mat mm KABBALAH OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR -o- 24346 Ancient Mystery and Modern Revela- tion (cloth) $1.00 22191 Birthdays, Significance of (cloth) . . .50 22195 " " " (paper). . .40 22316 Dashed Against the Rock 75 22476 Fate Mastered and Destiny Fulfilled .30 22671 Glints of Wisdom (cloth) 75 22675 " " " (paper) 40 22741 Health from Knowledge (cloth) . . .75 22744 " " " (paper) . . .40 50297 Light and Color (cloth) 1.00 50296 " " " (boards) 75 22420 Mental Therapeutics, a Text Book . .35 50106 Mystic Light Essays 1.50 50159 Spiritual Therapeutics 1.75 24186 Throne of Eden 1.00 24256 Universal Spiritualism 1.00 KABBALAH THE HARMONY OF OPPOSITES A TREATISE ELUCIDATING BIBLE ALLEGORIES AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF NUMBERS By W, J. COLVILLE NEW YORK: MACOY PUBLISHING & MASONIC SUPPLY CO. 1916 -0 / oO 22 1917 ?CLA455269 -C7 VI ^i BRIGHT 1916 ^g, By ^ MACOY PUBLISHING &* MASONIC SUPPLY CO. | 45-47-49 JOHN ST. NEW YORK, U. S. A. ^ CONTENTS. Introduction ....... 9 Chapter I 17 A General Outline of Kabbalah. Chapter II ....... 29 Inner Significance of the 22 Letters Comprising the Hebrew Alphabet. Chapter III 43 Book of Concealed Mystery. Chapter IV ..,,... 67 Book of Concealed Mystery. Hu- manity, Spiritual and Physical. Chapter V , . .82 The Kabbalistic Use and Signifi- cance of Numbers. Chapter VI .,..,.. 95 Kabbalistic Views of the Human Soul, Its Nature and Destiny. Chapter VII 103 Kabbalistic Doctrine Concerning Cause and Effect (Karma). Chapter VIII 116 The Secret Tradition in Israel. The Zohar— The Serpent and Fall of the Angels. Chapter IX . 126 Biblical Traditions Kabbalistically Considered. Chapter X 139 Abraham. Melchisedec, Moses and the Law. Chapter XI , .153 Doctrine of the 3 Temples of the Messiah. Chapter XII . 169 Kabbalistic Teachings Concerning the Soul, Its Nature and Its Destiny. INTRODUCTION. In any attempt to popularize such an essentially mystical work as the Kabbalah the main point to be kept in view is that "Kabbalah" is a word of far wider significance than is commonly supposed ; it is indeed equivalent to "Hermetic" when that term is employed in a wider than ordinary historical con- notation. The Jewish Kabbalah is regarded by many scholars as a work of doubtful age and still more dubious authenticity ; it is therefore unwise to attempt to speak dogmatically concerning its origin in our present state of relative uncertainty concern- ing it. But waiving these particular questions, which rightfully pertain only to scholastic contro- versy, it is entirely within the scope of a popular treatise to consider the main idea which Kabbalah invariably stands for independently of moot ques- tions regarding the authority or authenticity of any special book or books. Kabbalah Denudata is prob- ably the best known of the Latin works in kab- balistic literature. A fairly good English transla- tion of this work, Kabbalah Unveiled, by Macgregor 10 Introduction Mathers, is a familiar volume among students of things generally termed "occult," and as that trea- tise supplies a vast amount of curious information in a comparatively simple manner, we shall make many references to that extraordinary volume in the course of the following pages. It may be said that Kabbalism as usually pre- sented is a form of theosophical teaching employing a Hebrew instead of a Greek or Sanscrit terminology. That is the broadest definition which can well be given of it. Those who take a narrower view regard it is solely an esoteric reading of the Torah or Pen- tateuch, and many European Jews who prize a mys- tical tradition find in a study of Kabbalah a complete vindication of the highest spiritual claims ever made for the divine origin of the Sacred Books of Israel. Students of Swedenborg may readily trace many resemblances between parts of the Kabbalah and Swedenborg's monumental interpretation of the Pen- tateuch-Arcana Celestia, in which he undertakes to show that there are three distinct senses in which every word of the Torah may be understood, though he by no means confines this three-fold theory of correspondences to the first five books of the Old Testament. The subject is one which exerts great Introduction 1 1 fascination for many Bible students who feel a pro- found reverence for the sacred text but cannot be- lieve that its claims to veneration are to be found in its external letter, which is often crude and barbar- ous. Enlightened thinkers cannot bring themselves to endorse the savage idea that the Supreme Being, or indeed that any celestial messengers, would com- mand or even sanction wholesale massacres such as are often attributed literally to divine orders in vari- ous portions of the Pentateuch; they consequently hail with delight a canon of interpretation which assures them that the harsh letter is only like the shell of nuts or the skin of fruit, concealing luscious and nutritious food beneath a hard external cover- ing. The statement is often gruffly made that any- one may invent an interior meaning and arbitrarily seek to enforce it upon readers, and also in that man- ner all so-called esoteric meanings have been given to records which originally contained no more than their obvious external statements. Though this con- tention is sometimes plausible it is extremely shallow, and evidences complete lack of familiarity with the real nature of all literature reputed sacred; for all venerated scriptures were written in times and in circumstances when and where the production of 1 2 Introduction books was a distinguished art, and one in which only the foremost members of civil and ecclesiasti- cal orders were proficient. It is not, however, with the genuineness, authenticity or authority of sacred writings in general that we have now to deal, but only with a strange but intensely interesting frag- ment thereof, one that certainly takes high place among exceptional literary curiosities and at the same time furnishes unusually deep material for thoughtful contemplation. In Jewry there have always been esotericists who have refused to admit that the conventional super- ficial readings of the Torah common to Talmudists suffice to explain the hidden mysteries contained behind the veil of seeming literal history and legisla- tion, which is all that the Pentateuch presents to the view of the average commentator. The average rab- binical exposition is either ethical, ceremonial, his- torical or a combination of the three. The Kab- balist by no means spurns all or any of these ex- planations, but insists that we have not approached even to the threshold of the most important mean- ing until we have pierced the traditional crust and found something far more essential beneath it. It h now pretty generally acknowledged that the first Introduction 1 3 eleven chapters of Genesis are far more allegorical than literal, and it is frequently proclaimed by prom- inent religious ministers that we do not require a sacred volume to simply teach us ancient Jewish or other outward history. Since the time when Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace and a few other stalwart champions of the theory of evolution in its pioneer days battled for a restatement of the prevailing theory of creation, or else the substitu- tion of a completely new theory of the cosmos, only very few persons of respectable intelligence have sought to teach that the whole Solar System, of w T hich our world is only a minute portion, was cre- ated by divine fiat in 6 literal days of 24 hours each ; but though it is now admitted on every hand that the Hebrew word yom is of varied significance, often applying to an indefinite period and at other times to only a literal terrestrial day, those who ac- company the Kabbalists into the field of purely eso- teric meanings are not yet very numerous, though certainly increasing. Swedenborg has not been very widely read by the average reader, still he is by no means an unknown or altogether neglected author, therefore the statement that the six days of creation enumerated in the first chapter of Genesis have a 1 4 Introduction distinctly spiritual significance will not come to all as a complete surprise. To understand the Kab- balistic or Hermetic viewpoint one must change the generally accepted tenses of the prominent verbs, translating all statements out of the past into an ever-living present. In place, therefore, of the familiar phrase "God spake and it was done" we should substitute "God speaks and it is done." This difference in grammatical construction clearly em- phasizes the radical distinction between 2 essentially opposite views of divine activity, for we cannot speak of operations in the past tense without think- ing of something as having been performed in times gone by which is not now occurring, neither can we employ the present tense without unmistakably con- veying an idea of uninterruptable continuity. In ordinary Jewish liturgies we find many traces of the thought we are now emphasizing, and no- where does it blaze forth more conspicuously than in such a benediction as "Blessed art thou, Eternal Ruler of the universe, who daily renewest the work of creation." Indeed the very word eternal sug- gests unmistakably neither beginning nor ending, but everlasting duration and consequent unbroken con- tinuity of activity. Introduction 1 5 The characteristic words in the Kabbalah are un- familiar only to ears unaccustomed to Hebrew sounds, and these can certainly be no stranger than Sanscrit terms in European ears, and Sanscrit words are now in some instances — karma and yoga, for example — almost an accepted part of an English vocabulary among persons who have caught even a few glimpses of theosophical literature. As the Kabbalah is evidently a work well repay- ing diligent investigation, and all sorts of curious books are now undergoing examination, we offer the following series of essays simply with a view to giving the general and non-technical reader an out- line idea of a treasure-house of knowledge and mys- tery which it would require an immense amount of diligence and patience to extensively explore. As the doctrine of Kabbalah has a thoroughly practical as well as a mysterious and also a magical aspect, we do not think it a vain endeavor to seek to cull a few fragrant flowers from this ancient and mys- terious garden or to delve for a few gems within this largely unworked spiritual mine. The great search for unity and attainment of equilibrium is the leading motif of all truly kabbalistic studies, which are therefore in full accord with all the high- est aspirations of our day. CHAPTER I. A GENERAL OUTLINE OF KABBALAH. The best known portion of Kabbalah is called Zohar and the most widely circulated translations thereof are termed respectively : "The Book of Con- cealed Mystery/ 1 "The Greater Holy Assembly/' "The Lesser Holy Assembly." The origin of the word "Kabbalah" is from the Hebrew qibel, mean- ing "to receive." The 70 Elders in Israel constitut- ing the Sanhedrin, the highest of all councils, which held its deliberations within the precincts of the Temple in Jerusalem, according to an ancient tra- dition received their esoteric information from a school of angels in Paradise whose representatives on earth these 70 wise men considered themselves to be. It was in the midst of these greatest teachers in Israel that when a boy Jesus was discovered at the time of his bar mitzvah, 12 or 13 years of age, according to the testimony of the New Testament. To-day it is not difficult for people to readily under- stand in what high esteem these Elders and their teachings must have been held by devoted Israelites who sincerely believed them to constitute a company 17 18 A General Outline of exceptionally holy persons distinguished above all others by reason of remarkable wisdom and ex- ceptional purity of life. The language of the Kabbalah is partly Hebrew and partly Chaldee. The 22 letters constituting the alphabet of these 2 languages are interpreted by Kabbalists in a manner to greatly interest the many at present who attach much importance to numbers in some mystical and symbolical significance. Let- ters and numbers are one in these ancient languages. The following table shows at a glance the Roman characters which are the equivalents of the Hebrew and Chaldee : Hebrew and Roman Chaldee Characters Significance Number Aleph A Ox 1 Beth B House 2 Gimel G Camel 3 Daleth D Door 4 He H Window 5 Van V Peg, nail 6 Zayin z Weapon, sword 7 Heth Ch Enclosure, fence 8 Teth T Serpent 9 Yod I Hand 10 Kaph K Palm of hand 20 Lamed L Ox-goad 30 Mem M Water 40 of Kabbalah 19 Hebrew and Roman Chaldee Characters Significance Number Nun N Fish 50 Samech S Prop, support 60 Ayin o Eye 70 Pe p Mouth 80 Tzaddi Tz Fish-hook 90 Ooph O Back of head IOO Resh R Head 200 Shin Sh Tooth 300 Tau Th Sign of + 400 As the same rule applies to Greek, in which lan- guage also every number is a word and each letter has its special numerical value, it is not difficult to understand in the light of this fact many otherwise obscure, if not altogether unintelligible, statements in the Apocalypse and other symbolical scriptures which appear to the majority of readers to be far more like puzzles than revelations. We notice how the number of the Beast is given as 666, and how largely 7 and 12 enter into all descriptions of what- soever denotes or attains perfection. Kabbalistic usage suggests an original universal symbolical language which could be understood by all initiates as Masonic emblems are understood by Freemasons throughout the world. To the flippant mind the employment of symbols seems unneces- sarily confusing and suggests the idea of some al- 20 A General Outline leged mystery being hidden from the multitude pur- posely by hieroglyphists who concealed their knowl- edge under a veil of allegory which the masses could not penetrate. It may be a fact that certain secret societies have often done and are still doing that very thing, but the primal origin of a sign language is not to be found in any desire for concealment but, on the contrary, to afford a means for worldwide intelligible intercommunication between all the initiated. The need for a universal language is one of the most pressing requirements of the present day, for with the rapid coming together of peoples long sep- arated by natural as well as by racial barriers, only very recently overcome, we cannot much longer con- tinue a multiplicity of tongues rendering some of us practically dumb in the presence of neighbors with whom we desire to work in friendliest accord. What certain mystic confraternities long ago succeeded in doing within their own sacred precincts we must yet come to do on a much larger and far more public scale. How far a study of Kabbalah may help in this direction may be a somewhat open question, but it stands to reason that if we succeed in throwing light upon the inner meaning of venerated scriptures in a manner to show that there is a hidden Wisdom of which all true religionists are partakers, in con- sequence of their common scriptural heritage, we of Kabbalah 21 shall have done something definite and substantial in the way of bringing venerators of different bibles and professors of diverse creeds very much nearer together than they have yet been generally brought. It is well known among students of Occultism and Mysticism that there has always been a sacred and secret "church within a church" in Christendom, sometimes called "The Church of the Holy Grail." In Jewry the equivalent of this has existed through the ages by means of a Kabbalah. Between the ex- plicit and the implicit of all well-defined creeds and ceremonies there is an immense practical difference, amounting even to the tremendous distinction be- tween the letter which killeth and the spirit which maketh alive. By means of Kabbalah we can easily show that there is no radical opposition of cere- nonialism to mysticism, and that the sacrificial sys- tem is essentially symbolical only, and intended to ramatically illustrate great truths of universal im- port which are allegorically portrayed in a record of seemingly external rites and ceremonies. We are not attempting to convey the idea that literal sacri- fices were not offered in the Temple at Jerusalem, but we do insist that there was always an esoteric party in Israel which seemingly disregarded the let- ter because its members clearly perceived the spirit- ual significance enclosed within it. 22 A General Outline Between the esoteric and exoteric schools of inter- pretation there is always a meeting-place, and one not difficult to discover, but though the esoteric party always knows this, the exoteric party fre- quently denies it. The chief difference between them is because the esoteric is essentially immeasurably broader, and in all ways far more comprehensive, than the exoteric. Literal forms and distinctions are underlooked rather than overlooked by Kab- balists, and by underlooking we mean looking within, while overlooking may be simply disregarding or excusing. To the Kabbalist, as to all Israelites, there is but one Supreme Being. "Hear, Israel, The Eternal is our God, the Eternal is One/' is the foundation stone and the universal confession of faith in Israel, but how widely different may be the God-idea in the minds of different classes of equally avowed monotheists we all know fairly well, if we read even contemporary literature only and listen to contem- porary preaching. It is claimed by some respectable schools of Oc- cultists that a large portion of Kabbalistic teaching is traceable to Egyptian sources and that the treas- ures which the Israelites took out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus were spiritual and intellectual far more than material. Be this as it may, a study of comparative language and philology soon rewards of Kabbalah 23 the impartial student with the welcome discovery that all systems of religion and all languages have largely a common origin; it may therefore prove eventually impossible to assign to any single tongue or system an uniquely exalted position. The Kab- balah deals with cosmology rather than with cos- mogony, i. e., it attempts to deal explicitly with the operation of distinctly spiritual forces working be- hind the screen which veils the divine workshop and the workers therein from physical observation. The various Sephiroth, by whom the worlds are brought into existence and perpetually maintained are vari- ously regarded by different interpreters as simply distinctly distinguishable attributes of one Supreme Creator and as distinct hierarchies or companies of celestial intelligences all working out the plan and purpose of the Supreme One. It is worthy of note that Professor Alfred Russel Wallace in his ex- tremely valuable scientific work, "The World of Life," though he was a naturalist and a foremost evolutionist, teaches a doctrine of companies of an- gels so near to the teachings of Kabbalah as to be perfectly reconcilable therewith. Wallace was the protagonist among British evolutionists of a school of scientific thought which furnishes a bond of union between Materialism and Spiritualism by showing how necessary is the idea of involution as a basis for a reasonable view of evolution. The stupid use 24 A General Outline of the word evolution, as though it were explana- tory of everything, has been shown up to the fullest extent by Wallace, though he was the contemporary discoverer with Charles Darwin of those very facts in natural science which led to the acceptance of the evolutionary theory throughout the Western Hemi- sphere during the latter part of the 19th century. The following quotation from the famous Dr. Ginsburg's "Essay on the Kabbalah" is well worthy of serious reflection. This learned author, defining Kabbalah, says : "A system of religious philosophy, or more properly, of theosophy, which not only ex- ercised for hundreds of years an extraordinary in- fluence on the mental development of a people so shrewd as the Jews, but has captivated the minds of some of the greatest thinkers in Christendom in the 1 6th and 17th centuries, claims the greatest attention of both the philosopher and the theologian." This scholar then proceeds to mention a number of the prominent men of distinction in various fields of learning who were staunch adherents to Kab- balah, among them Raymond Lully, Cornelius Henry Agrippa, John Baptist von Helmont, Robert Fludd and Dr. Henry More, all of whom, and many others, were among the profoundest scholars of their day. The claims of Kabbalah, he contends, were by no means exclusively confined to literary men and philosophers; poets, too, have found in its of Kabbalah 25 ample material an inspiration to the exercise of their utmost genius, for, as Dr. Ginsburg enthusiastically exclaims, "How can it be otherwise with a theosophy which we are assured was born of God in Paradise, was nursed and reared by the choicest of the angelic hosts in heaven, and only held converse with the holiest of man's children upon earth. " The story of Kabbalah is intensely fascinating and even awe- inspiring, for it is claimed that God first taught it to a select company of angels who formed a theosophic school in Paradise. After the Fall the angels gra- ciously communicated this celestial doctrine to the disobedient children of earth, to furnish the proto- plasts (projectors of systems) with the means of returning to their pristine nobility and felicity. The record of the migration of the heavenly doctrine tells us that it was originally given to Adam (not a single individual, but, as Swedenborg has said, "a church" or company of persons of a certain type bound in a particular fellowship). From Adam it passed to Noah (again a company, not a single indi- vidual), then to Abraham who took it to Egypt, where he allowed a portion of it to ooze out. From Egypt it travelled, in some measure, to several other lands, so that eventually various Oriental na- tions possessed some portion of it in their philos- ophies. It is recorded of Moses, who was learned in all Egyptian wisdom, that though he gained his 26 A General Outline first knowledge of the sacred teaching in the land of his birth, he learned still more of it during the period of wandering in the wilderness. It is further claimed that through his possession of this sublime doctrine Moses was able to settle all manner of dis- putes which arose among the people in the course of their desert journey ings. Throughout the en- tire 40 years of the journey between Egypt and Palestine it is stated that the great law-giver was in constant communion with one of the angels who constituted the theosophic school in Paradise, and that he conveyed the truths communicated from heaven through the medium of 4 of the books of the Pentateuch, but withheld all such teaching from Deuteronomy. According to the same tradition Moses initiated the 70 original Elders of the San- hedrin into the mysteries he had received from the angels; and they in turn taught them to pupils who in due course became their successors. Of all who were initiated it is said that David and Solomon were the most deeply versed. As the doctrine was originally communicated by oral instruction only, there was no written Kabbalah till a much later date, about the time of the destruction of the 2d temple, when Schimeon ben Jochai dared to write it. Sub- sequently his son, Rabbi Eleazar, and his secretary, Rabbi Abba, together with several of his disciples, collated his treatises and out of them composed the of Kabbalah 27 book called Zohar (splendor), which is the great storehouse of Kabbalism. The Kabbalah is usually classed under 4 heads called respectively Practical, Literal, Unwritten, Dogmatic. Practical Kabbalah deals with ceremonial magic and gives much information regarding talismans. Literal Kabbalah is divided into 3 parts known as Gematria, Notariqon, Temura. Gematria is based on the relative numerical value of words. Notariqon is a title suggestive of the Latin word notarius, meaning a shorthand writer, and the con- tents justify the appellation. Temura means permutation. The methods em- ployed for arriving at the value of words are various and intricate, so much so that it requires great pa- tience and perseverance to work out the examples. The Dogmatic Kabbalah contains the specific doc- trine and is less of a puzzle than the foregoing; it is, however, by no means easy reading and far too mysterious to awaken much response from any others than special students who love to delve deeply into profound spiritual mysteries. The principal doctrines relate to The Nature and Attributes of the Supreme Being; Cosmogony; Creation of Angels and Men; Destiny of Men and Angels; Nature of the Soul; Nature of Angels, Demons and Element- 28 als; Import of the Revealed Law; Transcendental Symbolism of Numerals; Peculiar Mysteries Con- rained in Hebrew Letters; Equilibrium of Con- traries. On every one of these erudite topics minute information is offered, and when one has attempted to grasp even some small portion of the lofty incul- cation, there . certainly follows a sense of sublime majesty and of glorious purpose in life intensely exhilarating. It may be reasonably concluded that the Kabbalah teaches that the attainment of equilib- rium is the goal toward which we are all progress- ing, and some authorities hesitate not to state that such is the original meaning of taking up the Cross and following a Master. None can dispute the self- evident fact that the cross, as a sacred emblem, is fomnd all over the world and in connection with civ- ilizations antedating by many thousands of years the beginning of the Christian Era. In Kabbalah we have an attempted solution of the mighty problems of our existence, past, present and to come. Whether so complicated and profoundly mysterious a com- position will ever play a prominent part in religious unification or not is an open question, but it may certainly be fairly regarded as a storehouse of in- formation calculated to set thinking deeply all stu- dents who have the disposition to examine it, guid- ing them along a path which, if faithfully followed, cannot but lead to the discovery of foundation prin- ciples upon which coming generations may erect a temple of universal faith and worship. CHAPTER II. INNER SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 22 LETTERS COMPRIS- ING THE HEBREW ALPHABET. Many and highly ingenious have been the occult and mystical meanings given to each and all of the 22 letters which constitute the Hebrew alphabet by students of Kabbalistic lore, and while some are un- doubtedly farfetched and fanciful, we may reason- ably decide that there is some solid foundation for many of the traditional values assigned them. The ist letter, Aleph, like the Greek Alpha (A), signifies the Primal One, the Great Original whence all phe- nomena proceed. Letters, according to all Kab- balists, are not looked upon as arbitrary characters artificially invented, but as thought-pictures, sym- bolically expressive of mental states, too profound to be stated in words. Each letter, then, can stand alone with a distinctive value, like a figure, and we know that in Hebrew there are no figures apart from letters, each letter having its definite numerical value. As Aleph literally means an ox it has often been astrologically associated with the sign Taurus, the Bull. A has stood in Hebrew as the first letter of 29 30 Inner Significance one of the names applied to Deity, Ahih, signifying I Am, or underived Being, the source and permanent support of all manifest existence. All Kabbalists declare that God is partly concealed and partly re- vealed. The letter A denotes revelation and also sig- nifies strength, unity and concord. The 2d letter, Beth (B), means radically a house or home and is said to refer allegorically to that inner chamber or closet into which a Master invites his disciples to enter for private prayer. This is none other than the interior sanctuary of human nature, the veritable "heart" which must be kept with all possible diligence, because out of it proceed all the issues of life. Heart and ark have the same meaning in the Kabbalah ; this explains the extreme reverence shown to the Holy Ark whenever it is referred to in the Hebrew Scriptures. Beth is also regarded as the primal mother, Aleph being the father ; it refers, moreover, to acquisition. The 3d letter, Gimel (G), means a camel, which suggests fortitude and wondrous power of endur- ance, for that strange animal, familiarly known as "the ship of the desert," can endure hardships and privations that no other quadruped could sustain. Hieroglyphically this letter signifies a half-closed hand extended to grasp whatever may be needed for its owner's sustenance. of the Hebrew Alphabet 31 The 4th letter, Daleth (D), means a door or gate- way. An early form of this letter was a triangle, the shape of a tent-door, which form is preserved in Greek in the shape of the letter Delta. As we study the accounts in various Sacred Writings of build- ings said to have been constructed under Divine direction, according to the various Bibles of the world, we find that each of them had but a single door ; this fact is regarded by Kabbalists as a matter of profound significance, and Occultists of many schools say that it refers definitely to a sole method of initiation into the Greater Mysteries. Daleth is mystically connected with the soul of the universe. On a purely physical plane it denotes the womb or matrix throughout nature ; it also is associated with ideas of strength and grandeur. The 5th letter, He (E), means a window, but it also refers to aspiration or ascending breath. The full significance of this letter is said to be an estab- lished dual base in which masculinity and femininity are united in perfect equilibrium, constituting, there- fore, a foundation which cannot be removed. The 6th letter, Vav (V), means a hook or peg, something upon which something else may be hung ; the meaning extends to a central support. Symbol- ically Vav (or Vau) relates to Beauty, Charity and Love. Astrologers often associate it with Taurus and speak of it in connection with cervical strength, 32 Inner Significance and as the neck unites the head with the rest of the body Vau has been mentioned with valve and mys- tically referred to as the blending point between upper and lower Manas in our interior consistency. The 7th letter, Zayin (Z), means radically a sword or any sort of weapon, but hieroglyphically it stands for an arrow. Being the 7th letter, many have been