| Carlo Suares: The Sepher Yetsira: The Equations |
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Equations which do and Equations which do not point out their Solution A GREAT mistake is to think that The Sepher Yetsira is a book that can be understaood after reading it once. Those most qualified -- not to read it but to study it -- are physicists engaged in advanced scientific research. by showing that the energising properties of the Autiot have a dual cosmic flow, the way to an essential stage of physics is cleared: the study of consciousness, in its material manifestation, as energy. Lately, I have had the opportunity to explain to physicists such as Fred Wolfe (1) and Jack Sarfatti (2) that is is possible to work this out with the "3 Mothers," Aleph, Mem, Sheen (and Seen) SY III 108, and I think it will not be long before the Autiot will replace the letters used arbitrarily in physics today. The Autiot therefore arrange themselves in equtions, not words, which, by viture of their complexity, can be studied in several ways, according to the greater or lesser involvement of the Autiot in them. Without fear of self-deception, we can think of the anonymous authors of The Sepher Yetsira as knowing the numbered code. In their minds the whole work is a commentary, in the 1. Dr. Fred Wolfe,Ph.D, in theoretical physics from the University of California at Los Angeles, hold a joint appointment at Birkbeck College, University of London, and at the Ionic Collisions Laboratory at the University of Paris-Orsay. 2. Dr Jack Sarfatti,Ph.D, University of California. Formerly on faculty of Physics Department of San Diego University and Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London, and of the Institute for Theoretical Physics, Trieste. light of certain fundamental postulates of the Qabala, on the first verses of Genesis. Too many people have read this scripture without realising that it is only an aide-memoire for those who have already undergone the necessary stages of preparation. Some of the questions given earlier in this essay show the lamnentable confusion which is prevailing. Following the method pointed out above, I think that with adequate preparation the serious student in the course of his reading can make headway, without too great a need of commentary on the text. Above all one must avoid starting out in a false direction from the first line of Genesis. Whereas it is always read Bereshyt Bara Elohim ... etc., there is no reason why it should not read Bara-Shyt-Bara-Elohim, as the three first Autiot are repeated. It is then realised that his equation, Bara (Bayt-Raysh-Aleph), which is banished after its first appearance, has a meaning which can be discovered by expanding its 3 Autiot.
This it is seen that the equation Shyt (Sheen-Yod-Tav) is one of the very important ones laying out the data of the problems, without revealing how to solve them. In fact the repetition of Bara, leading to Elohim, harks back to the question, which, in the equation Elohim, contains its own solutions and solves Shyt. The two equations can be described as referring to a process of Energy is a space-time continuum. One equation which is very important because it pertains to the fundamental data of the Qabala invested in Genesis and The Sepher Yetsira is ET (Aleph-Tav), but when translators meet it in the very first line of Genesis (ET Ha-Shamain We-ET Ha-Eretz) they say it means nothing and pass it by in silence, though when Hhevah begets Cain and says Qanyty Iysch ET YHWH it does not prevent them from writing: I have gotten a man from the Lord because they cannot understand that, from Aleph to Tav, Cain is YHWH. If Adam is the name given to Man, by what curious transformation does this schema become a "pottage," in words attributed to Esau when he tells Jacob before his tent that he feels he is dying, if he does not have Ha-Adam, Ha-Adam Hazeh, translated: Feed me, I pray thee with that same red pottage? Is Adam Man or pottage? When, in Eccesiastes, we read Hevel Heveleem why does "poor Abel (whose name is Hevel), killed by his wicked brother" suddenly become Vanity? Sepher and Yetsira Before grappling with the text let us say something about the title. In Hebrew the word Sepher indicates the article -- book, leaves, scroll -- on which a scripture is written and, in a wider sense, the text itself, as when we say, for example, "The Book of Job." The three