The Paths Emanating From Yesod
9. Pure Intelligence (Consciousness) (Sekhel Tahor): It is called this because it purifies the Sephirot. It tests the degree of their structure and the inner essence of their unity, making it glow. They are then unified, without any cutoff or separation.
The Ninth Path is the Pure Intelligence so called because it purifies the Numerations, it proves and corrects the designing of their representation, and disposes their unity with which they are combined without diminution or division.
Alt. Trans. “The ninth path is called the pure consciousness because it purifies the essence of the Sephirot. It provides and adapts the design of their patterns and establishes their unity. They remain united, without diminution or division.”
Wescott trans. The Ninth Path is the Pure Intelligence, so called because it purifies the Numerations, it proves and corrects the designing of their representation, and disposes their unity with which they are combined without diminution or division.
Case trans. The ninth path (Yesod the ninth Sephirah) is called the Pure intelligence and is so called because it purifies the essence of the Sephiroth. It proves and preserves their images and prevents them from loss by their union with itself.
The Letter Yod and the 9th Path: The Pure Intelligence (Consciousness)
The Ninth Path of Yesod is called the “pure intelligence” and it is represented by the Hebrew letter Yod in some commentaries. It is also called “Foundation” because it deals primarily with the material world and the “mathematical” in the sense that, similar to the purification that occurs in the alchemical processes, the extraneous elements are separated from the essential element as the “waters” are separated from the “earth”. The activity of the intelligence in the mathematical “measures and weighs” the numbers to assure their “correctness”, and combines the rationality of their relations with the images or representations given in the eidetic forms or the appearance of things. It is Plato’s “correctness of the glance” and references the relation between the outward appearance of things, the Ideas of the things, and the essences of the things which, in the Sefer Yetzirah, are the Sephirot themselves. The text of “The Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom” is contemporaneous with Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, and the ideas of the “pure intelligence” and Kant’s “pure reason” are very similar in nature.
To “purify” is to reduce something to its essence. The essence of the multivarious things which make their appearance in Creation is the unified One that is the manifestation of the Sephirot themselves. This purifying process is decreation. In this purification, the revealing of the truth that is the essence of the Sephirot is accomplished. It has characteristics in common with inductive reasoning, but it is more than this. The “correcting” and “proving” of the design of their representations is what we have called the “mathematical projection” of our world here. But this is only one way of viewing the world and its roots are in the world of Yetzirah. The mathematical projections are preserved from loss through Memory, and from having been written down. The memory element is derived from the path of the crossover of Mem from Netzach to Hod where it meets the fire of Shin emanating from Hod. This crossover is the mediating point of Alef which is received through Tiferet to Yesod. This mediating point is crucial to the understanding of the whole of the Sefer Yetzirah and “The 32 Paths of Wisdom”.
The “numerations” are the numbers assigned to the Sephirot, their representations in geometry, and the combination of their various individual representations into a unity when applied to the things of the world of the senses. It is the diaretic (separation) and dianoic (unification) types of thought which were spoken of earlier. It is the thinking conducted by the sciences and it is concerned with the universe of Asiyah, the physical universe, as well as the world of formation that is the realm of Yetzirah. The foundation of the thinking found in the mathematical projection of the world is itself grounded in the principle of reason which embraces the principles of contradiction and the principle of causality in itself. It is the thinking of the sciences and the predominant thinking of our world today. The principle of reason is a principle of Being. The algorithms that have emerged out of the principle of reason have given us our artificial intelligence which I have said is a ‘second Cave’ of Plato and a further remove from the truth of the things of the world and of the things that are.
In another translation of “The 32 Paths of Wisdom”, the translation states that the “pure consciousness” purifies the Sephirot by testing the structure and essence of their unity, “making it glow”. The “glowing” is the light that is the inner essence of the things, a metaphor for the physical materials that glow in the alchemist’s crucible as he attempts to ‘purify’ them. The thinking that purifies is the thinking that moves beyond the “mere shadows” or “apparitions” given of things by the reflected light of Malkhut that is the representational thinking of our sense organs and apprehends the things as they shine in the light of the sun. This thinking of our senses is called “representational thinking” for it relies on images or representations in order to make visible the abstract content of the thought being carried out. This is why the thought is expressed in metaphors and the like either through words or numbers. The “pure intelligence” of Yesod is a “know of” knowledge or a “knowledge by acquaintance” acquired through the experience of the senses. The Perfect Intelligence of Hod is a “know how” knowledge which is acquired through action or The Apparative Intelligence of Path 24 (which is sometimes referred to as The Imaginative Intelligence).
