The soul, however, can see the Divine Light - Zohar

[Guest guest]

>

> God Almighty (Brahman) resides within all humans as Light, a fact

> that is supported by all scriptures. Thus we can meditate on Him

> within and that long search for the Creator is at last over,

> ending within ourselves. That is why Jesus kept telling the

> ignorant masses two millennia ago that the Kingdom of God is

> within.

>

> A few months ago i asked my daughter Lalita what is that Light

> above Shri Mataji in her Sahasrara (Kingdom of God). She

> replied " God! "

>

> i remained silent for a long time to absorb the immensity of that

> single word answer.

>

> jagbir

>

 

The Splendour

 

As with Christianity and Islam, Scriptural references about the

Divine Light are not abundant in Judaism, but are certainly present.

The writer of the book of Psalms refers to God as He " who coverest

thyself with light as with a garment... " (Ps. 104:2). The book of

Daniel tells us that God " knoweth what is in the darkness, and the

Light dwelleth with him " (Dan. 2:22). The prophet Ezekiel witnessed

a very dramatic vision of God:

 

And I looked, and behold,

a whirlwind came out of the north,

a great cloud,

and a fire infolding itself

and a brightness was about it...

 

And I saw as the colour of amber,

as the appearance or fire round

about within it...

I saw as it were

the appearance of fire,

and it had brightness round about.

 

As the appearance of the bow

that is in the cloud in the day of rain,

so was the appearance

of the brightness round about.

This was the appearance of the

likeness of the glory of the LORD...

(Ezekiel 1:4, 27-28).

 

 

Together with this vision were images of various creatures and a

man. Fire was also among these creatures, " and the fire was bright,

and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures

ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning " (Ez.

1:13-14). The Lord went on to tell the prophet that Israel was a

rebellious nation. Because of its wrongdoing before the Lord, the

nation was in exile, and captive to other nations. The prophet was

to tell Israel to change its ways, to do what was right before God.

To aid him in his task, another vision of God appeared, and the

spirit of God entered Ezekiel so that God would speak to Israel

through the prophet (Ez. 3: 23-27). One day in front of the elders

of Judah, the book of Ezekiel tells us that

 

Then I beheld, and lo a likeness

as the appearance of fire...

as the appearance of brightness,

as the colour of amber.

 

And... the spirit lifted me

up between the earth and the heaven,

and brought me in the

visions of God to Jerusalem...

(Ez. 8:1-3).

 

 

Like other prophets of Israel and Judah, Ezekiel spoke for God to

set the nation straight from its errant ways. In Ezekiel's case this

was done in one of the most stunning and captivating visions of God

and His bright light ever told.

 

Further references to the Divine Light are found in the writings of

Philo. Philo felt that " of all things, light is best, " first because

it drew mankind's attention upwards to heaven.1 Even more than that,

though, light is " pre-eminently beautiful. " This Divine Light is not

perceptible to the senses -- i.e. through one's eyes -- but it can

be seen through the mind,

 

for the intelligible as far surpasses the visible

in the brilliance of its radiance, as sunlight

assuredly surpasses darkness day and night...2

 

 

This Light which is accessible to the mind is to Philo the source of

all light -- what we see with our eyes is simply varying degrees of

dimness away from pure light. Philo would call this pure, brilliant

light

 

'all brightness,' to signify that from which

sun and moon, as well as fixed stars and planets

draw... for that pure and undiluted radiance is

bedimmed so soon as it begins to undergo the change

that is entailed from the intelligible to the sensibly

discerned for no object of sense is free from dimness.3

 

 

To Philo, all that we see is a dim version of the pure light, the

light of God. We can never see God with our eyes, though; it would

be far too bright. Only through the mind can we " see " God, whom

Philo identifies with this brilliant radiance, the purest of all

light:

 

.... for He Himself is His own light.

For the eye of the Absolute Existent

needs no other light to effect perception,

but He Himself is the archetypal essence

of which myriads of rays are the effluence,

none visible to sense, all to mind.4

 

 

So how does the mind go about finding God's light? Philo tells us

that to see this, we must practice virtue and pursue the

truth. " Life, " says Philo, " has no clearer light than truth. " 5 The

lover of virtue is " set on fire by the brilliant appearance of the

beautiful.... " 6 At this point, longing to see the Great King

Himself, " pure and untempered rays of concentrated light stream

forth like a torrent, so that by its gleams the eye of the

understanding is dazzled. " 7 Finally one reaches " that most brilliant

and truly divine light of virtue. " 8

 

For Philo, this place of brilliant light and perfect virtue is Eden.