letters, Sammekh, Phay, Raysh, forming Sepher have a meaning which throws light on its origin. Sammekh (in full Sammekh-Mem-Khaf) is a "support." Phay (or Pay), among other things, means "mouth." Raysh (Raysh-Yod-Sheen) is "poverty." Writing can be thought of as support in former times to the oral tradition, to vouch for it, to prevent its decadence. Pronounced according to the different vowel-points, tghe same word Sepher or Saphar means code. It is the root of the word chiffre in French. This tallies with the fact that this scripture is written in code: that is to say, that the letters serve not only as codes, but that the codes have as much meaning as the language. In a still larger meaning "Sepher" makes "an orb," and, in the figurative sense, embraces a wide range of knowledge, as well as a field of action or influence (sphere). Here, it is the field of Yetsira, translated as "formation" to which "structuration" can be added without further explanation. As The Sepher Yetsira is a commentary on Genesis, it is necessary to read Genesis carefully from the beginning in order to understand the root of the word Yetser, seeing it in a particular context. We are making it clear that in chapter one of Genesis the verbs which play an important part during the 6 "days" -- crowned by the 7th -- are Bara (Bayt-Raysh-Aleph: 2.200.1) and Assah (Ayn-Seen(1)-Hay: 70.300.5) which are translated as "to create" and "to do." Not until chapter two, after the appearance of Ad engendered by Eretz does YHWH-Elohim Yitser "form" Adam-Aafar-Men-Ha'Adamah.M= (2) This verb returns in the following verse (II,8), where it is said that YHWH-Elohim places in Eden the Name (Schem) of Adam whom he has formed (Yatsar), and to verse II,19 where it is said that "all the animals of the field" are formed (Yitser) from Adamah. The three verbs Bara (to create), Yaass (to do) and Tsar (to structure) must be compared. Tsar as so great a content and val ue that it is only after a profound study of Genesis and The Sepher Yetsira that its meaning becomes consistent. Let us concentrate on the fact that this Sepher is about the structuration of man and his environment and proceed to see how Adam is envisaged in the Bible. 1. Seen or Sheen: the number is the same, but, as said above, their function and procnunciations are different. 2. In the vulgar: dust of the earth. The idea of "making Adam" appears in Genesis I,26. The number 26 is the total od Yod, Hay, Waw, Hay. Although YHWH appears only in Genesis II, the "idea" of that equation appears simultaneously with the "idea" of the equation Adam. Verse I,26 is translated "... and God said: let us make man in our image." The actual words are Elohim Yomer. The verb Yomer translated "said" (Yod-Aleph-Mem-Raysh), is a projection or emanation, of Yod and Aleph upon substance, Mem. this emanation "projects" -- in the true sense of the word -- a potential act of "making" (Naasseh) Adam Betsalmenou- Kidmolthnou ( 1) But in the following verse Elohim "lvra" (created) Adam Betsalmono only. Kidmothnou and Aassa are missing. The verb Bara is conjugated three times and Iselem twice. And Elohim created Eth-Ha-Adam-Betsalmo: Betselem Elohim Bara Oto (with Tselem Elohim created him) Zakar Ve-Hehiva (male and female) Bara Olam (created them). Next (I,28), he Yevarekh (blesses) them.. The verb Barekh to bless, (Bayt-Raysh-Khaf) differs from Bara to create only by the substitution of the Aleph final for a Khaf (20 or 500) At Yom, 7 completes everything that Elohiml has Aasa (made). Day 7 is blessed and sanctified. The strange verse of Genesis II,4 announces: These are the generations of Schamaim and of Eretz, when they were "created" in the day that Yod-Yod-Elohim make Eretz and Schamaim. Finally we come to the verse mentioned before (II,7: note the 7), where Adam is "formed." The prophet Isaiah distinguishes the three verbs in question (XLII.1): This now speaks YHWH who has "created" 1. In common languages: according to our image and our likeness. you, O Jacob, and he who has "formed" you, O Israel.. In the same chapter, verse 7: all those I have '"created" for my glory, I have "formed" and also (El) (with greater reason) have I made.