Yesod is related to the sexual organs of human beings and it is in this connection that we have the “two-faced” nature of the appearance of things. We in the modern world have become satisfied with the outward appearances of things, the beauty of their uses, including other human beings, and so we turn all beings into “objects” that can be controlled or manipulated either through our sciences and their results or through our machinations in our relations with others either politically or within our other social relationships.
The god Eros is said to be “two-faced” or “Janus-faced”. We have become satisfied with the “reflected light” of things rather than the true light of their essence. Within this satisfaction we “descend” to the physical world of Malkhut rather than “ascending” to the higher levels of spirituality that are our true nature. This is the relation of the Sephirot Yesod to the Sephirot Tiferet. They are connected by the letter Alef and the middle path of the Tree of Life from Keter; and these in turn are indicated in the path of “trials” or tests, represented by Reish. It is at this point that we make our choice of where we place our “treasure”, what we will come to “value”.
Besides the direct path from Tiferet, three other paths lead to the Sephirot Yesod. They are represented by the letters Yod, Nun, and Resh. The “pure intelligence”, through its “measuring and weighing”, discerns and distils the influences from these three paths and “purifies” them (relation of the emanations to water) and brings them into a relation so that they can become a “one” even though the number assigned to them is other than one. The “pure intelligence” of Yesod determines how the “eye” of Ayin will see the world (as “object”?) and how the individual personality will conduct itself in its day-to-day affairs. The “trials” of the path of Resh are the strife that life is made of, but it is the “pure intelligence” founded upon the principle of reason that determines other aspects of the individual and the community in which the individual dwells.
From Yesod to Malkhut is a single path only and this is related to the letter Tau/Tav. Yesod is the Foundation and Malkhut is Kingdom. The letter Tau is the seventh double as outlined in the Sefer Yetzirah. It can be represented by the two Tarot cards: The World #21 and the Fool #0 for it is both an end and a beginning, and it indicates the circular or spherical nature of the Tree of Life itself. It can be both the beginning of the journey (The Fool #0) or the end of the journey (The World #21). The letter Tav itself means “good”. When it is related to The Fool, it is the beginning of the journey of decreation up the Tree of Life. When it is related to The World, it signifies the knowledge and understanding that is related to “prophecy” and to the knowledge of the whole of things contained within the realms of Time and Space which is the Creation itself. This knowledge confers the gift of prophecy. This is what is meant by self-knowledge. The figure of The World has a banner of purple (the royal colour) in the shape of a Beth across her signifying her knowledge of the whole of things.
Yesod means “foundation”: it is the instinctual animality of human beings, but it is also the foundation of human being in Time, the principle of reason as a principle of Being as we now understand it. The interpretations of the images of the Sephirot are written down, literally “written in stone”, so that they are preserved and are unified with the “physical” itself (materialism). How the outer world appears is determined by these interpretations. This is why this realm is called “the sphere of the Moon”, the sphere of “reflected light”. This is the realm of what we call the “historical”, and the things come to be and pass away giving the illusion of “historical relativism”. Is this what we have come to understand as Hell? The focus on the Ego? When Sartre says that “Hell is other people”, his statement indicates this egoistic hell itself, the choice that separates Love from Intelligence.
The starkness of The Hermit #9 card aptly depicts this region. The letter Yod associated with The Hermit is the letter “I” in English and iota in Greek. In The Moon card, there are eighteen Yods surrounding the face of the Moon indicating the social, the collective. (Mathematically: 9 + 9 = 18 / 2 = 9; or 9 x 2 (the High Priestess) = 18 / 2 = 9.) Our bodies are the “cross of Christ” and He says: ““If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24. It is through our bodies that we experience existence and the body is our infallible judge through this experience.
The 10th Hebrew letter Yod is a dot or point. There are a number of contradictory interpretations for the letter Yod, and these contradictions rest in how different interpretations of the nature of the Divine and the nature of human beings have come about. For some, the Yod represents the Creator, the single point from which all of creation emerges, the Unity within the multiplicity of things. But is this not a duplication of the understanding of the letter Alef? The letter Alef is composed of two Yods and a Vav suggesting a Trinity. A singular Yod would place God at an infinite distance from His creation, or conversely, place God within His creation in such a way that He is mistaken for the Necessary and all that occurs within Necessity. The Yod itself is considered the foundation of all foundations, and this is why it is associated with the Sephirot Yesod. Is the key to understanding the significance of the Yod is that it is the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and thus a new beginning of some kind?