the sacred ideas associated with it , and frequently is it referred to as the sign of spiritualized or regen- erated humanity. Persons familiar with the "Tarot" will find close connection between Zayin and the Chariot in which rides the Conqueror crowned with a diadem on which are placed 3 golden pentagrams, while above his head is an azure star-decked canopy. The equivalent Greek letter, Zeta, means something sought and obtained, showing a close relation in this, as in many other instances, between the Greek and Hebrew alphabets. The 8th letter, Heth (H), means a field, or, in somewhat wider significance, any definite place sur- rounded by a hedge or fence. Owing to its close alliance with hah, meaning a hook, some commenta- tors have attached that meaning also to it; it has also been connected etymologically with the Arabic word khath which signifies something that has de- scended or been poured down. From these distinct but nearly related meanings this letter has been spoken of as indicating in some manner the power of the Hebrew Alphabet 33 of mind over matter, or of the higher over the lower planes of human intellect. Poetical writers who de- light in drawing out the utmost meaning possible from Hebrew letters have taken advantage of the idea of the octave note in connection with this 8th letter in the sacred alphabet and have associated Hcth with the New Jerusalem and with The Garden of Hesperides wherein are gathered together the numberless souls of the righteous who have passed through Libra, the 7th zodiacal sign, and have thereby attained to the eminence of an equilibrated estate in consciousness. The 9th letter, Teth (T), literally signifies a ser- pent, and as 9 is the highest of our single numerals and the serpent is allegorically an emblem of great and universal importance in the history of human regeneration — because all that the serpent stands for must be lifted up by a transmutative process in order that regeneration may be completed — much value is attached by Kabbalists to this letter. The Greek equivalent letter, Thaita, meaning a servant, truly explains the rightful place of the reptilian element in human economy. All that the serpent connotes must be rendered subservient to the higher principle in humanity, and when this right relatedness is ac- complished the serpent-force, which works so much havoc when dominating or uncontrolled, becomes a valuable and necessary base upon which a glorious 34 Inner Significance superstructure of noble character and high achieve- ment can be upraised. The ioth letter, Iod (I), means the hand. It has been designated the head of the 4th triad from unity, and the culmination of the Spherotic series. It has also been declared that from heth all other Hebrew letters proceed, it representing both the origin and synthesis of forces, therefore it symbolizes spiritual perfection. This letter, which denotes the hand, is naturally associated in idea with an extension of the active principle of life in all directions. Its Greek equivalent, Iota, stands for the lowest of one series and the highest of another. As the number 10 and its multiples occupy so extremely exalted a place in the esteem of Kabbalists the first 10 letters of the alphabet are .considered much richer in primal sig- nificance than the remaining 12, but each of those has a distinct value worthy of careful consideration. The nth letter, Kaph (K), is the first of the 2d and (in a sense) higher series. This letter means the palm of the hand and specially denotes strength. As heth may be connected with a closed hand con- taining all potencies unrevealed, kaph is the same member opened out and displaying its inwrought possibilities. Here in connection with the mysteri- ous number n, about which we often hear remark- able stories, we are introduced to all that the opened hand signifies. of the Hebrew Alphabet 35 The 1 2th letter, Lamed (L), means literally an ox-goad, an instrument of chastisement intended to force an animal to do its full share of work should it at any time show signs of negligence. Lamech (vide Genesis IV, 18-24) is said to represent a com- plete personification of the qualities suggested by Lamed. Lamed represents the opening of Spring, the period when Pisces melts into Aries and the reign of the "2 Fishes" is, for that year, at an end. The 13th letter, Mem (M), means water. It is often called the 2d of the 3 maternal letters of the Hebrew alphabet (Aleph, Mem, Shin). In its pres- ent form, which has been maintained from remote antiquity, it resembles a ripple on the surface of water. The astrological zigzag lines denoting Aqua- rius have the same origin and significance. Water is occultly significant of the intellectual plane of human existence and the name Moses (Moshe) lit- erally means one who has been drawn up out of water, mystically lifed above the intellectual region to a plane of spiritual consciousness. The 14th letter, Nun (N), means a fish, a living creature born and intended to live in water. Fish have always been closely associated with divine ac- tivities in some peculiar manner, which accounts for the similitude employed in the story of Jonah, an ancient Hebrew poem fraught w r ith extremely pro- found spiritual instruction and alluded to in the 36 Inner Significance Christian gospels as containing a sign of permanent value to warn all who may ever be inclined to stray from the path of divine direction. Every student of comparative religion and philology must be im- pressed with the persistent frequency with which fish and processes pertaining to fishing are men- tioned in close connection with the life and conduct of great spiritual teachers. Joshua, who succeeds Moses and actually conducts the Children of Israel into the Land of Promise, is styled in Exodus, Son of Nun. The name Joshua signifies a guide, a leader, deliverer, emancipator, and is the Hebrew equivalent of Jesus. The 15th letter, Samech (X), means a prop, a strong support. In Greek as in Hebrew X stands before O and there is said to be a valid Kabbalistic reason for this occurrence and recurrence of priority. An ancient Judaic tradition connects X with Cochab, a star, sometimes a comet. Treatises on alchemy abound in references to this letter, which for some reason is treated as one of far greater than average importance. The 16th letter, Ay in (O), has 2 distinct mean- ings — the Eye and a fountain. In its highest con- notation it stands for a symbol of the All Seeing Eye and for interior perception of truth, pure intuitive discernment of reality. In its secondary significa- tion it refers emblematically to the outflowing of of the Hebrew Alphabet 37 truth from some hidden realm of consciousness as water proceeds from some hidden spring when ex- pressing itself in the constant flowing of a fountain. Ayin stands for the Cyclopean Eye. Historical as- sociations have connected this letter with En-gedi, the "Goat's Fountain," which is about 300 stadia from Jerusalem, a place often mentioned in the Bible as the scene of important struggles, notably the strife between Saul and David (vide I Samuel XXIV, 1-4). According to Kabbalistic symbologists, Saul and David are respectively impersonations of a lower and a higher state in spiritual evolution, and as the one rises the other falls. Alchemists in their peculiar terminology refer to the same conflict when they speak of the perpetual struggle between the mystical Sulphur and Mercury, our rational and sensuous elements. The 17th letter, Pe (P), literally means mouth, and many are the ingenious poetical dissertations extant, scattered through Kabbalistic lore, alike an- cient and modern, placing this letter in the gate of Praise. The Divine Word is said to be concealed in the human mouth and the truly initiated utter forth this potential Word when they truly sound the praises of the All Holy. Though we all under- stand clearly enough the literal humane injunction not to muzzle an ox which treadeth out our corn, by Kabbalists "Muzzle not the mouth of the ox that 38 Inner Significance treadeth out thy corn" is treated as a repository of profound esoteric counsel relating to spiritual hus- bandry, with which external agricultural works truly correspond. The 1 8th letter, Tsadi (Ts), means literally a fishing hook. The form of this letter is highly sug- gestive of this significance. We have found curious books on alchemy dealing with its connection with that mysterious Leviathan concerning which the searching question is raised in that wondrous epic poem known as Job, "Canst thou draw out Levia- than with a hook ?" (Job XL, I ) . Tsadi, being the 1 8th letter, is said to share many of the qualities ascribed to the 8th letter, Heth, but to possess these qualities on a higher plane and to express them in a more definitely spiritual manner. Tsadi has been termed the spiritual hook ever baited and set in the sea of Heth. It may be remembered that the i8th figure in the Tarot, corresponding with Heth, is the Moon, which is there exhibited as standing or shin- ing over a field in which we behold 3 living creatures — a dog, a wolf and a fish. The moon is repre- sented as shedding blood upon the earth, and as blood contains the vital principle, in all esoteric schools it is taught that the symbol of pouring out blood signifies conveying vitalizing energy. The 19th letter, Qoph (Q), means literally the back of the head. Hieroglyphically Qoph has been of the Hebrew Alphabet 39 represented by an axe, a sharp incisive weapon. Al- chemists attach importance to the meaning of this letter in connection with energy manifesting in man- ual dexterity and accomplishing the work of ma- terialization of hitherto volatile substances. Related to Qoph we find qopha, which means to thicken or congeal. The 20th letter, Resh (R), stands for the whole head and particularly for the front portion contain- ing the countenance. The Tarot figure correspond- ing with Resh is the sign of Judgment and displays Gabriel appearing amid clouds while a resurrection is taking place, the dead being seen rising out of their graves. This is easily understood as mystical and not literal, and we have often wondered how any Bible student who has pondered over the 37th chapter of Ezekiel could find any difficulty in con- necting resurrection solely with moral and spiritual revival and higher attainment, and not at all with physical resuscitation. The 2 1st letter, Shin (S or Sh), means literally only a tooth, but being the 21st letter in the alphabet and 3 times 7 being regarded by all Kabbalists as an extremely sacred numerical combination, we must look- below this surface definition to grasp the eso- teric significance of this mysterious letter with which numerous mystical ideas and magical rites have long and frequently been associated. Shin has been en- J 40 Inner Significance graven upon phylacteries to remind devout Jews of omnipresent Deity. This letter varies somewhat in form. When a dot is placed over its left prong it is rendered Sin, an old Oriental title of the Moon. Exodus tells us of the wanderings of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness of Sin and while they were still roaming the desert they received the Law from Sjri-ai. The 22d and final letter, Tau (T or Th), is an ancient form of the Cross. All students of com- parative religion and art know well how universally employed has been this much venerated, disputed and execrated emblem. Volumes could easily and profit- ably be written upon every one of its manifold sig- nifications, among which the 2 of utmost importance are the ideals of unification and of sacrifice. As Tau (the sign of the cross) stands at the end of the sacred alphabet it immediately suggests a finished work or completed initiation, therefore has it been continually affirmed that an initiate dies upon the cross to his old estate when he attains hierophancy and quickly rises to a new and far more glorious condition than any he has enjoyed previously. Tak- ing up the cross and following the Master involves passing through all the initiatory stages hieroglyph- ically portrayed by the employment of the 22 Hebrew letters in an esoteric or mystical manner. Alchemy rightly understood, as it was taught by Paracelsus of the Hebrew Alphabet 41 and other profound philosophers in Europe a few centuries ago, was no mere art of converting cop- per, silver, and other less valuable metals into ma- terial gold, though we by no means deny the possi- bility of literal transmutations in chemical or alchem- ical laboratories. The last letter of the Hebrew al- phabet suggests death upon the cross as a gateway to a new and higher life and closely associated with its deeper meanings is the truth conveyed in those sublime utterances of some great seer and sage of ancient Israel, "Better is the end of a thing than its beginning" and "Better is the day of death unto him (the righteous man) than the day of birth. " Such sublime sayings as the latter of these are apt to strike the unthinking as pessimistic, because the shallow mind thinks not of death (properly transi- tion) as only a step out of one state of conscious ex- istence into another. Death and end, in the Kab- balistic meaning of those words, refer only to the termination of some certain stage or process in de- velopment, literally the achievement of some definite end we have had in view, then having reached that end we are ready for an entirely new beginning, but one that would have been impossible for us had it not been for all the disciplinary experience which preceded it and led up to it. Though our brief and very imperfect description of the significance of the 22 Hebrew letters requires 42 Inner Significance many additions to make it in any sense complete, we are assured that readers who are also students will find even in this bare outline much that is suggestive, and if they are fond of making experiments with letters on their own account, and also desirous of reading words and sentences in the Bible with a view to ascertaining something of their Kabbalistic or interior significance, by keeping in mind the defi- nitions herewith supplied they may find their task considerably simplified. As every letter has its numerical value we close this essay by appending the number belonging to each letter : Aleph, i "';• Beth, 2 ; Gimel, 3 ; Daleth, 4 ; He, 5 ; Van, 6 ; Zayin, 7 ; Heth, 8 ; Teth, 9 ; Yod, 10 ; Kaph, 20 ; Lamed, 30 ; Mem, 40 ; Nun, 50 ; Samech, 60; Ayin, 70; Pe, 80; Tzaddi, 90; Qoph, 100; Resh, 200; Tau, 400. The relatively large numbers be- tween 400 and 1000 are expressed as follows: Final Qoph, 500 ; Final Mem, 600 ; Final Nun, 700 ; Final Pe, 800; Final Zaddi, 900. Thousands are denoted by letters of a size larger than that employed to signify the smaller numbers. A large Aleph stands for 1000. We notice how invariably in Hebrew literature thousands and tens of thousands are mentioned but only multiples of 10 are employed to convey the idea of large numbers beyond a single thousand. CHAPTER III. BOOK OF CONCEALED MYSTERY. The Book of Concealed Mystery opens with the declaration that it is the book of the equilibrium of balance. Equilibrium, a fundamental term in all Kabbalistic writings, signifies harmony which re- sults from the analogy of contraries, the serene cen- tre at which, in consequence c ; opposing forces be- ing equal in strength, rest succeeds motion. Equi- librium suggests an idea similar to that of Nirvana, a term which when intelligently employed conveys the thought of imperturbable repose, a state impos- sible for us to fully comprehend on earth because we are in the midst of perpetual tumult and continu- ally subject to the conflicting sway of pairs of oppo- sites. In works on ancient symbolism we often en- counter the phrase, ' 'Point within the circle/' by which is intended a situation of such unalloyable serenity that though the fiercest strife be raging all around, at that point, which may be the centre of a terrific hurricane or a tremendous scorching flame, complete immunity from turbulence and danger would be, of necessity, enjoyed. The 91st psalm 43 44 Book of Concealed Mystery gives the clearest idea of this condition expressible in readily comprehended language, and to the Kab- balist the entire Psalter, consisting of 150 psalms, possesses not only an interior meaning but also a talismanic value, in consequence of which different psalms have been recited frequently in times of ex- treme difficulty and unusual danger for the purpose of delivering those who recited them piously and understanding^ from all sorts of perils, seen and unseen alike. The real meaning of "taking refuge under the shadow of the Almighty/' and being safe under the shelter of divine "wings/' is only readily comprehensible when we take into account the Her- metic teaching of ancient Egypt, reaffirmed in Europe by Emanuel Swedenborg (18th century) in his descriptions of Maximus Homo (the Greatest Man) and the respective positions of different com- panies of angels in the celestial anatomy. All Her- metic students, and all who are versed in Sweden- borg, know how plainly it is stated that companies of angels exactly correspond with distinctive por- tions of the human frame, so that such expressions as "the hand of the Lord," and all of similar char- acter, are taken literally as well as figuratively. This objective view of angelic ministries is by no means discordant with much of the best modern thought; indeed it agrees perfectly with the teaching of that long-famous English naturalist, Alfred Russel Book of Concealed Mystery 45 Wallace, who sets forth conceptions of this nature graphically in one of his latest books, "The World of Life," wherein he confesses to complete faith in the real existence and constant operation of those many graded orders of angels who are variously designated by varying schools of Occultists, but in all cases bear a striking relationship to the Sephiroth of the Kabbalah and the Demiurgos of the Gnostics. Certain Jews contend that the Sephiroth are only different aspects and attributes of Deity, while others who cling quite as tenaciously to fundamental mono- theism, find ample space for the ministry of com- panies of angels, regarded as servants of the One Most High. Even a superficial reading of the ac- cepted orthodox Jewish liturgy, in use all over the British Empire as well as in many parts of America and elsewhere, must convince every reader that, un- less words are intended to convey no obvious mean- ing whatsoever, the faith of Israel includes an ac- knowledgment of many sharply differentiated hosts of beings who with love and reverence carry out, as messenger spirits, the Will olf the sdle Creator. Cherubim, Seraphim, Ophanim, and several other angelic orders are mentioned by name in the ordi- nary daily prayers, and much more elaborately are they alluded to in the much longer and more com- plex liturgies appointed for New Year and Day of Atonement-. 46 Book of Concealed Mystery In the Book of Concealed Mystery a vital line is drawn between positive and negative existence. A definition of positive existence is not difficult, be- cause it necessarily takes action into account, but to define negative existence appears impossible, because directly we attempt definitions we seem compelled to employ a more or less positive terminology. The term Ain Soph, w T hich may be translated as the primal fount whence all manifest existence pro- ceeds, is revealed as Ain Soph Aur, illimitable Light; but of this we can form only a dim conception. It is interesting to note how this concept is set forth alike in the first chapters of Genesis in the Penta- teuch, and in the first chapter of the 4th gospel in the New Testament. In the first instance God speaks, or breathes forth, and light appears. In the second instance the essential doctrine of the Logos is fundamentally the same. Students of Plato w T ill readily call to mind how similar was the teaching of that illustrious Greek to the inner teaching of Egyptians and Hebrews contemporary and before his day, and all who have taken delight in the won- derful breadth of doctrine manifested by Philo of Alexandria will follow without difficulty a path of unified philosophizing along which Jews and Gen- tiles can walk arm in arm, each contributing a glor- ious share to a gradually evolving doctrine which can serve to unite Hebraism with Hellenism without Book of Concealed Mystery 47 calling upon either Greek or Jew to surrender aught that is vital in his own distinctive view of the never fully comprehended Universe. The Jewish Kabbalah properly expresses universal thought in Jewish phraseology, while the Greek em- ploys his own language and symbolism in an equally intelligent and conscientious attempt to interpret the riddle of existence. The Greek love of beauty and the Hebrew passion for a rigid moral law are well , known to be sharp points of distinction between the typical Greek and the typical Hebrew mental ten> perament. Philosophers of renown can easily teach and thrive in both camps, but the general color or tint of their philosophy is sure to differ in accord- ance with the natural bent of the philosophers. Though we all employ the word Universe with great frequency, such words as Pluriverse and Multiverse are by no means absent from modern philosophic literature, and we often encounter the appellation Pluralist given to a philosopher whose school of thought is sometimes designated Pragmatism, as in the well-known case of Professor William James, for many years professor of psychology at Harvard University, the American Cambridge. If contro- versialists would seek to remove needless obstacles out of the path of philosophical enquiry, instead of creating fresh difficulties, as they usually do in their foolish attempts to show how very widely one school 48 Book °f Concealed Mystery of thinkers differs from another, it would not be very- long before we could attain to something like a state of mental harmony in which we could cordially shake hands with each other intellectually and mor- ally, instead of indulging in worse than useless wrangling. To take the attitude of a true Kab- balist one must be intentionally bent on unifying, never on separating, therefore acrimonious dispu- tations are utterly foreign to the Kabbalistic temper, though they abound in works of commentary into which no esoteric spirit has entered. No words are practically readier of verification than "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life," for such is the case in every possible realm of human thought and con- duct. Capital punishment, and every other form of barbaric retaliation, is advocated and casuistically justified by professed upholders of a strict moral law, supposedly of divine origin, but no esotericist ever allows the righteousness of any act which does not possess and manifest the attribute of clemency, though that mild quality may sometimes be neces- sarily associated with the very dissimilar attribute of severity. To be clement and severe at the same in- stant seems to the superficial reasoner almost an im- possibility, but that is only because the average in- tellect has not grasped the real distinction which ever exists between legitimate pairs of opposites and ille- gitimate contradictories. Clemency and severity are Book of Concealed Mystery 49 opposites, but love and hate are contradictories. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasten eth" is altogether intelligible if we understand by chastening purify- ing; but if we introduce a totally foreign idea and suppose that chastening acts are performed venge- fully, and that the inflictor of pain actually delights in causing suffering because he obtains pleasure from making his victims endure agony, we have intro- duced a fiendish element into our misconception of the right uses of chastisement to such an extent as not only to becloud but to completely subvert its original intent and meaning. It is true, as Macgregor Mathers and other com- mentators have declared, that Kabbalists are utterly and relentlessly opposed to all that they consider to even border upon idolatry, but idolatry is a word often used where it is but little understood. An idol, in the objectionable sense, was originally a material object supposed to be endowed with miraculous power, set up as a substitute for a spiritual concep- tion of Deity and worshipped as though it pos- sessed within itself all the attributes of Deity. This is not saying that the statues and images of many ancient peoples were always idols in that sense, for idolatrous practices were gradually introduced when a nation's life was deteriorating and the people were drifting further and ever further away from primi- tive spiritual concepts. Ancient emblems remained 50 Book of Concealed Mystery long after their original significance had been lost. It is practically certain that in days long past when Hebrew prophets vigorously condemned idolatrous practices, the images ultimately worshipped had been originally no more than reminders of great heroes and heroines, and therefore quite as permissible as modern statuary erected to commemorate heroic men and women, and to suggest an imitation of all that was particularly exemplary in their noble lives. There is always a danger in aught that borders upon idolatrous practice, because the tendency to substi- tute the carnal for the spiritual is strong almost everywhere, though not confined by any means to those who set up graven images and bow adoringly before them. Bibliolatry carried to an extreme is idolatrous, because it fastens attention so powerfully and ex- clusively upon the letter of some venerated text as to leave no room for any recognition of interior illumination. A Bible can be either a help or a hindrance by reason of the manner in which one approaches its contents. The Kabbalist is by no means a bibliolater if he clings to genuine Kabbal- ism and respects the continuous oral tradition, for the 70 Elders who constitute an ever-living San- hedrin are men of exceptionally high spiritual at- tainments and spotless life, through whom revela- tion is always being outpoured. A merely historic Book of Concealed Mystery 51 Kabbalism cannot have the power to exert the benefi- cent influence exertable by a vital Kabbalism, be- cause the former refers everything to memories of some holier and happier age gone by, while the latter acknowledeges an ever-flowing stream of inspira- tion from a perennial fount which never can run dry. The form of idolatry especially abhorrent to the vital Kabbalist is that tendency toward living in memory only which is the chief blight over a large section of the religious world to-day, and it is indeed impos- sible to become deeply imbued with the original Kab- balistic spirit without totally disowning a mode of thought which excludes the very essentials of pure Kabbalism. It is easy enough for literalists and historians to say that with the final destruction of the third Temple in Jerusalem the Sanhedrin ceased to exist, and that with the cessation of animal sac- rifices a new order was instituted; but there is no logical connection between the overthrow of a literal material pile, and the abolition of a ceremonial slaughtering of animals, with any sort of with- drawal of interior illumination from humanity; in- deed it would be far easier and much more logical to contend that the overthrow of a literal structure and the discontinuance of grossly physical ceremonies marked the beginning of a period in which the Kab- balistic idea could shine forth with a glorious reful- gence hitherto unknown. Concealed mystery is yet 52 Book of Concealed Mystery to be revealed. Nothing* hidden is always to remain secret, secrecy being only a transitory requisite for growth. We find innumerable parallels in the work- ings of nature universally. Gestative, germinative and incubatory processes must be carried on in secret, but a moment arrives when revelation occurs and secrecy is ended. All gems and precious metals are concealed in the earth until they are excavated; in like manner important truths are veiled from gen- eral outward view while they are developing in the inner consciousness of humanity, but at length they burst forth like butterflies from chrysalids, or as young birds break through their egg shells, or as children are born into outward existence after secre- tion in the matrix. Though the thought of limiting God in any manner is intensely repugnant to the genuine Kabbalist, he is by no means averse to em- ploying the Human Form as a means of portraying his idea of divine revelation. The opening chapter of Genesis declares man to be theomorphic (in the image of God), therefore a human idea of Deity is not fallacious because it is anthropomorphic (in our human likeness), though all limited concepts must be inadequate. Our ideas are necessarily lim- ited and also growthf ul, for if our consciousness ex- pands our ideas must correspondingly enlarge. Nothing, therefore, can well be more idiotic than to denounce anthropomorphic views of Deity as false Book of Concealed Mystery 53 because they are perforce inadequate to express all that the Divine Reality must be. The hieroglyphical figure of the Kabbalah represents various concord- ing attributes of Deity as though God possesses an actual beard (to select only one curious example) consisting of hairs millions of miles in length. This is of course correspondential metaphor and refers, in one sense, to the position and work of a certain host of angels who are in the province of the Beard in Maximus Homo. In like manner offices are definitively assigned to various other companies of angels, and all is picturesquely outwrought as a work of symbolic art intensely fascinating and worthy of profound study and reverent considera- tion. The Kabbalah distinctly states that it is not given to humanity to know what God essentially is. The transcendental and immanent ideas of Deity, often sharply contrasted in theological controversy, find their meeting place in the Kabbalah in such expressions as the following: God is in all, distinct from all, greater than all. The Divine Name is ineffable, yet this name expresses only the human ideal of Divinity. In such statements as the fore- going we find an actual blending of Gnostic with Agnostic thought, and though it is generally sup- posed that between Gnosticism and Agnosticism there can be no intellectual fellowship, this seeming irreconcilability is only superficially apparent. 