An Introduction to Kabbalah, Part 2: God Does Not Exist, God is Existence Itself
Last week, in part 1 of my Guide to Kabbalah, we began at the beginning, asking the simple question of "What is Kabbalah?" and providing four parallel answers: literal (a "received" tradition of mystical and esoteric thought), spiritual (a system which enables "receiving" of more of the world, or God), historical (a library of Jewish texts and traditions dating from the medieval period), and poetic (a way of reading texts and our experience).
But while last week's post did begin at the beginning from the point of view of the student, you may have noticed that it definitely did not begin with first principles: with fundamental teachings about the nature of reality. Nor did it begin with, well, the Beginning, as in "In the Beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth." Fair enough; we all have to start somewhere. This week, however, we'll look to some of those core principles. (Next week, we'll see how Kabbalah develops three distinct "answers" to its fundamental question; and the week after, we'll look at how this can work in our own spiritual practice.)
So -- let's begin again.
For most Kabbalists, the visible world is only the superficial skin of reality. Just the fact that we've already answered one question in four different ways gives a hint (an intentional one) about how Kabbalah tends to approach texts and ideas. There's always a deeper level, always a counterpoint.
At the deepest, most fundamental level, the true reality of our existence is One, Ein Sof, infinite, and thus the sense of separate self that we all have -- the notion that "you" and "I" are individuals with souls separate from the rest of the universe -- is not ultimately true. The self is a phenomenon, an illusion, a mirage. Because -- we might say -- of the way our minds are constructed to interact with the world, we imagine ourselves as separate selves, going about our business, trying to be happy. In fact, we, the stars, our friends and enemies, and everything around us -- all of us are dreams in the mind of God. Nothing has any separate reality -- it only looks like there are separate tables, chairs, computers, and people from a certain, limited perspective. Being in itself is actually nothing but God.
To be sure, this is a God very different from the ordinary one -- a "God beyond God," as it were, neither a paternalistic judge nor a partisan warrior, but Ein Sof, Being and Nothingness, without end or limit, and thus filling every molecule of this page and every synapse in the brain. God is who is reading these words and writing them, who is thinking and what is thought. This is the world without an observer, with no inside and no outside, in which That (what seems to be without) and You (what seems to be within) are the same. And with this radically different conception of God come very different expressions of Judaism: elite, often hidden traditions quite unlike the mass religion of rituals, myths, and dogmas
This God is less a God that does or doesn't exist, but existence itself. To paraphrase from a non-Kabbalistic source, the yoga sutras of Patanjali, God does not exist -- God is existence itself. Moreover, from God's point of view, all of the distinctions we make -- between ourselves and the world outside ourselves, among objects in the world, etc. -- are completely illusory, because ultimately there is only the undifferentiated unity of the Ein Sof, the Infinite.
Let's pause for a moment, before answering those questions, for a "reality check." For most of us today, the concept of God is a problematic and controversial one. I've taught Kabbalah to adults, adolescents, Jews, non-Jews, and I've noticed that the large majority of my students, when they hear the word "God," seem to say "hold on -- you've lost me."
This makes perfect sense, of course, given that we are living in the 21st century. But for most Kabbalists, the situation was very different. The concept and experience of God were known from their earliest memories. The great Kabbalists were rabbis soaked in the God of Judaism, which they experienced and related to all the time. Questions like 'Does God exist?' or 'How can we know that God is real?' are quite valid, but in the classical Kabbalah, they don't get asked. What is God -- absolutely. But whether there is a God -- not so much.
Of course, this may be problematic for us today, and if we are to conceive of a contemporary Kabbalah, then we must ask these new questions. Fortunately, however, Kabbalah tends to be more interested in how we relate to God than how we can speculate about God -- and this brings us back to experience, to first-hand knowledge and understanding. Kabbalistic texts ask how we know God through the concepts of the sefirot (more on that next week), or how we unite with God through meditation, or how we can use our relationships with God for various purposes. Kabbalah is not a philosophical system. In fact, historically, much of the Kabbalah arose directly in response (and opposition) to rationalist philosophy. So we will not find systematic "proofs" of God's existence in the Zohar or anywhere else. What you will find are texts and practices that enable profound shifts in consciousness. What those shifts enable you to see -- well, that will be up to you.
