The following (text only) is taken from Chapter Four of
The Secret Garden of the Soul - An Introduction to the Kabbalah by Allan Armstrong. First published by Imagier Publishing in 2008
A great deal of Kabbalistic doctrine is concerned in one
way or another with the nature, experience, and destiny of the soul.
Yet, although many authors, both ancient and modern, have
engaged with the psychology of the soul, few
have really explained what they actually mean by the word. Some refer to the
soul in terms of it being an entity; that such and such a person is a young or
old soul; others refer to it in terms of it being a vehicle: my soul is filled
with joy or love. But still the question remains: What is
meant by the term ‘soul?’
The general consensus treats the soul as being the
life-principle by which we think, will, know, and feel. Some believe that this
principle is of an entirely non-material and spiritual nature, whilst others think of
it as a material substance, a simple by-product of the chemistry of matter. Some
attribute to it immortality, others believe it
to be no more than mortal. Some think of it being a simple undifferentiated
creature incapable of division, while others see it as a creature of many
parts.
For example, the ancient Egyptians believed that a person
possessed a physical body (Khat), and an
immaterial double of the body known as the Ka. Furthermore, the Ka was also associated
with the Ba,
which was understood to reside within the heart. The Ka and the Ba dwelled in the tomb
with the body, and were able to wander away from the body. Their continued
existence, however, depended upon offerings being made by family and friends of
the deceased. The existence of the Ka and the Ba
was understood to come to an end eventually when offerings ceased. The
permanent life-giving principle was the Khu, a term that means
something like ‘spirit-soul’, whose nature was understood to be
unchangeable, incorruptible, and immortal. When the body died, it was possible
to raise up from it, by means of religious ceremonies, a spirit-body called a Sahu, which the Khu would inhabit and enter heaven to live with Osiris and
the blessed for all eternity. There are other views concerning the apparently
very complex psychology of the ancient
Egyptians.
In Hinduism the Sanskrit word for the soul is atman, a word that
means breath or wind, a correspondence that appears to be almost universal. The
atman is regarded as a fragment or particle of the divine, and as such is
understood to have divine attributes; thus it is eternal, without magnitude,
and indestructible. The atman is often confused with the jiva,
which is the vitalizing element in all living things, affected by phenomena and
subject to the transitory effects of the sensitive life, such as pain and
pleasure, whereas the atman is the permanent substrate of the individual.
To the people of ancient Greece the soul was commonly
known as Psyche, which besides meaning breath, life, and spirit, also means butterfly
or moth, a motif frequently used in ancient Greece as an emblem of the immortal
soul. In the late Hellenic world it was held that the soul descended to earth from the heights of heaven, and that as it
descended it was first clothed in an ethereal garment of
non-material purity; as it continued its descent through the planetary spheres, it received
first a solar garment then a lunar garment. Finally it was
born into a physical body.
Alternatively, the followers of Orpheus understood that man
consisted of two distinct natures: a mortal, physical nature, derived from the
Titans and an immortal spiritual nature derived from Dionysus. From this principle
they taught that the soul must free itself by sublimating the passionate
titanic nature and regenerating the divine Dionysian nature that lies within. In
both cases the soul must shed the garments of the body to realise its own
pristine nature.
Within the Christian Church the most popular view today is that a
person consists of an immortal soul and a mortal body. Many Christian theologians maintain
that a fully developed soul is infused into the embryo at conception. However,
opinions concerning this do vary; the constitution and formation of the soul
has been the subject of a long and continuing debate. In the first century, St. Paul taught that man
consisted of a mortal terrestrial body and an
immortal celestial body. He writes, ‘The first man was of
the earth, made of dust; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of
dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly man, so
also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of
dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man’.
Scholastic philosophers, as exemplified by Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century, understood the
soul to be composed of a spiritual substance, and that it incarnated in three
progressive stages of development: vegetative, sensitive, and rational. The
first, the vegetative stage, corresponds with conception and the earliest
development of the embryo; the second, the sensitive stage, emerges
as the embryo develops; and the third, the rational stage, manifests as the
embryo reaches maturity in the womb and completes the process of incarnation.