54 Book °f Concealed Mystery Gnostics claim an interior revelation enabling them to know all necessary truth, but as they claim pro- gression in knowledge through incessant additional illumination, they utterly repudiate the notion that anyone can possibly know all there is to be known. Gnostics never use the word Unknowable, but Un- known is a term to which no reasonable exception can ever be taken by claimants to even the largest possible share of knowledge yet possessed by the most illumined members of the human family. "You have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things," is a New Testament statement attributed to the Apostle Paul which sounds ridic- ulously bombastic until it has been subjected to rational examination, when it immediately loses all absurd pretentiousness, for "all things" signify only those things with which we are called upon to deal, and it is surely possible in a world of limited dimen- sions for some individuals to arrive at a perfect knowledge of the uses and values of all the things they are obliged to handle in the fulfillment of their actual obligations. All things are brought to the Adam man in his primitive estate "to see what he will call them," and Adam gives names to every- thing, but it is rightly inferred that he does not always name things correctly. In the limitless fields of Nature every object has its proper name and defi- nite use, and it is declared by Kabbalists that when- Book of Concealed Mystery 55 ever the right name is given to any creature it is compelled to answer to its rightful name, but if the name be miscalled or in any way mispronounced no certain results are obtainable. To call upon the Name of the Lord is regarded as the highest act of sublime magic, and by magic is rightly meant the Great Work, knowledge of how to perform which constitutes a man a Magus. It is deemed possible for unscrupulous persons to become "Black Magicians" through knowledge of certain magical secrets, but their power is always limited and can at any time be taken from them, because they are not in alliance with celestial hierarchies and cannot re- ceive support from the Masters of Wisdom, while the pow r er of the "White Magician" is illimitable because he is in accord with innumerable hosts of light and the power of good to vanquish evil is in- finite, while the force of evil is in reality unreal. The Kabbalah draws a clear distinction between knowing and believing and clearly shows how a be- liever may have no power to accomplish wonders because he only believes that they are accomplish- able but is unacquainted with the means whereby they may be wrought. The oft-quoted words from the Christian gospels, "All things are possible to him that believeth," are somewhat misleading, because they are a mistrans- lation of the original and not in accord with the 56 Book °f Concealed Mystery true significance of the mighty declaration, "With God all things are possible." When a human being is so well versed in a knowledge of unchanging law or inflexible order as to be able to set the law in motion, he can work "miracles," for a miracle prop- erly means any occurrence which excites general wonder because the majority of people know noth- ing of the law which makes the occurrence possible. The stupid prattle of old-fashioned Materialists against miracles is nothing but puerile nonsense, be- cause the whole of their argument and deduction from an established premise amounts to a complete non sequitur. The traditional materialistic hypothe- sis is that because the order of Nature is presumably unalterable therefore events commonly called mirac- ulous cannot occur, because their occurrence would necessitate the suspension of a law which can never be abrogated. Were we in possession of complete knowledge of law, and of all that is possible through its working agency, we might be able to sustain such a hypothesis, but nothing is more self-evident than that our knowledge of law is very limited and subject to continual increase. It is also true that what we now think to be the law may not be so in reality, for we often walk and speculate in a very dim light and we frequently leap to immature con- clusions which soon after we are compelled to mod- ify greatly. True Kabbalists are a wise and wary Book of Concealed Mystery 57 people, for while they have much to say concerning wonderful results following upon the utterance of mysterious combinations of letters which have been ingeniously fashioned into- awe-inspiring words, they are careful never to assume a complete knowledge of how far results may be carried by those whose knowledge is greater than their own. The famous tradition of a. "Lost Word" in Masonry is in exact accord with the teachings of Kabbalah. Tradition has it that there were originally 3 Grand Masters, and only when these 3 were together could the Mas- ter's Word be uttered, for it took all 3 to speak it, because only one syllable could be uttered by any one of the 3 Masters. When one of them was slain the word could not be pronounced by the re- maining 2, because only 2 syllables could then be uttered. Many foolish inferences have been drawn from this legend, the silliest of all being that the 2 remaining Masters after the slaying of one, only knew two-thirds of the sacred word and therefore could not pronounce it in its entirety; for it stands to reason that if it were spoken in its fullness when- ever the 3 had been together that all alike must have heard the 3 syllables though a single voice uttered only one of them. A much better interpre tation is that it took the combined presence and united influence of the 3 to generate the mighty mystic force necessary to accomplish an august re- 58 Book of Concealed Mystery suit. This we can understand, for a chord in music must consist of 3 notes, and unless the necessary 3 are struck together the perfect vibration cannot be produced. Students of the mystery and meaning of num- bers declare that there is a reference to this ancient tradition in the words of the Master of Christendom when he declares that if 2 or 3 disciples are gathered together in his name he will be truly in the midst of them. Every student of the gospels who is inter- ested in their mention of particular numbers must also have been impressed with such statements as "if 2 of you shall agree as touching anything it shall be done," and the account of sending out dis- ciples 2 by 2, not one by one. The number 2 holds high place in the Kabbalah and it stands for the original Cross, the anatomical figure displaying sym- metry. All anatomists and sculptors know that a perfectly formed human body is truly cruciform, the width from the point of one middle finger to the point of the other, when both are widely extended, being precisely the same as the height of the body from the crown of the head to the ball of either of the heels. Masculinity and femininity are here com- pletely expressed in the form of perfect duality. Perpendicular and Horizontal beams of a true Cross must be exactly equal. "Taking up the cross" and winning victories in this sign become scientifically Book of Concealed Mystery 59 and philosophically intelligible expressions in the light of this contemplation, whereas the ordinary identification of the cross with literal physical cruci- fixion is entirely foreign to the spirit of all esoteric teaching. So many different, though by no means discordant, meanings are attached to various num- bers in the Kabbalah that it is somewhat difficult to pronounce with certainty concerning the exact value attachable to each numeral in turn, but no un- certainty prevails as to the dignity of 10 and its multiples, for the 10 Sephiroth are always enumer- ated and we all know that 10 includes the 9 numerals and the circle. The number 1 is representative of primum mobile, the commencement of whirling motion. Under the general heading of the Macroprosopus (Vast Countenance) Kabbalists are accustomed to place the White Head denoting the Ancient of Days, also K ether (the Crown) and Eheieh (Ex- istence). Ain Soph, the Supreme Being, is never represented by the single stroke we use to denote the smallest of our numerals, but if any emblem is introduced it is invariably the circle. The Universe is supported by 3 Pillars, Justice, Mildness, Mercy. From the Macroprosopus proceed, as from an inscrutable height, Chokhmah (Wisdom) and Bin ah (Intelligence). These are respectively re- garded as Father and Mother Supernal. It is self- 60 Book of Concealed Mystery evident that the Kabbalah places masculinity and femininity on precisely the same level, so does the first chapter of Genesis both in the original and in all translations; and in the second chapter, which has so often been erroneously appealed to in at- tempted justification of sexual inequality, the mys- tical and traditional Eve, pronounced "mother of all living,' ' is distinctly described in a metaphor as taken from the side of Adam, neither from his head or from his foot, to signify her perfect equality with him. The second triadation in the Kabbalah, called the Lesser Countenance, is composed of Chesed (Mercy), Din (Justice) and Tiphereth (Beauty). These 3 are described as forming the Moral World, the first triadation constituting the realm of pure intellectuality. The third triadation, constituting the Material World, is composed of Netzach (Victory), Hod (Splendor) and Yesod (Foundation). The 10th Sephira is Malkhuth (the Kingdom). Each Sephira is an emanation from Ain Soph, the Limitless One, and is also esteemed as a company of closely united celestial intelligences who form a compact body, all the members of which act in perfect unity. It is easy to see how the 9 Choirs of Angels enumerated by Catholic theologi- ans and alluded to, more or less distinctly, in many Christian liturgies, are in vital accord with the Sephiroth of the Kabbalah, and it needs no pro- Book of Concealed Mystery 61 found or very wide research to convince any stu- dents who have a taste for comparative religion and philosophy that only in name are there practical dif- ferences in idea and terminology between the vari- ous great exponents of the leading religious systems of the world. The 10 Sephiroth are sometimes rep- resented in 3 pillars, thus : The right-hand pillar of Mercy consists of the 2nd, 4th and 7th emanations ; the left-hand pillar of Judgment consists of the 3rd, 5th and 8th emanations ; the middle pillar of Mild- ness (or moderation) consists of the 1st, 6th, 9th and 10th emanations. In their totality the 10 Sephi- roth represent Adam Kadmon, the Protagonos or original progenitor of humanity. There are 3 mas- culine, 3 feminine, and 4 uniting Sephiroth. The 3 masculine are on the right side; the 3 feminine on the left side and the 4 uniting Sephiroth in the cen- tre of the Tree of Life (Otz Chaiim). There is a close resemblance in this Tree to the sacred tree, Yggdrasil, of Scandinavian mythology. Though there are 3 distinct triadations (or 2 trinities and a quaternity, according to some authorities) in the enumerated Sephiroth, there is only one trinal classi- fication which comprises them all, and that consists of the Crown, the King and the Queen. The Kab- balah offers a reconciliation between Judaism and Christianity on a philosophical and mystical basis which must have been familiar to many of the Fath- 62 Book of Concealed Mystery ers of the early Christian Church, and it throws much light on the paradox of a Trinity in Unity. Without attempting to eulogize the whole of the so-called Athanasian Creed, one must confess that though dogmatically Trinitarian it is very far indeed from being Tritheistic, for it reiterantly declares "there are not 3 Gods, but one God.'' The original form of the Trinity was Father, Mother, and Child, and had that original form been adhered to in all Christian ecclesiastical art little, if any, exception could be taken to it as an endeavor to express our best ideas of Divine manifestation to human con- sciousness. It is the 2 exclusively male personages, one represented as much older than the other, and the Dove between them, which has occasioned much revolt, because of the total exclusion of the Mother principle and the substitution of the emblem of the Dove in place thereof. The Son born from the Father and the Mother was the ancient Egyptian idea as portrayed in Osiris, Isis, and Horus, and the Oriental portrayal of Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Preserver), Siva (Transformer), does no violence to that primal and universal concept of the 3 ex- pressions of absolute Unity which has led to the employment of the Triangle as a sacred symbol sec- ond in dignity to the Circle only. In Kabbalistic Book of Concealed Mystery 63 language the manifest universe is born from the union of the Crowned King and Queen, and before the complete form of the Heavenly Man (the 10 Sephiroth) was produced, primordial worlds were created which are referred to in the Hebrew Scrip- tures as "Kings of ancient time" and as "Kings of Edom." Edom means unbalanced force, while Israel signifies the balanced Sephiroth. The fact that worlds were formed and destroyed before the formation of our present earth is constantly reit- erated in the Zohar. The Sephiroth are designated a World of Emana- tions and an Archetypal World which gives birth to 3 other worlds in a descending scale of decreas- ing brightness. The second (Briatic) world is an immediate emanation from the highest world, Olahm Atziloth. This is conceived of as a purely spiritual realm without any admixture of what we commonly understand by matter. The 3rd World, Olahm Ha-Yetzirah, is the abode of angels, some- times called incorporeal spirits because their forms are not discernible by our physical senses, but to un- usually extended human vision they sometimes be- come clearly visible, and those who can discern them are, for that reason, classed as seers and seeresses. The world of action, which we objectively inhabit, 64 Book of Concealed Mystery is called Olahm Ha-Asiah; it is described as made up of the grosser elements derived from the other 3. Evil spirits in the Kabbalah are sometimes called "shells" and they are always referred to as the most deficient of all forms expressing intelligence. There are 10 orders of dark spirits enumerated which are in direct opposition to the Sephiroth. The idea is virtually the same as Swedenborg's memorable say- ing that heavens and hells stand feet to feet, because heavens are in the human form upright and hells are topsyturvy. Throughout the Kabbalah the number 10 runs constantly, so there are 10 of everything mentioned, the unholy tens being the exact contradictories of all holy existences. The Divine Name is composed of only 4 letters, Ihvh, but the right pronunciation of this Ineffable Name is known but to very few, and to one who knows how to speak it rightly it is the means where- by the most stupendous feats of sacred magic can be accomplished. There is nothing impossible to one w T ho can pronounce the sublimest of all names correctly, for this great and awe-inspiring Name is said to "rush through the Universe" and nothing can withstand the force of the tremendous vibration excited by the utterer thereof, if he be one who is Book of Concealed Mystery 65 duly qualified to proclaim it. But the mere utter- ance of the external sounds, as even a parrot might be taught to speak them, is of no avail. Israel Zangwill in his story "The Turkish Messiah" dis- plays close familiarity with this ancient doctrine when he narrates how a man who was supposed to be Messiah by his deluded followers, but was actu- ally a person of no great spiritual attainments and extremely self -conceited, pronounced the mysteri- ous word which was said to have power to produce tremendous results, but no event of any importance followed. The same idea runs through all the ven- erated traditions of the Orient concerning the sacred syllable Aum, which can be pronounced in a multi- tude of w r ays, but only brings forth high magical consequences when uttered by one who is far along the road to perfect adepthood. This seems entirely reasonable, for did some awful power reside in the ordinary pronouncing of sacred names the most ter- rific consequences would ensue from the flippant irreverence which is so very common among thoughtless and uncultivated people, that we hardly notice the verbal profanations which would perpet- ually assail our ears in many neighborhoods if we listened to the unthinking and largely unmeaning speech of innumerable men, women and children 66 Book of Concealed Mystery who lightly utter words of the deepest spiritual im- port, but almost powerlessly for good or ill because of the absence of any definite intention or expecta- tion in the will or thought of the speakers. To work holy or unholy spells one must have cultivated defi- nite will and imagination and must act with clear purpose aforethought. The key to the working of Kabbalah can never be found in knowledge alone, though such is valuable. There must be force of intention coupled with unshaking confidence in the efficacy of words spoken or other means employed, otherwise the most elaborate ritual observances will prove of no avail. CHAPTER IV. BOOK OF CONCEALED MYSTERY HUMANITY, SPIRIT- UAL AND PHYSICAL Following closely upon dissertations concerning the Ineffable Name, the awe-inspiring Tetragram- maton, the Kabbalah undertakes to analyze human- ity in accordance with the renowned Hermetic axiom, "As Above, so Below," and necessarily by inverse deduction, "As Below, so Above." The mind which can comprehend the plan of the Uni- verse is itself a miniature universe; thence is de- rived the famous and well-nigh universal doctrine of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm. It is in the Kabbalah and other esoteric works of great pro- fundity and antiquity that we may look, and not in vain, for a reconciliation of the various seemingly mutually exclusive philosophies which have long divided the intellectual world into contentious fac- tions. Idealism and Realism ; Spiritualism and Ma- terialism ; Transcendentalism and Utilitarianism are continually pitted against each other by argumenta- tive debaters who are very ready to assume affirma- 67 68 Book of Concealed Mystery tives and negatives respectively until the average seeker for enlightenment through academic channels is apt to exclaim, in despair of ever arriving at any intelligible solution of the riddle of existence, "a plague on both your houses.' ' Theosophical literature has rendered much helpful service by employing such a compound term as Spirit- Matter to designate 2 aspects of the manifestation of a Supreme Reality, called by Herbert Spencer and other agnostic philosophers of the 19th century "the Unknowable." "Infinite and eternal Energy" is a good enough term, but as Sir William Thompson pointed out in his admirable pamphlet, "The Un- known (?) God," published in 1904, a close study of nature, and most of all human nature, leads us away from the unsatisfactory Monism proclaimed by Ernest Haeckel in "The Riddle of the Universe" to a much more nearly Theistic position. The note of interrogation bracketed between the words "Un- known" and "God," in the title of the pamphlet, sufficed to express the exact shade of meaning the author sought to convey, for he was intending to discuss a question fearlessly but not to speak dog- matically; and the conclusion at which he arrived was the thoroughly sane and sensible one that we can know something, and continually learn more and more of Deity, but it is clearly impossible that we should know everything. Here we find the position Humanity, Spiritual and Physical 69 of an eminent British scientist of ripe age and wide experience in precise accord with the teachings of Kabbalah, though with this difference, that Kab- balists and Gnostics claim to know already more of the Divine than Sir William Thompson claimed to know. The Kabbalistic doctrine of angels above the pres- ent human level and unenlightened demons below it, is shared by practically all reputable Occultists, and is very plainly enunciated by Eliphas Levi in his famous work on Magic. There is no real or essential power in evil according to this arcane teach- ing, though it is admitted, and indeed emphatically declared at times, that persons living in the affec- tional indulgence of certain malignant vices while in the flesh will be tormented in the company of demons who correspond with these vices if they pass into the state beyond physical dissolution clinging to such disorderly affections. Students of Swedenborg will find numberless points of agreement with the teachings of that noble Swedish philosopher and seer as they peruse the somewhat differently worded Kabbalah, and they will also find less insistence in the Kabbalah on the perpetuity of evil in any section of the Universe than most Swedenborgians indulge in. But to the esoteric reader Swedenborg has sided with the Kabbalists entirely on more than one nota^ ble occasion, especially where he has given it forth 70 Book of Concealed Mystery that all the hells are as nothing before the Lord. The terminology of the Kabbalah is in many places almost identical with that of the prophetical books of Daniel and Ezekiel and with the New Testament Apocalypse. "Beast," "Harlot," and many other symbolical terms employed in Revelations, are used in obviously the same senses in the Kabbalah. Satan is Samael, the angel of poison and death; his wife is the great Harlot. All things infernal are inver- sions and caricatures of powers celestial, and all hells are in exact opposition to heavens. It greatly sim- plifies much that would otherwise appear fantastic, and well-nigh unintelligible, to reflect upon the posi- tively universal agreement of all schools of teachers upon the word disorder as the equivalent of disease. Now if disease and disorder are the same, then order must be the equivalent of health on all planes and in all degrees of manifest existence. The name Adonai, pronounced so frequently in all Jewish services, is almost always substituted for the unpronounced name of greatly superior excellence. This practise originated among devout Israelites to avoid all profanation of the most sacred and awe- inspiring of names, for it has been continually stated that when profane utterances are allowed discordant and dangerous results may follow; there is, there- fore, excellent reason from all magical and mystical standpoints for effectually guarding against pro- Humanity, Spiritual and Physical 71 fanity, though probably a merely thoughtless pro- nunciation of any sacred word is too nearly power- less in any case to be a matter of much consequence. The very extreme saying that whosoever rightly pronounces the Ineffable Name causes Heaven and Earth to tremble, is not to be lightly dismissed in these days in view of the vast amount of added knowledge now becoming general concerning vibra- tion. We can only keep open minds and maintain non-committal attitudes toward many mysteries, un- less we are among the small number of a specially enlightened few who are knowing to secrets which are ordinarily unknown. The statement that the Ineffable Name is capable of 12 transpositions, each specially effective in some special sphere, immediately suggests the 12 Signs of the Zodiac and the 12 major sections of human anatomy, as well as the 12 Tribes of Israel. There is no doubt a much nearer relationship between the Hebrew word Adonai and the Greek Adonis than most Jews would be willing to admit, because of the wide mental separation which existed for many cen- turies between Hebraism and Hellenism, but in the light of modern discoveries, and in view of our mod- ern search for a common religious and philological denominator, we can see many instances among pro- gressive and liberal-minded Jews of an increasing approach toward the position taken many centuries 72 Book of Concealed Mystery ago by Philo of Alexandria, who saw no reason why- Judaism and Hellenism should be regarded as an- tagonistic or mutually exclusive. The great value of Kabbalistical researches is that they encourage students to look below surface differences to find radical agreements, and we need no teaching quite so much to-day as that which differentiates logically and practically between righteous differences and scandalous disagreements. God is One, but gods are many. Man is One, but men are many. All ancient religious and philosophical systems, at their best and highest, made this distinction so unmistakably clear that we could hardly account for its subsequent obscuration if we did not know something of the fierce wars which one nation, for long periods often, waged against another, and in the thick of conflict the gods of one people were considered devils by another. The outward letter of the Old Testament is as warlike in many places as the external aspect of the Bhagavad Gita or any other Hindu Scripture, and no more so. The chief advantage of a study of Kabbalah is that it turns our thoughts inward in- stead of outward, and suggests to us an allegorical, and even a precisely correspondential method of in- terpreting all Sacred Books, somewhat after the manner of Swedenborg's Arcana Ccelestia, which agrees with the Rabbalah in many important par- ticulars. We must always remember when reading Humanity, Spiritual and Physical 73 Swedenborg that he declared that the doctrine of correspondences was widely known more than 4,000 years before his day. When the doctrine of evolution startled the mod- ern European world, about 1859, when Darwin's "Origin of Species" came into prominence, nearly all other religious denominations were greatly dis- turbed by statements made regarding the immense age of our planet and the probability that human life had existed here for hundreds of thousands of years, but prominent ministers of the New Jerusalem Church were very complacent and industriously availed themselves of the opportunity to advance their own doctrines in such a manner as to show that though Swedenborgians regard the Pentateuch as divinely inspired, it contains (as do other sacred documents also) 3 distinct senses respectively demon- inated Celestial, Spiritual, Natural, the last of these 3 being only a veil over the face of the Torah, as mentioned in Exodus where we are told that Moses after descending from the summit of Sinai was com- pelled to veil his face because the Children of Israel could not bear to gaze upon its uncovered luminous splendor. In the light of what we are learning to- day about brilliant human auras surrounding excep- tionally holy and enlightened persons, we can accegt a great amount of such a story even literally; but in a much deeper sense do Kabbalists lay it before 74 Book of Concealed Mystery us. The New Testament speaks of the veil of the Temple being rent in twain by an earthquake when a Master exclaimed, "It is consummated/' and while there is no improbability in such an event actually occurring, all Gnostic exponents of the Christian Gospels maintain that only as we grasp an esoteric significance can we derive spiritual enlightenment from a perusal and study of the narrative. It is not possible in these days to induce educated people to believe that the book of Genesis gives a literally accurate account of the antiquity of the human race ; but it is possible to be truly scientific and at the same time earnestly seek to penetrate the glyph and dis- cover the sublime arcane teaching which reposes be- hind the outer veil of all venerated Scriptures. Moses Maimonides, who flourished in Europe dur- ing the 1 2th century of the present era, when draw- ing up his famous 13 propositions which constitute what is often called the Creed of Israel, says that Moses, the greatest of Israel's prophets, beheld the divine similitude. No man can see God as one sees a fellow human being and continue to live on earth. "No man hath seen God at any time" is a text frequently quoted, but beholding the "divine simili- tude," in the Mosaic sense, is only discovering the true nature of humanity and realizing the force of the mighty declaration that Humankind is in the Divine Image spiritually. It is only through human Humanity, Spiritual and Physical 75 nature that human beings can apprehend divine na- ture, therefore the anthropologist who penetrates deeply into his exhaustless task becomes, perforce, a true theosophist. The great point of difference between Kabbalistic teaching and orthodox Chris- tian teaching is that the former is far more inclu- sive than the latter. Orthodox Christians dogmati- cally affirm that once only has a human form ap- peared on earth truly expressing Divinity. Kab- balists attempt to uphold no such restrictive doctrine, but content themselves with insisting upon the divine origin and essentially divine nature of all humanity, a theory which is at present brought very prom- inently forward in many circles without much regard to particular denominational affiliations. The chief stumbling blocks in the path of theological students who may be properly open-minded, and also tem- peramentally rationalistic, are placed there not so much by sceptics or agnostics as by theological pro- fessors who, while seeming to advocate so much more religious truth than the students can assimi- late, are in reality excluding much that those intelli- gent and honest-minded young persons could readily comprehend were it placed intelligibly and attrac- tively before them. What is known as New Theol- ogy, as well as what goes by the name of New Thought, aims at a greater inclusiveness than ortho- dox schools of religion and philosophy have toler- 76 Book of Concealed Mystery ated, and the same remark holds true with reference to Eclecticism in the field of Therapeutics. It is what schoolmen have sought to cramp and confine that is now demanding illimitable liberty, and while sheer denial, or at best hopeless agnosticism, is widely prevalent even yet in some places (though not nearly so much so as toward the end of the last century), nothing is more evident than the spiritual- izing tendency of the uppermost modern thought in scientific, equally with religious, circles. We now ask the straightforward question: Has the Kab- balah a message for to-day as a helper in the closely allied fields of theological and anthropological dis- cussion? Perhaps it is only safe to say that it has a very satisfactory message for certain types of mind and none whatever for other types, but be this as it may, there is a message in the Kabbalah con- cerning universal human nature which is in complete accord with the