Sefer Bahir 1:3
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Sefer Ha-Bahir
Section 1 verse 3
“Why does the Torah begin with the letter Bet? In order that it begin with a blessing (Berachah). How do we know that the Torah is called a blessing? Because it is written (Deuteronomy 33:23), "The filling is God's blessing possessing the Sea and the South." The Sea is nothing other than the Torah, as it is written (Job 11:9), "It is wider than the sea." What is the meaning of the verse, "The filling is God's blessing?" This means that wherever we find the letter Bet it indicates a blessing. It is thus written (Genesis 1:1), "In the beginning (Bet Reshit) [God created the heaven and the earth." BeReshit is Bet Reshit.] The word "beginning" (Reshit) is nothing other than Wisdom. It is thus written (Psalm 111:10), "The beginning is wisdom, the fear of God." Wisdom is a blessing. It is thus written, "And God blessed Solomon." It is furthermore written (I Kings 5:26), "And God gave Wisdom to Solomon." This resembles a king who marries his daughter to his son. He gives her to him at the wedding and says to him, "Do with her as you desire."
Why does the Torah begin with the Bet? Bet is the second letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet and is also the numeral 2. The numeral two is pertinent to our understanding of the dichotomy between No-Thing and Some-Thing in the process of conscious creation. The "bet" is the first letter of Creation and it first appears as the head of the creative narrative in the Torah because it represents duality and without the perception of duality existence could not truly exist. To understand this concept let us consider the fundamental equation 1+1=2 and ask how can 1 (Aleph) be something other than itself. This is an important concept to share because an object is not something other than itself and that is the whole point of this. Both objects: 1 and 1 are equivalent and so the issue here is not in the mathematics but in the essence underlying the math. The numeral 1 (Aleph) is singularity it has no potential to be anything except itself. Other numerals like 2, 3, 4, etc. have the capacity to be something other than themselves and to express themselves in a myriad of ways because they are a composite of potential. One has no potential except to be one. So in order to have a system of mathematics or in the context of the Bahir- a whole system of Cosmological design; you have to get from the singularity of ONE to one-other. So another one is created to stand opposite of the first one. They are mirror images of each other and since you can’t have a singularity when you reflect back another singularity you then add them together to create two- in essence this was necessary to create dualism. Dualism gives you potential to have a myriad of possibilities. But no possibilities existed until the problem of singularity was resolved by the introduction of duality.
The Midrash refers to this duality construct by stating:
“Why was it (the world) created with a bet? To teach you that there are two worlds” (Midrash Rabbah, Gen. 1:10).
The Midrash is stating that the bet signifies a dualistic ideal of two worlds- i.e. the unconscious world of infinity and the conscious world of the finite (Creator and creation). The letter bet is also a pictorial glyph in Hebrew which represents a “house.” This house (bet) is the container of existence which is the vacated space wherein the Infinite Light is concealed. Within this house (bet) constructed in the context of duality all potential has a place of expression. Existence proper can thus begin to occur without being negated within the full revelation of Infinite Light.
The house of Bet is the blessing itself for it is within the context of the house (Bet) that a blessing can occur. Consider that a blessing is a transmission from a Source to a designated thing. Within a dualistic framework there is the ability to transmit a blessing from one place to another place as the very concept of place now exists. This is why a house is repeatedly associated in the Torah as a blessing:
“It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, HaShem blessed the Egyptian's house on account of Joseph; thus HaShem’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field” (Gen. 39:5).
In the book “The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters” Robert Haralick writes:
“The prefix meaning in, at, by, among, with, by means of, or through is Bet. We are in the house so that the house can be a means of doing something; through it we can exercise our capabilities.”
Our house of existence is actually the house of the Creator. It is the Creator who delights in the creation as it is the medium whereby “God beholds God” as the Midrash explains. The creation of duality generates a realm of experiential existence so that consciousness may be fully actualized by being expressed. In other terms, consciousness isn’t truly conscious unless it is aware of something. Since Nothing can’t be aware any anything other than Nothing it has an imperative to create something. This something is derived from Its own Self and thus the whole of creation is a Cosmic process of self-awareness.