These stages are
consistent with Aquinas’ assertion that three things are to be
found in spiritual substances: Essence, Power, and Operation. It is a notion that
is comparable with the Hypostases of Neoplatonic thought; Essence corresponding with
the One, Power with Nous, and Operation with the World Soul. Indeed, the influence of Neoplatonism is to
be found in the doctrines of medieval Kabbalah and is in keeping
with the doctrines taught in many esoteric Christian circles.
Over the course of time, Jewish theology has expressed
many different views on the nature and destiny of the
soul. The classical and most enduring view is that of the Resurrection; which is the
belief that at the end of the age the dead will be revived by God, complete with their
bodies, to live again on earth. The biblical view of the Resurrection is best summed up
in Daniel 12:2–3, where it says, ‘And many of them that sleep in the dust of
the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproach and
everlasting shame. And the wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament
and some of the many righteous as the stars for ever and ever’. This
doctrine encapsulates two basic conceptions. The first suggests the unity of body and soul; two equal
components of humanity. The second proposes a moral dimension that
determines the nature of post-resurrection existence.
However, the Bible is not absolutely clear
about the posthumous fate of the soul—the most distinct view expressed being
that the soul descends into a kind of Hades called Sheol, wherein it leads
a vague, ethereal, and shadowy existence. During the time
of the Second Temple, the concept of an immortal, posthumous
existence in the heavenly realms arose, and competed with the more traditional
concept of the resurrection of the dead.
Eventually, the belief in the immortality of the soul became
a fundamental principle of both the Jewish and Christian faiths.
In the Talmudic period
the rabbis generally taught that the soul was separable
from the body (Gen. 2:7); separating during sleep to draw nourishment from the
spiritual realms and, at death, leaving the body only to be reunited with it
again at the Resurrection. At the same time, some of the rabbis taught that after death a righteous soul
entered the Garden of Eden and that wicked souls went to Gehinnom; or that righteous souls ascended upward,
to be gathered into the Treasury, while wicked souls were cast back upon the earth—in other words, they were subject to reincarnation; opinions about this have differed
from time to time, and place to place.
The Hebrew word for reincarnation or the transmigration of souls is Gilgul. However, it should be noted that
Talmudic tradition does not overtly acknowledge this
doctrine, although later mystics have interpreted various rabbinical texts as
allegories suggesting it. On the other hand, Kabbalistic doctrine does clearly
support and teach the transmigration of souls. Gilgul is evident in the Bahir, the earliest of the medieval Kabbalistic
texts, in which several passages refer to the transmigration of souls. For example:
"Why is there a righteous person who has good, and [another] righteous person who has evil? This is because the [second] righteous person was wicked previously, and is now being punished. Is one then punished for his childhood deeds? Did not Rabbi Simon say that in the Tribunal on high, no punishment is meted out until one is twenty years or older. He said: I am not speaking of his present lifetime. I am speaking about what he has already been, previously."
The Bahir was not unique in holding this position on transmigration. But it should be noted that among
medieval Kabbalists the teachings concerning transmigration were quite narrow and generally
confined to specific circumstances. Not every soul was subject to transmigration, but only those for whom it was
absolutely necessary. It was taught that the righteous—those who had fulfilled
their obligations as Jews—had no need to reincarnate, whereas, the majority of
souls, those who had failed in their obligations, and were therefore to some
degree sinners, became subject to the process of transmigration. The incorrigibly wicked, alas,
were to be condemned to the fires of hell. It
was also taught that the number of incarnations was generally limited to three.
Although the soul is
essentially one thing it may be divided into several distinct parts. This is
clearly demonstrated in the Zohar where the prevailing view is that the soul
consists of three parts: the Nephesh, Ruach, and Neshemah. Gershom
Scholem states that the early Kabbalists knew of
only three parts to the soul, and it was only at a later date that further
refinements took place in schools such as Safed. Subsequent schools have identified more varied and complex
divisions.
The term Nephesh refers to the part of the soul
that is associated with the body and all of those things
connected with sustaining our physical being throughout life. It is not the
body itself, but the lowest expression of the spiritual life of the soul. Its nature is to fulfil the needs
of the flesh and to preserve it from harm; it is appetitive and driven to
survive at all costs. It has no light or energy of its own but receives
its sustenance from the Ruach. Although its responsibility is to the
physical body it is attributed to the world of Yetzirah and corresponds with
the etheric body.