highest and most practical views now entertained by many unusually deep thinkers who are also successful reformers and genuine educators. There are doubtless numerous young men who would like to enter a religious ministry, and work actively therein, did they feel that they could con- scientiously subscribe to tenets which they only doubt, and as they rightfully feel that we should preach not our doubts but our convictions, they re- main outside the ministry, and many churches com- Humanity, Spiritual and Physical 77 plain of a paucity of satisfactory ministerial candi- dates. In view of the constantly increasing enquiry into all things mysterious, much help can be ren- dered to honest truthseekers by presenting them with a view of life which renders it possible to call noth- ing impossible unless it can be proved a mathemati- cal absurdity. W. K. Chesterton, whose play Magic soon proved popular, boldly proclaims his belief in miracles in the old-fashioned supernaturalistic em- ployment of the term. This famous essayist was confronted on the boards of the London theatre where his play was having a good run with flat denials of his position when he invited open dis- cussion during the afternoon of January 19, 19 14. That interesting discussion, widely reported in the leading papers of the following day, brought out sharply the need of a reasonable 3rd position, and every logician knows that 3 positions have to be taken into account in every logically sustainable argument. The Kabbalistic view, though ancient is also extremely modern, for it actually amounts to maintaining that all sorts of unexplained phenom- ena really take place, but the so-called miraculous is such in name only, because the immutable order of the Universe is never disturbed, and all mysterious happenings are, therefore, as rightly attributable to the* operation of unchanging law as are the erratic movements of a comet whose eccentric orbit can be 78 Book of Concealed Mystery accurately calculated by sufficiently proficient astron- omers. According to the unmistakable inferences of the Kabbalah we can all attain to as much control over outside influences as any Mental Scientist pro- claims we can ; but we must grow steadily until we reach the heights. The 3 continually mentioned Hebrew w r ords, Nephesh, Ruach, Neshamah, must be logically comprehended before we can understand the Kabbalistic view of the so-called Fall of Man. Nephesh is the animating principle of all vitalized existences; Ruach is found in humanity, but does not abide or inhere in any sub-human entities; Neshamah is sometimes called "the candle of the Lord," while Ruach ha Kodesh is a Hebrew title for the divine indwelling which Christians term the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. The 3rd chapter of the 4th Gospel, which contains the narrative of Nico- demus, a member of the Sanhedrin, applying to Jesus for information concerning regeneration, is readily understood in the light of Kabbalah which places water in a position inferior to that occupied by air and fire ; and throughout the New Testament we find the same general symbology adhered to. Baptism by water is preparatory to baptism by the Holy Breath and Fire. Wind (not water) is a symbol of this same Divine Emanation which, ac- cording to the 14th chapter of the 4th Gospel, has been with but shall be in the true disciples of an Humanity, Spiritual and Physical 79 exalted Master. The name Moshe (Moses) means drawn up out of water, and mystically designates one who has been raised, through adequate initiation into the everlasting mysteries pertaining to regen- eration, above the common intellectual plane to a plateau of spiritual discernment where hitherto un- known spiritual realities become clearly known, and where latent powers long dormant are quickened to conscious and operative activity. It is the Mosaic type of human being (not simply one man who lived long ago in Egypt), who experiences the glorious interview with Deity in a mystical manner through the agency of the Burning Bush at Horeb, for that "bush" is a symbol of human nature at all times and everywhere ; ( but there are few who turn aside, as does Moses, to behold a great sight which though always observable is but seldom observed.) As the Greek word anthropos means an upward- gazer, it is only the spiritualizing or regenerating man who enjoys any appreciable degree of spiritual insight, consequently those who live only carnal lives do not see (or discern) the Kingdom of God. What a sublime contrast the Kabbalah offers to the pitiful theology which prates exoterically of baptismal re- generation and knows nothing of the esoteric splen- dor concealed within the mighty words so glibly used. It was not irreverence but reverence which caused Ralph Waldo Emerson to righteously hold 80 Book of Concealed Mystery up to scorn the detestable notion that the eternal salvation of a human soul could depend upon any sacerdotal rite. A priest might be delayed by any one of a hundred petty incidents from arriving in time to literally baptize either an infant or an adult who might be physically dying, and we ask the sacerdotalists of to-day with all sincerity if there la one among them who really believes that Limbo in- stead of Paradise is to be the eternal portion of any member of the human race because some priest failed to perform an act of ceremonial magic upon the outward body of some fellow human being? No wonder the doctrines of the churches are widely discredited if such hideous travesties of truth are brayed into the ears of men and women honestly desiring to find the path that leads to heavenly fe- licity. But while the cruel puerilities of blind theo- logians can only excite our pity and our scorn we ought not therefore to blatantly exclaim that the venerable and long venerated Scriptures of the world are worthless and misleading; rather let us look below the obvious surface of any or all of them, and seek until we find the gems of truth that lie im- bedded in their inner meanings like gold concealed, until some miner discovers and excavates it, deep in the secret chambers of the earth. We none of us can fully know all that is implied in the majestic declaration that we are in the Divine Image. On Humanity, Spiritual and Physical 81 our merely earthly side we can wailingly cry out, "What is man, the child of dust; what is man, O Lord?" ; but on the other side of our nature we can exult with the author of the 8th psalm who declares, in the original, that humanity is but little lower than Elohim and is crowned with honor and glory. The Kabbalah assigns to humanity a vice-regal throne and far from considering ourselves as prostrate worms we are invited to contemplate ourselves as, at the least, potential eagles whose soaring possi- bilities are immeasurably greater than our best feeble language can describe. CHAPTER V. THE KABBALISTIC USE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF NUMBERS. The Kabbalah lays great stress upon the number 10 as the all-expressing numeral and without some understanding of the honorable place it occupies in Kabbalistic literature it would be impossible to grasp the general idea of the Universe at all clearly from the Kabbalistic viewpoint. There are 10 Sephiroth, 10 Divine Names, 10 Archangels, 10 Orders of Angels, and 10 Orders of Demons. The 10 names of Deity are intended to convey the idea of 10 dis- tinct attributes of Deity and 10 distinct modes of divine operation. This consideration throws much light on the use of the plural in various translations of the Hebrew Pentateuch. Elohim is in its forma- tion a plural word, and "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness" is a familiar quota- tion from the opening chapter of Genesis. The Kabbalah reveals that this seeming plurality of di- vine personages in no way contradicts the rigidly monotheistic faith of Israel but conveys only an 82 83 idea of the united action of the various attributes of Deity, and also (possibly) the agencies employed by the Divine One in accomplishing the work of creation. It is said that the attribute of Mercy is called into requisition in the creative act, while it is the attribute of Justice which preserves the created Universe; and furthermore is it declared that the various orders of Celestial Intelligences are contin- ually employed in executing the will and plans of the Creator. The number 4 is also greatly honored in the Kabbalah, and we read much concerning the 4 Worlds which are respectively designated Atziloth ( Archetypal), Briah (Creative), Yetzirah (Forma- tive), Asiah (Material). Much also is made of the number 2, especially as regards Macroprosopus, the Great Countenance, and Microprosopus, the Lesser Countenance. As the unit is necessarily the greatest and the least, — for there can be nothing larger than One and nothing smaller than one, — the unit must always be the starting point and the final point. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end" (employing the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet), refers to the absolute unconditioned or unlimited life which is truly described in the mighty title of Deity, "I am that I am." We all speak glibly enough of infinite and eternal, but no finite mind can grasp or measure infinity and eternity, therefore we have no ground for dissenting entirely 84 The Kabbalistic Use from Herbert Spencer's historic use of the word Unknowable. The absolute must be unknowable to the relative, for the simple reason that the former is illimitable while the latter is definitely limited. It is only in some conditioned revelation or mani- festation that we can form any idea of the One Eternal Cause whence all effects originally proceed, and though it would be presumptuous and absurd to claim for the Kabbalah that it sets forth all that can ever be apprehended of Divine activities, it is but fair to insist that it far surpasses many other documents which attempt to perform a similar task, both in its comparative clearness of definitions and in its successful avoidance of polytheism, for it ac- tually does describe with minute detail various hosts of subordinate entities employed by Deity without ever drifting into the hopeless tangle in which all systems become inextricably involved as soon as they lose the thought of essential unity. Modern scholarship at its highest and best is taking much account of the polytheistic systems of Egypt, As- syria, Babylonia, Scandinavia, Greece and Rome, as well as India, and though many gods and goddesses are mentioned by name in all of them, and distinc- tive attributes assigned to each variety of subordi- nate divinities, it is always discovered that before and behind all these polytheistic concepts lies the primitive idea of a single absolute One who is in and Significance of Numbers 85 no way dependent upon those varied hosts of lesser lights, but all depend upon the Supreme Unity. Rawlinson, Wallis Budge, and indeed all distin- guished writers upon ancient Egyptian religion in- sist upon this fact with great determination. There is nothing irrational, or in any way out of align- ment with our knowledge of the world in which we live, and the wider knowledge attainable through a study of astronomy, in the Kabbalistic descriptions of celestial companies, with distinctive missions to fulfil ; indeed it seems almost incredible that anyone grasping the Copernican instead of the Ptolemaic theory of the Universe should entertain the thought that only one small planet like our earth should be inhabited, or that the race to which we belong should be the only race of intelligent entities peopling the vast domains revealed to our vision by the telescope. The eminent French astronomer, Camille Flam- marion, when under 20 years of age wrote a beau- tiful astronomical treatise entitled "The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds," and when at the age of 70 he reviewed his youthful ebullition he declared that his half-century of research in the interim had not led him to change his views in any substantial man- ner, only to further elaborate them. In that curious book by Professor Alfred Russel Wallace, "Man's Place in the Universe," we find the startling theory floated that this world of ours is actually the centre 86 The Kabbalistic Use of this universe, and that all other inhabited worlds therein are peopled by advanced souls who have once been embodied on this planet. This peculiar exalta- tion of our little earth found no favor with Flam- marion, who rather harshly controverted it, though he never spoke disrespectfully of the eminent Eng- lish naturalist who put it forward with considerable earnestness and apparent scientific justification. We allude to this modern glorification of our earth by a distinguished man of science to show that the high place assigned to our humanity in the universal scheme by teachers in days of old does not appear to be in conflict with the convictions of all modern evolutionists, for though both a Theist and a Spirit- ualist, Wallace was an uncompromising evolutionist, one whose name is rightfully coupled with that of Charles Darwin in the same field of natural ex- ploration. To the Kabbalist the modern doctrine of evolution is by no means unwelcome if it be made to rest upon a foundation of involution; indeed the very mean- ing of the word necessitates that such a foundation be logically supplied, for the Latin verb evolvere, from which evolution is derived, means to unroll, and unrolling is an unthinkable process unless some- thing be inrolled which is subsequently unfolded. The number 7 is sacred in the Kabbalah as in all other mystical treatises, and it would be folly to and Significance of Numbers 87 urge that numbers were originally venerated with- out adequate reason ; 7 are the colors of the rainbow and 7 are the notes in the musical scale; 7 are the days of the week and 4 times 7 are the days of the lunar month; 9 are the months occupied in perfect human gestation. Thus we see that the honored numerals 7 and 9 have their position so completely fixed in nature that we cannot accuse those who first regarded them as sacred, and considered them spiritually ominous, of having invented a theory of fanciful character. The more we study the religious and other "superstitions" of the ancients the more convinced must we become that there is a very solid foundation under all widely extended venerations, and it can never be the part of wisdom to attempt to brush them ruthlessly aside, though in numberless instances it is highly necessary to cleanse them from accumulated excrescences and restore them as nearly as possible to their original natural simplicity. When Rosicrucians employ the 5 petaled wild rose as their fundamental floral emblem, and also pay honor to 5 in many other ways, we find them in this respect following nature very closely, for 5 are the digits on each hand, and 5 are the toes on every perfect human foot. But here again we see how right are Kabbalists in giving far greater honor to 10, for each normal human body has 2 hands and 2 feet; therefore 10 is the number of the hands and 88 The Kabbalistic Use of the feet also. If we insist upon honoring 5 un- duly we have only a one-sided idea of human life, for either the masculine alone or the feminine alone must be the object of our esteem and veneration ; but when 10 is rightfully exalted in our symbolic usages, male and female are regarded as of equal dignity and excellence. In Masonic circles, both where the Co- Masonic idea is and where it is not accepted, 5 oc- cupies a very highly distinguished place; "5 points of fellowship" is a well-known phrase, and in the Order of the Eastern Star the star is 5 pointed and 5 distinguished women are named in connection with it; 5 denotes cleavage of the sexes; 10 denotes their perfect unification. It would be quite permissi- ble for advocates of sex equality to adopt a 10 pointed star as their emblem, and it might prove very useful as a symbol truly expressing a grand idea. Numbers have always played a very important part in Jewish celebrations, and nowhere do we wit- ness a more perfect survival of a very ancient prac- tise than in the home service for Passover Eve, sol- emnly observed in all Jewish households which have not completely discontinued the impressive tradi- tional ceremonies in which the conservative element in the House of Israel takes unwearying delight. As there are 10 Commandments and these 10 Precepts sum up the entire Mosaic Code in which and Significance of Numbers 89 there are 613 distinct admonitions (adding up as 10), the number 10 appears in the place of glory- not only in the Kabbalah and among Mystics in general, but wherever the faith of Israel is held in high esteem. Many instructive sidelights are thrown upon the Kabbalah and its special teaching with re- gard to the place and value of numbers in the uni- versal scheme, when we turn to Greek and other extra-Jewish sources to learn how the Gentile na- tions have esteemed this same entrancing subject. Classic authors make frequent reference to numbers and the place they occupy in Nature. Among them Proclus in particular has spoken with great definite- ness concerning the general doctrine of the philos- ophers of many lands, for he tells us that "number has always a being; one in voice, another in the proportion of things, another in the soul and rea- son, and yet another in Divine things." Plato and many other renowned philosophers declared that no man can possibly be a true philosopher without a correct knowledge of the significance of numbers. Simple numbers are always said to signify Divine things; numbers of tens things celestial, numbers of hundreds things terrestrial, while predictions of things to come are expressed in thousands. Though such a statement may at first seem strange, it can 90 The Kabbalistic Use easily be harmonized with the idea of the number i, suggesting absolute unity, connoting our idea of the Divine Reality, and all multiplications denoting rel- ative inferiority. In a very curious work entitled "Numbers ; Their Meaning and Magic," by Isidore Kozminsky, we receive a great deal of strange in- formation, professedly Kabbalistic, concerning the association of numbers with astrological concepts. In that volume we read that the vibrations of I are solar, of 2 lunar, of 3 Jupiterian, of 4 Solar, of 5 Mercurial, of 6 Venusian, of 7 Lunar, of 8 Saturn- ine, of 9 Martial, of 10 Solar, of 11 Lunar, of 12 Jupiterian. The number 11 is frequently regarded as so peculiar that it stands forth in a positively unique manner and the two units constituting it must never be added so as to make 2. This ominous num- ber has been held significant of the 11 Paths of Darkness in contrast with the 10 Paths of Splendor. In some ancient Hebrew works of unusual char- acter it has been assigned to Lilith, the first wife of Adam. The Kabbalah, in the section known as Sepher Yetzirah, praises the number 11 highly and declares the nth Path to be one of Glittering In- telligence endowed with special grandeur so that whosoever travels thereon to the end thereof with true understanding shall attain to the sight of Deity and live. From this statement we gather that the nth Path is one of great difficulty and refers to a and Significance of Numbers 91 high initiation resulting only from that purity of affection which leads to the Beatific Vision accord- ing to the Sermon on the Mount and the teachings of all advanced Mystica. Concerning 12 so very much has been written and spoken that its general significance is almost universally familiar as an omen of completeness. The 12 Tribes of Israel are often associated with the 12 Signs of the Zodiac, and in Christian literature with the 12 Apostles. In the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation we find numbers employed almost exactly as in the Kabbalah, and there is a striking resemblance between the allegori- cal language of that mysterious concluding docu- ment in the New Testament and the figurative lan- guage common to the prophetical treatises known as Daniel and Ezekiel. 7 invariably stands for com- pleteness where quality is concerned; 12 denotes completeness to the fulness of variety. 7 and its multiples always suggest moral perfection and spir- itual attainment, while 12 and its multiples conveys the thought of a perfect ingathering of all types needed to secure a complete representation of all the varied states or conditions of humanity which must rightly federate to produce a truly compendi- ous whole. Instead of fusion or amalgamation, the Kabbalistic idea of federation is that of perfectly harmonious co-operation ; a concept much easier to grasp and provocative of no reasonable opposition. 92 The Kabbalistic Use As the number 13 is one which has been long re- garded by hosts of superstitious people with aversion and dread, it is interesting to note that in truly en- lightened Kabbalistic circles it is never maligned or dreaded but is regarded as significant of the under- standing of truth. In the Sepher Yetzirah 13 is spoken of in connection with the Path of Unity and it is said that he who hath a right understanding of the meaning of this number possesses the key to spiritual knowledge and can exercise great power and dominion. This saying is easily comprehended if we remember the exalted place occupied by 13 to this very day, a judge and 12 jurors making 13. When a Master is seated with 12 specially chosen disciples 13 must be the number present. The dread of 13 probably arose among those who had cause to fear the passing of a verdict. If 13 be regarded as the number denoting judgment it is easy enough to see how it has come to excite fear among those who feel within themselves a sense of guiltiness. But precisely because a just sentence must expose and condemn iniquity it must also remove unjust suspicion from the innocent ; consequently when the unrighteous have cause to tremble, the upright have reason to rejoice; 13 according to this interpreta- tion can only be (seemingly) unfortunate for those who have transgressed the moral law, and even for them, if a just penalty be administered, it works for and Significance of Numbers 93 their ultimate benefit as well as for the vindication of such among the innocent as have been falsely accused. Proceeding along the numerical line, and attaching a single expressive meaning to each num- ber as we ascend the ladder, we find 14 associated with constant motion and also with f orgetf ulness ■; 15 is associated with magic and mystery, and in the Sepher Yetzirah it is connected with the Path of Darkness (temporary obscuration) ; 16 is found de- noting the Path of Glory and Victory for the Right- eous, and we must always remember that the Kab- balah regards righteousness as equivalent to triumph over obstacles, as in the story of Parsifal, which is founded originally upon legends far older than the Arthurian; 17 has been mentioned as the number of the Star of the Magi and is found signifying the Path of the Realization of Reward by the Right- eous; 18 has been allied symbolically with the Twi- light and Falling Dew, and the 18th Path has been named that of the Senses; 19 is connected with an- cient symbols of the Sun and is sometimes typified by an Angel unwinding Destinies ; the Sepher Yetzi- rah styles it the Path of Spiritual Activity ; 20 sym- bolizes the Awakening of the Dead and the Final Judgment, which terms have a deep significance in occult literature referring to the new life of those who have passed through a mystical demise and are now quickened to a life of hitherto unknown activ- 94 The Kabbalistic Use ities ; the Sepher Yetzirah calls the 20th Path the road of Primordial Wisdom in general diffusion; 21 in the Kabbalah is associated directly with Con- ciliation ; 22 being the number which completes the Hebrew alphabet is described in the Kabbalah as de- noting, for those who tread the 22d Path, spiritual light streaming over the entire earth, and as the letter Tau is cruciform we find it to be the number of that Sign of the Cross wherein Initiates conquer. Though at the present day the figure of the cross is usually far from honored among Israelites, that is in consequence of its connection with persecution and its adoption by many who have been oppressors of the House of Israel as their especial badge and emblem, but in ancient times the cross as a symbol had no such painful and harrowing associations. In Egypt it was a Nilometer marking the rising and falling of the river without whose periodical over- flow the land would have been desolate, and among early Kabbalists it stood for the fulfilment of initia- tion into the sacred mysteries, as it stood also in other mystical systems of Oriental origin. CHAPTER VI. KABBALISTIC VIEWS OF THE HUMAN SOUL, ITS NATURE AND DESTINY. EHphas Levi, the famous French author, in his "Key of the Mysteries/' gives us much valuable condensed information concerning the theories pro- mulgated by distinguished Kabbalists concerning the Soul and its various attributes and expressions. We gather from a general concensus that the follow- ing definitions are fairly representative of the lead- ing doctrines enunciated by distinguished Rabbis to whom a study of Kabbalah has been a constant work of rare delight and great satisfaction. The soul is a veiled light, triple in nature. The Hebrew word Neshamah is used to designate pure spirit. Ruach is the name given to the human ra- tional principle which occupies a middle rank be- tween pure spirit (in essence divine) and Nephesh which signifies the animating principle in all ani- mate existences, human and sub-human equally. For the convenience of readers whose mother tongue is English and who, though familiar with Christian 95 96 Kabbalistic Views terminology are ignorant of Hebrew designations, it may be safe to connect Neshamah with the idea of an abiding entity, uncompounded and indissolu- ble, causing many persons to use the familiar phrase, "immortality of the soul." But as the word soul is used in many connections, superior and inferior, it is necessary to explain exactly what is meant by soul before we speak of its immortality, or even of its immortability. Every chemist will readily admit that all compounds are dissoluble, but could we dis- cover an absolute simple which had never been com- pounded we could logically conceive of its everlast- ing simple integrity. This is the Platonic idea of the abiding entity as set forth in the Phaedo during the reported farewell discourse of Socrates with his friends immediately prior to his physical decease. The Hindu concept of the permanent entity is often expressed in English in such words as "Never the soul was born and the soul can die never." It certainly seems necessary, whenever we institute an enquiry into the origin and nature of widespread religious and philosophical concepts, to ask ourselves whence have the most vital among them been derived and why is it that despite all seeming evidence to the contrary they go on living, surviving every attack made upon them. Logicians never dispute the fact that for every effect there must be an adequate or efficient cause. What can be the root-fact lying behind our of the Human Soul 97 persistent belief in our own immortality, which can- not possibly have been derived from sensuous ob- servation or from any process of reasoning upon the natural phenomena with which we are all perpetu- ally confronted? The Kabbalah carries us into fields of spiritual experience entirely removed from ordinary scientific research and speculation, and it is quite easy to see how Kabbalists maintain philosophical consistency, no matter into what profound philosophic depths they plunge, because they start with a declaration that their knowledge is communicated from celestial beings to receptive minds on earth, therefore the in- formation they obtain is beyond the findings of un- assisted human reason, but in no way contradictory to any rational inferences. The animal man lives only in the consciousness of nephesh, which is sometimes termed the plastic mediator between the higher realms of spirit and in- tellect and the most external earth. Nephesh is said to be relatively immortal through a constant dissolution and renewal of forms. Ruach is progressive through the constant evolution of ideas. Neshamah is pro- gressive without forgetfulness and without dissolu- tion. Here we have an outline idea of 3 distinct planes of consciousness in humanity, and that these planes are widely acknowledged by thinkers and students all over the world, in varying measures of 98 Kabbalistic Views clearness, is virtually beyond dispute. From this consideration we are led luminously through many otherwise dark and bewildering mazes and labyrinths of Oriental speculation, and the doctrine of human re-incarnation — always a moot problem in the West- ern world — is considerably enlightened. The Kab- ibalah deals with 3 distinct habitations of souls : The .Abyss of Life; The Superior Eden; The Inferior Eden. From the first mentioned state souls descend into the second, and from the second into the third. The physical body is the veil of Nephesh, which is in turn the veil of Ruach, which in its turn is the veil of Neshamah. These 3 Veils are constantly alluded to in Kabbalistic writings ; a consideration of them may greatly help Bible students to discover some- thing of the esoteric meaning of the veil which Moses wore when addressing the Children of Israel after his descent from Sinai, and also of the declara- tion that the veil of the temple in Jerusalem was rent asunder when the Master in the gospels yielded up his spirit to the Father. The following sentences are translated quotations from the French work of Eliphas Levi : "Light personifies itself by veiling itself, and the personification is stable only when the veil is perfect." "This perfection upon earth is relative to the universal soul of the earth. As is the Macrocosm of the Human Soul 99 or greater world, so is the Microcosm or lesser world, which is humanity." We are next told that there are 3 atmospheres in which souls can dwell, the 3d of which ends where interplanetary attraction commences. This teach- ing accords substantially with the teachings of many schools of Theosophists and Occultists, and it agrees also with a great deal of modern Spiritualistic testi- mony, though Spiritualists as a rule speak of 7 dis- tinct spheres rather than of 3 only ; but the 2 num- bers are easily reconcilable as 7 is the number of the prismatic hues and 3 is often