Eden is a place of " profound content (sic) and joy. " 9 This is the

consummate end for the perfectly righteous person; Philo tells us

that " the soul's feast is the joy and gladness which the perfect

virtues bring, and by perfect is meant virtues unspotted by all the

tainting evils to which the human race is liable. " 10

 

As a Jew living in Alexandria, Philo was certainly influenced by

Hellenistic (Greek) culture. The ideas of the Stoics and Plato are

unmistakable. And so, very clearly, was he influenced by his own

religious heritage: the entire discourse we have seen so far was a

commentary on Hebrew Scripture. Not so culture-bound, however, was

Philo's description of the Divine Light. Once again we find an

account of someone who has " seen " this super-brilliant light -- an

experience which is accompanied by unsurpassed joy.

 

Beyond Philo, the Rabbinic literature also makes reference to this

brilliant, Divine Light. David Shapiro tells us that " we read in the

Sifra that, while man cannot see the glory of God during his

lifetime, he can see it at the time of his death.... Hence, we have

such expressions as the righteous envisioning 'the brilliance of the

Divine presence' in the afterlife. There are also Talmudic reports

of a pillar of light which precedes the bier of the righteous. " 11

 

By far the most numerous references to the Divine Light, however,

comes with Jewish mysticism -- the Kabbalah. In the Zohar

(meaning " splendour " ), we find once again the mystic yearning to get

closer to God, to see His Light, and feel the joy that so often

accompanies that contact. As we might expect, the Zohar interprets

the experience with the Divine in a uniquely Jewish way. The

similarities between the Jewish encounter with the Light and the

accounts from other cultures, however, is unmistakable.

 

The Zohar tells a story of Rabbi Isaac, who, when

 

he opened his mouth to expound

the Torah, a pillar of cloud

reaching from heaven to earth

appeared and stood before us,

and in it a great light shone.12

 

 

Rabbi Abba, travelling with him, said that he, too, was " privileged

to see that light, " which he identified " certainly " as having seen

God (I, 29). God, according to the Zohar, designates Himself Ein-

Sof -- " Limitless " -- who, as the Cause of causes, called his crown

the " Source, " an " inexhaustible fount of light " (III, 131). This is

a light " which illumines the supreme heaven, a light never

ceasing... " (IV, 224). This is " the supernal primordial light....

When this light shone on what was below, its radiance spread from

one end of the world to the other... " (I, 116). Compared to this

Supreme Cause, " all lights are dark in its presence " (I, 94).

 

According to the Zohar, " God wrought the light as the medium for the

creation of the world.... For all the generations of heaven and

earth were produced by the energy of that treasured-up Light... "

(IV, 252). It was not until " He unfolded Himself in a covering of a

supernal radiance of thought " that he created therefrom a world " (I,

111). God " summoned to issue forth from [His] complete Light which

was in the centre of a certain radiance which is the foundation of

the world " (I, 70). The Zohar's place in all this " is that from

which were created all the creative utterances through the extension

of the point of this mysterious brightness " (I, 63).

 

The Zohar illustrates this place of light poetically:

 

The secret Garden

In worlds of light hidden...

 

Its splendour sends forth

To the ends of Creation,

In the fullness of glory

Is revealed in its beauty

To the eyes made seeing --

The garden of Eden

(III, 10-11).

 

 

When God said, " Let there be light, and there was light, " and " let

us make man in our image, after our likeness, " the Zohar gives us an

indication of the nature of humanity. " 'In our image' corresponds to

light, 'after our likeness,' to darkness, which is a vestment to

light in the same way that a body is a vestment to the soul... " (I,

92). Thus, man's spirit emanates " from the realm of holiness, to

which his body is a vestment, as we read, " Thou clothest me in skin

and flesh " (Job X, 11). Other animals such as ox, sheep, goat, deer,

etc. are simply formed from another vestment (I, 86). This also

explains why we cannot see God with our bodily eye: we can only

perceive the vestment of darkness around God's light.

 

The soul, however, can see the Divine Light. We read in the Zohar

that

 

The essence of man is his soul;

the skin, flesh, bones and sinews

are but an outward covering, the

mere garments, but they are not the man.

When man departs from this world, he

divests himself of all these garments...

skins are a garment which protects a garment,

viz, the extension of the heavens which is

the outer garment [of the Divine] (III, 230).

 

 

The mystical book goes on to tell us that " before a man dies he

beholds a Divine Presence, towards which the soul goes out in great

yearning... " (V, 106). The soul then leaves the dead person, " and

the body returns to the earth. " The " spirit returns to God who gave

it (Eccl. XII, 7), " reads the Zohar, " both thus returning to their

original source " (I, 21).