The term ‘Ruach’ refers to the faculty
of consciousness associated with
the principle of rational thought. It is through the Ruach that the soul is
sustained. If the life force of the Ruach were to be withdrawn
then death would ensue because the Nephesh would be unable to maintain itself
in the body. The Ruach is attributed to the
world of Briah and corresponds with the spiritual body, but for most of humanity it is a spiritual
body subject to the vicissitudes of the passionate nature.
The term ‘Neshamah’ refers to the spiritual faculty of
the soul. It is the sovereign reason within us, which is the true spiritual
intellect above the rational mind. It is hewn from the source of life and from
the wellspring of intelligence and wisdom, and is attributed to
the world of Atziluth.
That all exist as part
of one thing is unquestionable, but few in this world are able to take
advantage of the powers of all three. It is said that every soul is
conscious at the level of Nephesh; however, it is taught that if it is used
well, to its highest potential, then consciousness of the Ruach is bestowed upon the soul.
If the soul is also able to use the Ruach to its highest purpose then the divine Godhead exalts the soul, bestowing upon it the crown of Neshamah. It is the objective of all true
seekers, for it is through the power of the Neshamah that the Ruach is emancipated from the shackles of the
mundane world and thus able to realise its true spiritual nature. Other names attributed to it are the Higher
Self, the Overself, and the Holy Guardian Angel of the soul.
These attributions,
however, should not be confused with the concept of the Tselem, which notionally, at least,
corresponds with the astral body. In medieval Kabbalistic thought the
Higher Self, or true spiritual self, was attributed to the Tselem. This concept is based on Genesis 1:26, where it states: ‘Then God said, let Us make man, in our image, according
to our likeness’. However, the Zohar regards the Tselem as the etheric or astral body that serves as
the intermediary between the soul and the physical body. It was thought that
because the nature of the Neshamah and the Nephesh were too
removed from each other to form a proper bond, the Tselem was created, woven, as it were, as a garment
from man’s previous good deeds. Thereby illustrating a deeper teaching
concerning how significant morality and obedience to the Torah was to the soul’s ongoing existence. This
etheric form was considered to be our true form, which could only be revealed
to the purified spiritual sight of the dedicated Kabbalist.
The distinction between
the Neshamah, our essential spiritual individuality, and the Tselem is that the Tselem is the vehicle—the form, not the essence—through which the will of the Neshamah is
manifest, its primary purpose being to serve as a mold, or pattern, for the physical body. It is better known
today as the etheric body. It is also the vehicle through which
other unnatural and perverse forces and entities of the Klippoth may
manifest themselves. Innumerable magical texts, particularly from medieval
times, are concerned with invoking this vehicle or form to serve purposes for
which it was not intended, and for which there is invariably a terrible cost to
pay. Concerning which it is said: ‘Invoke not the visible Image of the Soul of Nature’.
There is a tradition, albeit one that arose much later than
the Zohar, of attributing the letters of the Tetragrammaton to different levels of the soul This
requires dividing the soul into four distinct parts, the highest of which is
the Yehidah. Much of what we have contemplated
so far concerning the Neshamah is attributed in this scale to the Yehidah. Concerning this method of attribution
Arthur Edward Waite states:
There
is also a correspondence between the four letters of the Tetragrammaton and certain diverse parts or aspects of
the soul in man. The letter YOD is in analogy with
YEHIDAH, a spiritual state or mode in the ascending scale of inward being, and
with all that is postulated above it, the human singularitas, the Christian apex of the soul and Divine Selfhood.
The HE
primal answers to NESHAMAH the sovereign reason within us, above material mind; the VAU
connects with RUA’H which is the normal intellectuality, the rational
principle; and the HE final with NEPHESH, the side on which humanity is related to the animal world. It is the
lower vitalitas, and is not as such the physical body, which is, however, its vehicle.13
There is another
perspective that perceives the soul as being divided into five distinct parts.