given as that of the primary colors. The idea is that this earth, in common with other planets in our solar system, is surrounded by belts or zones of increasing attenuity and luminosity as we proceed outward from the physical centre of gravity; but though we who are bound to physical sense-observation regard the coarse matter of the physical plane as the solidest of all, it is really the least permanent, being of the loosest composition and most readily destructible, a fact which every modern physicist abundantly con- firms. What the Kabbalah sets forth in ponderous and impressive old-world phraseology the modern professor of physics is approaching rapidly along the very different line of painstaking physical re- search. It is now quite usual to hear a learned scientist refer to ether as far more solid than what 100 Kabbalistic Views we commonly call matter, and we are surely all well aware that unseen substance is far mightier and far more enduring than aught we can behold with our extremely imperfect external vision. Again quot- ing from Eliphas Levi's admirable condensation of Kabbalistic philosophy we offer without comment the following thought-provoking sentences : "Souls perfected on this earth pass on to another station. After traversing the planets they reach the Sun; then they ascend into another universe and recom- mence their planetary evolution from world to world and from sun to sun." "In the suns they remember; in the planets they forget." "Solar lives are days of eternal life; planetary lives are nights filled with dreams." "Angels are luminous emanations personified, not by trial and veil, but by divine influence and reflex." "Angels aspire to become men, for perfected man is above all angels." "Planetary lives are composed of 10 dreams of ioo years each. Each solar life extends to 1,000 years; therefore it is recorded that 1,000 years are in the sight of God as one day." "Every week, i. e. y every 14,000 years, the soul bathes itself and reposes in the jubilee dream of for- getfulness. On waking therefrom it has forgotten all evil, but remembers all good." of the Human Soul 101 In the above sayings, which condense volumes of Kabbalistic teaching in a few brief paragraphs, we find the complete gist of the erudite philosophy we are seeking to explain, and though it would be in- deed a too prodigious task to seek to elucidate the w T hole of so vast a concept, we can cordially recom- mend a diligent study of it to all who wish to under- stand in some degree the inculcations of those wise seers and sages who have left to the present gen- eration a priceless philosophic legacy. Each reader may meditate at will upon such profound assertions as the foregoing, and none are expected to accept blindly any sayings, no matter from what exalted source they may have emanated, for if we fail to employ our reason upon what we read and hear we may accept blindly and repeat like parrots many im- portant truths, but having only hearsay knowledge we have no root of the matter thriving in us. The sublimity of the idea, and its perfect con- sonance with the heliocentric theory of the universe, at once stamps it as the outcome of highly enlight- ened thinkers or wonderfully illumined seers, for so majestic a view of the Universe and the progression of souls therein could not possibly have emanated from crude ignorance or from the wild vaporings of unbalanced sensitives, who rise to no higher planes of knowledge than the earthbound sphere which Occultists of all schools maintain is the temporary "02 Kabbalistic Views abode of the great mass of comparatively unaspiring human entities when they shuffle off their mortal coils. Progress is everywhere the law of life, and it seems scarcely credible that any sane individual can en- dorse the antiquated theological fiction of souls pass- ing at the moment of physical dissolution into per- manent states of joy or misery, light or darkness, which will endure for them eternally. The Kab- balah reasonably interpreted proclaims a doctrine of varied and progressive spiritual existence for every soul, so far enlightened and enlightening as to com- pel the serious attention of the most eminent intel- lects of to-day, to whom psychology and psychical research are making a profound appeal. Religious doctrines are everywhere in a state of flux, and on every side we note the breaking up of creeds and the discarding of theories which no amount of casuistical argument can bring into alignment with the discoveries of science and the reasoning of astute philosophers. In the midst of the present contention the vener- able Kabbalah lifts its voice and only asks for can- did examination. Those who know it best, and therefore prize it most sincerely, are not afraid that its archaisms will prevent genuine scholars from pen- etrating below the surface of its occasionally obscure diction to discover the gems of priceless wisdom which are contained in its awe-inspiring and yet hope-inspiring mines of as yet unfathomed depth. CHAPTER VII. KABBALISTIC DOCTRINE CONCERNING CAUSE AND EFFECT (KARMA). From what has been set forth in preceding chap- ters our readers may now be interested to trace, in some slight degree, the attitude taken by Kab- balists toward the great doctrine of Karma which has loomed so large of late before all enquirers into Theosophy, and indeed before the eyes of all read- ers of Sir Edwin Arnold's majestic poem, "The Light of Asia," and many other well-known works by distinguished authors who have set themselves the task of translating Oriental ideas, as far as pos- sible, into Occidental language. In the Kabbalah we have a good account of how those effects are produced sometimes designated "good and evil karma." When Ruach is under the guidance of Neshamah, and Nephesh is rightly dominated by the illumined Ruach, such causes are set in motion as beget delightful effects (good karma) ; but when Ruach is under the sway of Nephesh, in that inverted condition causes are gen- 103 104 Kabbalistic Doctrine erated which bring forth sorrowful and discordant consequences (evil karma). The Kabbalah speaks of 2 angels attached to every soul, Michael and Samael, the former being the celestial warrior who wards off all discordant influences which find their embodiment in Samael. Though these 2 representative Angels, one com- monly designated good and the other evil, seemingly as opposite as Parsifal and Klingsor, the Kabbalah by no means contents itself with simply teaching the ancient well-nigh universal doctrine that every soul on coming into incarnation is attended by a spirit of light and a spirit of darkness. There is a deeper and fuller interpretation placed upon these opposing influences agreeing with the doctrine inculcated in the epistle of James which plainly states that though no man is tempted by God to do evil there is no need for imaging an outside evil spirit as the tempter, because every man is tempted when led away and enticed by the desires of his own lower self. This teaching is stated in the Kabbalah about as follows : From Ruach and Nephesh, influenced by the good aspiration of Neshamah, proceeds Michael, the good angel of the soul ; that is to say, the syn- thetical hieroglyph of the good ideas, the "good karma" of a man. From Nephesh dominating Ruach, and uninfluenced by the good aspirations of Neshamah, proceeds Samael, the evil angel of the Concerning Cause and Effect 105 soul; that is to say, the synthetical hieroglyph of the evil ideas, the "evil karma" of a man. The Tzelem (image) is double, reflecting both Michael and Samael. The following terse and comprehensive sentences are chiefly extracted from Dr. Jellinck's analysis of Kabbalistic teachings as filtered through the alembic of the philosophy of Spinoza; they are certainly worthy of more than passing notice. The primary cause and governor of the world is Ain Soph (Su- preme Wisdom), who is both immanent and trans- cendent. Each effect has a cause, and everything which manifests order and design has a governor. Every visible thing has a limit, and is therefore finite; no 2 finite objects are absolutely identical. The primary cause of the world is invisible and un- limited, therefore infinite. As the primal cause of the world is infinite, noth- ing can exist independently of it, hence that cause must be immanent. As the visible world is limited and not perfect, it cannot proceed directly from the Supreme Cause, Ain Soph, still Ain Soph exercises influence over it, and that influence is exerted through the inter- mediation of the Sephiroth. The Sephiroth in their most intimate connection with Ain Soph are per- fect, but in their severance are imperfect. All things originate with the Sephiroth, by means of their ac- 106 Kabbalistic Doctrine tivities. The visible world has 3 distinct or discrete degrees : higher, middle, lower. All bodies have 3 dimensions, each repeating the other; 3 multiplied by 3 gives 9, and by adding thereto "space in general," which is seemingly a concept according with the modern idea of a "4th dimension," we arrive at 10, which is the complete number of all expressions proceeding from primal unity. Concerning the number 10 it is stated that as heat, flame, sparks and color have but one basis though they differ each from the other, so the num- ber 10 does not contradict absolute unity as an orig- inal, but as cogitation or thought, and even the mind itself as a cogitated object is limited, becomes con- crete and has a measure, although pure thought pro- ceeding from Ain Soph is illimitable, so limit, meas- ure and contraction are attributes of the Sephiroth, which are emanations, not creations. As Ain Soph, the source whence the Sephiroth pro- ceed, is perfect, so are they perfect. All created ob- jects diminish by abstraction, but the Sephiroth can- not be diminished; their activity is never-ceasing. In view of much modern metaphysical terminology which employs the familiar word reality in 2 decid- edly opposite senses, it is both interesting and in- structive to note how this word is employed in the Kabbalah. It is stated that each Sephira was within Ain Soph before it became a reality, i. e., before it Concerning Cause and Effect 107 was externalized or had emanated. The first emana- tion constitutes the base of the objective realm, on which all that is phenomenal is superposed. The second Sephira is described as the potency of the intellectual world, and the remaining 8 Sephiroth are described as the foundation of the moral and material worlds. The various emanations do not imply a prius and posterios, or a gradation in the Sephiroth, but the entire Sephiroth are comparable with a light which kindles many lights which shine sooner and later and variously, but constitute essen- tially a perfect unity. As the Sephiroth do not set aside the unity of Ain Soph, each one of them must receive light from the preceding and transmit it to the succeeding Sephira, each in turn being both receptive and im- partive. It is interesting and instructive to keep clearly in mind the distinctive qualities of the vari- ous Sephiroth, and by this means only can we clearly understand the Kabbalistic doctrine of succession and transference. The first Sephira is called Inscrutable Height, which actually means a state and quality of existence which transcends our present comprehension, and while not necessarily unknowable is at present de- cidedly unknown, unless certain higher human fac- ulties are developed higher than any that the average man or woman of to-day has become cognizant of. 108 Kabbalistic Doctrine The 2nd Sephira is Wisdom, the 3rd Intelligence, the 4th Love, the 5th Justice, the 6th Beauty, the 7th Firmness, the 8th Splendor, the 9th Foundation, the 10th Righteousness. As the relation between macrocosm and microcosm is everywhere insisted upon, alike in Hermetic and Kabbalistic literature, we can profitably reflect upon the foregoing order as it exists within ourselves as well as within the external universe of which man is a perfect replica. Kabbalistic and Gnostic teachings completely syn- thesize opposing schools of philosophy by showing the nexus or meeting place between them. It seems incredible that the same school can teach Metaphys- ics and Realism at the same time; but the Kabbalah teaches both equally, and in the light of its ample philosophy there is no discordance between Idealism and Realism, for the reason that a synthetic philosopher is both a Platonist and an Aristotelian, in that he can reason from spiritual cause to physical effect with Plato and also from effect back to cause with Aristotle. The Universe presents itself to the abstract metaphysician as his own interior concept, w r hile to the Realist it presents itself as a phenom- enal object to be studied by looking outward instead of inward. The Kabbalist has trained himself to look equally in both directions, consequently he can see a perfect resemblance between the world of life which he finds within, and the corresponding world Concerning Cause and Effect 109 of expression which he beholds without. The first 3 Sephiroth are said to form the world of thought ; the middle 3 the world of soul (psyche, whence we derive psychic) ; the 4 last the world of body. The Kabbalist, like the Hermetist or Gnostic, always em- phasizes the fact that we cannot conceive of any- thing we do not contain. Here we find a reasonable interpretation of universal human experiences of all varieties. There must be something in the observer corresponding with the thing observed or observa- tion would be impossible; in like manner is it logi- cally self-evident that were we inwardly destitute of wisdom, love, justice, mercy, and other divine attributes we should never have attributed them to any being whatsoever, because we should have no conception of them in our own minds. This is the most vital point to discuss when treating of the rela- tion existing between ourselves and the universe which contains us. If we speak of divine attributes, as we frequently do, we must be aware of sharing and appreciating them in some degree. It would help to clear away an immense amount of fogginess in the domain of religious and philosophical con- troversy if we would only be as rational as the Kabbalists when we set forth to give expression to our theory of the Universe, and we presume that every thinking individual has formulated tentatively some theory of the Universe, unless he confesses to 1 1 Kabbalistic Doctrine abiding in a chronic condition of complete mental chaos. We must always postulate unity and con- template our abiding spiritual selves as indissoluble units before we can use the pronoun I intelligibly. It is absurd to say / do so and so if I have no con- ception of what I mean by I. It is likewise ridic- ulous to call upon one individual to love another without possessing some intelligible idea of what constitutes individuality, and of how individuals may be profitably co-operative. Ralph Waldo Em- erson, though in many respects an idealist and trans- cendentalism and familiarly styled "the American Plato," was perfectly clear on the question of indi- viduality when he said, with deep sincerity of con- viction and force of utterance, "I am I and you are you." The Hebrew Kabbalah reflects Jewish the- osophical ideas, and though in some respects they agree w T ith, at other points they radically differ from distinctively Hindu conceptions. Judaism is essentially optimistic ; whenever a Jew becomes pessimistic he wanders away from Juda- ism in thought if not in practise, and Jewish op- timism concerns the present world in which we are now living regardless of whether certain individual Jews have well formulated ideas concerning a future state or otherwise. Judaism invariably seeks for God as revealed in universal humanity, not conclu- sively in any particular member of the human race, Concerning Cause and Effect 1 1 1 therefore the Jewish idea of divine incarnation is racial rather than particular. To turn a Jew to or- thodox Christianity necessitates forcing him to give up his optimistic views of human life and adopting a theory of inherent human sinfulness utterly re- pugnant to the fundamentals of Judaism. Human- ity is imperfect but perfectable; therefore the pre- cept in the 19th chapter of Leviticus is an urge to- ward a glorious ideal "Be ye perfect, even because the Lord your God is perfect." The All-Holy One is the best term we can employ to express the funda- mental Jewish idea of Deity. Faith in Israel does not signify belief but righteousness, and so all- embracing is the Hebrew word Tzedeq that it means all-round integrity. Christian students of Kabbalah will do well to meditate upon the famous saying in the epistle of James, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," and if one gets to the inmost core of that saying it will be found to mean one who has grasped the idea of righteous balance, i. e. , of the equal development of all excel- lencies in a symphonic character. The philosophers, who according to Plato, will hold the balance of power in an ideal Republic are, as the Greek original intends, those in whom love and wisdom, justice and mercy, are so equally blended that there can never be even seemingly a conflict between those equally divine attributes, which are latent in all hu- 1 1 2 Kabbalistic Doctrine manity and which only need calling forth into active expression to bring about the establishment of the long predicted reign of righteousness on earth. The Kabbalistic idea of the correspondence between the different parts of our human constitution and the Sephiroth is worthy of high regard. The first sephira finds its correspondence in the soul, con- sidered as a pure uncompounded simple, an absolute indivisible unit, therefore truly immortal. The 2nd sephira is related closely with the vitalising energy or interior breath (spirit) proceeding from the pri- mal unit and perpetually going forth into all sections of our interior organism and constituting the life thereof. The 3rd sephira corresponds with human rationality; the 4th with the connecting link be- tween the rational mind and the exterior organism ; the 5th with the animal soul, the seat of every carnal appetite; the 6th sephira operates through the blood ; the 7th through the bones ; the 8th through the veins; the 9th through the flesh; the 10th pro- duces the skin; this is, of course, in an order of proceeding downward, for the Kabbalah teaches, as does Swedenborg, that highest correspondences are with interiors and lowest with exteriors. There is no idea of vengeance or vindictive punishment in Kabbalistic teaching, but there is a stern and un- compromising doctrine of cause and effect. We are not arbitrarily rewarded or punished for virtues or Concerning Cause and Effect 1 1 3 vices, but the law of sequence is never violable. The great stumbling-block that people place in the way of clearing up many difficulties concerning "karma" is that they import into the idea of exact retribution an utterly foreign element, vindictiveness. No mat- ter to what creed or school of thought people may have attached themselves, unless they have devel- oped unusually clear intellects, and also unusual freedom from widespread misconceptions, they talk about being "punished" for something, and then proceed either to whine and whimper or else to re- sign themselves to a supposedly hard and cruel in- evitable fate. In Shakespere's day the false idea of one divine attribute being in opposition to another, in the sense of mutual antagonism, held sway over the minds of multitudes, therefore Portia, in The Merchant of Venice, voices the prevailing theological fallacy in the oft-quoted words, "In the course of justice none of us would see salvation." Recommending a pris- oner at the bar "from justice to mercy" is a common expression to-day, but it is an utterly misleading one, for justice without mercy, or mercy without justice, can never bring about the true welfare either of an individual or of the State. It can never be either just or merciful to inflict wrong on any one, or to excuse any from paying the price of necessary edu- cational and reformatory penalties after they have 1 1 4 Kabbalistic Doctrine transgressed a moral precept. Correction and chas- tisement are words of originally beautiful signifi- cance, but they have been so travestied, and their meanings so hideously obscured, that an average Christian congregation can hardly understand the magnificent words from an epistle in the New Testa- ment "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." But if we substitute the equivalent word purifieth, the significance ought to be obviously clear. Marie Corelli, in her wonderful novel, "The Soul of Lilitli," puts into the lips of a very attractive young man, Fcraz, a true exposition of the outworking of the karmic or sequential law, for he startles those with whom he converses by assuring them that far from praying to be excused from necessary discip- linary suffering he prefers to pray that he may receive his full share of it. Everything finally de- pends upon the attitude we take toward the condi- tions we are in whether we can harmonize their existence with an optimistic philosophy of life or otherwise. No matter how hard a trial may be, or how immediately sorrowful a situation, if we can but see in it some means toward real betterment it is impossible for us to give place to despair. Dante was right when he said that over infernal portals stood the phrase "Abandon hope all ye who enter here/' and many theologians have classed despair as the most heinous among mortal sins. Concerning Cause and Effect 1 1 5 Taking the doctrine of the Kabbalah to an afflicted person whom we desired to comfort, we certainly could not ignore the fact that some adequate cause has produced the existing painful complications ; but we should certainly assure that sufferer that trials are tests, not punishments, and that victory is to be gained over them and by means of them. There are many erroneous views of karma entertained at pres- ent both by those who profess to teach its action and by those who dislike the very mention of the word. The Kabbalah goes to no extreme either on the side of mildness or severity, but teaches with uncompromising fairness that the order of the Uni- verse is at the same instant both mild and severe; but it is never cruel or vindictive, and never can be. From the pragmatic standpoint the Kabbalah has indeed much to commend it, and from the ethical viewpoint it is impossible to reproach it. Mysteri- ous it may be ; unfamiliar to English ears in phrase- ology, and perhaps archaic rather than modern in form of presenting fundamental verities, but as a contribution to synthetic philosophy it is the con- tainer of manifold suggestions of the utmost per- manent value; therefore we rejoice in the publica- tion of a magnificent literary curio by Arthur Ed- ward Waite, "The Secret Doctrine in Israel/' to which we call the serious attention of our readers in our next chapters. CHAPTER VIII. THE SECRET TRADITION IN ISRAEL. THE ZOHAR. — • THE SERPENT AND FALL OF THE ANGELS. Perennial interest seems to attach to the serpent as a symbol, on the one hand of wisdom, and on the other of all that is lowest and vilest in the universe. The Kabbalah is by no means silent regarding the mystic meanings of this strange emblem of the means whereby humanity gains experience, and through experience wisdom, power and liberty, but not without trial and conflict and a seeming fall from original innocence. Innocence and purity are not the same, and because the vital distinction be- tween an innocent state and a purified condition has been frequently lost sight of, an immense amount of false and pessimistic teaching concerning alleged human depravity has exerted a depraving influence in the world. The glyph in Genesis in which the serpent figures very prominently is an allegory in- tended to set forth, as in a parable, the struggle which takes place within ourselves when we hear 2 voices urging us in opposite directions at the same 116 The Secret Tradition 1 1 7 moment; and as we cannot possibly obey both, yielding to one necessitates rebelling against the dic- tates of the other. Tennyson's exquisite poem, "2 Voices/' is unsurpassed in English literature as a contribution to a practical study of those opposing tendencies in human nature of which we are all con- scious, and which can never be really explained away by an process of subtle or casuistical reasoning. But though we cannot explain away the conflict, we think we can, with the aid of the Kabbalah, throw some light upon what it signifies. Ever since the Chris- tian Church gave countenance to the atrocious doc- trine of everlasting misery, and thereby departed from the Universalism of Origen and other note- worthy doctors of early centuries, it has involved itself in hopeless confusion over all such subjects as Sin, Redemption, and other doctrines which from the Gnostic standpoint involve no difficulties which can- not be met and mastered consistently with faith in Supreme Love and Wisdom. Milton's "Paradise Regained," and passages in the Roman liturgical office for Holy Saturday, show clear traces of their early origin, but the beauty of the original is always seriously marred wherever the hideous nightmare of unending, and therefore useless, misery for any soul is a doctrine preached or even tolerated. The Fall of Angels is said in the Kabbalah, and in much other esoteric literature, to have antedated the Fall 1 1 8 The Secret Tradition of the Human Race, but all these angels "who kept not their first estate' ' were, according to Origen and other "merciful doctors/' suffering expiatory pen- alties, and through the agency of such suffering were being gradually brought into harmony with divine order. It is well known that the most dis- tinguished theologians in the English Church to-day have no sympathy with that Augustinian theology which blighted Christendom in the 5th century. The age of the Zohar, or Book of Splendor, a most im- portant Kabbalistic work, may be disputed, but whenever and wherever it may have been actually put together, and it is unmistakably a compilation rather than an original work produced by a single author, the teaching it contains is both ancient and universal, Jewish and extra-Jewish, though never anti-Jewish. Some Christian commentators in re- cent years, particularly among Frenchmen, have endeavored to prove that it is partly a Christian work, but the proffered evidences are unconvincing, though it contains much that agrees perfectly with many of the best and purest teachings found in the writings of the earlier "fathers." No real scholar to-day would think of pronouncing the first 1 1 chap- ters of Genesis literally historical, and it is with their esoteric containment that the Zohar most in- terestingly deals. Judaism shared with other re- ligions a tradition of an earthly Paradise in the long in Israel 119 ago, and the Hebrews as a people shared many be- liefs with other nations, therefore we need not be surprised to find abundant traces of the same tra- ditions and beliefs in many different sacred writings of varying ages and local origins. A. E. Waite in- forms his readers accurately enough that "an ade- quate study of the Zohar on the subject of angel- ology, the fall of the angels, the hierarchy of demons which came about as a consequence, would begin in Talmudic literature and would be itself an under- taking of no inconsiderable magnitude, for behind that literature lies all Oriental belief/' (The Secret Doctrine in Israel, page 80.) That the Kabbalah teaches that there is a sense in which God is the author of "evil" cannot be denied, but all Bible stu- dents who treat the Bible fairly must face that mys- tery, put with amazing boldness in the 45th chapter of Isaiah, written undoubtedly in the post-exilic period in Israel's history, i. e., after the return to Palestine at the end of the Babylonian captivity. If we postulate a Supreme One, "Creator of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible," to quote verbatim from the Nicene Creed, we must hold God originally and ultimately responsible for all that occurs in the Universe, and that the Kab- balists do not shrink from doing. But though it seems very terrible to hold Deity to account for ir- 120 The Secret Tradition remediable evil, the Kabbalah knows of none such, and regards all experiences through which angels and men can pass as radically educational. It makes all the difference imaginable whether one regards evil as permanent or only transitory, and whether one sees in it a possibility of conversion into good, as in music we know that all discords are resolvable into harmonies. Robert Browning's magnificent poem, Abt Vogler, is a beautiful English version of Zoharic teaching which reaches its climacteric in the thrilling words, "There shall never be one lost good, and for evil so much good more." Browning trod securely where Milton seems less definitely pro- nounced, and where Tennyson only fervently hoped. Whatever may be the exactly correct definition of the term "Christ," the Universalism of the writer commonly called Paul the Apostle is unquestion- able if we credit the splendid affirmation included in the canticle for Easter Day according to the usage of the Church of England, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." How shamefully those sublime words have been watered down and travestied until they have lost nearly all of their original significance, is a sad and shameful story which needs no rehearsing here, but in a trea- tise on Kabbalah it is necessary to say at least a word concerning that union of Hebraism and Hel- lenism which is as conspicuous in some of the Paul- in Israel 121 ine epistles as in the philosophy of Philo of Alex- andria. Though there are many points of technical difference between Greek Gnosticism and Hebrew Kabbalism these differences are far more superficial than fundamental, for both systems acknowledge a hierarchy of celestial intelligences through whose in- strumentality the Supreme One guides and operates the Universe, and both systems have much to say about the fall of angels and men from an estate of simple innocence, their passage through trials and sufferings to a height they had never previously at- tained, and the ultimate triumph of righteousness over error in so perfectly complete a mannner that no vestige of wrong shall ultimately remain to mar the spiritual symmetry of the Universe. Christian Gnostics simply said that the work of