> Further on we Khall see how these 3 verbs correspond to 3 spheres of the Tree of Life. Kavppe (op cit., p. 252) notes that Ibn Gabirol has emphasised this verse of Isaiah and that Ibn Ezra, quoting Ibn Gabirol, has said on the subject of the three verbs: Therein lies the mystery of the universe. We think that the mystery of the universe is impenetrable by the human spirit, but we are in it, we are it, and we have the capacity to study its structure outside and inside ourselves, and therefore to partake of its flow of life, as it is said that Abraham did. The mystery therefore does not lie in Isaiah. Neither Genesis nor The Sepher Yetsira are so absurd as to pretend to "explain" it, but a careful study of the Autiot, the verbs and the names in the text allow us "to see, to consider, to go into it deeply, to understand" the interplay of the different aspects of integral life and ourselves to engage in this game. Our contemporary scientific research is already tending to think of the Revived Qabala in the terms in which I am introducing it, free of its religious myths and laws. So far only a few scientists are aware of it, but I have reason to believe that in a not too distant future the Autiot will be used as symbols in different disciplines, such as physics, biology, and others, instead of our conventional, lifeless, letters. A new sphere of thought is being opened up, and it is left to us to Jnake our own discoveries. The joy of discovery is part of the game, and there is an infinite number of profound combinations to be thought out. The verbs Bara, Aassa, and Tsar open up unlimited perceptions. Here are some free commentaries on the 3 fundamental verbs and on a few important words necessary for the understanding of The Sepher Yetsira. Bara, Let us recall the field of thought which, straightaway, from the first Autiot of Genesis (Bara: Bayt-Raysh-Aleph), projects us into the mystery of Aleph. This mystery is the first two Autiot of Aleph: Aleph-Lammcd and AL have become a divinity in the Mosaic tradition. In fact, they are the equation of the broken balance (1,30) which distinguishes an organism from an aggregate, 30 being an organic movement born in Phay (80), undifferentiated matter, completing the schema Aleph. The Sepher Yetsira asserts (11,6) that Aleph and Bayt combine with everything and that everything combines with them. In other words, infinite life is everywhere and everything is in Bayt, a "container" in the very largest meaning of the word: form, vibration, undulation, a physical prop. Aleph cannot be seen, it cannot be directly proved, but its action can be seen and verified. This is shown in the alphabet by the letter Sheen (300). Sheen is one of the principle themes of The Sepher Yetsira. It often appears either directly or in the schemas Rouahh Elohim (the breath), whose letters make a total of 300. This "breath" is traditionally attributed to Elohim. Since Elohim is being constantly deified, commentators tend to forget that Sheen is introduced into the alphabet by Raysh (200), the twentieth letter of the alphabet, whose meaning is 2 X 100: the cosmic "house" or container of Aleph. Sheen comes only as the twenty-first letter. In other words, "the breath" is begotten of the universe itself as a "container" (200). A first development of Bara shows nine Autiot: Bayt 2.10.400 -- Raysh: 200.10.300 -- Aleph: 1.30.80. It is a series of equations that reveal, when properly combined, many complexities, such as a joint action of two Yods in an organic process, a flow of life from Tav through Sheen meeting in Phay Aleph's action through Lammed, etc. A second development shows a combination of nineteen elements. The developments have no end. We then see how meaningless is the vernacular "to create." Tsar, Yetsira. Note at once the proponderating role of the letter Tsadde (90) in everything concerning the structuration (Yetsira) of energy. This letter whose number is 90 (9 x 10) expresses the ferilised feminine who has evolved from the primordial stage (9) of the cell to a "formative form" in actual process of growth. The role of the development of the feminine is one of the principle elements in the whole of Hebraic-Chrisitan mythology (see "The Cosmic Marriage" of Ain-Sof, numerous gnostic writings, etc.). We have seen it represented by Ischah in Eden, by Mary Magdalene (1) and we find it again in other myths, for example, under the name of Psyche. Tsadde is in Yotser (to structure) in Tselem (making Adam accoridng to our Tselem "says" Elohim, in Tselaa (the myticial extraction from "the side" of Adam), in Etz (the tree whose fruit plays such an important part), in Erets, etc. Now we will