Yod is a symbol of the Holy One, the Creator, since the holy name starts with Yod (YodHehVavHeh). Small in form, the meaning of the Yod is great. According to Kabbalistic tradition, all of creation came forth from a single point – a point which represents God’s infinite presence inside of the finite world. This interpretation seems to be fine if it is remembered that this single point is infinitely small in relation to the macrocosm about it.
Yod also represents the idea of Unity within Multiplicity, of one whole that is comprised of parts. Yod, as we see, is a single point, but its value is 10. It shows us that many grains of sand are used to make one pot, many pages make up one book, many drops of water make up the ocean. There are many parts that comprise the individual human being and all of these parts belong to Necessity, but at centre of the human being is an infinite point that does not belong to Necessity. It belongs to God because it is part of Him.
There are many occurrences and experiences in the world, but they all stem from One God, perfect and indivisible. But if this is the case, how can events and experiences which are clearly deprivals of the Good be attributed to God? One cannot so easily dismiss the Book of Job. The Yod also is said to represent the ten Sefirot (but if this is the case, what is the significance of the Alef and what is the relation between the two? The letter Alef is composed of two Yods and a Vav. It is a ‘trinity’. The Yod that contains the ten Sefirot is beyond comprehension). In Yod, the multiplicity returns to unity.
In the Sephirot Yesod, it can be said that Being is the foundation, the ground/reason. The principle of reason speaks to us as a principle of being from within the Yesod and the Yod itself can be mistakenly understood as this principle of reason only. The Fool stands before the abyss of Being, the world of Asiyah; he/she makes a leap into that abyss. The result becomes The Magician: the techne, the “showman” and the resultant theatre that is the world of Yetzirah. Shakespeare understood this when he said: “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”.
The Yod is an infinite dot, the essence of all life, when it is understood as the ‘soul’ of the individual. As such, it is the foundation of all foundations since it is related to, and brought into a relation to and with, the Logos, the Word. In it is the power of the spirit to govern and guide the matter of the material world and this is why it is mistaken for empowerment today. Everything comes from it and returns to it.
The soul is that hidden dot beyond the imagination – formless, the source of all thought, beyond all thoughts, beyond time and space, beyond the representational thinking that is our modern understanding of what knowledge and sensibility are. It is the secret hidden principle of the universe that we cannot perceive, and because of this hiddenness is mistakenly taken for will to power through the principle of reason.
So why then is it related to the Palpable Intelligence here? It is related to the Palpable Intelligence “because the intelligence of things is created (is “made”) under the entire upper sphere, as well as their sensations, were created through it.” Here one can see the connection of the Yod to the Logos understood as Word, as well as the connection of the Yod to the principle of reason as a principle of Being and as will to power. The Palpable Intelligence is also translated as the “Exciting Intelligence” and this demonstrates a connection to eros and to the recognition of need and to the condition of deprival.
The Yod represents both the Creator and the individual soul, the single point from which all of creation emerges, and that Unity within multiplicity that makes up the Divine and humanity. It is the foundation of all foundations, the hidden Divine spark which causes everything to be whether it be from natural or human production. It can represent the power of the will to govern, commandeer and guide the matter whether that matter be physical or spiritual. It is associated with the “ego” or the human being when viewing themselves as individuals. As shown in the letter Alef, two Yods are separated by a Vav, and this Vav is Necessity itself.
Yod is a symbol of the Holy One, the Creator, since the holy name starts with Yod. The significance of the shape of yod is that it is small in form, but the meaning of the Yod is great. This is in conformity to a number of fairy tales, myths, and parables where the smallest item is the most important. According to Kabbalistic tradition, all of creation came forth from a single point – a point which represents God’s infinite presence inside of the finite world. Between this infinite presence and the individual human being’s presence is an abyss, the abyss of the whole of Creation itself.
The Yod is an infinite dot, the essence of all life. As the foundation of all foundations, we can say it is the image of the Good. As was discussed in the structure of the letter Alef, everything comes from it and returns to it. It is a hidden dot beyond imagination, the vanishing point – formless, the source of all thought, beyond all thoughts, beyond time and space. It is the secret hidden principle of the universe that we experience in our ‘perfect imperfection’, and are unable to perceive. It is the Light that the Darkness cannot comprehend. It is the Divine spark of life that is in every single being. It cannot be grasped, but is in every cell of our bodies, causing us to be. It has no mass or density, time or space. In it is the spirit to govern and guide the matter of the material world and yet it is beyond the world. It is, thus, the Law of Necessity. When we have a false view of it, we see it as Will to Power.