restoration and glorification would be accomplished through the Christ, while Jewish K'abbalists employed another terminology. No Gnostic ever speaks of "vicari- ous" atonement, sacrifice or redemption, for the idea of vicariousness is utterly foreign and repugnant to the Gnostic and also to the Kabbalistic mind. We feel deeply indebted to A. E. Waite for the extreme lucidity with which he has expressed the Kabbalistic idea of the 2 Trees, especially of the Tree of Tempta- tion, in the following luminous paragraphs which quickly follow our recent quotation : 122 The Secret Tradition "God created that Tree the eating of which meant that the full understanding of the evil side of things entered into the life of humanity, but the saving clause is that it imparted also the knowledge of good. There can be no question that from this point of view the Tree of the Trespass is a synonym or image of the Written Law, for this is prohibition above all things, which defines evil and separates that which is so imputed from what is recognized as good. It is understood, however, that the defi- nition is on the formal side and stands therein at its value, without reference to essentials." In the Kabbalah, though we have so much disser- tation concerning the Sephiroth, or emanations from the Supreme One, we find no exact parallel with the Demiurgos of the Gnostics or the 9 Choirs of Di- onysius. The Demons of the Kabbalah are prac- tically identical with the Infernal Hosts of Sweden- borg, which constitute those Hells which are inverted Heavens. The Swedenborgian idea of heavens and hells standing feet to feet, is pure Kabbalism and also Gnosticism, but a large number of commenta- tors on Swedenborg insist that he teaches the endless wilful continuance of hells, which is an utter per- version of the original concept. There are 2 philo- sophical explanations of the origin of this grievous misconception — one is that the relation between cause and effect being essentially unalterable, the in Israel 123 same cause must produce the same effect no mat- ter in what world or age it may operate; the other interpretation of the root of the idea of perpetual evil is found in the supposition that there are always some rudimental worlds or ex- perimental stations in the universe, therefore, though no individual soul or group of souls remains in an infernal state everlastingly, there are always some individuals and groups in that condition. This idea is conceivable, and if we take our little planet as a sample of all worlds and our individual progressive experiences as universally typical, we find no dif- ficulty in accepting such a view. Lucifer is Light- bringer, Satan is Adversary ; these 2 opposing titles are applied to the same Archangel at different times, Lucifer when he is functioning as dispenser of divine knowledge and Satan when he is acting as the Tempter of humanity. In some rather doubtful portions of Kabbalistic literature we read a great deal about evil (fallen or inverted) angels co- mingling with humanity and introducing sorcery and all manner of mysterious abominations upon earth. This uncanny subject, which is of very doubtful au- thenticity, is treated very fully in Laurence Oli- phant's "Scientific Religion," also in "The Perfect Way or the Finding of Christ," by Anna Kingsford 124 The Secret Tradition and Edward Maitland. It is not an agreeable theme to contemplate nor is it a profitable subject to pur- sue ; we simply allude to it in passing but have no wish to develop it as it has invariably proved a source of much unwholesome and gruesome specu- lation. The following quotation from A. E. Waite's erudite work (page 87) is a splendid summarization of Kabbalistic teaching concerning the 2 serpents, diametrically opposed the one to the other, which figure so prominently in the Hebrew, Greek and many other Scriptures. "As there is a serpent be- low which is still at work in the world, so there is a sacred serpent above which watches over mankind in all the roads and pathways and restrains the power of the impure serpent. It is one of the adorn- ments of the heavenly throne/' This expressive and enlightening declaration seems adequate to explain why the serpent is so generally feared and detested and is at the same time a badge of the disciples of /Esculapius and regarded as a symbol of healing force and regenerative energy. The serpents in the sand, according to Exodus, severely injured the Children of Israel while journeying through the Wilderness to Canaan, but the antidote to their af- fliction was supplied by Moses pointing them to an uplifted image of the cause of their affliction. The in Israel 125 serpent essentially is the carnal or sense nature in us all, which must be upraised and transmuted; it therefore becomes our initiatory discipline to elevate each his own serpentine attributes, and by so doing accomplish Magnum Opus, the mighty work of al- chemical transmutation, not in an external sense of converting metals into* gold, but in the esoteric sense of gaining perfect victory over all animality. CHAPTER IX. BIBLICAL TRADITIONS KABBALISTICALLY CONSIDERED. To the average reader of the Bible to-day — and that marvelous collection of ancient literature is cer- tainly undergoing careful reconsideration — there are only 2 possible views of such stories as that of the Deluge and many other startling narratives, viz., that they must either be rejected as mere legends of an unscientific age or else be regarded from the standpoint of esoteric canons of elucidation. The Fall of Man we have already incidentally considered, and we think sufficiently to suggest a meeting place between the 2 seemingly opposed doctrines of the Fall and the Rise of humanity, concepts w r hich at first seem inevitably irreconcilable. From the Kabbalis- tic, as from the Rosicrucian and other kindred points of view, the apparent discrepancy melts into har- mony as though we were gazing upon 2 sides of a single shield, each side decorated with an inscrip- tion, one relating to spiritual involution, the other 126 Biblical Traditions 127 to physical evolution. The poet Whittier's famous lines, "Step by step since time began We see the steady gain of man," refer to evolutionary development on the form side of our existence. The fall of humanity out of orig- inal innocence is by no means inconsistent with this cheering concept. The Kabbalah, in common with all Hermetic writings, takes the individual as a type of the race and includes all human experiences in a sublime comprehensive synthesis, expressible in the wide-embracing phrase : As above, so below, and as without, so within. Involution pertains to the descent of spirit into matter; evolution is the process whereby incarnated spirit makes its way on- ward and upward to self-conscious celestial blessed- ness. That particularly prominent emblem, the double triangle, which holds the place of honor in Judaism which the cross holds in Christianity and the crescent in Mohammedanism, expresses in a per- fect symbol, the idea of equipoise, and when the sacred letters denoting the Divine Name are placed within it, it fully conveys the idea of the immortal spiritual entity and its outward and inward mani- festations. The descent of spirit suggests no trip resulting in a sort of tumble down a ladder, but a gradual process of orderly descent. But whether 128 Biblical Traditions we believe in a fall or in a descent we have to face the fact that humanity is in a sense "down and out," and it is for us to do all in our power to work our way out of our present low estate by climbing up- ward to celestial eminences. It cannot be unimpor- tant whether we believe in a "disgraceful fall" or in a coming downward and outward for experi- mental purposes, for the first idea is utterly depress- ing while the latter is highly invigorating. It is the most positive duty of all who have a definitely en- couraging and inspiring message to deliver to hu- manity to give it unhesitatingly in these days when many are struggling in the morass of pessimism or else laboring to reconcile harsh theological dogmas with scientific revelations. We can easily under- stand the Kabbalistic and Rosicrucian attitude to- ward a past age when humanity was much more palpably guided and upheld by spiritual overseers than now, because of the requirements of racial as well as of individual infancy which are being grad- ually outgrown. A child of 18 months must be pro- vided for in all ways, while the same child having attained to the age of 18 years may be fairly sent out into the world to earn a living. Nothing is easier than to protect infants from falling by taking entire charge of them, but we cannot treat young men and women in any similar manner, and if we could and Kabbalistically Considered 129 did we should most certainly arrest their physical, intellectual and moral development. The Kabbalah, in common with practically all esoteric literature, presupposes a life for humanity prior to earthly generation, not altogether unlike Maeterlinck's conception in "The Bluebird," where he presents a mystical vision of souls awaiting ter- restrial embodiment. The Koran, which tells us that each individual's destiny is fixed before birth, is not utterly fatalistic by any means, and Jewish sages have declared that all things are regulated by Divine Providence except the use that we may make of our opportunities. This view harmonizes many conflicting theories sat- isfactorily, and it is largely borne out by the united facts of inner consciousness and outward experience, for we all feel a sense of responsibility for how we disport ourselves in the midst of circumstances which seem to be in no way of our own ordaining. While the Kabbalah has a great deal to say about a spirit of evil as opposed to good, we need to re- member that the view of evil taken by all enlightened Kabbalists is twofold, evil being mentioned both positively as an inversion of good and negatively as a privation of good. Nakedness denotes destitution, simple lack of raiment, while acting in disobedience to a divine direction implies inversion of faculty. It appears self-evident that these 2 kinds of evil are 130 Biblical Traditions within us to-day, not in the absolute but certainly in the relative sense, and it is only by admitting these facts and resolutely determining to vanquish the so- licitations of the lower self that we can rise to a realization of our inherent spiritual potencies. You cannot brace a young man or woman to become a victor over seductions by telling one who is setting forth upon a life career that there are no tempta- tions to be met, but you may legitimately term them illusory in the last analysis, because they proceed from ignorance and from false valuations. Whether we believe that we have fallen into carnality or that we are rising out of it, we are assuredly convinced, if we think in the least deeply, that we are now being urged by the indwelling spirit to outgrow our sensual impulses and mystically transmute the serpent into the eagle. It is often urged, from the pragmatic or utilitarian standpoint, and not without much show of reason, that so long as we attain desired results it matters not how we may have reached them. This contention, carried to its logical extreme, results finally in the dangerous declaration, "the end jus- tifies the means/' which is both a truth and a fallacy according to the sense in which the sentence is em- ployed. The Kabbalah with its uncompromising stand for undiluted righteousness is careful to insist that all means employed in the outworking of the world-plan are righteous means, therefore it is al- Kabbalisiically Considered 131 ways holding up before us the penalties which follow upon transgression of a holy law which it is our privilege to obey gladly and completely. The Kab- balah does not postulate human weakness or sinful- ness, but takes a decidedly heroic view of human nature; it therefore does not hesitate to enforce a doctrine of consequences which are commonly styled rewards and punishments, — terms which are often grievously misleading, because they convey to most people an arbitrary conferment of reward and in- fliction of penalty which can at any time be changed by Almighty fiat in answer to the supplications of pleading humanity. Why did God permit the ex- pulsion from Eden, the Flood, and many other ter- rible calamities which have overtaken the human race, are queries constantly raised, and seemingly very difficult to answer, but only because certain fundamental fallacies hold back the average ques- tioner from perceiving the true answer. The Kab- balah knows nothing of an angry, impetuous or ca- pricious Deity, and therefore never attributes acts of vengeance or petulance to the Most High. But, pursues the caviller, if you do not believe that God becomes angry you deny the plain statements of the Bible, an objection to which we dare to offer a de- cided negative. The Bible is largely a record of hu- man experiences ; its letter, therefore, is written in accommodated language, entirely true to human ex- 132 Biblical Traditions perience but not declarative of the real attitude of the Divine Mind. It is not God who changes, but man's view of Deity that alters, and it seems im- possible to conceive of a growing humanity while excluding the thought of changing human concepts. It is not "the Thing in Itself" that varies, but our idea thereof, consequently it appears to those who are in the condition called the state of "the wicked" that God is continually wrath with them, but let them turn from their wickedness and God's wrath is no longer a concept of their imagination. Our minds are like inverted mirrors when we are in error; we behold things upside down, as objects are reflected in a stream. Did we not correct the evidence of our external vision when gazing at re- flections w r e should invariably state the position of things in reverse order, and it could not be other- wise. The original Christian doctrine of Atone- ment was not foreign to Kabbalistic teaching, for it is found stated in the New Testament that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself," not Himself unto the world. It is this rightly inverted viewpoint that makes Kabbalistic teaching so wholly acceptable, in the main, to scientific thinkers and true philosophers who read all histories in a wider light than that of their merest letter and most particular applications. Considering this external world in the light of an Kabbalisticall]) Considered 133 experimental station where souls are (so to speak) "tried out" we have little if any difficulty in accept- ing the essential doctrine underlying the following impressive statement from Waite's remarkable vol- ume (page 93) : "As regards what theology would call the matter of the sin there is no need to add that the apple is not understood literally. It is called sometimes the fruit of the vine, that is to say, grapes ; but this is a veil also and is to be understood as the explanation of a certain mystery of knowledge, which belongs to the domain of sex. These are the fruits which are said elsewhere to be agreeable, on the authority of Genesis, but they trouble the spirits of those who make bad use of them, as Noah did in the case of his own vine. He who rode upon the serpent, the Tempter Spirit or Samael, who is said to have descended from heaven so mounted, as if he were an accredited messenger, approached Eve and testified that the Holy One created the world by help of the Tree of Knowledge; that by eating thereof, and so only, was He able to create the world ; and that if the woman ate of it, on her own part, she would attain the same power." This extraordinary quotation seems to throw some light on the Satan (Accuser) of the Book of Job, which is a singularly fine specimen of Hebrew epic poetry. Another excerpt from "The Secret Doc- trine in Israel" (page 95) reads as follows: "Re- 134 Biblical Traditions curring to the substitution of a mystical vine for the apple-tree, another tradition certifies that Eve pressed grapes and gave the juice to her husband. The opening of their eyes was to behold all the ills of the world." Regarding Cain and Abel the Kabbalah states that the image of Abel was from above and that of Cain from below. There is much resemblance between the teachings of the Kabbalah and the doctrines of Swedenborg, especially as regards the typical char- acters in Genesis being "churches" rather than single individuals. Turning now to the account of the Deluge we find in the Kabbalah a great deal of curious specula- tion and secret doctrine relating to some curious in- tercourse between spiritual beings and terrestrialized humanity, but those commentators who put as ra- tionalistic an interpretation as possible upon these legends see in them only a forcible argument against the intermarriage of Jews with Gentiles, and in a wider sense, of the elect with the profane. It ap- pears perfectly clear that the Kabbalah regards phys- ical generation as an evidence of descent into a lower condition than the primitive estate of human- ity, but the descent having been accomplished, and. it having become necessary to agree to it, the mar- riage covenant must be established and relations be- tween the sexes kept as pure as possible. Kabbalisticall}) Considered 135 According to the Zohar, humanity gradually trav- elled a downward path until a definite "mystery of iniquity" was reached, when an overwhelming phys- ical catastrophe became necessary to rid the planet of the grossest of its impurities and afford the race an opportunity for taking a fresh start upward. Intermingled with a perplexing mass of compli- cated mystery, we find in the Zoharic account of the Deluge a considerable amount of sound philosophy, as, for instance, when we are told that the Holy Land was not flooded. Literally such a statement is not necessarily improbable, for we have no au- thentic history of any completely universal inunda- tions. The story of Noah's Ark viewed esoterically is highly suggestive of that symmetrical development of human character necessary to secure exemption from calamity. The Ark must be made of a strong and enduring wood, and it must be built of 3 stories and a cubit above. Here we have plainly suggested the idea of 4 planes of consciousness — Physical, Mental, Moral, Spiritual. As there must be a stair- way from one landing to another, and the 7-hued rainbow is prominently mentioned in connection with the establishment of a Divine Covenant with Noah, we can, at least poetically, describe the Ark of Safety as having a red first story and a yellow 2nd story reached by an orange stairway; then a green stair- 136 Biblical Traditions way leading to a blue 3rd story, and finally a violet observatory reached by an indigo ladder. The character of Noah, and his alleged drunken- ness, is interestingly and mildly dealt with. Noah plants a mystical vineyard and partakes freely of its produce, but his determination all through is to try experiments with a view to discovering wherein con- sists the sin of the world, and if possible to find a remedy. Noah's humiliating state while intoxicated refers only to his destitution of adequate knowledge, even after much research, and this ignorance was exposed by his failure to have found the sought-for remedy. Turning now to the Babel legend we find the Zohar by no means silent concerning the confusion of tongues. The original single sacred language was that of universal symbolism, which remained intact so long as unity of purpose prevailed among those familiar with the hieroglyphics, but directly rivalry and jealousy crept in, confusion of speech and am- biguity of interpretation so far resulted that the work of tower and temple building was frustrated and the elaborate schemes of the ambitious designers were brought to naught. Here we find a close par- allel with the Oriental doctrine of the sin of sep- arateness, which only means mutual antagonism. Comparatively few persons, apart from special philosophers, ever discriminate at all clearly between Kabbalistically Considered 137 distinctiveness and separateness, yet in our common- est speech we readily suggest the accurate shades of meaning as, for example, when we say that 2 per- sons have had a separation and yet we know that they are no further apart geographically than when they were on terms of close mutual friendship. To build the Tower or Temple of Solomon neces- sitates perfectly co-operative action on the part of spiritually federated workers; the Tower of Babel, which can never attain completeness, is the synonym of amalgamated discord. It is delightful to find in the course of our Kab- balistic studies that this curious mystical work is thoroughly abreast with the best modern ideas of universal language, and much else that bears closely on the practical unification of humanity. We read in the Zohar that "a day will dawn when the Lord will change the tongues of all peoples into a single pure tongue, so that all may invoke His Holy Name and all pass under His Yoke in one spirit. ,, This prediction is virtually made during the recitation of the Olenu, which forms an important part of every Jewish liturgy. There is no dogmatic unanimity in Israel regarding ways and means, but the prevailing sentiment is universally the same throughout Jewry as concerns the final outcome. Judaism holds within 138 Biblical Traditions it the vital germs of universal religion — the Unity of God and the Solidarity of Humanity. Talmud or Midrash may appear very external and excessively ritualistic, but Kabbalah delves deeply into the heart of Israel's veiled and guarded mys- teries and introduces us, though not always very clearly, to a magnificent Arcana. CHAPTER X. ABRAHAM, MELCHISEDEC, MOSES AND THE LAW. The Sacrifice of Isaac, commemorated by Jews throughout the world on the first day of the month Tishri, called Rosh Hashana and Day of Memorial in Jewish calendars, marks the birth of Judaism because of the emphasis placed upon a spiritual vs. a carnal idea of sacrifice. All barbaric peoples of- fered literal human sacrifices, and some savage tribes continue the practise still. Abraham, considered historically, was probably a Chaldean Chief about to conform to the barbaric usage of his place and time; but a bright spiritual light broke in upon his con- sciousness and he came to perceive that the true offering of sacrifice is by consecration to high ideals, never by the shedding of literal blood. Even the grossly carnal mind, which fails to see a spiritual significance in any narrative, ought to be able, if endowed with even the most ordinary reasoning ability, to see in the story of Abraham and Isaac a radical departure from all belief in the efficacy or legitimacy of human sacrifice. Even the sacrifice 139 140 Abraham, Melchisedec, of animals, — against which only vegetarians have a right to protest, — was so restricted in Israel that the unblemished beasts, which were alone available for sacrificial purposes, were to be offered only under very definite restrictions. Practically the whole of Jewish prophetical literature discards the literal prac- tise of sacrificing in to to and urges only spiritual offerings. This is essentially the Kabbalistic or esoteric view, which raises and internalizes the whole matter to such an extent as to do away completely with final vestiges of barbarity. If animal food is to form any part of human diet it is surely desirable that animals slain for food should be in the healthiest condition possible, there- fore kosher meat is preferable to trefa; but when we are out of kitchens and eating places and engaged in spiritual contemplation in a sanctuary we ought to be prepared to discard literal interpretations and behold something of the sublime inner verities which external narratives enshrine. The Zoharic view of Abraham and his spiritual mission is intensely interesting for all who are seek- ing to discover something below the surface of the familiar literal narrative. The Call of Abraham viewed Kabbalistically is a spiritual summons to depart utterly from old ways of thought and action and enter upon a truly regenerate life. By so doing this illustrious patriarch becomes a "Father of the Moses and the Law 141 Faithful" and heads an Order whose intention it is to enlighten the entire world as far as possible. We see now something of the original idea of divine election, for Israel in Abraham is called to fulfil an educational mission, that in Isaac and his posterity all families of the earth may eventually be blessed. The Kabbalah tells us that Abraham was endowed with a spirit of wisdom far beyond the ordinary, and this enabled him to accomplish a mystic journey from his native land to a new country, the situation of which was spiritually revealed to him. The mys- tical interpretation of the command, "Go into a land that I will show thee," is that the man who obeyed it would henceforth occupy himself with spiritual pursuits and become a spiritual leader of humanity. It however appears that Kabbalists, in common with all Israelites, have long regarded Palestine as a specially sacred country and the true centre or heart of this planet. The career of Abraham in Egypt opens up a wide field for speculation, for in all senses of the word Egypt is the antithesis of Palestine and Christian equally with Jewish Scriptures treat this marvellous country esoterically as well as literally. Such passages appear in the New Testament as "Out of Egypt have I called my Son" and "In Egypt and in Sodom where the Lord was crucified." The Biblical accounts of Egypt are diverse and convey glimpses of the land of the Nile during many stages 142 Abraham, Melchisedec, of its fluctuating history. At one time Egypt is presented as a centre of light and liberty, and at another period as a land given over to demoraliza- tion and slavery. If this statement of varying conditions is applied mystically to the external in contradistinction from the internal man it is assuredly an instructive simile, for the outer man is subject to varying control, sometimes swayed from without and sometimes directed from within. But far more mysterious and spiritually significant than Abraham is Melchisedec to whom he offers a sacred oblation. The mystery surrounding Melchisedec is actually impenetrable if we regard this marvellous character simply as a historic personage, for it is stated that this "King of Salem, Priest of the Most High God, has neither father nor mother, beginning of days nor end of life." There are 2 senses in which this statement is credible : it may refer to an illustrious Order of immemorial antiquity and it may also re- late to the spiritual entity regarded as an immortal unit, a pure simple, uncompounded and everlasting. The 110th psalm says, "Thou are a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec," and in the Epistle to the Hebrews the author draws a sharp and vivid contrast between the Order of Melchisedec and the Order of Aaron. According to the Kabbalah the Moses and the Law 143 former has to do solely with internal and the latter with external affairs. The Abrahamic Covenant, involving literal phys- ical circumcision, necessitates ceremonial observance and obedience, but a covenant of a purely spiritual nature does not necessarily take any outward ritual into account. The agelong controversy over Leviti- cal and Prophetical Judaism is not ended yet, though it was at its height in Palestine 1 8 or 19 centuries ago. This controversy was acute when some of the Pauline Epistles were written, as internal evidence abundantly proves. Saul of Tarsus after espousing an esoteric form of Christianity, in which we find a commingling of Hebraic and Hellenic elements, seeks to settle disputes between Mystics and Ritual- ists by deciding that all external observances must be left to individual discretion, and when one is "in Christ" and has become "a new creation" he is no longer subject to any external law. That there is a certain amount of danger to mor- ality in an utter disregard of outer ceremonial has always been admitted, and for that reason wise teachers of the esoteric schools have always insisted that it is only subsequent to some very definite spir- itual illumination that one can safely become a law unto himself. In Waite's remarkable book from which we have already quoted, we find the following interesting reference to the significance of the Cov- 144 Abraham, Melchisedec, enant (page 119) : "The Sign of the Covenant con- stitutes the foundation of the Sacred Name and of the Mystery of Faith — the root of the notion being probably the shape of the letter Yod with which the Name commences, or this at least is the material root." Then proceeding to a far more interior defi- nition, the same author tells us "By the fact of cir- cumcision man enters under the wings of the Shekinah." Now as it is well known that the literal rite is only a simple sanitary surgical operation, per- formed frequently by Gentile surgeons who attach to it no spiritual or religious significance, a person thus circumcised is not thereby admitted into the House of Israel ; it stands to reason that something far deeper than an outward act was originally in- tended by The Sign of the Covenant. No uncir- cumcised person can lawfully eat the Passover. But as the literal rite pertains to males only, and in all truly esoteric fellowships qualified males and females are placed on a footing of complete equality, we see at once that all the elements in the essential Cov- enant pertain to a spiritual realm with which, how- ever, the external world can be brought into com- plete representative correspondence. Concerning Melchisedec, to whom Abraham does obeisance, Professor Piazzi Smyth, at one time As- tronomer Royal of Scotland, says in his extraor- dinary volume, "Our Inheritance in the Great Pyra- Moses and the Law 145 mid/' that he was the divinely inspired agent em- ployed as architect of that stupendous, awe-inspiring pile. Theosophically viewed this assertion is not difficult to credit because the Order of Melchisedec closely corresponds with the Great White Lodge of Adepts who possess a knowledge of the abiding Mysteries far beyond the loftiest imagination of the uninitiated religious as well as unreligious world. Addressing our attention now to Moses, whose name in Hebrew, Moshe, means drawn up out of the water, we find by reference to the Zohar that his career begins and ends in mystery. Kabbalists give honor to the tradition that "Shekinah reposed on the nuptial bed of his parents/' but there is no sug- gestion of any "miraculous" conception. It is fur- ther declared that Shekinah never deserted him throughout his life of 120 years, and when this was ended he was transported by angels to Paradise. No definitely consistent stories are related of what became of his physical remains, if there were any. Some traditions assert that his physical body was dissipated and therefore none remained to find and bury. Other traditions declare that Moses was the first man on earth who attained to moral perfection, but this is disputed ; the general concensus of agree- ment being that he was not perfect, but approached more nearly to perfection than any other prophet. 