Now, as we've already noted, the Ein Sof is very different from what most people call "God." The Kabbalists were well aware of that. Let's look at two short texts from one of the most important Kabbalists, Rabbi Moses Cordovero, here in my translation:
Now, the poor person thinks that God is an old man, as it is written, "the ancient of days sits"; and he has white hair because he is old, as it is written, "the hair of his head like clean wool"; and he sits on a great wooden throne, glittering with sparks, as it is written, "his throne was fire"; and that his appearance is like fire, as it is written, "For YHVH your God is consuming fire." And the result of all these images, which the fool thinks about until he corporealizes God, is that he falls into some trap, and abandons his faith . . . But the wise, enlightened person knows God's unity, and his essence that is completely devoid of material boundaries . . . And from this he will aid strength to his awe . . . and a great love in his soul.
This is a remarkable teaching. For Cordovero, God is not some old man in the sky who makes sure that only good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad. Only "poor people" (intellectually, not financially, of course) think that way. In fact, the universe is inconceivably vast, and every subatomic particle of it is filled with God. Here's Cordovero developing that point further:
The essence of God is in every thing, and nothing exists outside of God. Because God causes everything to be, it is impossible that any created thing exists except through Him. God is the existence, the life, and the reality of every existing thing. The central point is that you should never make a division within God . . . If you say to yourself, "The Ein Sof expands until a certain point, and from there on is outside of It," God forbid, you are making a division. Rather you must say that God is found in every existing thing. One cannot say, "This is a rock and not God," God forbid. Rather, all existence is God, and the rock is a thing filled with God . . . God is found in everything, and there is nothing besides God.
There is nothing besides God! Notice, this is not a 21st century New Age guru talking; this is a 16th century rabbi, living in semi-poverty in what is now the north of Israel. Think about it. "Ein Sof" means infinite -- really infinite. If this computer screen is not the Ein Sof, we've made a mistake, because we've given the Ein Sof a sof -- an end. Kabbalists take the idea of infinity very seriously. God is that which Is -- YHVH, one of the main Hebrew terms for this Reality, might even be translated "Is." God is not an old man; God is What Is. The Infinite is everything. It is the only thing. "God" is an imprecise name for the only thing in the universe that actually exists.
Of course, most of us don't experience life this way. The world appears to us as self and other, a place with a lot of stuff in it, much of which we don't like. So, in fact, Kabbalah begins, rather than ends, with the Ein Sof, and devotes most of its attention to the finite, to the sefirot and their qualities, the world and its demands. And the Jewish contemplative spends less time establishing nonduality than asking how best to live in its light. If everything is God, why do things appear as they do? And how can we have knowledge of God, in this lifetime?
We'll look at Kabbalistic answers to those questions.... next week.
Read The Full Series: An Introduction To Kabbalah
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The existence of god cannot be determined by the billions (on earth) of differing opinions on the subject. If you were to conclude that regardless of the varying opinions about god, there was only one final answer to the details of god's existence or non existence, you would eliminate all but one theory. Atheism allows for a universal solution to explain our relationship (or lack thereof) with god for all people, everywhere, regardless of opinion. Nature on earth and on planets billions of light years away, doesn't care what we think, it goes about its business without us and our opinions about god or dogs for that matter.
There is no God.
There is only God.
Does God exsist?
Can you answer this question without any influence from your religion, parents or friends?
GodYesOrNo.com
Only each of us can answer that question for ourself, GYorN. No one can either convince me God does or doesn't exist, I have to make that call for myself, just as I think everyone does.
Rather, profoundly simple and secret only to those who have not expanded their mind/consciousness.
"God is Existence Itself" Enough said.
In turn, intrinsically linked to the proverbial "Hell on earth"
For those looking for answers to the worst human kind has to offer.
Word!
Thank you, Mr. Michaelson, for this easy to understand, yet eloquent explanation of what God is, and isn't. And yet, I read the comments that precede mine, and wonder how many of the people who posted actually read it, or even understood it?
I have a question for you. Most Christian's perception of God is complicated by the anthropomorphized YHVH of the Old Testament. YHVH, we are told, takes sides (human vs. human), is jealous, rageful, murderous, angry, vengeful, and to be feared. Then there is the NT God of Yeshua, a God of love. Many Christian churches try to present a "blended" version of both as a representation of the natures of God, depending upon which aspect best suits the sermon of the day. How is this to be reconciled, given the Kabbalistic view of God?
