The Light of Judaism

There are 5 dimensions to the human soul (i.e. Yechidah, Chayah, Neshamah, Ruach and Nefesh). Our material existence is called Nefesh and is the biological physiology which we self-identify with on our linear space-time experience. Therein is embedded the senses of “self” of the ego which is called Nefesh Bahamit (Animal Soul). It is the meat-body of the Nefesh that the Higher Soul called Neshamah utilizes for its own distinctive purpose of self-actualization by undergoing experiential existence in the physical world. However, the Neshamah (Higher Soul) is not “directly” connected to the lower self- the Nefesh. The connection between the two (higher and lower selves) is through an interface called the Ruach (Spirit). The Ruach (Spirit) is the personification of the Neshamah which becomes produced by the association with the lower body (Nefesh). It is the Ruach that becomes the individuation of our own distinctive personality and that which transcends the physicality of the Nefesh and represents the particular of the Neshamah’s (Higher Soul’s) development in each particular incarnation.  How does the Ruach develop and come to attach the Higher Self of transcendence to the lower self of experiential immanence? The Ruach is the conscious Spirit (containing the sechel of the Neshamah and the middot of the experiential) which exists in scientific terms as a compound waveform structure that is made of pieces of electromagnetic wave energy, which are photons of Light. The Ruach is the emergent Consciousness phenomenon that arises when electromagnetic wave energies are built into that particular kind of compound waveform structure. That structure of electromagnetic energy is consciousness.

The energetic structure that is consciousness is generated by patterns of neuron firings in our brain. That conscious “thing” (Ruach), that is made of electromagnetic wave energy is the individual human Spirit. The Ruach which is made of electromagnetic energy is contrasted to our Nefesh (Physical body) which is comprised of atomic matter. The electromagnetic wave energy (Spirit) is embodied within the atomic matter (Body) creating a human being which is a conscious biological intelligence.

Our Ruach (Spirit) and our Nefesh (Body) are made of two different kinds of “stuff”: energy and matter. They are causally related to and causally interact with each other, but our physical body (Nefesh) and our electromagnetic essence (Ruach) are nonetheless two separate “things,” not one blended “thing.”

There is no “additional” thing within us called a “Soul.” The concept of the soul is a pre-scientific attempt to understand the relationship between a human consciousness and the human body. The soul is usually conceived as some form of blend of body and spirit, whereas the Kabbalists and research from modern Neuro-physics give credence to the concept that our conscious being is derived from immaterial electromagnetic wave energy and our body/brain is made of physical atomic matter and energy.

Our body is an exquisitely sensitive sensory receptor and transmission system that provides finely nuanced electrical information to our consciousness, information about the body itself and its interactions with physical and social reality. This kind of "felt" sensory body information corresponds to emotional aspect (middot) of our Spirit (Ruach).

Sensory perception is how the Ruach (and subsequently the higher Neshamah) experiences the sense of self-being in the physical world. Felt-body information is our conscious connection to the physical reality that we are in as embodied Spirits.

Let me try and break this down another way: The Universe is composed of one single state of energy called electromagnetic background energy. This energy is Light that emanated from the Singularity at the beginning of existence. As the Singularity expanded the Light filled the void and subsequently after the gestation of matter and the physical existence that electromagnetic energy was the un-perceived Light which exists from one edge of the universe to the other. In other words the Universe is completely filled with this Light. This Light utilized the mechanism of the biological matter of our bodies through the pathways and firings of our own neural pathways to create consciousness in what would be otherwise dead matter. The enlivening of the physical bodies creates a new form of consciousness that identifies as a “self-awareness” and this sense of self is the “I” that comprises each of us and our personalities.