146 Abraham, Melchisedec, Moses Maimonides, who compiled the 13 Articles of the Jewish Faith in the 12th century of the present era. says that Moses was the greatest of all the prophets who arose in Israel, for he beheld God's similitude. Much quibbling has been indulged around this saying, which probably means that he was a very prince of anthropologists ; for if human- ity is spiritually in the Divine Image, one who has truly fathomed human nature has beheld God's similitude. It is stated in the Zohar that Moses was directly illumined by interior enlightenment instead of being only the recipient of truth conveyed meas- urably through angelic ministrations. The original root of the distinctively Mosaic idea of an elect people with a mission to fulfil on behalf of all humanity, is clearly traceable in the assertion that it is by Moses that all nations have received a knowledge of the way of salvation which is indeed through faith, but faith according to Israelitish teaching is not belief in any doctrines, but fealty or fidelity, which constitutes righteousness ; a righteous man therefore is not a "believer" but one who mor- ally "walks uprightly." While there is an outer Law which it is desirable that all mankind should know and observe, there is also an inner Law which Moses communicated to the "very elect." The letter of the Law "killeth," Moses and the Law 147 but the spirit "giveth life," according to a New Tes- tament authority. The Pentateuch read in its letter only certainly does have a great deal to say about slaying animals for sacrifices, and also it ordains a death penalty for men guilty of serious offences ; but when the spirit- ual meaning is unveiled a totally different idea is conveyed to the studious reader. Great attention is given in the Kabbalah to the Oral Tradition, which is never committed to writing but handed on from one generation to another by teachers who in turn appoint successors to the Oral ministry. It is said that Moses ascended Mount Sinai clad in the vesture of Shekinah, that is how he ascended safely at a time when no other dared approach even to the mountain's base. Students of Occultism, and all interested in the fascinating question of a possible protecting shield of aura, will see at a glance what deep significance may attach to the Exodus story, which needs to be regarded far more as an allegory than as a literal narrative. The 91st psalm throws much light on immunity, and modern science is wrestling with the problem of how to attain and maintain a permanently aseptic condition. Danger and safety are purely relative terms, relating entirely to varying degrees of sus- ceptibility and the reverse. 148 Abraham, Melchisedec, A Kabbalistic tradition affirms that when Moses brought down the Law to the people, Israel was re- clothed with a cuirass formed from the letters of the Sacred Name which was the protection of Adam and Eve while in a state of unsullied innocence. In order to obtain the proffered blessings of the Holy Covenant Israel must take the solemn vow, "All that the Lord hath commanded we will do." Sancti- fication was impossible without complete obedience. We can now gain a clear view of the difference be- tween Ceremonial and Ethical Judaism, though the 2 are by no means essentially at variance. The Zohar gives a description of the 2 Tables of Stone on which were engraved the 10 Command- ments which is positively unique and has doubtless an important esoteric meaning. It is related that Tables were given to Moses on the Sabbath and that they were "created prior to the formation of the world by the coagulation of the sacred dew which is said to fall on the Garden of Apples. They were written before and behind, and were symbolized by the leaves of proposition." One account describes them as transparent while another speaks of them as containing writing resembling "black fire on white fire." The writing in front must be read from be- hind and that behind must be deciphered from before. Moses and the Larv 149 Concerning the breaking of the original Tables, the Kabbalah does not admit that Moses broke them, but they were broken, and the letters disappeared, on account of the people's unworthiness, so that if anyone picked up the scattered fragments he would find nothing engraved thereon. The shattered Tables are said to have contained the Oral together with the Written Law, but the bulk of the people was not worthy to possess so priceless an inheritance, therefore the Inner Law returned to Heaven, but the Written Law was given again on new tablets that remained unbroken and from which the letters did not disappear. It was only into concealment that the inmost teaching w r ent; it was therefore perpet- ually preserved as a secret tradition in Israel ac- cessible to the worthy though completely veiled from the unworthy. The Veil over the face of Moses which he wore only because of the inability of the people to gaze on his unscreened countenance is hereby adequately explained. The strangely disfiguring horns which mar Michael Angelo's famous painting of Moses are due to a misinterpretation of the radiant beams of light which streamed from his face after the descent from Sinai, and in a much more interior sense this lumin- ous emanation refers to the effulgence of the Law which must be veiled, as to its interior significance, from the mental vision of a people who would be 150 Abraham, Melchisedec, only dazzled and confused, and therefore not edified, by a disclosure of its interior meanings beyond their power to comprehend. It ought not to be difficult to discover the why and wherefore of an inner and an outer doctrine if we do but take into account the necessity for giving graded instruction to pupils as they are prepared to receive it, "line upon line and precept upon precept." The outer Law is both eth- ical and ceremonial ; the inner Law deals with spirit- ual problems, comparable with higher mathematics. The Zohar compares the traditional law which has proceeded out of the written law, to an ass, the typical burden-bearer, and many are the figurative allusions to Messiah riding upon an ass, particularly upon a white ass. This symbol teaches that in all external things there will be manifested an equity in judgment which will bring the external world and all its concerns into complete alignment with the loftiest spiritual ideals. "Speak ye who ride on white asses, ye who sit in judgment," is a significant quotation from the 5th chapter of Judges. Concerning the Oral Law we are told that though it is the source of every imaginable blessing to the upright it would act as a poison to the unfaithful, therefore it is mercifully withheld from them. Noth- ing can be more readily demonstrated than the per- nicious results of misuse of many things in them- Moses and the Law 151 selves excellent, and we surely need not to be told that in the handling of instruments and chemicals due preparedness is an absolute necessity. There are many Kabbalistic sayings which quickly throw light upon the enormous difference between spirit and letter. The following is a good sample illus- tration : There is a tradition that angels buried the body of Moses outside the Holy Land, and that no man knoweth the place of his sepulchre. This sepul- chre allegorically alludes to the Mishna, which is called "a maidservant who takes the place of her mistress. " The Secret Doctrine was interned in the Written Word and remained with the 70 Elders who expounded it secretly. Moses never waned in strength as years rolled by, therefore when he made his farewell address to the Congregation, though he had reached the ripe age of 120 years, his vigor was youthful and his vision unimpaired. All who pay heed to a doctrine of Correspondence, such as Sw r edenborg enunciated and elucidated, will readily unravel much of the Kabbalistic mystery and they will not be confused with the mingling of outer his- tory with esoteric doctrine, because they will never lose sight of the Hermetic axiom, "As Within so Without." A reasonable consideration of Kabbalis- tic methods of conveying instruction soon sweeps away the fog which obscures practical metaphysical teaching from the comprehension of a multitude of 1 52 A braham, Melchisedec, people who are seemingly too dense to see that there can be no outward effect without an adequate in- terior cause; and likewise that every hidden cause presses forward into corresponding exterior effect. There is a prophecy that Moses will reappear on earth at the end of a long age, he having already received the mystical degree termed Binah, but not vet the still higher degree Chokmah. The Zohar declares that Moses did not die as the result of any transgression but through the fulfilment of a su- preme mystery, and the same tradition declares also that his successor, Joshua, was similarly free from active sin and from its consequences. Lifting as far as we can the veil of allegory which shrouds the tenets of the Kabbalah we find in whatever direction we turn a radiant hope held out to humanity that through the mysterious processes of spiritual trans- mutation the serpent and all it signifies shall become in deed and truth the means whereby an erring, because imperfect, race shall attain through sym- metrical development of all powers and faculties to a Paradise of blessedness far exceeding in joy and wisdom any primeval Eden out of which a primitive people were expelled. The true Sanctuarists , or Ilhiminati, are the agents by which universal re- demption is to be expected. CHAPTER XL DOCTRINE OF THE 3 TEMPLES OF THE MESSIAH. Though, as we have pointed out repeatedly in previous chapters, the Kabbalah aims at a spiritual or mystical view of all subjects with which it deals, Kabbalists as a rule never attempt to cast discredit on external narratives. The 3 Temples which rose and fell in Jerusalem are allowed therefore to have been material structures as well as glyphs of interior realities far transcending all exterior erections. In the florid Oriental metaphor with which Kabbalistic literature abounds we are told that the inner sanc- tuary of the Temple constitutes the heart of the world and that Shekinah dwells therein as a faithful wife abides continually with her virtuous husband. The design for the Temple was drawn in Heaven and shown to David, by whom it was shown to Solomon. The Temple was erected on 7 pillars and the craftsmen followed exactly the divinely revealed design point by point until the structure was com- pletely finished. There was a sense in which the work was self-executed, because the builders were 153 154 Doctrine of the 3 Temples led by inspiration to do precisely as the unseen Arch- itect intended. The Temple was erected to fully externalize the supernal union between God and Israel. The various sections of the mighty struc- ture set forth the idea of the earth inhabited by various Peoples encompassing the Holy City, the abode of Israel. Concerning the 2 earlier Temples than the one which enjoyed considerable longevity the Zohar states that the 1st was not perfectly con- structed because of the sin of the people in the Wil- derness, and the 2nd was imperfect on account of sin at the time of Ezra. Going still further, the Kabbalah informs us that the truly abiding Temple, which can never be destroyed, is indeed "a house not made with hands," consequently it remains un- affected amid all terrestrial permutations. The Temple of Solomon was symbolic of penitence and prayer, and its overthrow is regarded as a result of impenitence by the strictly orthodox in Israel, though among "liberal" Jews there are many who shed no tears over its destruction, therefore they celebrate no fast of Ab, a day of great lamentation among those who adhere to the strict letter of un- compromising orthodoxy. Taken in their exterior meanings only many Kabbalistic references to the Temples are far from clear, but it requires no very wide acquaintance with the significance of meta- phor to discern a deep interior meaning worthy of of the Messiah 155 the highest regard. The figurative references to "sun" and "moon" may throw much light on the obscure passage in Joshua which states that he com- manded the sun and moon to stand still and they stood still a whole day. The sun is always signifi- cant of the source whence humanity derives illumina- tion, spiritual and physical alike; the moon typifies earthly regnancy which shines only with borrowed light. In the Zohar we are told that "the sun turned away from the moon and enlightened it no longer; then there was no day without sufferings and lamen- tations." But no sooner have we heard the wail over what is lost than our attention is joyfully turned to better days to come, even to the Mes- sianic era in which "the moon shall resume its pri- mal light." (Here are plain allusions, though figura- tively conveyed, to a temporary separation of civil government from spiritual direction, to be followed by a resanctification of all secular affairs. We ex- tract the following paragraphs from A. E. Waite's elaborate account of these traditions and prophecies (pages 137-140) to give our readers an exact illus- tration of the curiously involved manner in which Kabbalists have foretold the coming of a glorious event which they are by no means alone in jubilantly anticipating. "The Holy One will remember His people Israel and the Temple shall be rebuilt. For- merly it was based on severity and wrath, but it tUi ir 9t< 9+4 4 156 Doctrine of the 3 Temples will be restored in charity and will be founded thereon. Meanwhile, since the destruction of the sanctuary here below, the Holy One swore never to enter the Jerusalem above until Israel returned into the Jerusalem below. No blessings have gone forth either in the world above or in that which is below, for these worlds depend on one another. The con- solation of the elect is however that, in the absence of a place of sacrifice, devotion to the study of the Law will bring the forgiveness of sin more readily than the burnt offerings of old." To the diligent student of the implications of peculiar language the foregoing mode of expression suggests a vital Truth, viz., that while sacrificing animals encouraged an idea of vicarious offerings, a study of the Law necessitated individual effort on the part of students, therefore greater enlighten- ment must follow upon the latter than upon the for- mer course of action. Whichever way we look at the declaration we cannot fail to note its luminous prophecy of a future more glorious than the past, and not only for Israel but through Israel for all the human race. To the zealous Zionist the literal re- building of Jerusalem and recolonizing of Palestine must mean much, but there are many earnest and devout Jews who care but little for the actual re- building of any city and should there be a general flight to Palestine there would be vast numbers of j[&Jt, svi*f<* of the Messiah 157 influential Israelites who would not join in it. In the spiritual meaning of the terms Zion simply sig- nifies an abode of holiness and Jerusalem an abode of peace, therefore the Law goeth forth from Jeru- salem and from Zion, figuratively speaking, and from nowhere else, because peace and holiness are inseparable and where these are absent humanity cannot grasp divine ideals so as to fulfil them in ac- tual expression. The mystical Temple is an organic human federation in which every member occupies the place of a particular stone assigned to a special niche. When this Temple is completed on earth the most glowing predictions of the most ardent prophets will be realized, for in that Lesser Holy Assembly, corresponding with the Greater Holy Assembly in spheres unseen by mortal vision, the Divine Will will be literally done on earth as in the Heavens. The coming of Messiah is regarded by Kab- balists as an initiatory or inaugural event. Messiah is conceived of as "God's righteous servant," the title, therefore, is sometimes applied to a single indi- vidual and at other times to a holy convocation made up of Illuminati. The spiritual Israel, through whom the entire world is to be regenerated, is com- posed of the righteous of all nations, not of race- Jews exclusively. The word "Jew" is sometimes used in a far more than ordinarily comprehensive sense, and when so employed it is taken to designate 158 Doctrine of the 3 Temples any man or woman who has attained to a realization of truth in a fuller degree than common, and who is included in the mystical organization of the truly faithful. Messianic prophecies have often been in- terpreted expansively as referring to a period when general enlightenment will be the rule, but as lead- ership is never a negligible subject we can readily perceive how much nearer together in essential agreement are 2 schools of thought usually supposed to be at total variance. Though some over-zealous Christian students of Kabbalah have stated that the Zohar makes mention of a Messiah who has ap- peared already, such an inference seems unwarrant- able from the exact wording of the several texts, all of which unmistakably refer to a Golden Age which has not yet come, and which is to be a period of Messianic regnancy. The elect are said to hope al- ways for the advent of the Man of Holiness, but here again we are confronted with the evident legiti- macy of a broader rather than of a narrower inter- pretation, for all Jewish literature abounds in cor- porate descriptions and rarely if ever makes it evi- dent that the advent of only a single personality is predicted in any prophecy. The burden of agelong foretelling is that through the Sanctuarists or the inner mystic element in Israel, the whole human race shall be immeasurably blessed. The Virgin (young woman) of the 7th chapter of of the Messiah 159 Isaiah who conceives and bears Emanu-El is a figure of a holy nation whose pure offspring is to rule the entire world in righteousness. Though the singular Man is a word often introduced, the noun is as much plural as singular in English as in Hebrew, there- fore the "man more precious than fine gold" may refer to a holy company quite as readily as to any one peculiarly illustrious individual. During the Messianic period, probably coeval with its very com- mencement, conversions to the faith of Israel will be very numerous; this does not,, however, need to be taken ^narrowly, for it is only confession of ths absolute unity of God and willing obedience to the Moral Law that can be said to constitute the essence of true religion from the Jewish standpoint, whether the Kabbalah be or be not consulted. Many glori- ous mysteries long concealed are to be revealed when the gladsome day dawns on which the veil will be removed which has for so many centuries overlain the Sanctuary, and as the happy period draws nigh even little children will penetrate to a wonderful arcana. If we are bound to consider a great variety of Kabbalistic traditions and predictions we may be led to suppose that several Messiahs are to be made manifest in differing degrees of splendor, and to each one of these will be assigned some special mission in the world's regeneration ; 4 Messiahs are familiar to students of Kabbalah, called respectively 160 Doctrine of the 3 Temples Son of Jesse (highest of them all) ; Son of Ephraim (who is referred to as a warrior) ; Son of Joseph, and Son of David. Sometimes the 2 latter seem to be but 2 titles applied to the same individual. In view of the mental excitement now abounding over the likelihood of the speedy appearance of a World-Teacher who will inaugurate a new era in religion and statesmanship, and prove an arbitrator between different nations now presumably hostile to each other's interests, it may prove somewhat edify- ing to follow the Kabbalists in a few of their in- genious and intricate predictions, all looking to ulti- mate enlightenment and pacification of our (at pres- ent) storm-tossed world. The Ass upon which Messiah is to ride is variously dealt with as a symbol of peace and also(as the lower nature of humanity which is to be totally subdued) but in no way muti- lated or destroyed by the one who rides thereon. Even when we are told that it is a "demon that shall be curbed' ' we need feel no surprise fof the "mys- tery of godliness" may well be associated closely with the complete subjugation of all those animal im- pulses which when rampant and dominant are the cause of unspeakable misery and degradation to the human race. All manner of curious doctrines familiar to read- ers of Occult, Spiritualistic, and kindred literature are dealt with in the Zohar; particular reference of the Messiah 161 being made to the theory of spiritual counterparts. In A. E. Waite's exhaustive treatise, "The Secret Doctrine in Israel" (pages 146-7), we read: "The time of the coming of Messiah will be when all souls who are kept in the treasury of souls against the day of their incarnation shall have actually come hither in flesh. Thereafter it would seem that new souls will be incarnated in Israel. Then shall the ot ^^ '„ % chosen people deserve to find — and shall not fail ,+^c &/***+*& herein — the beloved sister-soul predestined to each ^< from the beginning of creation." Intruders are to be utterly banished, and by intruders in the esotericSc^ sense we may well understand whatsoever would mar the harmony of human relations in the Golden Age. "Out of the heart and the mind shall the In- truders be cast, once and for all, and the soul shall find the Spouse." "It is a forecast of that time when the Mystery of Union, which is now a Mys- tery of Faith, shall have entered into realization in experience on this earth of ours, and as in the world above there is no distinction between Shekinah and the Holy One, so in that which is below there shall be such a spiritual communion between the Lover and the Beloved that the voice of the turtledove, which is the Canticle of Canticles, shall be heard everywhere, and of that time it may be said: The male with the female, neither male nor female." What follows is so extremely curious, and as it af- 162 Doctrine of the 3 Temples fords so realistic an example of Kabbalistic teach- ing, that though many readers may pronounce it of dubious authenticity we present it as an interesting matter for consideration in highly condensed form, and especially do we refer it to the thoughtful atten- tion of any who enjoy speculating upon the signifi- cance of numbers. When 60 years shall have passed since the 6th century of the 6th millenary it is foretold that heaven shall visit the Daughter of Jacob. In the 70th year Messiah shall be made manifest in Galilee. There are 5 great portents announcing this sublime event : (1) The rainbow (now tarnished) will shine with amazing brilliancy "like a betrothed lady adorned to meet her spouse." (2) A star will appear in the East and swallow up 7 stars in the North. (3) A fixed star will appear in the midst of the firmament and will be visible for 70 days. It will emit 70 rays and be surrounded by 70 other stars. (4) The city of Rome (or Babylon) will fall to pieces. (5) A mighty king will arise and conquer the world. War will be declared against Israel, but the Chosen Peo- ple will be delivered. There is one tradition to the effect that the 70 celestial Chiefs who rule the 70 nations of the earth, will marshal all the legions of the world to make war upon Jerusalem, but they will be overthrown by the power of the Holy One. The Messiah will draw the whole world to him and {..£',** v> fin of the Messiah 163 bring about a perfect union between the heavens ' and the earth. Israel Zangwill, in one of his remarkable semi- historical novels, "The Turkish Messiah," gives a thrilling account of a wave of fanaticism which at one time broke over some parts of Europe in con- sequence of the arrogant claims of a curious man who made many people believe that he was indeed Messiah. Such a character may be, in a degree, sin- cere, because it is surely possible for an extremely self-conceited individual to persuade himself that he is in some special sense a messenger of Heaven, but, as in the case of the central figure in Zangwill's instructive tale, such bombastic personages flare up like the proverbial rocket and soon die down like the proverbial stick. In the Kabbalah we find the source of Zangwill's most dramatic incident, which refers to the fanatic claimant to Messiaship pro- nouncing the most glorious and awful Name with- out producing any result whatever, though it is made to appear that his pronunciation of the awe-inspiring Tetragrammaton was technically correct. The Zohar fully confirms the prediction made in many sections of Kabbalistic literature that through human transgression heaven and earth have been in some way separated, and that whenever Messiah appears on earth and speaks the unifying word the breach will be completely healed and God and Man will be 164 Doctrine of the 3 Temples in perfect unity. Messiah is said to be now dwell- ing in a spiritual Eden from which he is expected to come forth into outer manifestation and establish a corresponding terrestrial Eden. There is now a secret place called poetically "The Bird's Nest" where Messiah dwells, awaiting his manifestation in the external world. This symbol of the bird sug- gests the sacred Dove mentioned in Genesis and which throughout Christendom is accepted as a law- ful emblem of the Holy Spirit (in Hebrew, Ruach ha Kodesh). Though the doctrine of vicarious suf- fering, as commonly understood by orthodox Chris- tians, is foreign to the spirit of Judaism and totally at variance with the plain teaching of many of the greater prophets, notably Ezekiel, there is a sense in which the Kabbalah appears to teach that Mes- siah is the sin-bearer on behalf of Israel in particu- lar, and finally of all humanity ; but there is a secret doctrine, now becoming considerably open, in which we may interpret this idea much more helpfully. In avowedly esoteric circles the inner doctrine con- cerning atonement and forgiveness is very clearly explained, and the time has now fully come when these deeper meanings must be given to the world. Let us dismiss from our minds completely all ideas of imputation and substitution in the old sense and contemplate the going forth of a tide of healing virtue perpetually from a Messiah who is altogether of the Messiah 165 virtuous. That is exactly the idea conveyed in the Christian Gospels when read in their original sim- * % fc r plicity. Virtue is said to stream forth from a sacred Person and enter into all his wearing apparel, and then flow forth to many sick and suffering sorrowers who approached him with conviction that they would be healed. We have only to turn the now prevailing doctrine of infection and contagion into a health- ward channel to comprehend at a glance the original concept, which is indeed sublime. As much reliable medical testimony is to the effect that diseases are communicable, though not always communicated, so is there testimony of a higher sort to the effect that health in the fullest meaning of that wide-embracing term is communicable and frequently communicated. This knowledge so far antedates the commencement of the Christian era that every student of much earlier records than any portion of the New Testa- ment, finds overwhelming evidence to the happy prevalence of confidence in spiritual and other heal- ing ministries in ancient Israel and among the classic Greeks and many other distinguished peoples. Messiah is regarded as Healer par excellence, and his ministry is to incline the hearts and minds of multitudes to righteousness in every conceivable direction. Many modern plays which readily have achieved extensive popularity embody much of the Messianic spirit, notably such truly elevating dramas 166 Doctrine of the 3 Temples as Kennedy's "The Servant in the House" and Jerome's "The Passing of the 3rd Floor Back." Either of those stories will give any thoughtful reader of the book or witnesser of the play an ex- cellent outline idea of how Messiah is to do his work when he appears, according to the best traditions. We are beginning to return to an ancient holy conception of the inseparable connection between inward holiness and outward health, and though we must all confess that many intentionally upright per- sons are suffering from grievous ailments, modern thought is rightly attributing these maladies to an undue submissiveness to wrongs in the present social disorder which can and must be rectified. If sensi- tive yielding persons are frequently the victims of unholy contagion, those same persons can surely be liberated from present afflictions by the advent of a holy health-giving effluence which will prove anti- dotal to all inclement influences. Messiah is only the Leader-in-chief of a noble numerous army of co- workers who will all pull together to establish and maintain the rule of health and righteousness on earth, and we cannot have the former without the latter or the latter apart from the former except spasmodically, and then but temporarily and in il- lusory appearance only. The Kabbalah foretells every possible blessing as on its way to the whole human race through the coming of Messiah, who is of the Messiah 167 the representative of a spiritual Israel. The Zohar declares that God created humanity for the express purpose of manifesting the Lesser Countenance, a term which when translated into our immediate ver- nacular, means definitely a Divine revelation in the form of a regenerated Humanity. This Lesser Countenance is the Son of God, not one individual alone, entirely unique and therefore everlastingly different from all other members of the human solidarity, but an Elder Brother, a Holy Firstfruits, whose triumphal resurrection, ascension and glorification in the mystical sense, is typical and representative of the ultimate glorification of the en- tire human family. Broader and narrower views of Messiaship are not necessarily conflicting, and in these days of unwearying conflict in the realm of thought it is surely useful to seek a. common denom- inator, so that all who are striving to increase fra- ternal love and true comradeship among individuals and nations may intelligently co-operate as far as possible. [The clannishness and arrogance, which mar the letter of nearly all theologies, need to be broken through and swept away so that the interior truth long concealed behind these obscuring and sep- arating veils may shed its benign radiance over the weary waiting world. More and more is it becom- ing evident that we are close upon the dawn of a new age, unless destruction is to overtake our planet. 