIGINS

The purpose of the universe has been known for some millennia. This knowledge came about through prophetic visions. In the earliest stages of human evolution ignorance, superstition and custom prevailed. However, as experience increased over many reincarnations, there arose a dim recognition of both a natural and a supernatural order in the universe. Over time, the oldest souls in many ancient cultures identified a single source of Existence. This was usually signified by a special name. Some Native Americans called the Godhead Manitou, the religious philosophers of India spoke of Brahman, while the mystics of China used the word Tao to define the Way of the Deity. Elsewhere there were different terms for the Absolute such as the One, the Good or the Unknowable. In the Bible, God was called by various titles such as the Creator. During the Middle Ages, rabbis coined the terms Ayin, or Absolute Nothing, and En Sof, or the Infinite Without End. Kabbalah, the mystical tradition of Judaism, will be the main frame of reference that our study will use.

The Teaching, or Torah in Hebrew, is the ground-bed of Kabbalah, going back to Abraham's initiation into the Mystery of Creation by Melchizedek around 1850 BCE. Kabbalah is a body of knowledge about the visible and invisible Worlds and their inhabitants, including the methods whereby one may perceive and serve the purpose of Existence. Its key is the diagram known as the Tree of Life. This metaphysical gem of sacred geometry will be used to demonstrate how universal laws operate at every level.

The first esoteric principle to be understood is that the Absolute is the origin of everything. However, before "any-thing" existed, there was just the Holy One, who was beyond existence. Because God wished to behold God, a Cosmic Mirror had to be brought into being. First, a void was generated out of nothingness, willed by the Absolute withdrawing in order to allow it to emerge. Into this void were emanated ten Divine principles which were to be the governing laws of Existence.

The Tree of Life unfolds in the form of a Lightning Flash. Starting at Keter, the Crown, the source of Emanation, the process moves to the expansive sefirah of Hokhmah, or Wisdom, at the head of the right-hand active pillar, and then across to Binah, or Understanding, at the top of the left-hand passive pillar. From here it zigzags down the Tree, through the non-sefirah called Daat, or Knowledge, that is to veil the three supernal sefirot above. The Lightning Flash proceeds to the expansive sefirah Hesed, or Mercy, on the right and then across to the contractive sefirah Gevurah, or Judgement, on the left, before coming to Tiferet, or Beauty, at the centre of the Tree complex. The process then continues down to Nezah, whose Hebrew root meaning is Repetition, which is the dynamic wheel of cycles, and across to Hod whose root meaning is to shimmer or vibrate. From here the Lightning Flash descends to Yesod, or Foundation, on the central axis of the Tree, before terminating at Malkhut, or the Kingdom.

These ten sefirot or numbers and the unmanifest one of Daat, which represents the "Word" of God, compose the ordered pattern of the radiant realm of potentiality. The levels of Divine intellect, emotion and action and the twenty-two paths fuse into the metaphysical and symbolic master model of the Tree of Life. This scheme is the basis of the subsequent Worlds and processes that will come into being and is to be seen in every entity in Existence.

The Tree of Life is sometimes seen as the Kavod, or Glory of God, presented allegorically as a humanoid figure called Adam Kadmon. This is said to be the first radiant outline of a Divine Self-portrait. Much has yet to happen to fill out the details of the image. The twenty-two connecting paths of the Tree between the sefirot begin this process by adding the various triads. These allow different flows within the many circulation systems. The origin of this diagram is found in the seven-branched candlestick, or Menorah, whose design was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. It has eleven nodal points, four divisions, two wings hung on a central column and twenty-two decorations. Made from a single piece of gold, it represents the unity of Existence. The Menorah sets out in metaphysical form the scheme of the primordial World of Emanation, as it came to be called. This is the Divine dimension from which all things come into being and to which they return at the End of Time. As such, this realm of radiance both reveals and conceals the Godhead.

2. FOUR WORLDS

Each sefirah of the Tree of Life has a God Name associated with it. The highest, at the Crown is EHYEH ASHER EHYEH, in Hebrew, or I AM THAT I AM. The first I AM is the Absolute's intention of manifesting as the ultimate SELF. The word THAT is the Mirror of Existence, by which the second I AM may behold itself in the reflection of SELF-realisation.

