Jewish Mysticism: Unearthing the Spiritual in a Physical World
by Ellen Solomon
Life is full of
pleasurable experiences: an early morning at the seashore, a favorite piece of
music artfully performed, a strong connection with another person. Often, we
seek out experiences for the feelings and states they create in us, from the
high energy and confidence achieved while climbing a mountain to the inner
peace found amidst a gardening project. Whether we pursue solitude or time with
others, an international experience or an activity in our own neighborhood, we
frequently emerge from these encounters uplifted and rejuvenated.
Jewish literature abounds
with positive references to man's experiences in this world. The great medieval
commentator Rabbi Moses Maimonides writes about drawing inspiration from daily
life: the intensity of "being in love" teaches us about the yearning
and love for God; witnessing the beauty of nature develops greater awe of God.
The Talmud states that after death we will be asked whether we enjoyed the
pleasures of this world during our lifetime and will have to justify ourselves
if we did not. In addition, Jewish mystical literature also encourages us to
interact with this world, telling us about the holiness, or divine energy, that
permeates the physical universe.
The Creation Process
Before Creation, the only
thing that existed was God. His essence filled the entire universe, leaving no
"space" available for any further creation. Therefore, when it came
to the mind of God to create our universe, the Kabbalists (Jewish scholars of
mysticism) say He constricted Himself to make room so this world could be
created. This act is referred to by the Kabbalists as "tzimtzum."
The tzimtzum was not
actually the creation of one universe but of many. God formed a progression of
concentric universes, each containing a measure of His infinite light, although
in diminished concentration, so the universes could exist outside His essence.
Each universe received a lesser concentration of divine light than the one
created before it. Because of their high spiritual content, each universe was
created in the spiritual realm, until the turn came for our universe to be
created. This world received an infusion of divine energy with a low enough intensity
that it could be represented in a physical form.
Finding the Infinite Light
In our universe, God's
essence takes the form of divine sparks. As Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains in
Jewish Meditation, these sparks are the manifestation of God's will that this
physical world and everything in it should exist, and therefore these sparks
reside in every object and every action. Perhaps the existence of these divine
sparks can explain why some schools of meditation use the concentration on a
simple phrase or object to achieve a spiritual experience.
Not only can we find
mystical experiences within this world, but Jewish mysticism also teaches us
that we can sense the light of God beyond this world. In his book Innerspace,
Rabbi Kaplan says that by meditating on some of the other universes one can
experience their spiritual essence. It is possible through prayer or other
meditation to perceive the divine energy pouring into this world by way of the
worlds beyond.
Man Is Spiritually Active
The Kabbalists teach us that
man's role is not one of passive appreciation. Rather, a major element of man's
existence is spiritual searching, uncovering the divine energy concealed in the
physical world.
The divine sparks in this
world lie dormant, and with each constructive action we perform, sparks are
released from the physical entities that contained them. Although God's
infinite light is mostly hidden in this world, when sparks are released, the
divine light permeating our universe takes on a greater intensity. Likewise, destructive
actions cause the spiritual light in this world to dim.
The unleashing of sparks
in this universe affects the other universes. When divine sparks are set free
in this world, it experiences a slight increase in divine light; the quality of
light in the world will more closely resemble the original infinite light
before the tzimtzum. In response to the heightened spiritual level in this
universe, the next universe similarly undergoes an increase in spiritual light,
causing the next universe to do the same, and so on.
Ultimately, the
"message" of our one good deed, transformed by its travels through
the spiritual worlds into a highly spiritual communication, reaches God. This
is the first half of what Rabbi Kaplan calls a giant "feedback loop,"
through which God personally responds to our actions. Our universe, as well as
the adjacent spiritual universes, does not run on automatic pilot. God, while
independent of these universes, remains involved in our lives, responding to
our actions with the transmission of infinite light, transformed via the
spiritual worlds so that it reaches our universe in the form of additional
sparks.
Like all sparks in this
universe, these new sparks are concealed in entities around us, waiting for
their release to further permeate our environment with spiritual energy.
Perhaps this spiritual feedback makes up a part of the pleasure we often feel
when performing good deeds and otherwise interacting positively with the world
around us.
The Commandments as Tools of
Spiritual Communication
Often we have a sense of
what is right and wrong, what defines positive or negative action. But
sometimes, due to the hidden nature of the divine energy in our universe, we
are unaware of many other actions that might be considered good deeds in the
spiritual realm.
Fortunately, God did not
leave us to figure out the spiritual realm by ourselves. Over three thousand
years ago, our ancestors received the divine message called the Torah. The
Torah, Hebrew for "teaching," contains stories showing how some
Jewish role models lived their lives, as well as the commandments, or mitzvot.
At some point in our
lives, many of us have had discussions regarding the relevance of the mitzvot:
"We don't need to
keep the commandments; some of them are very outdated. People don't get
trichinosis from pork anymore."
"At my house on
Passover, each kid got to choose food from their favorite fast-food restaurant.
I mean, we still ate matzah to know what it felt like to be a slave."
"Mezuzahs are so
nice, reminding us that God is inside the house and all. But why should it have
to be a parchment? Any symbol that has meaning should be okay."
Certainly mitzvot
encourage people to live healthy and constructive lives. Mitzvot also inspire
many of us through their symbolism. But to say that a mitzvah has a single,
easily understandable purpose denies its essence.
It is impossible to
ascribe only one purpose to a mitzvah. A mitzvah can manifest any number of
meanings, depending on the practitioner and his circumstances. Furthermore,
each mitzvah has a spiritual impact which we can sense but cannot truly
understand. This mystical, unknowable meaning is the true value of a
commandment.
Conclusion
Our world is filled with
opportunities for spiritual experience. The opportunities are everywhere: close
to nature, in a crowd of people, even in the mundane surroundings of our
everyday lives. Each of us holds the keys to unlock the divine sparks around
us. Through the positive actions of mitzvot, we can fulfill one of human-kind's
primary roles: to reveal and enjoy the spiritual elements in the physical world
around us.
Ellen Solomon works as a computer programmer in New
York City. With a master's in Jewish education, she teaches the laws and ethics
of Jewish speech on the Web site www.torah.org.
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