The appearance of the Yod is as a flame suggesting the fire of Shin and the purification process of alchemy. Shin itself is composed of three Yods, the three-personed God. Its movement is upward. This aligns it with Path #9 The Purifying Intelligence. This suggests that the movement on the Tree of Life is clockwise with the downward movement of Mem as water, meeting with Alef as air and Shin as fire producing the earth that is the Foundation and Kingdom, the bottom two Sephirot of Yesod and Malkhut. Most commentators see this movement of water in the shape of a lightning bolt zigzagging downwards, and as a ladder of fire moving upwards. I have presented it as ever-widening gyres in its movement downwards, and in narrowing gyres in its movements upwards. In the movement downwards, the movement that is upwards is seen in a mirror image, just as the movement upwards sees the movement downwards in a mirror image.
The human soul may be seen in the symbol of the eagle or falcon which, in its flight, widens its gyres to ascend upward and then narrows its gyres upon its return. It is in its upward movement that we may understand Plato’s statement that Love is “fire catching fire”. Also, as the smallest letter of the alphabet, the Yod indicates the principle of the various stories of fairy tales, parables, and myths where the least is most important. The princess and the pea; “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field, which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.” Matthew 13: 31-32; “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future” The Lord of the Rings.
The Letter Nun and the 28th Path: The Natural Intelligence
Genesis 1. 9 And Elohim said: ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. (The Pure Intelligence) Nun – And Elohim “blessed them [male and female].” 1:28 (The Natural Intelligence)
Path 28. Natural Intelligence (Consciousness) (Sekhel Mutba): It is called this because the nature of all that exists under the sphere of the sun was completed through it.
The Twenty-eighth Path is the Natural Intelligence, and is so called because through it is consummated and perfected the nature of every existent being under the orb of the Sun, in perfection.
Alt. Trans. “The twenty-eighth path is called the natural consciousness. Through it is completed the nature of all that exists beneath the sphere of the sun.”
Case trans. The twenty-eighth path (Tzaddi, joining Netzach to Yesod) is called the Natural Intelligence, because by it is perfected the nature of all things under the orb of the sun.
The 28th path appears to be related to technology, to human “knowing” and “making”, which completes the “purpose” or end, the telos of the “created things”, through a process of making them “pure”, or through what we believe is a dis-covery or uncovering of their essence, their truth. This is the principle of reason as a principle of Being. This is a difficult concept for it involves what has become known as the history of Western metaphysics. This history may be summed up by our inability to separate the Necessary from the Good because, paradoxically, by establishing the duality of subject/object and the ‘objectification’ of all beings, we have dispensed with the Good as ‘values’, something we create in our willing. We cannot love an object. My understanding here is that it is contained in Shakespeare’s idea that “The art itself is Nature” i.e. that the art is a principle of being as is the principle of reason.
Initially, the good as action was seen as that which enabled some one or some thing to be capable of carrying out an action to bring an end about. It is good for animals to breathe, for instance; it is not good if they do not do so.
The 28th path has many similarities to how Aristotle understood dynamis. In the Sefer Yetzirah, the good may be seen as the light which enables both the being of created things and that which enables human beings to see what their ends or purposes are for. For both Plato and Aristotle, the proper direction for human beings is the directedness of their vision toward the divine, toward the whole. This directedness of vision was contemplation, reflective thought. On the other hand, the 28th path may refer to how dynamis, potentiality, becomes energeia or the completed product or work. This would seem to suggest that the universe is ”rational” and its rationality is akin to our own rationality. This is the ground of the principle of reason, and the principle of reason is a principle of being.
There appears to be a connection between the Bible’s giving human beings a central role, as an acme, as the point or purpose of creation (as is shown in the Sephirot Yesod), and the giving of power to human beings over all created beings so that they may be “completed” in their nature through the power of human beings’ making. (1.28 And God blessed them; and God said unto them: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.‘) The power that is given to human beings is realized in their “knowing” and “making” that has become the stand and directedness of human beings’ being-in-the-world. The question is whether or not this dominion over the earth is one of the shepherd filled with care and concern or one of the tyrant filled with commandeering and domineering.
There is here present the view that the created things themselves are not complete in some way. This view of human beings and their role in creation later becomes the “humanism” of Western philosophy, and the consequences of humanism have become far-reaching. The question must be asked: is this view of human being, a product of the Renaissance, a correct understanding of what is said in the Sefer Yetzirah, and is it a correct understanding of what human beings are in their essence? The absence of God, experienced as the God’s silence through which human beings realize their “imperfection” in their affliction and need, devolves into the oblivion of eternity and into the view that the essence of human being is human existence itself and human will (freedom), that human beings will themselves to seek to realize human perfection and determine what Justice is and what Justice will be. Are we as human beings ‘our own’? In the completion of creation, there is no need for a God. The transformation that is spoken about by some commentators regarding Path #28 does not occur within the individual human personality only, but in the way in which human beings are in their worlds. It involves the whole human being, including their bodies. (That is why the conversion in Plato’s allegory of the Cave involves the turning of the whole body.)
