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Email inquiries with my response are subject to editing. I will not post
your comments if you do not want me to, so if you are not willing to have your
inquiry or comments posted please let me know.
Kabbalah and
Physics 5/25/02
Dr. Drob:
I've read both your book on the new Kabbalah and I was
impressed. I've read over 50 books on kabbalah and I have to rate yours at
the top. I am a mathematical physicist; I teach math and physics at Cal State
Dominguez Hills (the smallest of the4 CSU in L.A.
county), my bachelor's degree is in physics and my PhD in math. I do research
on my own version of a unified field theory, which is closer to what Einstein
envisioned than are the current fads. I am writing a book "God is the
Unified Field and Einstein is the Prophet." I've found a lot of
similarities between Einstein and Kabbalah. While I know that Pauli studied
kabbalah, I have found nothing about Einstein's studies. I do know that he
endorsed the view of God expressed in "The Soul of the Universe" by
Gustaf Stromberg, which is a modern interpretation of the view of Spinoza.
I've been a student of mysticism in general since 1973 and
have studied kabbalah for 10 years. My view is that Ein-Sof is the unified
field and in a form of kabbalistic word play. I think that Ein-Sof should be
thought of as a code for Einstein-Sofia, meaning a merger of science and
ancient wisdom.
--- Thomas Love
--- tomrlove@earthlink.net
Dear Thomas Love:
Thank you for your kind words about my two books. I am very glad that you
found them of interest. I find your ideas of great interest as well, as the
connection between Kabbalah and modern science is an area that I am just
beginning to explore. I would be very interested in hearing more about the
Einstein connection, unified field theory, Pauli's interest in the Kabbalah
and your book. Perhaps you would like to share something you have already
written or published that I would post, fully credited, on the New Kabbalah
website. After all, what you seem to be engaged in is precisely what I like
to refer to as the "New Kabbalah."
In this connection I recently became aware of Martin Rees book Just Six
Numbers, where he argues that six numerical values, describing (1) the
strength of the forces which bind the nuclei of atoms, (2) the relationship
between those binding atomic forces and the force of gravity between atoms,
(3) the density of matter in the universe, (4) the strength of a previously
unsuspected cosmic "anti-gravity," (5) the amplitude of
irregularities in the expanding universe, and (6) the number of spatial
dimensions in our cosmos, underlie the physical properties of our universe.
It made me think of how Vital in his Sefer Ez Chayyim speaks of
"thousands upon thousands and myriads upon myriads" of worlds, an
idea which the Kabbalist's linked to the midrashic myth of the innumerable
worlds that were created and destroyed because they did not possess the
proper balance of characteristics that could sustain them. The Zohar speaks
of these worlds as "sparks of blackness" which like the sparks from
a blacksmiths hammer striking the anvil "flared, shone, and then went out."
At any rate the six numbers seem to me to be something of an analog to
Luria's notion of Tzimtzum: the contraction of the infinite in just such a
manner that there is a balance of Chesed and Gevurah and other Sefirotic
forces so as to permit the emergence of the created world. By the way while
Rees seems to think that ours is the highest of worlds, most hospitable to
life, the Kabbalists leave open the possibility of higher worlds, in which
the Sefirot are arranged somewhat differently, but which permit a higher, more
developed form of consciousness.
What are your thoughts on this?
Sanford Drob
Dr. Drob,
The connection between science and mysticism has been made
in far too many books for me to mention them all, but I'll start:
The Tao of Science
The Tao of Physics
The Medium, the Mystic and the Physicist (Lawrence
LeShan)
Quantum Questions (Ken Wilbur)
The Soul of the Universe (Gustaf Stromberg)
Science and Occultism (I.K. Taimni)
Pondering the reality behind the illusion of the world we live
in is the job of the physicist. In just the same way as pondering a koan, or
an obscure verse of scripture leads the mystic to an experience with God, so
focusing on a question about nature leads the scientist to a mystical
encounter with the mind of God. The is no difference between Buddha sitting
under the Bodhi tree and Newton
sitting under the apple tree. Both sat in the presence of God.
--- Tom Love
--- tomrlove@earthlink.net
--- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.
<>
I just bought "Just Six Numbers", I'll get back to you with
commentary.
--- Thomas Love
--- tomrlove@earthlink.net
The Lurianic Kabbalah is treated in detail in Sanford Drob's Symbols
of the Kabbalah and Kabbalistic Metaphors .
If you entered this site via a search
engine, and there are no "flash contents" on the left hand side of your
screen, the site will function better if you click here and go directly to www.newkabbalah.com and follow the
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All material on New Kabbalah website (c) Sanford L. Drob, 2001-4.
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