A Soul Connection

Exploring a Kabbalistic View of Nothingness

Awakened at 3:33 a.m. thinking of nothingness and emptiness; and it was like a part of me trying to write poetry about it. And, then, my mind began looking at those two word-concepts and experiences. I thought of Ayn Sof Nothingness and Malkhut as emptiness.

In the Kabbalistic creation story, Ayn Sof (Nothingness) pulls back and makes space within Itself for creation to take place – Nothing-ness makes room for Something-ness. From my analytical (?) perspective, it appears that Nothing becomes One and then makes room for an Other – Two. There’s a part of me that asks: “How does that work?” And, another part answers: “Don’t even try to figure it out.” Well, the true part of each of these ‘voices’ in my head is that, yes, I’d like to understand, and yes, I don’t think I can ‘figure it out;’ however, I can be open to the potential of understanding as it unfolds – if it unfolds.

This Kabbalistic view of nothingness included a memory of my experience of Malkhut and emptiness as the last sephirah on the traditional Tree of Life. In this memory-concept, Malkhut is empty – has no light of its own – yet reflects the light from all the other sephirot. Malkhut has this reflective quality, like a mirror, or still water, or . . . hmmm . . . a question just arose: “I wonder if the qualities of clear transparency AND reflectiveness can be combined (integrated)?” As I look up from my writing, I notice a glass covering on the doors to our stereo cabinet. I can see a reflection; AND, I can see it’s transparency -- I can see the stereo equipment through the glass. So, my direct experience in this moment answers the question – yes, both qualities can co-exist together. So, this could mean Malkhut’s quality of emptiness can co-exist with its quality of reflectiveness. Could this be called transparent-reflectiveness? Or, maybe reflective-transparency? Interesting.

I’ve always thought of Malkhut as a container; and, in my perception of containers, they hold something, or nothing (could be empty). And, here’s where my distinguishing nothingness and emptiness came from, I think. I experienced emptiness as the inside of a container and nothingness as nothing, boundless nothing. I’m thinking of how, when one says: “there’s nothing in there,” that the reference is to there being nothing inside (within) and that is usually synonymous with empty.

Now the Buddhist “Emptiness is Form; Form is Emptiness” arises. And, with this Emptiness-Form-Emptiness I think “because boundlessness is not perceived” – the form, some boundedness, exists to hold the emptiness, as well as fullness . . . without the boundedness there is no form; then there is nothingness.

I just noticed the reflective quality of my cat’s eyes as she sits in my lap and looks up at me. This experience reminded me that reflectiveness is not always empty as well; it’s the surface that’s reflective, in this case, where with water and the glass door-cover, it’s the substance, the material (matter); however, in each example, light is necessary for the reflectiveness. I would not be able to see the reflections without light. Now the question arises: “Does the quality of reflectiveness need light?” I think so.

And, now I’m sensing this “bouncing-ness” that’s a felt-thought having to do with the relationship of light and reflection. There’s a bouncing-back-sense. This piece feels important but I’m not “getting it” yet. It does feel that it has to do with soul, personal consciousness, but I’m not getting the particulars yet.

I just got this image-thought-question: “What if Ayn Sof created Malkhut first?” And then, this scenario flowed out from that question:

The space within (that Ayn Sof created from Itself) had a reflective quality, so that in the presence of light (with the awareness of Itself), One could see a reflection of Itself. This reflection is an image. Assuming Ayn Sof was aware of the Light (since It is Light), It would see Itself, or the image of Itself.

Another thought arises: “We were made in God’s image.” Then, “We are a reflection of the Divine.” Then, “Everything we see is a reflection of the Divine.” Next, this image-thought of Ayn Sof shining a light on parts of Itself. Since Ayn Sof is boundless, I can’t imagine a “mirror” capable of reflecting boundlessness in total (an interesting limited perspective, possibly?). The Kabbalistic perspective, however, is that we could not perceive this totality without shattering. Is the “we” that would shatter our personal consciousness, our very soul? Or, is the “we” that would shatter our identifications created by our Ego-Personality?

Back to the “idea” of Malkhut being the reflective quality and the first sephirah. This looks to me like an upside down tree now. And, now the thought: “Out of nothingness, an awareness arose that included a desire To Know Itself and To Understand Itself.” This statement reminds me of Keter, Chochmah, and Binah. The question arises now: “How far back in time have human beings (wise ones?) been saying: “Know Thyself.”

Let’s look at this upside-down tree now as a process To Know Thyself:

1. Malkhut is the reflective quality; it reflects back as Light shines (awareness shines?) It may also include the quality of transparency. (depending on what?)
2. Yesod is a foundation and is the ground (of Reality? Being? Awareness?). Our perception of the ground upon which we stand, our reality, our Being depends on what? Or, is it Yesod that has the transparent quality? i.e., a glass bottom boat.
3. Netzach/Hod – a process of becoming – is like a seed planted in the ground. Within the seed is the blueprint of whatever the see is to become. And, within the growth and development process, there’s persistence and determination to continue, to survive at first, and then to thrive. There are stages in this process of growth and development. During each stage there are various identifications, i.e., a seedling, a sprout, a young plant, a mature plant. Growth can be affected by any number of conditions: container size, food, light, water. A healthy Hod is awareness of its own nature of becoming; awareness of itself in relation to its foundation; and, it’s movement toward the Light and growth (change).
4. Tiferet is the attainment of a natural balance, harmony with the Truth of the process of becoming with awareness of the present state within this process, which has evolved from previous states/stages.
5. Gevurah/Hesed is the contraction and expansion that is eternal and present within each moment of the process; it’s a Divine inhalation, exhalation, and the pauses in between.

To be continued . . .