But Path #28 suggests another kind of way of looking also. If one looks at this “ascent of man” in the history of Western thought through the lens of the Sefer Yetzirah and “The Paths”, one can see that it involves the yoking together of the worlds of Asiyah, or Sensation, and the world of Yetzirah or “Formation/ Creation”. This yoking may be done through the “reflected light” of Malkhut, the light from those objects that are present in the created world, or it may involve the light that descends from Keter, through the beauty that is Tiferet, to the foundation that is Yesod. This yoking requires the presence of Shin, one of the three Mother letters of the alphabet as outlined in the Sefer Yetzirah. The yoking is one of “unity”, not identity. There is a possibility of ascent as well as descent within it. The universe beneath the “sphere of the sun” involves the Sephirot Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malkhut, and the links between them may involve either Tiferet or Netzach, the Divine or the human.
Our being-in-the-world is the primordial “foundation” (Yesod) which, through the reflected light of Malkhut, is how we view or how the world will be disclosed or “opened up” to us. Our disclosure or opening up to this world can be either true or untrue, and this disclosure or opening up is exclusive to human beings as that which has been gifted to them from God. The truth or falsehood of the disclosure or opening up of the world is dependent upon this primordial viewing of the world in which human beings find themselves placed. Human beings disclose or open up themselves to themselves by the manner in which they disclose or open up their worlds. This “opening up” is what we understand as “freedom” in which we are able to view our possibilities and potentialities. The world in which we find ourselves is already opened up to us; how we view this opening and our own openedness determines what we will conceive ourselves to be in our essence. This determination arises from what we conceive the truth to be i.e. openedness itself.
In commentaries on the Sefer Yetzirah and “The 32 Paths of Wisdom”, the word “initiate” and “initiation” are often used to describe the journey through life through the Tree of Life and its paths. This word can be seen as a simile or metaphor for our word “education” which comes from the Latin educare, “to lead out”, and “that which is responsible for the leading out”. The “initiate” and his or her “initiation” is a “leading out”. The initiate is not capable of this action alone; a guide is necessary. The images of paths and guides are apt here. We are concerned with what is authentic thinking here and how it may be achieved. Every “leading out” begins with an “opening up”. In this open region, both truth and untruth are possibilities. Untruth is the deprivation of truth, not the opposite of truth; just as evil is the deprivation of good, not the opposite of good. How one views the world is a choice to be made. Because we are beings in bodies, we become preoccupied with the things that are and how those things may be able to fulfil our needs, whether those needs are hunger and thirst or empowerment.
Shakespeare himself says: “The Art itself is nature”, and one is very hesitant to disagree with the wisdom of the Bard. “Human nature” is completed through “natural intelligence”, through the ‘light of the Sun’, i.e., through Tiferet, not through the ‘reflected light’ of the Moon that dominates the world of Asiyah, (Malkhut/Yesod) and the world of Yetzirah or Formation (Hod/Yesod/ Malkhut/Netzach). This is a key point in the Tree of Life for at this juncture, human beings make the choice of becoming more fully human/humane or simply residing on the “bestial”, appetitive level of existence. It is here that one fully experiences the “severity” of Hod and how and what we think shapes our perceptions of the world about us.
When rationality or the principle of reason dominates our view of the world and becomes our principle of being-in-the-world, we are less than fully human; and this foreshadows the coming into being of the technological worldview which dominates the world of Yetzirah, the world dominated by the Gestell, the “system”, the “plan” which brings about one’s attempts to bring justice to the world through our commandeering of nature. This is why technology may be viewed as ‘black magic’.
The letter Nun has a number of contradictory meanings just as the Death card of the Tarot contains a number of contradictory meanings. It can mean “deceit”, “kingship”, “fish”, “miscarriage”, and “miracle”, and at the same time be the symbol of faithfulness (ne’eman נאמן), soul (Neshama נשמה), and emergence. The gematria of the nun is 50.