According to the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria, there are five worlds: the first is that
of the Adam Kadmon, the rest follow the traditional system of the four worlds—Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiah. Accordingly Yehidah is allocated to the world of Adam Kadmon.
In human terms the Yehidah is the essential self, the quintessence
of the human personality. Chiah is attributed to Atziluth; in us it is the real life-principle,
the vitalitas, as distinct from the more illusionary life of the physical body.
Neshamah is
attributed to Briah, Ruach, to Yetzirah, and the Nephesh, to Assiah.
Another variation is based on the Tree of Life being divided into two sections: an
upper and a lower. The upper section corresponds to the spiritual dimension of
the soul and the lower to the physical. Thus: to Kether is attributed Yehidah, to Chokmah is attributed Chiah, to Binah is attributed Neshamah, to Chesed is attributed the Ruach, and to Geburah is attributed the Nephesh. Rabbi Azriel of Gerona maintains the same concept but with
different attributions. He assigned the Ruach to Binah, the Nephesh to Chesed, and the Neshamah to Geburah. There are
other attributions, many of which are confusing to anyone but those initiated
into their use.
From both a Jewish and
a Christian Kabbalistic perspective, the soul is in
a fallen state and must rise out of it; this is the principal work of the
Kabbalist, to regenerate and reintegrate the soul; both of the individual and
of humanity itself. The first step in achieving this objective, as is the
primary work of spiritual aspirants everywhere, lies in undertaking the work of
self-improvement, whereby one may participate in the great work of spiritual regeneration. In the Christian mysteries, the path of the soul’s
spiritual perfection may be understood as consisting of seven stages, thus:
1.
Purification of the senses, appetites and desires
2.
Control of the tongue
3.
Examination and purification of conscience
4.
Prayer
5.
Meditation on the maxims of faith
6.
Development of virtue
7.
Frequent Communion.
It is no different for initiates in any other faith or philosophy. Indeed, the same
kind of work is undertaken by the apprentice Freemason, who is likened to a
rough stone freshly taken from the quarry, and who must be shaped into the
perfect cube before he is fit for use in the construction
of the Temple; the analogy being that until his
mind and nature are sufficiently refined he will be unable
to engage in the spiritual work.
The same may be recognised in the labours of the
initiates of the mystery schools of the Greco-Roman world. Before
undertaking the Cathartic rites, they must
first develop the civic virtues, moderating their passions and learning to live
in harmony with society. These same
virtues—prudence, fortitude, justice, and temperance, are also the
basis for the essential work of spiritual regeneration.
Thus it is that the Talmud instructs those who have the eyes to see
that the process of spiritual regeneration begins with purifying the instinctive
nature of the Nephesh. Aryeh Kaplan informs us that there are ten steps
outlined in the Talmud that if followed diligently, will enable
the soul to purify the Nephesh; these are:
1. Study
2.
Carefulness
3.
Diligence
4.
Cleanliness
5.
Abstention
6.
Purity
7.
Piety
8.Humility
9.
Fear of sin
10.
Holiness.14
The completion of these preparatory steps enables the
soul to engage with work that is invariably far too refined for a mind
otherwise steeped in the animal nature of the Nephesh. Such a soul, having
struggled in the outer halls of discipline understands the real meaning of the
words: ‘Receive instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than tried gold. For Wisdom is better
than precious stones; and no valuable substance is of equal worth to it’.15 Those who have laboured thus, find themselves in a
state of consciousness that enables
them to enter into the silent depths of their being and engage in the work of a
Kabbalist. Indeed, the point cannot be emphasised too much that the work of the
Kabbalist is an interior work that uses the rational mind as a launching point
toward spiritual integration and understanding.
The main objective is not the elevation of consciousness but the
transformation of the nature of consciousness. It goes without
saying that the study of the scriptures along with other relevant material is an important part
of the work. However, without the discipline of prayer and meditation, such studies are
merely an intellectual exercise...
Available through your local bookshop.
Details: The Secret Garden of the Soul,
by Allan Armstrong;
ISBN: 978-0-9558415-0-7
Price £15.50
or from :
amazon.com
Details: The Secret Garden of the Soul,
by Allan Armstrong;
ISBN: 978-0-9558415-0-7
Price £15.50
or from :
amazon.com
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