The Kabbalah explanation of the true nature of God implies that the OT scripture is either wrong, or that YHVH was a lesser deity that was confused with God. Can you offer your viewpoint, please?
As conceived by, brought to you by, directed by, organized by, and facilitated by that which is your life, this is God; the subjective reality that cannot be ignored, but can be denied, disregarded, distorted, and demonstrably proven.
As for demonstrably proven, God is the need to take a breath, and God is the fact of death, and God is all and nothing at all, God is the big and the small, and all in between, every definable thing -- that just leaves the undefined, that beyond human comprehension and mental masturbation that occurs in misguided minds such that they presume to know the ebb and the flow, of how things went, are going, and will go.
Dismissive is God. Atheist is God. Hate is God. Evil is God. Immorality is God. God is all and nothing at all. God covers all interpretations and covers all bets concerning those who attempt to make God’s of themselves.
God is the hidden hand of developed society, pulling major strings behind the scenes to bring about generational strife and impropriety, welcome to your life otherwise known as someone’s wet dream (hear the people scream). God is all the lies supposed distinguished people tell, God is heaven but God is also hell.
There can be no life without death, no you without me, no we without us. Inadequate tools brought to the task of defining God, in our own extrapolations, conclusions, explanations, considerations and wide-eyed delusions we trust. Each of us -- is God.
II
What does this mean, these foul things that this cretin spews? What does he mean God is every little thing, every me, every you, and all the things we do? God is selfish, and so are we. God is powerful, and so are we. God demands love, and deny it or not...so do we -- even when we hate. The golden rule is the epitome of selfishness -- do unto others as I would have them do unto me indeed. Does a true God consider self in terms of addressing heartache, heartbreak, anguish, strife, and disease. We fall short of anything that God is in being whole, because we look out upon the world with a single myopic goal -- let life benefit me, and if there must be pain and suffering let that be another’s lot. How God-like of the benefited when they proclaim the suffering deserve what they get and what they got, or when we proclaim oh how the little people suffer all while I sit here gloating in the blubber of my God complex.
The whole God is the known as well as the unknown which if known could do strange things to the known. If we knew what begot the big bang how different our world would be via the application of science, which is the religion of observation, experimentation, and accumulated wisdom as God. Man oh man, that nuclear bomb...sure is devilish in its omnipotence.
III
If we could think as God how trivial might our existential questions be in light of such total being, such omniscience? It is said that the perfect person need not travel for in his or her pure heart they have already seen the world. Don’t go looking for God and don’t go changing your eternal self trying to please your temporary self. “No God” and “God” live in the individual heart. Spirit is the interplay of all of the hearts in mass (believer and non-believer and any other label). The spirit of the times is defined by the collective heart and mind -- which is God, see the times effect real life -- as a God. God is choice and the absence of choice. God is perfection and imperfection that is perfect in being imperfect through the tool or the mechanism of individual human choice played out on individual and mass life. Few humans can transcend selfishness to truly see another. Few humans, if any, can be dismissive of self to connect with the spirit that binds us all, while remaining an individual self-contained unit of living breathing functioning life. Can you be an I but have no concept of mine or my? Can you be a me and not have a point of view, a method to understand, to make sense, to exist, to be?
IV
God is fear. God is arrogance. God is sex, money, and power. God is knowledge and ignorance. God is bitterness and regret. God is whatever rules your life, your thoughts. Many sacrifice on the alter of this or that God on a daily yet claim they hold no such belief in a higher power. Why then are your eyes always looking from whence your help comes, hour after waking and living hour? Why do you rabidly try to devour those who disagree in the inferno of your dogmatic selfishness that you and only you hold the answer, for the joy and the pain, the sunshine and the rain, the well body or that racked with cancer, the rhythm and rhyme and the keeping of time shared by the pugilist and the dancer? Why do you try to eclipse all things with what you know, and what you think, and what you say, if there is no God then why do you behave this way? For surely you are God, you who with a swipe of your vast intelligence can create God in one era and dismiss God in the next through the bloodline and the passing of time. Perhaps it is feebleness that is God, that is eternal, that rules us all.