The “fish” is the being that makes its “home” in the “house” that is the water of Mem and in the waters of Chakmah. Mem is associated with the Moon, and the Moon is associated with deception. (Notice the moon on the crown of the High Priestess card). It can be thought of as the fish that swims in the dark waters of the created world, represented by Mem מ. The fish may be caught with the ‘fish hook’, (the letter Tzaddi צ) or ensnared in a net (the letter Chet ח.) The greatest error that we human beings can make is to mistake the Necessary for the Good for this is how we are hooked or ensnared, and this is the point of Path #25, The Intelligence of Trials. We, too, may feel at home in our world where we have plenty of our needs met by the good things of the world. Those who do not do not feel in this way. This situation is entirely due to circumstances and Chance. This may be said to be analogous to the beautiful woman who looks in the mirror and believes that that is all that she is for she has been chanced with physical beauty, while the ugly woman who looks in the same mirror knows that she is more than that image which she sees. We can become forgetful of where our true being lies; and when we do so, we become less humane. This is the temptation and trial of looking into the mirror and how one is to look into the mirror.
Nun’s related meaning to “miscarriage” can be understood as “injustice”, since all miscarriages are connected to processes that are not brought to their true completion. We all feel that our own death is an injustice. Nun is also connected to fertility, continuity, and the ability to increase and multiply. Its contradictory nature can be represented by its association with Binah (the Empress #3), for it shows that Life must have its completion in Death and yet this Death is a “miscarriage”. Nun is also said to stand for the 50 Gates of Wisdom of Binah, which would again show its connections to Mem and to Chakmah.
Nun indicates constant presence, the being of the world experienced as presence. The Nun shows that we are bound to the Creator’s will (the Law of Necessity), even though we may become bound in our own personal egoistic way. This is a difficult situation to overcome. Life requires us to focus on ourselves in order to survive, and yet its great teaching is the overcoming of ourselves. The philosophers, in general, agree that life is the preparation for death. Nun shows the relationship between the body, which is impermanent, and the soul, which is eternal. This is its association with “miracle”, for it is a matter of faith that the soul will be reborn in its unification with the One.
Nun can also teach us about the nature of time and space since it is associated with the Time that is Binah and the Space that is Chakmah. Time and Space are the containers of the Law of Necessity. Nun also represents flow, and is thus associated with water. Its movement is downward and suggests both creation and humility.
The Letter Reish and the 25th Path: The Intelligence of Trials/Strife
Yesod to Tiferet: Path 25. Testing Intelligence (Consciousness) (Sekhel Nisyoni): It is called this because it is the original temptation by which God tests all of His saints.
The Twenty-fifth Path is the Intelligence of Probation, or is Tentative, and is so called because it is the primary temptation, by which the Creator (blessed be He) trieth all righteous persons.
Alt. Trans. ” The twenty-fifth path is called the consciousness of trial because it is the primary test by which the creator proves the compassionate (Khasidim).”
Reish “and Elohim saw that it was good” (the beasts of the earth) 1:25
The Reish, the 20th Hebrew letter, means “head”, “leader”, and “beginning” and appears to have some loose connections to the letter Tzaddi. The leader or head is that of the collective, so in the paths of wisdom, Reish is the symbol of choosing between whether one is to complete one’s journey individually and achieve greatness of soul, or whether one will succumb to the second temptation and become degraded by the power of social prestige and the trappings of material things.
Reish is the word for “poor” רש Rash, but this poverty is the deprivation of spirit not the poverty of being without the goods of this world. When Christ says that the rich “have their reward”, He is referring to that point where the choice is made to be satisfied with the material comforts and pleasures that such a choice brings.
Reish is similar to the letter Dalet; but whereas Dalet contains a Yod, the Reish does not. This may signify the individual who loses themselves in the collective so that the “I” ceases to exist. Such a loss of the “I” is a false choice as one can choose (or may not have a choice) to lose their “I” through decreation or one may choose to lose their “I” in a collective. This choice is representative in Reish being one of the double letters and its meaning as being “the head”. The head can represent a leader or that place or site where the choice has to be made.
Reish is a container, just as Beth (2) and Khaf (20) are containers, but while Khaf represents forms such as a cup or house, Reish(200) represents the containment of the infinite, the life-force, the ‘embodied soul’ or spirit. Reish represents the strife of the constant transition, the flow and change of life and is, thus, related to Time. It is like a constant flow of energy, breaking through, breaking down into pieces, and building anew. This is its kinship with Shin. Reish is also associated with the will to power as that which is ever-present to stop the process of decreation.
The Reish also relates to the “head”. It contains the secrets of Beresheet בראשית, the beginning and is, thus, associated with The Fool #0 card where choice is strongly indicated. As the word ראש Rosh Head, it also refers to the secrets of the Crown Keter כתר, the highest of the Sephirot but also to the Kingdom Malkhut, the lowest of the Sephirot.
