Traditional Religious Mysticism
In the other sections of this web site I have presented only one view of mysticism, and I might even say, only one view of apophatic mysticism: my own. My view posits no need for an absolute belief (or disbelief) in an absolute deity.
On the other hand, the historic mystical tradition includes many perspectives that are quite different from my own. The traditional religious view of mysticism advocates a firm belief in an Absolute Deity. Presented in this section are some of the religious traditions that espouse such a view. I think that we may appropriately call this section:
Religious mysticism
Kabbalah
The mysticism of St. Teresa
Kabbalah
Jewish Rabbinical Kabbalah: Rabbi Yossi Markel
The Jewish Rabbinical Kabbalah is one
of the most misunderstood and
misrepresented subjects around
So I've designed 2 Kabbalah series specifically
designed
for email
1 easy - Reb Mendel's Kabbalah Miniseries for the Average Person
and
1 advanced - The New Improved Kabbalah Series
Kabbalah is relevant to people of all religious backgrounds
There is much confusion relating to this subject.
Much of this confusion comes from the
fact that there are
various disciplines which call themselves Kabbalah or
Qabbalah. These are not all the same. There is traditional
Jewish Kabbalah which is what will be taught in these
series.
There are also various non - Jewish traditions
chief of
which is the Hermetic tradition (sometimes but not always Christian)
and
various Magical (or Magickal) disciplines. If you are
interested in any of these, they are easy to find on the
web. These are different traditions and their teachings
should be viewed separately from the Jewish tradition.
We feel goodwill towards all seekers
of Truth, we are
just pointing out that in the series when we say
Kabbalah, we are referring ONLY to the Jewish tradition.
This is to prevent confusion. We have often received
letters and email telling us that we were "wrong" or
that
we differed from a "Qabalistic" teaching which the writer
had previously seen. Often this was because this other
teaching was not of the Jewish Tradition.
The Kabbalah is the deep Secret Knowledge
of the Jewish
Religion. It is part of the Torah which was originally
given to Moses on Mt. Sinai but was known even earlier.
The Kabbalah is called Razei HaTorah
- the Secrets of the
Torah. It also includes what is called Razei deRazin - the
Secrets of the Secrets which is often given the separate
name Chassidus.
We shall be covering both levels of Kabbalah
in this
series.
In general Kabbalah describes how G-d
emanated and created
the worlds out of His Own Infinite being through a process
called the Tzimtzum - the Lessening (of the Infinite
Light). Chassidus offers insights into the Infinite Light
before the Tzimtzum and into the Atsmus - the Selfness of
G-d.
One last point, in the Jewish Tradition,
the Unity of G-d
does not refer to the fact that there is one rather than
two gods. It means that there is only one Existence. There
is only G-d and nothing else at all.
In these series we shall try as much
as possible to present
the Kabbalah in a non-sectarian manner. This is not always
possible since we are presenting the Kabbalah from a
Jewish perspective. So please keep in mind that we are in
no way trying to preach or proselytize. This series is
presented to be informative and open up a subject which
was a closely guarded secret for a long time.
These series are designed to be useful even for a novice.
The posts can be studied in approx 10
- 15 minutes
I am not trying to proselytize or convince in any way but
am just trying to bring to light a subject which has been shrouded
in
mystery for millenniums
Our series are based on Shaar HaYichud
- The Gate of Unification, Also known as Kuntres HaHisbonenus
- Tract on Contemplation Of the Mittler Rebbe the Holy Reb DovBer
of Lubavitch may his merit protect us and may this translation
help bring the Messiah immediately, NOW!
The Gate of Unification can be divided into two basic parts -
the first, consisting of chapters one through nine, comes as a
direct continuation of Kuntres HaHispaalus Tract on Awakening
(or Excitement of the emotions), where it explained the necessity
for hisbonenus. This first section continues by explaining what
hisbonenus-(contemplation) is, how one is to structure this contemplation,
and on what to contemplate.