go back to verse I,26, where Elohim "purposes" to "make" an Adam according to Tselem and Kidmot. Tselem, as root (Tsadde-Lammed-Mem) expresses the fact that the structured and structuring feminine (90), engender an organic movement (Lammed, 30) in "the primordial waters" of Mem. But this action is not sufficient for "making" an Adam. Again, the greatest possible resistance to life must be met. And this is just what the root Dallet-Mem-Tav (4.40.400) of Kidmothou expresses. (Khaf is a prefix and Waw and Noun have a grammatical character). Beyond the fact that it expresses, with Dallet-Mem, Dam (blood) and with Mem-Tav (death) the whole prrocess of animal existence, this equation is a violent assertion of 4 on all levels. We sw it transfixed by the cosmic Aleph of Cain when Cain withdrew Qidmath Eden (translated "to the east of Eden"). We know that this powerful mobilisaton of 4 is the indespensable counterpart to the highest kind of life that this planet can produce, corresponding to Cain, the incarnation of YHWH, perfected man, possessed of an unconditioned conscience. 1. See The Cipher of Genesis In 1,26, "making" man, etc., must not be seen as a conscious or unconscious completion. All completion has to take place in a period of time. In spite of the evolution that this "intention to make" seems to indicate when wrongly read, we must grasp what The Sepher Yetsira Says about the Sephirot (15): their end is in the beginning and their beginning is in their end. This "end" is laid down in verse 1,26 of Genesis, by the number 26, which makes us aware that the completion of YHWH is present from the beginning of human evolution, although it was not apparent at the beginning, nor is it even now, alas, in the present condition of humanity. Aassa, Genesis 11,3, must be clarified. It says that Elohim Ebarekh (blesses) the seventh day Ve-Yeqadesch (hallowed it) because he Schavath (Sheen-Vayt-Tav: untranslatable: this verb has been replaced by the misleading "reposed") from all Melaktou (his work) that Elohim Bara (created) Leaasoth (in order to "make"). The question is: to make what? Exactly, for Aass (Ayn-Seen, is 70.300, in its lowest root), that is to say, to confer on Seen the 70 of all the possible possibilities. And Aassa (Ayn-Seen-Hay) adds the Hay (5) of life to Aass. Remember the meaning of Bara: the presence, face to face Of Bayt and Raysh . That is, in full power, Bayt-Yod-Tav and Raysh-Yod-Sheen, where the Tav (400) and the Sheen (300) confront each other as an opposition to be resolved. This opposition, this clash between the static Tav and the dynamic universal Sheen causes Aleph to rise, in the form of an equation that needs to be understood. We have seen that Sheen is engendered, not by a divinity acting upon its world, but by "the house," the containev, the 200 which expresses energy at a dead end. The equation is resolved when the Elohim process results in 70, which opens all possibilities to Raysh. At this moment "creation" is absolutely self-governning because it is animated by thc of movement of 70, which is full release. In Schavath Sheen and Vayt live in symbiosis from the fact that Bayt (house) is bctween Sheen and Tav, the co-existing, reconciled opposites. In other words and the story that the Autiot, the Sephirot, the Yom, the equations, the ciphers, the numbers tell is always the same -- the Elohim process by which Aleph manifests itself, operates from the interior of the extant universe: Raysh. This is how it works: from Raysh (200), "cosmic house," rises a vital movement, which is the return shock of the movement fertilising everything that is static. This "breath of breath" seen in the second Sephira surges back to its source through the medium of consciousness. This fertilisation consists of the following postulate: the universe in general and human consciousness in particular possess the Baraka of the seventh number. It confers self-government upon them. The source is within. The source of unity is within us, and we have the power to evoke it. This is Aassa, ' "the making." Aassa re-unites making, creating and structuring into a Single cluster. The three are one. In the next chapter we will grapple with the text of The Sepher Yetsira, in Hebrew and English, while reminding leaders that Hebrew is a degenerate form of the Autiot language. We said enough about the powerlessness of our languages to penetrate linguistics. Therefore we