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Table 1: The Lurianic System and its Archetypal Interpretation

©1998 Sanford L. Drob: Duplication for other than personal use is unauthorized without written consent from the author.

The Lurianic System

(1)Ein-sof (The infinite godhead), of which nothing can be said...

(2) is the union of being and nothingness, of "everything and its opposite", male and female, good and evil, etc.

(3) Ein-sof performs a divine concealment, contraction (Tzimtzum) leading to a...

(4) Metaphysical Void (tehiru), a circle surrounded by Ein-sof on all sides.

 

(5) This void contains a residue (reshimu) of divine light, and into it, is emanated the light of the infinite (Or Ein-sof), a thin line (kav) through which...

(6) Adam Kadmon (Primordial Man) spontaneously emerges.

(7) Lights (orot) flashing and recoiling from Adam Kadmon’s eyes, nose, mouth and ears form vessels (Kelim) for containing further lights, thus creating the "World of Points".

(8) These vessels comprise the Sefirot(Archetypes of Value and Being) which form the body of Adam Kadmon. The Sefirot are:

(9) Keter (Crown, Will, Delight, the highest Sefirah)

Chochmah (Intellect, Wisdom, Paternal),

Binah (Understanding, Maternal),

Chesed (Loving-Kindness)

Din/Gevurah (Judgment, Strength)  

Tiferet/Rachamim (Beauty, Compassion)

Netzach (Glory) Hod (Splendor)

Yesod (Foundation, the Phallus/ Masculine Principle)

Malchut/Shekhinah (Kingship/ Feminine principle). ...

 

 

(10) The Sefirot are themselves comprised of primordial letters. Indeed, the molecular components of the world are at once both value archetypes (the Sefirot) and linguistic elements (letters in the holy tongue).

(11) The Sefirot are organized into

Worlds(Olamot): Adam Kadmon (A’K, identified with Ein-sof and Keter), Atziluth (Nearness), Beriah (Creation),Yetzirah (Formation), and Assiyah (Making, the lowest world, includes our material earth).

  

(12) The weakness and disunity of the Sefirot leads to their shattering and displacement, known as...

 

 

(13) The Breaking of The Vessels(Shevirat Hakelim), which produces...

 (14) a rupture in the conjugal flow between Masculine and Feminine aspects of God.

 

(15) Shards from the broken vessels and Netzotzim (Sparks of the divine light) fall and become entrapped in the "shells" or "husks" (Kellipot) , which comprise" the Other Side" (Sitra Achra), a realm of darkness and evil.

 (16) Not all of the divine light is entrapped in the husks. Some of it returns spontaneously to its source where it initiates a new start to creation.

(17) The entire cosmos must now be restructured and restored. This involves Tikkun ha-Olam), the Restoration of the World.

 

(18) Lights from the forehead of Adam Kadmon reconstitute the broken Sefirot/vessels as...

 

(19) Partzufim (Faces or Personalities of God). Amongst these "personalities" are:

(20) Attika Kaddisha (The Holy Ancient One)

Abba (The Father)

Imma (The Mother)

Zeir Anpin (The Impatient One)

Nukvah (The Female)

(21) The Partzufim engage in erotic unifications which must now be facilitated by the activities of humankind…

 

(22) who, via the "raising of the sparks", brings about the

(23) a reunification of the masculine and feminine principles and other contradictions within God.

 

(24) In performing Tikkun man actually influences and restores the upper worlds as well as earth

(25) However, man cannot by his own efforts reclaim all the sparks that had been dispersed as a result of the Breaking of the Vessels.

Archetypal Interpretation

(1)The Primal Unconscious which is neither known nor can be known to consciousness...

(2) is the union of every thing and its opposite, of male and female, good and evil, etc.

(3) The primal unconscious is concealed from awareness through a primal repression revealing...

(4) the boundless, chaotic, unknown which lies at the heart of the human psyche.

(5) Here there is the smallest element of awareness of the unconscious and through this awareness

 

(6) a primal Self emerges.

(7) This primal Self expresses its libido onto the world, and from the interaction between the libido and the world the original, unmodified structures of the ego emerge.

(8) These structures are the archetypal values and tendencies of humanity which are embodied within the Self. These include:

(9) Will or Desire, the fundamental motivating force,

Cognition, the fundamental structuring attribute,

Understanding, an amalgam of will and cognition,

Love, the fundamental expression of will/desire,

Judgment, the fundamental cognitive distinction (Strength: the will to power, origin of aggression),

Beauty/ Compassion, the dialectical blending of love and judgment,

and all the glorious and splendorous accomplishments of mankind.

All of these attributes are fundamentally expressed in the erotic union of male and female.

 (10) The psyche is itself structured like a language and indeed structured by language. Language is the very substance of the psyche and without language there would be no "mind".

(11) These structures and values are further organized into the various "realms of experience" which each individual constitutes, realms which are nearly identical to his psyche, others which are close to his heart and desire, and...other realms which are increasingly removed from his inner self but which constitute the individual’s public persona.

 

(12) However, man’s values and psychic structures as they are originally constituted early in life become disunified and do not serve his overall "self", leading to conflict and ultimately to

(13) a crisis or shattering of his psyche, frequently occurring in mid-life which produces

(14) a rupture both in the individual’s erotic life and between the masculine and feminine aspects of the psyche.

(15) Aspects of the shattered psyche (thoughts, feelings, impulses) coalesce as "complexes" which are repressed in a Shadow and Personal Unconscious, and are experienced as a realm of darkness and evil.

 

(16) After the crisis some libido becomes attached to the archetypes of the collective unconscious and help serve to restore the shattered ego.

(17) A new Self must emerge by restoring and restructuring the elements of the old ego that has been shattered by crisis. This is the process of individuation.

 

(18) The libidinal energy from the primal self, the "collective unconscious" serves to restore the shattered psyche by means of…

(19) human Images and archetypes around which a mature Self can become individuated. Amongst these archetypes are

(20) The Senex (Wise Old Man)The Father

The Mother

The Puer (Youth). The Hero

The Female (Anima).

 

(21) Opposing aspects of the psyche, represented by male and female archetypes must be reunited in the newly formed Self…

(22) which by raising the personal and collective complexes into consciou-ness (making the unconscious conscious) brings about a

(23) reunification of masculine and feminine principles, and all other contradictions within his psyche.

 

(24) In analytic work individuals can restore the deeper layers of their soul and even impact creatively upon the world’s collective psyche as well.

(25) However, the unconscious is not completely accessible to man.

 

 



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