Since the first section concludes that one must contemplate on all of the details of the hishtalshellus (-the chain like process of cause and effect that the infinite divine light continually undergoes in the perpetual act of creation, i.e., the chaining down of the worlds Atzilus , Briyah, Yetzirah, Asiyah (Emenation, Creation, Formation & Action)), the second section proceeds to delineate a synopsis and clear explanation of the whole of the Lurian Kabbalah explained according to the teachings of the Chassidic Masters.
This book has been called THE KEY to Kabbalah and Chassidus
IT IS THE ONLY BOOK OF ITS KIND !!!
for though there are others, such as Etz Chaiim The Tree of Life, that compile the Kabbalah they do not explain the concepts in tangible terms with physical analogies and so there is a great risk of misunderstanding the teachings presented there. This is why these teachings were, for a long time, not taught to the public - for fear that they would misunderstand them. For a time the Kabbalah was only taught to men at least forty years old who were fluent in the entire Tanach (the Jewish Bible, it is an abbreviation for the Hebrew name of its three parts the Torah-Pentateuch, Nevi’im-Prophets, and Kissuvim-Writings) and Talmud (Jewish law) and even then it was only taught privately one-on-one. There also existed another problem of being liable to fall into the evil side of Kabbalah or go crazy.
However, both of these problems are avoided when one learns the Kabbalah according to the explanations of Chassidus. The reason for this is twofold, one, because it is taught with proper analogies to help one understand, and two, because the teachings of Chassidus explain one step higher than the Kabbalah itself. For, while the Kabbalah explains how the Infinite Light is invested in the sfiros and worlds, what is called the razzin or secrets of the Torah, the teachings of Chassidus are called the razzey d’razzin - the secrets of the secrets, for they go even further to even explain how the Infinite Light exists before it is contracted to create the worlds, as it is united with G-d Himself. This helps to prevent the mistake of thinking of the Kabbalah as purely mechanistic, which is unfortunately a common error.
Now, with these teachings, the Kabbalah has become more accessible. One no longer has to be forty or a Torah Scholar. Also, the Lubavitcher Rebbe declared that it is now even more important for women to study it than men, and it should now be made as public as possible. This is all part of the process that the world is undergoing with the approach of the Messianic era, the central theme of which is the spreading of the Knowledge of G-d until it covers everything as the water covers the sea. This "flood" of divine knowledge was predicted in the Zohar, a basic text of the early Kabbalah, more than two thousand years ago, stating that in the year 1840 the wellsprings of both secular and G-dly Knowledge would open in preparation for the Messiah. This date corresponds to the beginning of the technological advancements of the industrial revolution and also the beginning of the spreading of the Chassidic teachings. (1840 is one interpretation of what the Zohar says.)
May G-d accept favorably our good intentions for the benefit of every person who searches for G-d with truth and sincerity and may will be judged favorably for anything that might be improper in the eyes of the sages, as it is stated "who can discern unintentional sins from unknown transgressions cleanse me etc."
Rabbi Yossi Markel
Moshiach@nauticom.net
KABBALAH ON LINE http://www.geocities.com/Kabbalahonline
http://www.truekabbalah.com
The material is copyrighted by Rabbi Yossi Markel (reprinted on
this website with permission)
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"In the orison of union the soul is fully awake as regards God, but wholly asleep as regards things of this world and in respect of herself. During the short time and union lasts, she is as it were deprived of every feeling, and even if she would, she could not think of any single thing. thus she needs to employ no artifice in order to arrest the use of her understanding: it remains so stricken with inactivity that she neither knows what she loves, nor what she wills. In short, she is utterly dead to the things of the world and lives solely in God....I do not even know whether in this state she has enough life left to breathe. It seems to me she has not; or at least that if she does breathe, she is unaware of it. Her intellect would fain understand something of what is going on within her, but it has so little force now that it can act in no way whatsover, So a person who falls into a deep faint appears as if dead....
Thus does God, when he raises a soul to union with himself, suspends
the natural action of all her faculties. She neither sees, hears,
nor understands, so long as she is united with God. but this time
is always short, and it seems even shorter than it is. God establishes
himself in the interiour of this soul in such a way, that when
she returns to herself, it is wholly impossible for her to doubt
that she has been in God, and God in her."
From "The Varieties of Religious Experinece" William James, 1902.
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