I call God love and that is at best a poor attempt at describing God, but then, I am of the human set. Love does rule, and I validate that understanding of God on a daily.
GrainOSand
Lovely and I can add but one word to that,"Universal", in this vast Multiverse Cosmos.
Norge
Yes
I hope there is a God/heaven and we go somewhere beautiful after this life.
Since I have been ill, I think about this often.
Fear not ChelseaC the experience I related earlier is true. It was not a dream.I do not know if it is called heaven. According to Buddhism there are 32 Heavens some are formless while there is one where beings there exist as brightness.
A short prayer wishing others well and happy will help you stay calm.
May I be well and happy.
May my family and friends be well and happy.
May all beings around me, seen and unseen be well and happy.
May all beings seen and unseen in this country be well and happy.
May all beings in this World be well and happy.
May all beings in this Universe and other Universes be well and happy.
I forgive all beings, may they be well and happy.
May all beings forgive me for any wrong I have done to them.
You may pray, chant silently or meditate upon these words anytime when you feel worried or even when you are happy.
My journey takes me beyodn heaven Chelsea.
May peace be witrh you.
With love
kanti
Thank you.
Khanti,
Thank you.
That is beautiful, Khanti.
THE DIVERSITY OF THE UNIVERSE AND NATURE IS SO WILD AND COMPLEX, THAT IF THERE WHERE A GOD, HE WOUD MOST DEFINITELY BE VERY LONELY...... GREEK MYTHOLOGY TRIES TO EXPLAIN THIS BY ACKNOWLEDGING MANY GODS AND GODESSES. .. THE UNIVERSE IS TO MUCH FOR 1 GOD TO ENJOY... ... . . ... ..
See Ed and Deb Shapiro's Profile
God - whoever she is?
ISMS are now WASIMS
what is real for you
it is time people what up just like all the great ones
ed
"ISMS are now WASIMS"
...not on planet earth!
"it is time people what up just like all the great ones"
Do you what up a lot, ed?
I don't know a thing about "God"... I do know that in a universe that has the potential for the emergence of life, we are some of the life that emerged. We look about and say "man, this is too perfect, look at us... we exist therefore we and this universe were perfectly created for us".... Its a catch 22 because reality lined up and we were part of the living result. It makes sense that even if we were the result of random chance we might be inclined to believe that we were part of a perfectly created system.
Problem with any discussion about "god" is that the word is meaningless. It is a subjective abstractions, like "love", and has different meanings for different people. As such, discussion is meaningless without a valid definition of what is under discussion.
yes, That's why you must always start by defining what you mean by God or Love.
What do you mean by "God"?
Should always be the first question.
It backfired on Virginia Woolf, though, one night at a dinner party. She interrupted an elderly military man's conversation and asked, "What do you mean by the holy ghost?" He snapped back at her, "I didn't say, 'the holy ghost'; I said, 'the whole coast'!"
Let share an ancient story which I pick up years ago. It is the story of the Elephant and Three Blind Men.
In an ancient Kingdom where there were no elephants. One day another kingdom presented an elephant to the King of this Kingdom. The King was bemused by this strange creature that had a long nose. This King was also known for his wisdom, after pondering over this creature he had an idea. He called three blind men to the elephant’s head and ask them to feel which part of the animal it is. The first blind man felt the long trunk of the animal and declared it to be the rear. “I can feel the thick long tail your Majesty so this definitely the tail end.’’ The second and third blind men follow suit and declared likewise. Then the wise king told his loyal subjects, “If we are not sure of the truth then we will like one blind man leading another towards ignorance.”
This story told here is not meant to deride or make fun of the blind. I apologize to anyone hurt by this story.
Thanks khanti. Ive heard this story with five blind men along the side of the rode coming across an elephant but the king and his partt is new to me, and adds a good dimension. This tale is a Sufi tale about how we are all blind to what other people see as God ( the elephant is a metaphor for God)
There is no God. There is a higher design and intelligence. Religion certainly can't define it.
IMAGINE PLANETS SHAPED LIKE TRIANGLES, CUBES, AND HEXAGONS,.. NOW THAT WOULD BE HIGHER DESIGN......
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