The above assertion addresses the age old question: “Why does something come from Nothing?” The Kabbalists have also attempted to answer the question: “How does something come from Nothing?” The answer is simply that Ain (No-Thing) has an imperative to express something. Today in the modern era we now know that this answer is truthful and an accurate representation of reality.
Consider what scientists have recently discovered concerning this fundamental truth. It was Nobel Laureate Physicist Frank Wilczek who stated: "The answer to the ancient question, 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' would then be that 'nothing' is unstable." Wilczek specialty is in Quantum Chromodynamics and from this background states that 'No-thing' is actually a precarious state of affairs.
He states: "You can form a state that has no quarks or anti-quarks in it, and its totally unstable... It spontaneously starts producing quark-anti-quark pairs." Therefore the state of No-thing cannot maintain symmetry. I find this fascinating as it demonstrates the teaching of the Kabbalah that No-Thing had an imperative to generate Some-Thing. Another Physicist, Victor Stenger, says it this way: "something is the more natural state than nothing."
We can't truly define No-Thing but we may give it a non-definition as a zero-radius with nothing around it. Once a quantum event occurs, and it will according to this view, the generation of some-thing would expand slightly causing a pressure ratio of an inside pressure to the outside pressure of the 0 radius. It would be an infinite pressure as any number divided by 0 is infinity. This infinite pressure would result in the Big Bang or in Kabbalistic terms the tzimtzum (the concealment of Light). According to Kabbalah the infinite pressure building within the 0 radius of no-thing would be the plenum of all possibility.
The Bahir now turns our attention to the meaning of the Hebrew word Reishit of which the Bet is a pre-fix to. “The word "beginning" (Reshit) is nothing other than Wisdom.” The Zohar expands upon this concept by stating:
“Said R. Yudai, ‘What is the meaning of B'reishit?’ It means ‘with Wisdom,’ the Wisdom upon which the world is based, and through this it introduces us to deep and recondite mysteries. In it, too, is the inscription of six chief supernal directions, out of which there issues the totality of existence. From the same there goes forth six sources of rivers which flow into the Great Sea. This is implied in the word B'Reishit, which can be analyzed into Bara-Shit (He created six). And who created them? The Mysterious Unknown.” (Zohar Unabridged Vol. 1)
The six direction of existence define the inside dimension of space being represented by a 3-dimensional cube. Inside the cube spatial awareness is defined by six sides. These six dimensional qualities are each represented by the six letters of the word B’reishit. Let’s briefly consider the aspects of these six dimensional qualities which define space/time, matter and consciousness…
1.) Bet- This letter has been sufficiently examined in this commentary thus it will suffice to point out that Bet is the container of existence and is a space for duality and expression of consciousness.
2.) Raysh- Raysh represents the “head” (rosh) and the sequence of its appearance after the duality of Bet indicates that the potential for perception is the basis for conscious awareness within the context of this six-spatial existence. Interestingly the second word of the Torah is “bara” which is a raysh and a bet conjoined and it is usually translated as “create” in the English. This translation is appropriate and the joining of Bet and Raysh demonstrates that creation is accomplished via consciousness on both a Cosmic level and on the personal cognitive level of the individuated human being.
3.) Aleph- the signifier of Unity and Oneness is buried deep within the central construct of B’reishit signifying that the six directional state of reality is a subjective concept that at its truest and deepest essence is defined by the objective Unity that lays concealed behind the illusory façade of dualism.
