The Kabbalah, Part 2

In this article, Part 2 of my informal Kabbalah/Qabalah series, I will begin to consider the cosmological-theosophical Kabbalah/Qabalah. I will begin with the Four Worlds (Atziluth, Ber’iah, Yetzirah, Assiah), which, if Adam Kadmon is included, become Five. Directly below my consideration is the Wikipedia.org description of the Four Worlds. I’m not going to elaborate on this description (which I posted for base reference and contrast); rather, I’m going to present my own unique (Kashmir Shaivism/Vedanta-influenced) vision of the Four (or Five) Worlds. In Part 3, I will consider the 10 sephirot.

The Four (or Five) Worlds spring forth from Ain Soph Aur, which is tantamount to Hindu Siva-Shakti. “Ain” means No-thing, not Nothingness. In other words, God is not a created "thing" or object; He is the uncreated “Thing” Itself -- the Absolute -- limitless Conscious Light. The universe was not created ex nihilo, because something cannot come from nothing; rather it derives from God’s “Substance," Conscious Light.

The process of creation, termed “tzimtzum,” in Kabbalah, is described as a contraction of Ain Sof Aur (Limitless Light) into stepped-down, progressively constricted “Worlds” (really dimensions or phases of diminished Consciousness-Energy). When Assiah, the final World or phase of the cosmic involutionary process, is reached, the Limitless Light of Ain Sof Aur has been reduced to gross matter and energy.

Adam Kadmon is a synonym for the archetypal Divine Person, Man as primordially one with Siva-Shakti (or Ain Soph Aur), the Divine Being, prior to and beyond the manifestation of the “Worlds. Since Adam Kadmon antecedes emanation, strictly speaking he should not be considered one of the Worlds. Hence, from my standpoint, there are Four Worlds, not Five.

Atziluth (the “World of Emanation”) is the universal Causal Body, Divine Shakti emerging from Siva-Shakti (Ain Soph Aur) as Iccha Shakti (Divine Will and Power). It is “outflowing” uncreated Light-Energy, indicating the beginning of a schism in the Divine. Even though the Light-Energy is uncreated, it contains the "seeds" of Creation, in the "Form" of the Divine “Plan." At this point in the cosmogenic process, creation (space-time manifestation) is mere potential, but the “Blueprint,” is pregnant in Atziluth. Hence, the Sephirot herein exist as Platonic Forms, or unmanifest Vessels, in the “Mind of God.”

I equate Beri’ah (the “World of Creation”) with Akasha (universal space, the Ether). The Ether, is the Matrix from which the four elements - fire, earth, air, and water – derive and proceed. And the universe, in turn, is constituted of the four elements. It is common in Kabbalah/Qabalah to associate each of the four elements with one of the Four Worlds (Atziluth-fire, Beri’ah-water, Yetzirah-air, Assiah-earth), but this makes no sense, because the elements do not emerge prior to Yetzirah.

The physical universe emerges in Yetzirah (the “World of Formation”), the raw, elemental World (or Universe), not yet fully differentiated and particularized. At this point, the four elements have not yet fully “crystallized” into distinct finite matter and existents.
In Assiah (the “World of Action”), the cosmogenic involutionary process is complete: the Divine has fully concealed Itself in matter, disguising Itself in and as discrete phenomenal existents. When humans, contracted microcosms of macrocosmic Adam Kadmon, emerge on the world scence, the conscious evolutionary journey out of contraction and darkness into expansion and Light is begun.

In Part 3, I will consider the 10 Sephirot: their genesis within the Four World schema, and their functions as Divine vessels and archetypal energies.


The Four Worlds (Excerpted from Wikipedia.org).

The Worlds are formed by the Ohr Mimalei Kol Olmin, the Divine creative light that "Fills all Worlds" immanently, according to their particular spiritual capacity to receive. The 10 sephirot attributes and 12 basic partzufim personas shine in each world (though not yet manifestly in Adam Kadmon), as well as more specific Divine manifestations. In Lurianic Kabbalah, the partzufim dynamically interact with each other, and sublime levels are enclothed within lower existences, as their concealed soul. Nonetheless, in each World, particular sephirot and partzufim predominate. The Five Worlds in descending order:

1. Adam Kadmon (A"K, אָדָם קַדְמוֹן) meaning Primordial Man. The anthropomorphic metaphor "Adam" denotes the Yosher (Upright) configuration of the sephirot in the form of Man, though not yet manifest. "Kadmon" signifies "primary of all primaries", the first pristine emanation, still united with the Ein Sof. Adam Kadmon is the realm of Keter Elyon (Supernal Crown of Will), "the lucid and luminous light" (Tzachtzachot), "the pure lucid sephirot which are concealed and hidden" in potential. Containing the future emergence of Creation, it is Divine light with no vessels, the manifestation of the specific Divine plan for Existence, within Creation (after the Tzimtzum in Lurianic Kabbalah). In Lurianism, the lights from A"K precipitate Tohu and Tikun. As Keter is elevated above the sephirot, so Adam Kadmon is supreme above the Worlds, and generally only Four Worlds are referred to.

2. Atziluth (אֲצִילוּת), meaning World of Emanation, also "Close." On this level the light of the Ein Sof (Infinite Divine "without end") radiates and is still united with its source. This supernal revelation therefore precludes the souls and Divine emanations in Atzilus from sensing their own existence. In Atzilus the 10 sephirot emerge in revelation, with Chochma (Wisdom) dominating, all is nullification of essence (Bittul HaEtzem) to Divinity, not considered created and separate. The last sephirah Malchut (Kingdom) is the "Divine speech" of Genesis 1, through which lower Worlds are sustained.

3. Beri'ah (בְּרִיאָה or alternatively[4] בְּרִיָּה), meaning World of Creation. On this level is the first concept of creatio ex nihilo (Yesh miAyin), however without yet shape or form, as the creations of Beriah sense their own existence, though in nullification of being (Bittul HaMetzius) to Divinity. Beriah is the realm of the "Divine Throne", denoting the sephirot configuration of Atzilus descending into Beriah like a King on a Throne. The sephirah Binah (Understanding) predominates, Divine intellect. Also called the "Higher Garden of Eden". The Highest Ranking Angels are in Beriah.[citation needed]

4. Yetzirah (יְצִירָה), meaning World of Formation. On this level the created being assumes shape and form. The emotional sephirot Chesed to Yesod predominate, the souls and angels of Yetzirah worship through Divine emotion and striving, as they sense their distance from the Understanding of Beriah. This ascent and descent channels the Divine vitality down through the Worlds, furthering the Divine purpose. Therefore, in Yetzirah are the main angels, such as Seraphim, denoting their burning consummation in Divine emotion. Also called the "Lower Garden of Eden".

5. Assiah (עֲשִׂיָּה), meaning World of Action. On this level the creation is complete, differentiated and particular, due to the concealment and diminution of the Divine vitality. However, it is still on a spiritual level. The angels of Asiyah function on the active level, as the sephirah Malchut (fulfilment in Kingship) predominates. Below spiritual Asiyah is Asiyah Gashmi ("Physical Asiyah"), the final, lowest realm of existence, our material Universe with all its creations. The last two sephirot of Asiyah channel the lifeforce into Physical Asiyah.