have little choice: we will transcribe in English the equations necessary for the general understanding of the verses, and into Hebrew the words that their traditional English homologues only misrepresent. Afterwards we will re-read the significant equations of the Autiot, or of the figures which constitute them. Our intention is to sift from this text the things which directly concern people whose minds ave uncluttered by mythology, and are interested in the essential question that conscience asks regarding the universe and itself. It is certainly true that the best informed cabalists have all, without exception borne Witness to different branches of belicf in a personal god, in one form or another. But is this divinity mentioncd by The Sepher Yelsira anything else than an often transparent veil? The vital movement that the Autiot cast into the mind has an image-less intensity, and man is inOted to work out his own revelation for himself, so that, obiectively, the notion of "God," so indispensable to translators, is fundamentally wrong. The cabalist can slip through the mesh. He can annihilate the person of "God," but for the translator of profane language this is impossible. If, to forbid the pronunciation of YHWH the tradition transforms it into Lord, The Sepher Yetsira, far from compelling us to do so, tells us to put "the formator" (the Yotser) in place of it (1,4) after cogitating on it intelligently, scrutinising it and going into it deeply. It is worth stating again that this book, which for so many centuries has been taken to be obscure and unfathomable, is plain to any reader with an open mind. Recapitulation Bara and Aassa appear with Elohim in the first chapter of Genesis. Bara, Bayt-Raysh-Aleph, are the very first three letters of the first verse of Genesis (Bereschyit). They cause Aleph to rise from Bayt and Raysh. Jn the first verse Bara is joined to Schamaim and Erets, while upon its first appearance (in verse 7) Aassa is associated with Raqia. which is between "the waters above" and "the waters below." Assa (Ayn-Seen-Hay: 70.300.5) comprises all the possible possibilities with the 70, and with 300 the movement of every existing thing, in order to produce 5, life, conferred on everything extant. Bara and Aassa operate successively and sometimes jointly to produce or to maintain the kind of life that Yetser appears with YHWH-Elohim in the second chapter after the completion of the seven "days." By its resence YHWH joins its action to Elohim's. Its immanence compels recognition and and is translated in Yod (10) of Yetser (10.90.200). By thc intervention of Tsadde (90) -- the fertilised and and therefore supporting feminine -- this Yod causes 200 to rise anew, to receieve a new breath, called Nischmalh Hhamaim. Nischmath (Noun-Sheen-Mem-Tav) shows Sheen-Mem (Schem) between Noun (50), individual life; and Tav (400), cosmic resistance which allows life to manifest in lavish variety. Note: Yetser well: 10+90+200=300 = Sheen-Rouahh-Elohim. It can be said that YHWH-Elohim operates with Rouahh-Elohim through Yetser. Again, note well that the word Yod or Yad, the hand, euphemism for the phallus, often goes with Aassa, which leads one to think that Aassa connects either with what is handled or with what is engendered. The three verbs Bara, Aassa and Tsar have given rise to the idea of an earlier "emanation" that would cause the three methods of functioning just mentioned. The first emanation is indicated by the word Atsiloth, meaning literally, "nobility, aristocracy." These four hierarchical differentiations of the same evolutionary process have been called the four worlds of the Qabala. Consequently a sephirotic, geometrical tree can be made of the four worlds. The design will be given in chapter 6. Before meeting the text we must throw some light on Addressing itself to cabalists, The Sepher Yetsira leaves out the equations of pre-structured energy known to them, but which do not enter the sphere of Yotser, or formation. As it is our intention to explain the cabalistic mentality to the general public, the equations tntlst be examined before going on to translation that would otherwise be lacking in its essential basis. The ten Sephirot ave transformers of energy, breaking it down until it becomes conpletely materialised. As a preliminary to this structuring of energy, the Qabala recognises two double equations of infinite energy: Ayn-Sof and