| The Sephiroth
Posted: 10/9/2005 2:28:49 AM | No, not the bishy main antagonist in a popular RPG
I am curious if anyone here has seriously studied the Systema Sephirotica, the Qabala, Tree of Life, or whatever else you want to call it.
At various points I have put some research in on the subject and find it fascinating. It seems fairly simple and straightforward at first but quickly unfolds into something significantly more complex.
If anyone is familiar with it I have a question in regards to Da'ath or Da'at. It is supposed to be non-negotiable that there are ten Sephira or main positions. From my understanding of it Da'ath was removed when original sin came into play, thus blocking the top three positions, Binah, Chokmah, and Kether, which are required to atain ultimate godliness.
If there was at one point Da'ath, how were the ten positions resolved? I have seen papers written to the effect that Malkuth was Da'ath but decended to the first position with original sin. I have also seen the idea that Da'ath is Kether risen beyond our grasp. I have also heard theories that Da'ath is not a position so much as a barrier.
Not sure if this goes beyond the knowledge pool in this forum or not but I have found it to be at least an intriguing thought excercize. | |
|
| The Sephiroth
Posted: 10/9/2005 10:34:22 AM | You are partialy right about it being a barier, Da'ath is knowledge, the combination of wisdom and understanding (Chokmah and Binah) and niether alone can atain you higher consiosness without the other, so it is a kind of barier in that it is the combination of all you have learned and devised and intued in order to atain fresh knowledge.
It is best to think of the curse of original sin as being locked into the phisical world, thus with original sin, came a new state of consiousness, that of the mundane and phisical everyday world, the Kingdom of man.
In this sense the Tree is actualy seen as a reflection, starting from the crown, and growing to the base. when the knigdom of man was finaly reached, the tree had to shed some leaves and so Da'ath was lost and can only be regrown through carefull nurturing of the wisdom and understanding of god. but that is from the tree's perspective.
From our perspective it is asif original sin locked us off from the divine and we are traped in the mundane kingdom of man for our sins, only through knowing and understanding god (both not one) can we unlock the path to higher learning.
I hope that made sense to you, cause reading it back, it dosent make much to me.  | |
|
| The Sephiroth
Posted: 10/9/2005 11:10:06 AM | So basically what you are saying is in order to cross the void of Da'ath you have to not only have mastered each step behind you but the two in front of you at the same time as well?
If so it made sense to me. Definitely an interesting interpretation and one of the more reasonable ones I have seen. | |
|
| The Sephiroth
Posted: 10/9/2005 11:23:24 AM | The stipulations for the Tree of Life is that there are 10 sephirot and 22 paths between. Da'ath is a HIDDEN sephirah. It isn't technically part of the tree of life and never really was. Da'ath means knowledge and that's basically all that's agreed upon by kabbalists. I will try to outline a few theories regarding Da'ath.
1) It is a placeholder, not an actual Sephirah. When the messianic age comes Malkuth (The Kingdom) will take the position of Da'ath (Knowledge) and everyone will come to know God (and everything else for that matter).
2) Da'ath is the balancing point between Chokmah and Binah. Just like Chesed and Geburah balance over Tiphareth and Hod and Netzach balance over Yesod. It's not used as a sephirah, just an indicator of what the happy medium is.
3) Da'ath represents the fruit of the tree of Knowledge. As such, it's not part of the Tree of Life at all. Its position on the tree represent the instance of the Fall of Man, when Knowledge was attained (halfway between Binah and Chesed).
You have to understand that the tree of life can apply to any situation at any level. It's the pattern of everything. As far as I understand it, Da'ath only comes into play in certain applications of the Tree of Life (such as the three listed above). Also, the traditional layout of the tree of life isn't the only one there is. With 10 sephirot and 22 paths you can make all kinds of patterns. Mapping it out to the human body you have Kether above the head, Chokmah as the brain, Binah as the heart, Chesed as the right arm, Geburah as the left arm, Tiphareth as the torso, Netzach as the right leg, Hod as the left leg, Yesod as the lower part of the torso (including genitals) and Malkuth as the throat including mouth. Just one more example of what you can do with the tree.
Hope this information helped! | |
|
| The Sephiroth
Posted: 10/9/2005 11:31:15 AM | Yahy Friv, I knew you would be able to explain better than I ever could, chears.  | |
|
| The Sephiroth
Posted: 10/9/2005 11:39:14 AM | you didn't do so bad Raziel, nothing you said was wrong anyways.
Also keep in mind the vision of Jacob's Ladder: First the angels come down, then go up. Like us: First we descend the tree and now, we must climb! | |
|
| The Sephiroth
Posted: 10/17/2005 5:16:27 PM | To my understanding of the tree of life all the sephiroth are equal, Malkuth is as holy as Kether, so there is not a climbing from the ground upwards so much as an attempt to balance the connection the practitioner has to each sephira. There may be some sephirah you find you can naturally work with more easily than others. If you are drawn to Kether, perhaps you should focus on Malkuth to balance this for example. Malkuth is just as much 'beyond our grasp' as Kether.
I have heard of Daath referred to as 'the abyss' or the 'dark night of the soul', and when you focuss on it you may bring about an experience in your own life of being disconnected with the universe around you, this can be potentially soul destroying and in a strange way, also comforting to know that the symbolism exists for what you are going through. Although it may feel at the time that you are completely alone and none have experienced your path or understand it.
To me Daath is the still small voice that says 'I am with you', when you loose faith, and feel forsaken and abandoned.
It might represent something different to you, but whatever system works for you is probably the best. I don't think there is any definite right or wrong in this. | |
|
| The Sephiroth
Posted: 10/17/2005 11:33:05 PM | Interesting. I have actually read a good deal on the Sephiroth and never heard that. I have heard the theory that Da'ath is where Malkuth was, and where Malkuth will return when Christ returns.
I have never before read that Kether was attainable, but I do not claim to have complete knowledge of the tree, just some light reading on it.
If I remember correctly there was a story that went along with it involving an angel... Azrael if I remember correctly. I never found an English translation of it but that was several years ago and the details are a bit fuzzy. | |
|
| The Sephiroth
Posted: 10/18/2005 3:01:12 PM | Kether is most certainly NOT attainable!
Kether (meaning Crown) is Ein Sof - the Limitless Light. Kether is the level of pure existance, pure unity. Kether is beyond duality, beyond consciousness, beyond space and beyond time. Kether is infinitely vast yet contained in a single point - because it is an infinitely vast repetition of the exact same existance. Kether is impossible to fully conceive, let alone actually experience! If you wanted to experience Kether you would have to first be annihilated because nothing can exist as seperate from anything else in Kether. | |
|
|
Home
login 
