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Return to "Lurianic
Kabbalah: An Archetypal Interpretation" 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. |
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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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