In order to accomplish this, three lower Worlds were brought into being. The spiritual World, or Heaven, which emerges out of the Divine realm, is described in the Book of Genesis. The first seven Days set out the emergence of Time; that is, actuality arising out of potentiality. Each Day of Creation defines a level of heavenly reality. From this World of Ideas, as Plato defined it, comes the World of Forms, symbolised by Paradise or the Garden of Eden. Thus the Idea or spiritual essence of the Rose is the basic archetype for all forms of roses. The Garden of Eden contains within it the prototype forms of every mineral, plant and animal that will appear on the material plane, the last and lowest of the four Worlds.

The biblical titles "Fowl of the Air" and "Fish of the Sea" are symbolic terms for the archangels, who inhabit the airy World of the Spirit, and the angels, who exist in the watery World of Formation. The "Beasts of the Field" are those creatures that will live in the physical World of the earthy elements. This fourfold scheme is seen in the prophet Ezekiel's vision of a fiery humanoid figure seated upon the Throne of Heaven, which rests upon a vast Chariot hovering above the footstool of the Earth. These four realities and their respective inhabitants make up a hierarchy of levels, with the "Eternal Now" of the vertical Kav line binding time and space together. This locks all the Worlds into a Great Tree, known as Jacob's Ladder. Such a metaphysical scheme shows all the laws and processes of Existence. In general, those that live in the lowest realm of Nature are oblivious of the higher levels, even as most people are unaware that the Sun is the engine of almost everything that moves on Earth.

The primordial World of Emanation is the place from whence humanity comes. This makes mankind quite different from all other creatures. According to Kabbalah, every individual is a spark of pure consciousness within the Divine being of Adam Kadmon. At some point, each one of us is sent down through the Worlds to experience all the levels of Jacob's Ladder so that "God may behold God" through our individual Self-realisation in the process of evolution. However, before humanity could execute its mission, the physical universe had to reach a stage of development into which mankind could incarnate.

Materiality came into being through an intense burst of radiation. Scientists call this the "Big Bang". In some esoteric teachings this event is described as a Divine flower opening out into a vast cosmic bloom of fire. This, according to physics, condensed into the simplest element of hydrogen. Under gravitational compression this atomic unit was transformed into increasingly heavier substances taking up one of the four states of matter; radiance, gas, fluid or solid. The faint resonance of that primal explosion still reverberates throughout the physical universe. The Hindu tradition calls it the sound Aum, while Christian mystics define this first note as the "Word". The sacred echo of this utterance is the second "I AM" returning to its source as galaxies, stars and planets emerge in the process of differentiation and evolution.

3. EVOLUTION

According to many spiritual traditions, humanity pre-existed its physical manifestation. Some mythologies speak of a Golden Age or a place where humans walked with the gods in a state of innocence. In Kabbalah, Paradise, or the World of Formation, is called the Treasure House of Souls where Adam and Eve, the archetypes of humanity, dwelt before their descent into matter.

Symbolism was the language of the ancient world, explaining natural and supernatural phenomena with poetic rather than scientific precision. Many myths are symbolic depictions of the non-physical realms. They were not meant to be taken literally but were a way of describing other dimensions. While there were many cultural differences, the accounts of the higher Worlds and their inhabitants were remarkably similar, indicating that there was an objective reality which lay beyond sense perception.

The early shamans, who explored the upper levels of Existence through the vehicle of dreams and visions, presented their revelations through rituals and art. These were developed into a variety of images of the invisible Worlds. At first, explanations were transmitted by the oral tradition and symbols. With the advent of writing, detailed accounts of the origin of Existence were set down. Perhaps the best known is the Hebrew Book of Genesis. While it was set out in story form, it contained many metaphysical ideas. These were hidden in the text so as to avoid confusion among the uninitiated who could not understand, for example, the difference between the One of the Godhead and the ten Divine principles that governed the universe. Divinity was seen as a reflection of the Absolute who was beyond Existence. Kabbalists say the Bible has four levels; literal, allegorical, metaphysical and mystical which correspond to the physical, psychological, spiritual and Divine Worlds. Read at these levels, the Bible is a goldmine of esoteric knowledge. Take the following example.