4.) Shin- is considered the depth of movement. Together with Aleph the two central letters spell out “Ish,” meaning “fire.” As pointed out the Resh signifies the head and the Aleph-Shin configuration represent Ish (fire) within the head or in modern terms this is the firing of the electrical neural networks within the brain that allow for mental cognition and perception to take place. It is the fire within the head that also acts upon the nervous system and subsequently gives life to the being that acts as the image of the Creator and creates reality through its own conscious perception. In Biblical terms the Aleph-Shin allows for the gestation of a living aware being called “Nefesh Chayah” (living Soul).
5.) Yod- The numerical value of Yod is 10 and 10 represents the entirety of creation within the arrangement of the Sefirot (which will be discussed at length later). The Sefirot define the entire spectrum of creation as it emerges from the context of Transcendence to the final place of Immanence. The first point of potential immanence is conceived in the Sefirah of Keter which means “Crown” and denoted the King while the last Sefirah of Malchut means “Kingdom” upon which the King (Keter) oversees and rules. The ten Sefirot are divided into four worlds (olamot) each previous one the soul of the subsequent (excluding Adam Kadmon). Yod is a symbol for the active principle in all things and the 10 Sefirot further donote the world of archetypes at this level of creation in the Torah’s narrative concerning B’reishit. The archetypes are the vessels which contain the Divine influx of consciousness and constrain this Light of Consciousness in particularly defined expressions in order to produce the nature and characteristics of the whole of existence.
6.) Tav- This is the final letter of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet and represents the culmination of the whole of the Cosmic impulse which has come beforehand. It must be understood that each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alef-Bet are containers of energetic/conscious formative expressions. Each letter has both an energetic/numerical and a semantic/alphabetic aspect, each letter is composed of other letters of the basic set which determine its meaning and value and each letter does, or does not contribute to forming other letters of the set. As the final letter Tav can be described as a sort of Cosmic resistance which allows life to manifest. As stated earlier in our study, the purpose of existence is for God to behold God by producing another one in contrast to Itself. This “other” is the world of duality and the space of existence wherein experience may take place so that Consciousness has “something” to be aware of. In this sense the Tav, as the conclusion of the Hebrew formative archetypes, is the reflection of the Aleph, the primordial Oneness. This is why embedded in the first verse of the Torah we also have the grammatical occurrence of the word “Et” twice- this word is spelled Alef-Tav and represents this mirror of existence.
What is the analogy of the King and his daughter? The Bahir states:
“It is thus written, ‘And God blessed Solomon.’ It is furthermore written (I Kings 5:26), ‘And God gave Wisdom to Solomon.’ This resembles a king who marries his daughter to his son. He gives her to him at the wedding and says to him, "Do with her as you desire."
Wisdom is the Sefirah of Chokhmah as it states in Ps. 111:10, "The beginning is wisdom, the fear of God." Creation from B’reishit gestates from Chockmah which is the Masculine aspect of existence. Solomon (Shlomo) in the Hebrew designates wholeness or integral in its meaning and thus signifies the King’s Crown (Keter) being exercised through the state of Chokhmah as the universal archetype wherein everything is known and there is only knowledge. There are no opposites at this level. There is no light and dark, high or low; no duality, extremes meet in compatibility. There exists the principal of fusion without hierarchal confusion. With the thought flows the wisdom of everything. The marriage of the son to the daughter is the creation of polarity- the masculine uniting with the feminine. The feminine or the daughter in this sense is the Sefirah Binah which is the head of the feminine aspect of existence. In Chockmah the wisdom of the Creator is still concealed or hidden, but through Binah it becomes illuminated, and intelligible. It is only through Binah that the Divine ontological wisdom is discerned and qualitatively determined, and then channeled through the seven cosmological principles of the lower Sefirot, which are called middot.
Solomon is a perfect picture of the creation and rulership of the Universe as in 1 Kings 8:1-11 Solomon gathers the elders of the Tribes of Israel which symbolized the directive powers of the Archetypal realm of existence and it is through the elders/powers that the Wisdom (Chokhmah) of the King is channeled into the task of transporting the container of the Creator’s Power (Ark) and subsequently building a Temple (finite existence) to house (bet) the Divine.