 

 

The Joy of joys

 

The encounter with the Light Divine is clearly joyful, loving, even

ecstatic. The " King of Peace " is He Who emanates " the light of the

supreme joy from the fullness of his joy " (IV, 98). After

God " 'divided the light from the darkness'... light continued to

emanate from the supernal radiance, and through that radiance to

bring gladness to all " (I, 143). When " the Holy Ancient One reveals

Himself... all the worlds are irradiated with joy " (III, 270).

When " the loving kindness of the Ancient One is manifested... all is

satisfaction and joy.... " When " the streaming, inexhaustible light "

bursts forth " in splendour and beauty, " be prepared for " the joy of

joys " (III, 272). The light of God evokes a " stirring of all joy,

all felicity, all illumination and all freedom " (II, 250).

The " place to meet the Most High King " is that place " from whence

there issues all light, all blessings, and all joy, to cause all

faces to shine... " (II, 282-283). God is the " Wine which gives light

and joy to all... the joy of love and mercy, the source of all life

and joy " (IV, 16). When someone's spirit reaches the heavenly

realm, " there is an effulgence of light all around..., " and

a " transcendental holy bliss and sublime delight... " (IV, 193).

 

Not everyone gets to see these things and feel these feelings,

however. Consistent with Jewish notions of justice, only the

righteous have access to the Divine Light -- darkness is for evil

ones. Consequently, God hides the light from evil ones. " The

radiance which God produced at the time of Creation illumined the

world from one end to the other, but was withdrawn in order that the

sinners of the world might not enjoy it, and it is treasured for the

righteous... " (I, 120). Indeed, " God created man in the world and

gave him the faculty to perfect himself in His service and to direct

his ways so as to merit the enjoyment of that celestial light which

God has hidden and reserved for the righteous... " (I, 148). The

mysteries of the world to come " are imprinted in light such as no

eye can look upon, nor can our imagination comprehend the measure of

joy and delight which the Holy One, blessed be He, has in store for

the righteous... " (IV, 48-49). God even created the Garden of

Eden " in order to satisfy His own ardent desire for joyous and

continual communion with the souls of the righteous... " (III, 360).

 

More specifically, and uniquely Jewish, is the view that Israel will

lead the way of the righteous. Israelites " saw eye to eye the

splendour of the glory of their Lord... " (III, 280). When the

Israelites stood at the Red Sea, they " all held the Divine glory eye

to eye, and when their singing was ended their souls were so filled

with joy and ecstasy that they refused to continue on their journey,

desiring yet more perfect revelations of that glorious mystery "

(III, 187). Israel is blessed by God because " the Holy One, blessed

be He, has chosen them above all the other nations of the world "

(IV, 100). God will, " at the proper time cause to shine on Israel

that sun which he stored away at the time of the Creation, out of

sight of sinners " (II, 273). At that time " the Holy King will

restore [israel] to its place, to unite itself with her in perfect

bliss... " (III, 172).

 

This is not to say, though, that access to the Divine Light and its

joys are restricted to the nation of Israel:

 

while Israel are the foundation of the divine

light from out of which issues forth light for

the whole world, yet when heathen nations come

to accept the glory of the Holy One and to worship

Him, then the foundation of the light is strengthened

and all its rays are unified... (III, 215).

 

 

God will first open " a tiny aperture of light, then another somewhat

larger, and so on until he will throw open for them the supernal

gates " for Israel, and for " the righteous among them " (II, 152).

 

The Jewish Way

 

The key, then, to attaining communion with the Divine Light,

according to the Zohar, is to be righteous -- whether one is Jewish

or not. To be righteous is to pray to God, and to study and obey the

Torah. Prayer evokes " a certain illumination " (II, 212). It is

actually " incumbent upon a man to offer up prayer and supplication

each day so as to unite Himself with God " (II, 294). The earnest,

devoted, and properly concentrated silent prayer, when heard by the

Holy One, will result in a " feast on the supernal radiances that

will stream with added brightness from the supernal world... " (II,

294-295). Further, " it is through the Torah that man can make

himself worthy of that light " (I, 148). Knowledge of the

Torah " means union with the Holy One " (V, 45). Those who study the

Torah " are beloved before God, " and their souls " ascend to the bliss

above " (II, 370).

 

Various other Jewish mystics outside the Zohar echo sentiments

similar to that book of Splendour. Rabbi Yehuda L. Ashlag,

commenting on the writings of Hasidic Rabbi Isaac Luria, said that

God's original goal was to favour humanity with " eternal joy and

goodness. " As God thought out this plan, thought itself stretched

out as a light, comprising all joy and contentment, indeed the whole

of creation.