Adam in the World of Creation was the first humanoid image to be mentioned in the Bible. This androgynous being was a spiritual version of Adam Kadmon, the symbol of the Divine World of Emanation. In the World of Formation, humanity was divided into Adam and Eve, that is, separated out into millions of soul mates. These belonged to specific soul groups associated with particular parts of the anatomy of Adam Kadmon. Here in the Garden of Eden each pair of psyches, originally a single spirit containing a Divine spark, were differentiated into distinctly male and female entities.

In biblical mythology, the story of the temptation of Adam and Eve presents the principle of free will and karma, known in Kabbalah as "Measure for Measure". The couple had but one commandment to obey - not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge - which they chose to break. This is seen as a set-up in which the Creator teaches them their first lesson about consequences and also gets them out of the pleasant comfort zone of the Treasure House of Souls and down to Earth. As they had only themselves to blame for being disobedient, the couple could not complain. When Adam and Eve became incarnate, or put on "coats of skin", as the Bible describes it, they became all too aware of the law of cause and effect at the immediate physical level. However, unlike angels and animals, humanity was not totally subject to cosmic or instinctive limits because, having the faculty of Self-consciousness, humans could reflect upon, adjust and alter their situation for good or ill. This unique capacity marked them out from all other creatures in the Heavens and on the Earth. Humanity is not just a physical entity confined by Nature. Indeed, its composition has the potential to live in all four Worlds. As such, because of their innate capacity to be aware of all the levels, humans have the special role of being the organ of perception for God throughout Existence.

Apes were the most advanced creatures on the planet before humanity arrived. They had, in their physical body, all the experiences of the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms up to that stage of development. However, millions of years ago, somewhere in Africa, two primates, a male and female, were probably born into a clan of apes but with human psyches. When these two matured, one may speculate, they recognised a mutual affinity and left their community, as young ape couples often did, to start a new line. This family developed over thousands of years into quite a different species, despite having almost the same physical genes. They pondered the present and the past and wondered about the future, being more conscious than the cleverest of apes. So it was that they continually improved their terrestrial situation. This is the evolutionary drive in humans.

Over time these early people grew in numbers, spread and separated as more and more souls from the Treasure House of Eden incarnated into their communities. Because of necessity, or perhaps just out of curiosity, some left Africa to explore Europe and Asia. This expansion resulted in the three basic ethnic divisions of humanity, symbolised by the three sons of Noah in the biblical legend. As each generation adapted to different climates and terrains, so the wheels of reincarnation returned most souls to the same geographic area and tribe with which they had been associated. This would be an inevitable process as a common karma and culture would draw mutually familiar souls together. In this situation, those who had been reborn the most times usually became the elders of the tribe.

Because the psyche does not die like the body, experience is carried over from life to life. One effect is that less evolved people tend to recognise and depend upon the inherent wisdom of more advanced individuals and seek their guidance. In time, these natural leaders become the chiefs and shamans of their tribes. Evidence of respect for great men and women is to be seen in prehistoric tombs containing food and possessions for use in the afterlife in which most cultures believed. In some cultures, the dead were seen as the wise ancestors who watched over the living. It was believed that they reincarnated to guide their people. This transmigration of souls over many lives is a major factor in esoteric history and is a reasonable explanation of why some persons are distinctly more intelligent and talented than most people.

This brings us to the concept of the Four Journeys. Reincarnation is a process that relates to human evolution in the context of the Divine plan. The First Journey is the descent of humanity from the highest World of Divinity down through the realms of Creation and Formation into physicality. Upon being incarnate, an individual begins the Second Journey of ascent in the return through general evolution towards the Godhead. This is accomplished both at the personal and collective levels, as seen in people's fates and the progression of humanity from the prehistoric hunter-gatherer culture towards global civilisation.

The Third Journey is concerned with those individuals who are no longer dominated by vegetable and animal compulsions, as they have become fully human. These advanced beings return to Earth, by choice, to aid the development of mankind. They may appear to be ordinary or extraordinary people but their characteristic is quite distinct in that they are clear about their earthly mission and destiny. These are the lesser and greater saints, sages and mystics who know why, when and where to be born.

The final Fourth Journey is at the End of Time when all that is possible in this cosmic cycle has been achieved. This is the Resurrection spoken of in many spiritual traditions.

* Selected chapters from A Kabbalistic View of History: Introduction to the World of Kabbalah. Text and illustrations © Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi. Published by Kabbalah Society (www.kabbalahsociety.org)