168 Doctrine of the 3 Temples Though the Kabbalah is by no means the only prophet of the rising dawn, it is a stalwart optimis- tic witness whose testimony is well worth consider- ing as that of a powerful voice calling especially to Israel, and ultimately to the whole world through Israel, to work righteousness and trust in the power thereof, and thus prepare the way for the Messianic Age of universal concord and efficient happy industry. - £W**v, CHAPTER XII. KABEALISTIC TEACHINGS CONCERNING THE SOUL, ITS NATURE AND ITS DESTINY. Now that so much controversy is centering around the idea of the soul, its origin, nature and destiny, and the most widely divergent views on many points are being put forward as parts of a present-day revelation, it may be a matter of historic interest, at least to many readers, to gain some outline view of how Kabbalists have taught and philosophized on this vast and always fascinating subject. A. E. Waite, who treats every topic with extreme exhaust- iveness of detail, has devoted several chapters to this gigantic theme to which we can only give a few pages, but in the following condensed summary we think it will not be difficult to find several salient points stated intelligibly. The doctrine of spiritual pre-existence is taught by all Kabbalists, but on the question of re-incarna- tion, and of the resurrection of the body, there is considerable divergence of thought and expression. The Zohar distinctly mentions the many mansions or abiding places in the Father's House as they are 169 170 Kabbalistic Teachings alluded to in the 14th chapter of the 4th gospel. The exact wording of that familiar portion of the New Testament bears overwhelming testimony to the fact that a Master addressing disciples was re- minding them of a doctrine with which they were already acquainted, otherwise how can we account for the phrase "if it were not so I would have told you"? Paradise is said to have "no other mission but to come into this world," which means that the souls constituting a society or sphere prior to in- carnation must leave their blissful state of innocence and descend (not fall) into material conditions for purposes of self-conscious development. Practically all the Fathers of the early Christian Church taught pre-existence, no matter whether they had received their philosophic basis from Hebraic or Hellenic sources, for Jews and Greeks alike proclaimed this doctrine, somewhat as it is poetically and dramat- ically portrayed by Maurice Maeterlinck in "The Bluebird." The soul, according to Kabbalistic philosophy, has to be stripped of its paradisaical body that it may be clothed with a terrene envelope, and every soul wends it way earthward sorrowing, as though proceeding into exile; but this world is a school, a workshop, a laboratory, but in no sense a place of punishment. As the doctrine of Karma is so much to the front in these days in many places, and the object of terrestrial existence is al- Concerning the Soul 171 ways an undecided point, except among those who are truly illumined inwardly, it would be a great help toward clearing mental ground for subsequent discussion did we rid our phraseology straightway of all burdensome and erroneous ideas that any soul is being "punished" by incarnation; indeed it would be an immense help to clear thinking if the ugly word punishment were banished from our vocabu- lary, for it is excessively misleading and imports harsh notions into theology which find their corre- spondent expression in barbaric usages which are a disgrace to assumed civilization and productive of nothing but strife and degradation wherever they are introduced. Consequences are pleasant or un- pleasant according to the nature of the cause whence effects proceed ; and as this world is a school, neither a hell nor a heaven, we are all experimenters and while we cannot do any permanent injury to the "framework of the universe," which, according to James Russell Lowell, is certainly "fireproof," we can temporarily inconvenience ourselves by our mis- takes, and when we pay educational and corrective penalties we are very foolish if we impugn the good- ness of the Eternal and embitter our own lives by morosely regarding suffering as either useless or vindictive when it is in every case instructive in the last analysis. The Kabbalistic idea of how souls come to earth agrees remarkably well with the f oun- 172 Kabbalistic Teachings dation of the doctrine of affinities which has led to much error on account of a grievous misinterpreta- tion of the primal concept. We find in the Zohar a familiar teaching on this intricate theme if we have read anything of the ancient doctrine of coun- terparts which is still vigorously upheld by many authors and powerfully illustrated by Marie Corelli in her thrilling story of spiritual adventure, "The Life Everlasting." All souls awaiting incarnation are arranged in pairs; the one destined to inhabit a male body is placed by the side of one ordained to animate a female form, therefore those who find each other on earth as true counterparts have been previously united in a paradisaical state. The Kab- balistic idea of an ideal marriage is essentially sublime and it throws light upon the use of a plural Hebrew word translated "thou" in the command- ment concerning the Sabbath. Every thoughtful reciter of the 10 commandments must have won- dered why there is no mention made of a man's wife when the next commandment calls upon all children to equally honor their father and mother, and in the earlier instance son and daughter, man servant and maid servant are distinctively enumerated. The real answer is found only in the doctrine of complete unity in the married state, so that husband and wife are no longer twain, and neither one or the other is head of the family, the family being headed by Concerning the Soul 173 father and mother equally. This is the only solid base on which domestic felicity can be reared, and it is the only tenable position in these gradually enlightening days in which sex equality is being fought for in many lands with courage and vigor ^so tremendously in earnest as to compel the atten- tion of even the most reluctant among belated poli- ticians. From a Superior Eden into an Inferior Eden, says the Kabbalah, does the soul descend. Wordsworth's exquisite ode, "Immortality," voices well this an- cient thought, and surely human experience abun- dantly confirms it. We often hear to-day of the possibility of pro- longing existence in our earthly bodies as long as we may desire, and many are the references in modern literature to Enoch and Elijah, 2 of the most mysterious of biblical characters. The Zohar mentions these as belonging to a small select com- pany who are capable of ascending into heaven by a transmutative process without laying down their physical bodies by an act of death. The familiar Shakesperian quotation from Hamlet's soliloquy, "when we have shuffled off this mortal coil," sug- gests far more the idea of a voluntary act than of yielding to the scythe of a grim destroyer. In the majority of cases souls are said to have some diffi- culty in exercising dominion over their external 174 Kabbalistic Teachings shapes, and this marks the distinction between or- dinary persons and the illustrious patriarchs. As a human entity embodied on earth is composed of Nephesh, Ruach and Neshamah, and neither Ruach nor Neshamah suggest sinfulness, sin is exclusively of the lower principle. This assertion throws much light on the saying, "sin is of the flesh," for while flesh itself does not commit sin, the animating prin- ciple of the flesh, or lower mind, is that which goes astray. The 3 degrees are superposed one upon the other, but ordinary men and women have not dis- covered Neshamah. The finding of the higher prin- ciple within is what is meant by the Gnostic phrase, "finding the Christ," the higher self of our human- ity. Discovery of the soul is through the gateways j of reverence and penitence. Nephesh forms the body /and directs exterior procreation. Ruach causes Nephesh to act intelligently. Neshamah is the high- est force in humanity and issues from the mystical Tree of Life. It is interesting to note how the Kabbalah treats the Bible characters in an altogether super-historical manner. Abraham represents the inmost soul; Sarah the secondary soul; Isaac the intellectual principle; Rebecca the vital principle. The Bible read in such a light as this is entirely above the reach of historical criticism, for its nar- ratives are resolved into poems and parables and take on a significance vastly wider than any merely Concerning the Soul 1 75 literal interpretation can logically attribute to them. Many superficial thinkers are greatly perturbed over the fact that it is now abundantly proved that no great spiritual teachings are solitary and that all Sacred Scriptures have numerous points in common. There are two hopeless positions still maintained in quarters where spiritual freedom and enlightenment have not yet dispelled the gloom of bigotry and ig- norance; one untenable attitude being that some single religious system has a monopoly of truth, the other that all spiritual histories are fairy tales with- out foundation in solid reason. The only ground that can be taken and held invincibly against all on- slaughts is a position that proves impregnable against attack because it answers more rationally and satisfactorily than any other questions continu- ally being raised in consequence of constantly widen- ing archaeological researches and discoveries. Bibles and religious ceremonies were originally intended to set forth everlasting verities and to> celebrate per- petually recurring mysteries, not to simply commem- orate events fixed arbitrarily in history or to relate biographical narratives exclusively relating to cer- tain personalities. Kabbalism is an unfailing fount of inspiration to the student because it interferes in no way with free scientific investigation and historical research and always affords food for contemplation concerning 1 76 Kabbalistic Teachings the perpetual renewal of human experiences of divers kinds as generation follows generation,(so that while pupils graduate schools remain relatively permanent for the accommodation of successive troops of scholars. Though a triadic classification of human contain- ment is as frequently encountered in the Kabbalah as in any other occult literature, the 7-fold classifi- cation is by no means absent therefrom, and it is as easily understood, together with the 3-fold, as it is easy to comprehend the well-known division of a single ray of white light into 3 primary colors and then into 7 prismatic hues. 4 is also greatly dwelt upon by Kabbalists and it would not be difficult to discover traces of a root-idea closely resembling the theosophical division of the human individual as expressed on earth into a higher triad and a lower quaternary. Concerning spiritual progression here and here- after the Zohar states that the soul of a man who has consecrated himself to a study of the Law on leaving his earthly body goes to a blissful abode by the pathways of the Law, so that his knowledge acquired on earth is of use to him hereafter, but those who have wilfully neglected to obtain knowl- edge go astray along roads that lead to Geburah, a state of suffering. Symbolically speaking, the Law goes before the soul which has delighted in sacred Concerning the Soul 1 11 study and opens all celestial doors before it. The Law remains with the soul until the day of resur- rection when it will be that soul's defender. The resurrection is open to various interpretations, and it does not appear certain that all Kabbalists have entertained precisely the same idea concerning it. From one viewpoint it appears to refer to the end of a cycle or period of time, and is therefore con- nected with spiritual harvesting; in that case the resurrection of the body signifies an attainment of a regenerate state, and this applies to a body of souls as we speak of a corporate organization which of necessity includes many individual units. Concerning those who have made a diligent study of the Law it is declared that after the resurrection they retain or recover a full knowledge thereof, and this must be taken in connection with the affirmation that the Law is altogether wise and true, therefore the idea is that all truth once appropriated will be forever retained, but error will be forgotten in a day of universal illumination. A broad hint on the persistence of dominant affections is found in the declaration that those who have lovingly and indus- triously busied themselves with studying the Law on earth will continue to study it hereafter; and as the Law is to be applied to an adjustment of all conditions for the good of all, this legal occupation promises beneficent results if such truly celestial 1 78 Kabbalistic Teachings lawyers are to have charge of human affairs in a coming brighter era. The doctrine of 7 spheres is found in the Kabbalah, which mentions 7 celestial palaces in which a great Mystery of Faith is con- tained; 6 of these palaces can be investigated by human understanding, but the 7th is inaccessible to human reason as at present unfolded. When the souls of those who have lived on earth uprightly pass into the spiritual estate they enter the first palace and in it they are gradually prepared for the 2nd. and so on up the scale. The 2nd palace is ready to receive immediately they pass from earth those souls whom we call martyrs, those who have suffered valiantly in a righteous cause and have chosen thus to win a martyr's crown rather than submit to tyranny and refuse aid to their brethren struggling for emancipation. To attain this spirit- ual altitude they must have cultivated a thankful to- gether with a heroic spirit and not have neglected continual aspiration. Messiah visits souls in this 2nd sphere and draws them upward into a 3rd es- tate. The 3rd sphere receives those who have suf- fered very greatly on earth through no fault of their own ; the effect of their anguish having been the acceleration of their development, so that they have literally become quickly ripened through an excess of heat or pressure, as flowers and fruits can be more quickly brought to fulness of bloom and mel- Concerning the Soul 1 79 lowed when extra heat is used to force them. The souls of young children are also found there and Messiah soon draws such into the 4th sphere which is an abode of great happiness and contains the souls of those who have "shared the sorrow of Zion," and also those who have been slain in holy warfare. The 5th palace is the place of "true peni- tents who have restored their souls to a state of purity, and of those who have sanctified the Name of their Master by meeting death for His glory." The 6th sphere contains those who have been filled to overflowing with divine love and have, in a special manner, proclaimed the Divine Unity. The 7th estate is like unto that Heaven of Catholic the- ology where the completely sanctified enjoy the Beatific Vision. Concerning re-incarnation there seems no com- plete unity of sentiment, though many allusions are made to the process. It does not seem that the Kabbalah teaches in the least dogmatically that all souls now embodied on earth must return for an- ^K^other terrestrial journey, but it does emphasize the fact that when some specific work which can only be done on earth has not been fulfilled an opportunity is afforded for another earthward pilgrimage. Prob- ably the great majority of Kabbalists insist that re- incarnation is usually necessary, for it is only they who need no more of earthly discipline for whom 180 Kabbalistic Teachings it does not exist. One significant expression reads : "Seeing that he also is flesh," which is interpreted to mean still subject to the dominion of flesh or to encasement therein, for no soul can be flesh though it can be clothed therewith. The literal meaning of many Kabbalistic sayings regarding Palestine would make spiritual gradation a question of geography, for we read many times of the high estate of souls who pass away in Palestine and the far inferior con- dition of all who leave the flesh elsewhere ;\but this use of the name of a beloved country must be under- stood metaphorically as referring to a spiritual Holy Land, which is an interior condition regardless of place of physical abode. Judaism always teaches that "God's people are all the righteous," and that Gentiles who live uprightly have full participation in the blessedness of the world or life to come; it therefore follows that those commentators mischiev- ously confound letter with spirit who harp upon the geographical allusions in the Zohar. Mysterious allusions to 2 souls animating a single body at the same time can easily be disposed of in the light of spiritual overshadowing. For example, the soul of Abel is said to have animated Seth and the soul of Rachel, at her physical decease, to have animated her son Benjamin, but there is nothing in those statements properly suggestive of any other idea than that of spirit-communion of a very intimate Concerning the Soul 181 character. Though the doctrine of a literal resur- rection of physical bodies is always practically in- conceivable, it being surrounded with insuperable difficulties, Kabbalists have speculated widely con- cerning it, but the conclusions at which they have generally arrived are too vague to be easily defined. There are 4 ideas concerning physical resurrection which are comprehensible: (1) Re-incarnation, which implies taking a new physical body. (2) The upbuilding of a new body around the permanent atom or nucleolus of a former body; a doctrine taught by many Gnostics whose views on the resur- rection are by no means at variance with physical science regarding the perpetual changes being wrought in the physique from day to day, so that possibly in a single year or less (in 7 years at ut- most) every particle of the physical structure has been remodeled except the permanent atom, which is always the sole potential physical body. (3) The attainment of a body which can be immortalized be- cause of its perfectness, and therefore one which does not decay. (4) Materialization of a body by one who has learned the secret of mastery over all material elements. A passage in the Zohar reads: "If these bodies have fulfilled meritorious works they will continue, but if not they will return to dust." 182 Kabbalistic Teachings Concerning Sheol (the Underworld) there are many traces of similarity to ancient Egyptian doc- trines in the Kabbalah. Many things are veiled from humanity while in the flesh until transition ap- proaches, then the mystic curtain is lifted to some extent and the soul catches glimpses of the state upon which it is about to enter; 3 messengers are said to attend a deathbed, or its equivalent, and they take account of the entire life of the one who is about to pass away. The departing spirit acknowl- edges the correctness of the record and signs it. In accordance with its own signature is each soul judged. Nothing can be fairer than the doctrine embodied in this statement, for it unmistakably im- plies identity of doctrine with the famous passage in the Apocalypse : "My rew r ard is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be." Hav- ing crossed the mystic threshold the soul soon recog- nizes many it has known on earth. The Zohar states that at the time of death man is able to see his de- parted friends and to recognize them clearly. If his life has been, on the whole, worthy they salute him with great joy, but if the preponderance of his life has gravitated toward evil then he beholds those whom he formerly knew who are expiating their offences in a kind of purgatory. (Everywhere char- acter is made the test, not belief in any doctrines: A general thesis is that everyone while living on Concerning the Soul 183 earth forms a definite connection with the unseen world and the nature of that connection, through the working of the undeviating law of attraction, determines state or condition in the hereafter. Though such a word as "everlasting" is sometimes used by Kabbalists concerning the duration of fu- ture suffering, it always means long-enduring sim- ply, it being employed in a popular sense in which we call durations everlasting which are beyond our present computation. But much more frequently in the Kabbalah we read of specified periods allotted to corrective chastisement, which is often limited to 12 Kabbalistic months. Concerning hells they are said to exist chiefly for those who have committed the 3 most grievous sins, viz., murder, incest and idolatry. Fire and ice are both mentioned sym- bolically in connection with penal sufferings, much as we find them in Dante's Inferno. All men are to be acquitted eventually and Satan is to return to his primal Luciferean state. The Zohar advocates prayers for the departed and accounts them of avail. Such in very brief is an outline of a few of the more prominent among an enormous mass of Kabbalistic teachings. Many a bulky volume could easily be filled with illustrative citations, but the object of this modest treatise being only to give the general reader a taste of a few Kabbalistic solids and delicacies, we refrain 184 Kabbalistic Teachings from going further into detail here and now, though the hundredth part has not been told. As the Kab- balah is truly a profound theosophical study — and by no means a single book or treatise written all at one time, or even by a band of collaborating authors -who have collectively and successively agreed on all subjects — we are justified in taking its inculcations into account more as varied contributions to a the- osophical mosaic than as sharp definitions of estab- lished doctrine couched in unalterable symbolic figures. The very elastic nature of some of the language employed by certain Kabbalists has led some Chris- tians to claim it as a Christian as well as a Jewish work, and there are many passages scattered here and there which are closely aligned with mystical, though not with literal dogmatic Christianity. It is, however, reasonable and moderate to consider the Kabbalah as a whole as a theosophical compilation belonging to the Jewish school, and as it is a lead- ing tenet of acknowledged Theosophy that persons of all creeds and nationalities can be federated into a spiritual fellowship, from the often puzzling pages of the Kabbalah many a valuable sentence may be drawn which, when supplemented by citations from other sources, may serve to illustrate afresh and forcibly how true is the declaration now coming to the front in all enlightened circles, that there is a Concerning the Soul 185 Wisdom Religion, absolutely universal, and that an acquaintance therewith, 4 even in slight measure, will do immeasurably much to break down offensive and dangerous barriers between different sections of the human race. Looking around us everywhere to-day we see manifested the direful results of false religious con- cepts, the falsity of which is clearly demonstrated by the havoc they produce. It is surely a practical ques- tion, and one of intensest moment to us all, to seek to promote mutual understanding among individu- als, parties and nations, seeing that when not ac- tually engaged in warfare we appear to be perpetu- ally on the brink of hostile outbreaks all over the world, and that largely because we cling with big- otry and stupidity to a policy of mutual mistrust and recrimination which can produce no other effect than to endanger the peace and safety of all com- munities. Children need to be instructed in the essentials of universal religion. Text books should be wisely and impartially compiled showing wherein all the Bibles of the world fundamentally agree and how we may find a common denominator. Universal re- ligion is like universal language, it does not insist upon itself alone any more than a study of Esperanto forbids us from acquiring a knowledge of other lan- guages and conversing in various tongues. But we cannot all learn to speak several languages fluently, 186 Kabbalistic Teachings consequently it is highly desirable, and rapidly be- coming imperative, that we should all be able to speak and write an international language in addi- tion to our mother tongue, whatever that may be. The symbolism of the Kabbalah is for those who understand it a sign language in which all can con- verse, and we know how much more nearly uni- versal symbols can be than words, for if we draw the shape of any natural object familiar to us all by sight, though we cannot understand each others' speech we can soon learn to converse with each other freely by writing under the drawing the dif- ferent words we severally employ to designate the object. Masonic symbolism holds Freemasons to- gether all over the world, and it is a well-known fact that ritual observances serve to keep many bodies of people together who without these out- ward bonds would soon lose mutual sympathetic touch. The mysteries of the Kabbalah are quite un- familiar to a large percentage of Jews, including many broad-minded and cultured sons and daugh- ters of Israel, but there has always been a Secret Tradition in Israel, as there has been in Christendom also, and equally among professors of different Ori- ental cults. Never can there be uniformity of thought and practise among growing intellects, (but spiritual unity there always has been and ever must be among the truly enlightened?) To become uni- Concerning the Soul 187 form would destroy all natural beauty and lead to the abolition of all that is fair in art, for contrasts there must be or naught but monotony can be con- ceived. Let us now present in the concisest possible manner a few of the definite doctrines we have culled from our very hasty and imperfect delving into* the deep mystical waters of the Kabbalah. Once more paying our respects to A. E. Waite, and acknowl- edging our indebtedness to his intensely scholarly work, "The Secret Doctrine in Israel," we offer this final excerpt from the chapter entitled "Conclusion on Jewish Theosophy." "It is worth while for- mulating its irreducible minimums as follows : ( I ) The Communion of the Divine Duality, Ineffable Male and Female, in the supernal world, generates human souls, male and female, in Its own likeness, who assume flesh — according to a law of succes- sion. (2) They are intended to find one another in earthly life and to enter into marriage therein; but there are various interventions which postpone and even seem to frustrate the general design, yet it is accomplished unfailingly in the case of those who keep the Law. (3) The souls return into the spiritual world and are reunited forever therein. (4) The keeping of the Sex Law, which is part of the Secret Doctrine, ensures the procreation of those who may be called Children of the Doctrine, assur- edly a peculiar people/' 188 Kabbalistic Teachings We have not greatly touched upon the distinctly- magical elements which many students declare abound throughout all Kabbalistic writings — the Kabbalah as a whole is indeed sometimes designated an "arbatel of magic" — and the same title has been applied by magicians to several books of the Bible. That many students of magical arts have endeavored to reach magical results with the aid of the Kabbalah is beyond question, but it is a very open question among impartial delvers how far the original pur- pose of the Kabbalah is connected with magic. As magic is called by the most enlightened among its advocates Magnum Opus, we can readily see how High Magic may pertain to a marvellous degree of control over the elementary forces of Nature, and this dominion is only to be gained by a measure of self-culture and self-control on the part of the ma- gician very far beyond the ordinary. White Magic is altogether commendable, for it signifies the exer- cise of unusual powers with benevolent intent and for the accomplishment of beneficent ends. Black magic is rightly condemned wholesale, because it means a perversion of powers with malevolent de- sign for the fulfilment of maleficent results. As all faculties are good in themselves and all can and should be consecrated to holy services and utilized for worthy ends, it properly becomes all religious and ethical teachers to discriminate at all times and in Concerning the Soul 189 all circumstances not so much between outward words and actions as between the motives which prompt the utterance of words and the performance of actions. More and more is the world coming to realize the stupendous force inherent in unspoken desire. Mental speech is often far more effective to accomplish far-reaching results than the most powerful bursts of outward oratory, and as we come increasingly to realize that our thoughts and aspira- tions are immeasurably more potent than any of our exterior performances, we shall grow to attach some- thing like the importance the theme deserves to a consideration of the lives we live in secret. Reputations may be bought and sold in an earthly market-place, but character (which is interior) alone regulates our association with unseen forces and entities. Those whose aspirations are pure and whose thoughts are noble have nothing to fear from unseen influences, unless they weakly yield submission to fears that paralyze the intellect and throw the mind open to all manner of miscellaneous influx. f"^No matter to what race or society we may belong, if we are true to the inner light as far as we per- ceive it, and wish well to all our neighbors, we are on the high road to health, joy, peace and prosperity in the fullest and deepest meanings of those vastly comprehensive words. ^ FINIS 3477-4 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 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