em | שמחהJul 25, 2024

Occasionally I'll mention jewish monism, pantheism, or panentheism... and reading Essential Papers on Kabbalah with my rabbi has thoroughly confirmed that all my reads on this are pretty on target.

there's a ton of examples, but one that rung clear for me was in this chapter on Ayin/Nothingness by Daniel C. Matts:

Underneath it all, God is the only "thing", the only existent. "Apart from Him, all are considered nothing and chaos." The world, though, is allowed to enjoy the illusion of separate existence, so that it not lie utterly passive in the pool of ayin.

#jewish #monism #pantheism #panentheism
#mazeldon #kabbalah #philosohy

Show threadem | שמחה

Matts then continues with a quote from Dov Baer:

If the material world were constantly attached to the Creator without any forgetting, the creatures' existence would be nullified, [since] they would be attached to the root, to ayin. Thus they would do nothing, considering themselves to be ayin. So there had to be a breaking [of the vessels], which brought about forgetting the root. Everyone could then lift his hand and act. Afterwards, through Torah and prayer, they attach themselves to the root, to ayin... and thereby raise the sparks of the material world,... bringing pleasure to God.

Especially this last quote addresses two major issues that both sound like the same question, "why are we here?"

'Why are we here?' as in, if God is One, how can "we" perceive ourselves as separate. and
'Why are we here?' as in why would the infinite manifest itself in a physical world, why even do a creation?

#jewish #monism #pantheism #panentheism
#mazeldon #kabbalah #philosohy

Jul 25, 2024 at 8:03amWeb