The Twenty-fifth path is related to the letter Resh, ר meaning “head”, and is the sixth ‘double’. The path intersects the path established by the letter Mem. The Sefer Yetzirah seems to indicate that the created world is already ‘a garden of Eden’ since in the eyes of God (Elohim) all created things are good. The “primary temptation” is to view the world as not good but incomplete and it is conceived as incomplete because it does not conform to our wishes or desires.
The Tree of Knowledge in the garden has always been viewed as “knowledge of good and evil”, and the great temptation for human beings is to view themselves as the ‘creators’ of good and of justice, to see good and evil as constructs of their own viewing and valuing, and thus tempts them to ‘turn stones into bread’. The ‘righteous’ or the ‘just’ are those who are able to obey the will of God and able to avoid the temptation of seeing themselves as the creators of good, and the only creators of good. Clearly those who are just, show compassion to all that is and are mindful of the affliction that is part of the root of existence.
The path of Resh is the test or trial i.e., the polemos or confrontation that the individual must face with regard to “egoism” and the recognition of Otherness, the choice between power or compassion, between severity or loving kindness. The choice results in these opposing forces being brought into equilibrium, where love and will, the ego and the Other meet in harmony and friendship and become a unity.
The path of Resh links Tiferet to Yesod, the Beauty of the world to the Foundation of the physical world. It intersects the path of Mem, the horizontal mother letter, and forms a “cross” (“Pick up your cross and follow Me” Matthew 16: 24-26; “What God has joined together let no man put asunder” Matthew 19:6). The “putting asunder” of what God has joined into a unity through his mediatory powers is “the sin against the light”, that sin which is the root of all sin, the sin against the Truth. All denial of what one knows to be true is a sin against the Light. As Socrates said, “No one knowingly does evil”. This is the darkness that is current in America at the moment, and it accounts for its rampant corruption, immorality and injustice in the public sphere.
The equilibrium between the self and others, the unity between the “inner” and “outer” worlds is given by the light of Tiferet. (This is the unity which Socrates prays for at the closing of the dialogue Phaedrus and it mirrors the passage of Matthew 16: 24-26). The balance conferred by Love illuminates both Netzach and Hod, ethical action and justice, with the command to be compassionate.
The ”severity” of institutionalized religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam in the West) arises from their desire for power, from their being in possession of the “revealed texts” understood as Law and from their belief that they are in possession of the truth. The Divine Revelation becomes ossified in stone, literally, and ceases to be a “living God”. Their God becomes a “jealous God” who seeks retribution for sin. However, “the god who sometimes does and sometimes does not wish to go by the name of Zeus” demands payment in blood for the worship of false gods as is seen in the histories of these religions. (This is the tarot card The Tower #15 or #16, the card of revolution, the lightning bolt of Zeus).
The point of equilibrium is Tiferet which brings into a relation the Sephirot Yesod, Netzach, and Hod simultaneously. This equilibrium is not something permanent but must be wrested from the darkness that attempts to hide it. The wresting of truth is the constant strife of life and is the trial for the ‘righteous’.
The Letter Tav and the 30th Path: The General Universal Collecting Intelligence
The Thirtieth Path is the Collecting Intelligence, and is so called because Astrologers deduce from it the judgment of the Stars, and of the celestial signs, and the perfections of their science, according to the rules of their revolutions.
(Alt. Trans.) “The thirtieth path is called the universal consciousness because through it, masters of the heavens derive their judgments of the stars and constellations, and perfect their knowledge of the celestial cycles.”
30. General Intelligence (Consciousness) (Sekhel Kelali): It is called this because it is the means by which the astrologers collect their rules regarding the stars and the constellations, forming the theory that comprises their knowledge of the Ophan-wheels of the spheres.
The Thirtieth Path is associated with the letter Resh in the Western Tree of Case, and the Sephirot Malkhut #10 in the Hebrew Tree. In the W.T., it joins the Sephirot Hod to Yesod, or that which links the Tarot of Justice #8 (historical study) to that of The Hermit #9. The Law of Necessity rules the realms of Time and Space. The path deals with Space and Time as pre-requisites for the possibility of the things that are. The things that are do not exist outside of these realms, and so Space and Time are the “foundation” (Yesod) for the things that are.
The Sephirot of The Hermit Yesod deals with calculations and reckonings of the movement of the spheres; and from these, predictions can be made. In the calculation and reckoning, the astrologers or magi, “the masters of the heavens”, are capable of having foreknowledge of the outcomes of things, both in the world at large and within the individual. The Hermit dwells within a dark, sterile world and his knowledge places him “on top” of that world for he can commandeer and manipulate the contents of that world. But that world is very dark, as is depicted in the Tarot card used in the illustrations here.