 

Mankind, as part of the creation, shared with God in almost every

respect the same spirit. The only difference was man's desire to

receive. With respect to God, then, Man's desire is to receive the

bliss and happiness that God wants to bestow. With respect to other

people, problems arise because everyone wants to receive. Reversing

this nature is very difficult, but it must be accomplished in order

to become Divine in nature. It can be done " through Torah study and

performance of Torah precepts with the motive of delighting one's

Maker. " Once we transform our will to receive into a will to bestow,

we achieve the Creator's goal of giving mankind " ineffable bliss and

happiness. " 13

 

Similar sentiments are found elsewhere in Hasidism. Meshullam

Teibush Heller of Zbarah espoused the following:

 

The first aspect is that of one who performs

the mizvah in order to fulfil what is written

in the Torah... each and every one of the

Kabbalists had unified and connected world

with world and light with light and radiance

with radiance and brilliance with brilliance

through their clear and pure thought...14

 

 

Rabbi Shneur Zalman's Habad system of the 18th century was much the

same in this respect. In this we find that God, the Ein- Sof, the

Infinite One, " completely fills the whole earth temporally and

spatially... everything is equally permeated with the Ein-Sof

light. " 15 For Zalman, Torah study ought to be one's pre-eminent

occupation, for

 

while a person occupies himself with words of Torah...

It follows [that at that time] the soul and these

garments [of thoughts and speech] are also truly united

with Ein-Sof.... Moreover, their unity is even more

exalted and more powerful than the unity of God's

infinite light with the upper [spiritual] worlds.

For the Divine Will is actually manifest in the soul

and its garments that are engaged in Torah study,

since His Will proper is identical with the Torah itself....16

 

 

One's attitude in studying is also important. While occupying

oneself with the Torah, one must " harbour a great love for God

alone, to do what is gratifying to Him alone, and not for the

purpose of quenching his soul's thirst for God. " Moreover, this is

certainly not to say that one should not pray or engage in

philosophical speculation about God. On the contrary, in addition to

Torah Study one can attach oneself " to Him by intellect and

thought... and in prayer and other blessings. " Indeed this is the

foundation of human happiness:

 

The intellect of a created being delights and derives

pleasure only in that which it conceives, understands,

knows and grasps with its intellect and understanding,

as much as it can grasp of the Blessed Ein-Sof light,

through His wisdom and His understanding which radiate

there....17

 

The Splendour

http://lovinglight.com/bbain/judaism/splendour.htm

 

 

Notes

 

1. In Philo, vol. I, " On the Creation, " trans. by F.H. Colson

(London: William Heinemann, 1929), 41.

 

2. Philo, " On the Creation, " 25.

 

3. Philo, " On the Creation, " 25.

 

4. Philo, vol. II, " On the Cherubim, " 67.

 

5. Philo, vol. I, " Allegorical Interpretation of Exodus III, " 331.

 

6. Philo, vol. II, " The Posterity and Exile of Cain, " 421.

 

7. Philo, " On the Creation, " 57.

 

8. Philo, vol. I, " Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis, I, " 157.

 

9. Philo, vol. II, " On the Cherubim, " 15.

 

10. Philo, vol. II, " The Sacrifices of Abel and Cain, " 175.

 

11. Sifra to Lev. 1:1 in reference to Exodus 33:20; Berakot 17a, cf.

Hagidah 12a. Quoted by David S. Shapiro in " Death Experiences in

Rabbinic Literature, " Judaism 28, 1 (Winter 1979): 90-94.

 

12. Zohar, vol. IV, trans. by Harry Sperling, Maurine Simon and Dr.

Paul P. Levertoff (Jerusalem: The Soncino Press, 1977), 23.

Hereafter, references to the Zohar by volume and page number will be

quoted within the text.

 

13. Rabbi Yehuda L. Ashlag, A Study of the Ten Luminous Emanations

from Rabbi Isaac Luria, trans. by Rabbi Levi I. Krakovsky

(Jerusalem: Research Centre of Kabbalah, 1972), 28-51.

 

14. In Derek Emet (Jerusalem: n.d.). Quoted by Rivka Schatz

Uffenheimer in Hasidism as Mysticism, trans. by Jonathan Chipman

(Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1993), 240.

 

15. Liqqutei 'Amarim: Tanya (Brooklyn: 1954; photo copy: Vilna,

1937). Quoted by Uffenheimer, Hasidism as Mysticism, 266.

 

16. Zalman, Tanya, quoted by Uffenheimer, Hasidism as Mysticism,

281.

 

17. Zalman, Tanya, quoted by Uffenheimer, Hasidism as Mysticism,

288.