The Flaming Sword and the Icy Shield: Why Mysticism is a Healthy Dose for Faith

Sir, You say that we cannot possibly phantom G-d, That His familiarly is beyond us. To some extent, This is true, But are we really staring at a one-way mirror? The prophet Jeremiah happens to disagree, Let's bring in some quotes. Jeremiah 31:33, "And no longer shall one teach his neighbor or one his brother, Saying, 'Know the Lord, ' for they shall all know Me. '" Jeremiah 9:23 says, "But let him that boasts exult in this, That he understands and knows me, For I am the Lord Who practices kindness, Justice and righteousness on the earth. " What is G-d saying here? That it is possible to know Him, Insomuch that we understand Him. Those verses from the Torah and Isaiah are describing G-d's eternal essence, Not His character. This, Of course, Is in total agreement with the Kabbalistic understanding. In fact, We have to first identify some Kabbalistic terms, And accurately define them, As I'm getting a sense that many who will be reading this won't understand what we're trying to say here. The first lesson in Kabbalah is that it says there are different levels to G-d, But why is this? Because G-d did not create out of ex nihilo, But rather, Emanation. In other words, He did not will creation, It came from Him, And creation is happening even now, It never ceases! In Bereshis (Genesis), We find four creations, Not one. These all correspond to G-d's Name, Yod, He, Vov, He. Each letter represents four states of conscientiousness: 1) body, 2) heart, 3) mind, And 4) spirit. When one is in a deep state of prayer (davening), She can open all these inner-states and experience them. Literally, One is rising through words of the sefirot (seven supernal lights, Or attributes of G-d, See 1 Chronicles 29:11 for a biblical basis). It is a way of connecting with the Divine, From the inside-out. When one"s reached such a high spiritual level, One reaches Olam Atsiluth, The "world of Emanation, " which is the highest level of the four worlds. Now, Where do angels fit in all this? G-d is like an infinite electrical charge which needs transformers, And these angels are just that. In fact, One could argue that they are manifestations of the Divine, And are like layers and layers of garments placed on the body. In intuition, There"s no need to discredit their existence. Why is it so hard to perceive them? Because we live in the material world, The world of Self. However, By journeying up, We enter first into the realm of assiyah (doing), And yetzirah (feeling), And then, Beriah, Or first creation. This, In Buddhism, Would be samsara, In Platonic logic, It is the World of Forms. Beriah is the opening source of the objective world, It is the source of name and of form and individuality, Though it in itself is not "objective, " but rather, The Divine mind conceiving objects. Remember Olam Atsiluth? The world of Emanation? The final world? Here, It is so infinite, That it is full of both actuality and emptiness at the same time. So, G-d is everywhere, And yet, He"s nowhere. So, Your intuition, Arising from the realm of emanation into thought in the realm of creation, Transformed into a shape in the realm of formation, And, Finally, Into action in the realm of function. Now, The Lurianic Kabbalists also added one final stage, That of "Adam Kadmon, " being conceived as the mythical body of the first man with a soul, Adam. So, The next time you find yourself doing a brakhot (daily blessings), Or any a number of mitzvot, Do it with mindfulness. In Buddhist terms, Connecting to G-d with "right aspiration, Right feeling. " In Jewish thought, Kavvanah. So when you fall to sleep, Ask yourself, "Did I do something right today? " On Shabbaos, "What did I accomplish this week? " On Rosh HaShanna (the Jewish New Year), The same question. When one wrongs you, Was their a reason you're missing? You see here that one is seeking that left-over karma, It is the search for the other's perspective; in the realm of thought (hitbonenut), Because this world is impermanent. This leads us back to the Jewish concept of galgal ha-hazer, The turning wheel, Or in English, "what comes around, Goes around. " Armed with this information, One can really appreciate the Jewish view of removing the simplistic notion of G-d serving as autocrat. This alignment, Of course, Correlates directly with Buddhist thought. Even though many of our prayers depict G-d in an image, Such as Father, Or King of kings, This cosmology, As presented by the Kabbalists, Suppresses such imagery. Because G-d is not a "thing. " He is Ein Sof - or an impersonal infinite, Or, In some interpretations, Nothing. Imagine it for a moment. G-d is nothing. G-d" nothing. We cannot comprehend this, And yet, It is true. Of course, This isn"t entirely identical to the Buddhist shunyata, But it's the closest we"re going to get. It is a radical understanding of monotheism. In Kabbalistic thought, We attempt to reach a state of pure annihilation of the personal, And to do this, One needs to find him or herself with G-d. That is, Until one gets off the wheel. Try to visualize it like this: throughout each incarnation, A soul is given a garment to wear. If we were bad, A little of the garment is cut off. If good, A little is patched back on. Once we've finished the task, It becomes a garment of light. Once all the souls in the universe have achieved this, Then comes the Messiah, Then comes perfection. The problem is, Jewish mysticism is mostly rejected outside of the Haredi world. Not much people know of it, And if they do, They laugh it off as mere "fairy-tales, " and go back to being pure "Rationalists, " whatever that means But as I"ve said before, Just reading Rambam alone is not enough. Of course, It"s important to keep the halacha, But don"t go to him for mystical secrets. He"s an expert in halacha, And that"s all he was ever meant to be. He isn't the go-to expert when it comes to Kabbalah. Yes, He covered some mystical aspects in Moreh Nevuchim (Guide for the Perplexed), But that work mostly dealt with philosophy. It"s not Kabbalistic by far, Even though it talks of different levels of creation like Sefirot through which G-d's shefa is passed through before it reaches us. To give you a brief example of their incompatibility, Kabbalists say that human action can influence the Divine realm, And that it is necessary for G-d's "well-being, " or His plan. This is entirely antithetical to Rambam's approach of G-d as being unmoved, And thus, Disallowing influence by human action or thought. It also forces us to realize, If it's true, That we have no part in creation, But this was never the Torah's intention. The Talmud tells us that the "Torah is not in heaven, " (Bava Metzia 59a-b, Quoting Deuteronomy 30:12). Wew! I can't believe we got through all that in one sitting! Okay, I didn't have time to cover an in-depth analysis and refute your claims, One by one, But I promise to get to that as soon as the next round is open for me. I thank you again, And shalom.