The Pure Intelligence of Yesod gathers together or “collects” the particular data of the movement of the stars and planets to arrive at the General or Universal Intelligence from which is derived the theoretical intelligence or knowledge and from which principles can then be determined. Knowledge of the movements of the stars and planets is knowledge of Time and Space. Knowledge of Time and Space is knowledge of Necessity. The Law of Necessity is the harsh Justice of the right-hand side of the Tree of Life; it is a Justice without Mercy, and knowledge of it is knowledge without Love or Beauty. Thus, we have the darkness, solitude and coldness represented by The Hermit card. It is apt that the “new human being” created from such knowledge is a golem or “zombie”, for this is the ultimate result of this knowledge when it is not accompanied by the spiritual elements that are love and beauty. The spiritual elements are represented by the Tav and The World #21 card.
Malkhut deals with the physical, material universe, Asiyah. Here, the world is conceived of as a combination of elemental forces capable of being grasped through calculation. It is the world of objectness and of cause and effect. It is world as text prior to the word, a world of numerical calculations. As Case points out, it is ruled by both Mercury and the Moon, calculation and illusion.
The 30th path deals with astrological knowledge or knowledge of space and time, cause and effect. As has been stated, this knowledge is what is determined through the principle of reason, and the principle of reason is a principle of being or way of being in the world. The astrologers or Magi, through their calculations based on the geometry that supplies the division of the sphere into 12 “houses” and the movements of the seven visible planets through those houses, derive pre-dictive knowledge of human beings and beings. Their knowledge is inductive: moving from the particular to the universal. As predictive knowledge, it is the forerunner of what is now called science.
The mind is perceived as a “secondary organ”, not the ego cogito of Descartes but the combination of Fire, Water, Air to bring about Earth; the combination of mind and spirit embodied. Fire and Air embodied in Water produces Earth. The “dust” of the Earth was originally conceived as snow in the Sefer Yetzirah. Humas, the root of “humanity”, “human being”, relates to the creation of human beings. Historically, the search for the formula to invent a golem was founded in the various letters and incantations that were made by those who wished to do so. Through the principle of reason as a principle of being, it will now be possible to do so.
| Path | Letter | Meaning | Symbol |
| Path 9. Pure Intelligence (Consciousness) (Sekhel Tahor): It is called this because it purifies the Sephirot. It tests the degree of their structure and the inner essence of their unity, making it glow. They are then unified, without any cutoff or separation. | The “pure reason” of Kant? The alchemical processes of purifying through fire and the beginning of the decreation of the human ego so that it may be unified with the Divine. | In the illustration here, the lamp of the Hermit is a modest light given as a reflection of the Moon behind it. The world depicted is a sterile one. | |
| Path 25. Testing Intelligence (Consciousness) (Sekhel Nisyoni): It is called this because it is the original temptation by which God tests all of His saints. | Reish ר | An indication that the three temptations: turning stones into bread, the desire for the power of social prestige, and the temptation to suicide are really one original temptation. | The site where the choice has to be made. The possibility of conversion, baptism, and re-birth. |
| Path 28. Natural Intelligence (Consciousness) (Sekhel Mutba): It is called this because the nature of all that exists under the sphere of the sun was completed through it. | Nun נ | The completion of all that is created or made is its passing away. | The Hermit is the realm of completion by the light of the Moon, while Death is the completion of all that is made under the Sun. Is it a rising Sun or a setting Sun? |
| Yesod to Hod Path 27. Palpable Intelligence (Consciousness) (Sekhel Murgash): It is called this because the intelligence of things created under the entire upper sphere, as well as their sensations, were created through it. | Yod י | In The Palpable Intelligence we are looking at the Mind as that which determines the appearance and the sensation of things. This brings about the ‘completion’ of things for those who view the world materialistically. | The thinking that is derived from the light of the Moon. |
| Path 30. General Intelligence (Consciousness) (Sekhel Kelali): It is called this because it is the means by which the astrologers collect their rules regarding the stars and the constellations, forming the theory that comprises their knowledge of the Ophan-wheels of the spheres. | Tav ת | Tav as one of the double letters indicates either descent or ascent, an ending or a beginning. The letter itself means ‘good’, but it can also mean ‘torah’. The ways can be either TORA or TARO. | Prophecy (represented by the four evangelists). The ways represented by the wands which appear as coils or gyres. The royal purple Kaf representing dominance in the realms of Yetzirah and Asiyah. |
Theory of Knowledge: An Alternative Approach 