Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/846

812 KABBALAH insists upon the fact that these potencies are not creations of the En Soph, which would be a diminution of strength ; that they form among themselves and with the En Soph a strict unity, and simply represent different aspects of the same being, just as the different rays which proceed from the light, and which appear different things to the eye, are only different manifestations of one and the same light ; that for this reason they all alike partake of the perfections of the En Soph ; and that as emanations from the Infinite, the Sephiroth are infinite and perfect like the En Soph, and yet constitute the first finite things. They are infinite and perfect when the En Soph imparts his ful ness to them, and finite and imperfect when that fulness is withdrawn from them. The conjunction of the Sephiroth, or, according to the language of the Kabbalah, the union of the crowned King and Queen, produced the universe in their own image. Worlds came into existence before the En Soph manifested himself in the human form of emanations, but they could not continue, and necessarily perished because the conditions of development which obtained with the sexual opposites of the Sephiroth did not exist. These worlds which perished are compared to sparks which fly out from a red-hot iron beaten by a hammer, and which are extin guished according to the distance they are removed from the burning mass. Creation is not ex nihilo ; it is simply a further expansion or evolution of the Sephiroth. The world reveals and makas visible the Boundless and the concealed of the concealed. And, though it exhibits the Deity in less splendour than its Sephiric parents exhibit the En Soph, because it is farther removed from the primordial source of light than the Sephiroth, still, as it is God manifested, all the multifarious forms in the world point out the unity which they represent. Hence nothing* in the whole universe can be annihilated. Everything, spirit as well as body, must return to the source whence it emanated (Zohar, ii. 218). The universe consists of four different worlds, each of which forms a separate Sephiric system of a decade of emanations. They were evolved in the following order. (1) The World of Emanations, also called the Image and the Heavenly or Archetypal Man, is, as we have seen, a direct emanation from the En Soph. Hence it is most intimately allied to the Deity, and is perfect and immutable. From the conjunction of the King and Queen (i.e., these ten Sephiroth) is produced (2) the World of Creation, or the Briatic world, also called " the Throne." Its ten Sephiroth, being farther removed from the En Soph, are of a more limited and circumscribed potency, though the substances they comprise are of the purest nature and without any admixture of matter. The angel Metatron inhabits this world. He alone constitutes the world of pure spirit, and is the garment of Shaddai, i.e., the visible manifestation of the Deity. His name is numerically equivalent to that of the Lord (Zohar, iii. 231). He governs the visible world, preserves the harmony and guides the revolutions of all the spheres, and is the captain of all the myriads of angelic beings. This Briatic world again gave rise to (3) the World of Formation, or Yetziratic World. Its ten Sephiroth, being still farther removed from the Primordial Source, are of a less refined substance. Still they are yet without matter. It is the abode of the angels, who are wrapped in luminous garments, and who assume a sensuous form when they appear to men. The myriads of the angelic hosts who people this world are divided into ten ranks, answering to the ten Sephiroth, and each one of these numerous angels is set over a different part of the universe, and derives his name from the heavenly body or element which he guards (Zohar, i. 42). From this world finally emanated (4) the World of Action, also called the World of Matter. Its ten Sephiroth are made up of the grosser elements of the former three worlds ; they consist of material substance limited by space and percep tible to the senses in a multiplicity of forms. This world is subject to constant changes and corruption, and is the dwelling of the evil spirits. These, the grossest and most deficient of all forms, are also divided into ten degrees, each lower than the other. The first two are nothing more than th e absence of all visible form and organization ; the third degree is the abode of darkness ; whilst the remaining seven are " the seven infernal halls," occupied by the demons, who are the incarnation of all human vices. These seven hells are subdivided into innumerable compartments corresponding to every species of sin, where the demons torture the poor deluded human beings who have suffered themselves to be led astray whilst on earth. The prince of this region of darkness is Samael, the evil spirit, the serpent who seduced Eve. His wife is the Harlot or the Woman of Whoredom. The two are treated as one person, and are called " the Beast " (Zohar, ii. 255-259, with i. 35). The whole universe, however, was incomplete, and did not receive its finishing stroke till man was formed, who is the acme of the creation and the microcosm. "The heavenly Adam (i.e., the ten Sephiroth) who enamated from the highest primordial obscurity (i.e., the En Soph) created the earthly Adam" (Zohar, ii. 70). " Man is both the import and the highest degree of creation, for which reason he was formed on the sixth day. As soon as man was created everything was complete, including the upper and nether worlds, for everything is comprised in man. He unites in himself all forms " (Zohar, iii. 48). Each member of his body corresponds to a part of the visible universe. " Just as we see in the firmament above, covering all things, different signs which are formed of the stars and the planets, and which contain secret things and profound mysteries studied by those who are wise and expert in these things ; so there are in the skin, which is the cover of the body of the son of man, and which is like the sky that covers all things above, signs and features which are the stars and planets of the skin, indicating secret things and profound mysteries whereby the ise are attracted who understand the reading of the mysteries in the human face " (Zohar, ii. 76). The human form is shaped after the four letters which constitute the Tetragrammaton. The head is in the shape of * , the arms and the shoulders are like H, the breast like i, and the two legs with the back again resemble n (Zohar, ii. 72). The souls of the whole human race pre-exist in the World of Emana tions, and are all destined to inhabit human bodies. Like the Sephiroth from which it emanates, every soul has ten potencies, consisting of a trinity of triads. (1) The Spirit (HOKb), which is the highest degree of being, corresponds to and is operated upon by the Crown, which is the highest triad in the Sephiroth, and is called the Intellectual World ; (2) the Soul (f-11), which is the seat of the moral qualities, corresponds to and is operated upon by Beauty, which is the second triad in the Sephiroth, and is called the Moral World ; and (3) the Cruder Soul (&???.), which is imme diately connected with the body, and is the cause of its lower instincts and the animal life, corresponds to and is operated upon by Foundation, the third triad in the Sephiroth, called the Material World. Each soul, prior tc its entering into this world, consists of male and female united into one being. When it descends on this earth the two parts are separated and animate two different bodies. " At the time of marriage the Holy One, blessed be he, who knows all souls and spirits, unites them again as they were before ; and they again constitute one body and one soul, forming as it we re the right and the left of the individual. . . . This union, however, is influenced by the