Aur-Aelion. In Hebrew Ayn-Sof means "without end," or "infinite," and Aur-Aelion means "light," the highest or uplifted state of mind. Read according to the code, the two double equations disclose the fundamental postulates of the Qabala, and contain an epitome of the whole. Ayn-Sof. Ayn: Aleph-Yod-Noun (l. 10.700) is a negation in Hebrew: "There is not." Strangely, this equation, on the contrary, expresses the whole, because it consists of Aleph and Yod, which are intemporal energy and its temporal projection: that is to say, the two partners in this interplay of cosmic life, death and existence. However, it is understandable why, due to the sense-based origin of the vulgate, Ayn is a negation. Noun final (700) which defines the stake of the cosmic part as being the Principle of Indetermination is an irresoluteness, an openness to all possibilities, to all that can come about unforeseen, beyond thought, from the not yet created: that is to say, to all that is still non-existent. This extraordinary abundance of freedom is a whirlpool of nothingness for the psyche (which feels in its element only through the familiar or the past). Ayn originates the metaphysical: "God created the world ex nihilo." Read in full, Aleph (Aleph-Lammed-Phay: 1.30.80), Yod (Yod-Waw-Dallet: 10.6.4) and Noun (Noun-Noun: 50.700) show that the action of Aleph is to confer an organic movement (30) upon undifferentiated energy (80); that existence expressed by Yod is a fertilising (6) of opposing life (4); and that the life-in-existence of Noun (50) results in the freedom of the indeterminate (700). Sof (Sammekh-Waw-Phay: 60.6.80) repeats and completes Ayn by the introduction of Sammekh (60) which, according to the code, is centripetal, fertilising energy. Sof is a double energy: centripetal by Sammekh and centrifugal by Waw (which evolve into female and male). These two contrary energies highlight thc Phay (80) which was discovered in Ayn only when opening out Aleph (Aleph-Lammed-Phay). In short, Ayn is an anatomical equation which lays down the three elements of prime importance in this mode of thinking -- Aleph-Yod-Noun final. Sof is a biological equation exressIng the setting in motion of differentiated energy, Phay (80), bv two thrusts. One of them, Sammekh, picks up energy in the cellular centre, and the other, Waw, emanates from the centre and projects itself to the outside. Aur Aelion. Even though Ayn-Sof is the most abstract double equation in the Qabala, Aur-Aelion is a turn-table in the universe, between the finite abstract and infinity. Nevertheiess it should be noted that, according to the Qabala, infmity is not represented at all. The explanations of these two double equations are, therefore, only analogous ideas, and the images arising from them are only symbols. This preciseness is necessary because with Aur, translated as light, we are comang near to the biblical legend about its creation. Aur (Aleph-Waw-Raysh: 1.6.200) expresses the clash between Aleph, the infinite in motion, and Raysh (200) which physically supports all that exists. The support has mass, strength, "number": the physical equation of the universe gives rise, according to the Qabala, to the greatest speed of which existence is capable. The function of the universe's mass is speed, which is determined by its resistance to the infinite in movement emanating from itself. Wrongly or rightly, this is taken to be the speed of light. But in Aur-Aelion it is magnified. Aelion, as a matter of fact, shows how the infinite comes from number. Its Autiot (Ayn-Lammed-Yod-Waw-Noun final: 70.30.10,6,700) express the fact that all the possibilities in being (70) endow existcncc (10) with organic life (30), and thus fecundate all cosmic possibilities (700). Here we see how the cosmic 700 is begotten of the existential 70: it is indeed a "magnification" of Aur and a demonstration of what was implicit but secret in Ayn-Sof. However, it is advisable to go back to Ayn, which, pronounced as written, does not reveal the Lammed and the Phay contained in Aleph. Only when conducted by Ayn (70) into Aelion do Phay and the action of Lammed become visible. Such are the first ideas which emerge from Ayn-Sof and Aur-Aelion. These equations lead the way to levels of knowledge for each person to discover, because one can meditate on them endlessly, and they lay down the primary notion of the Unity of being and substance of the universe. | ||
