| Great Theosophists--The Kabala and the Kabalists (13 of 29)THEOSOPHY, Vol. 25, No. 10, August, 1937(Pages 440-445; Size: 19K)(Number 13 of a 29-part series)GREAT THEOSOPHISTSTHE KABALA AND THEKABALISTSTHE Theosophists of the Middle Ages drew their occult knowledge fromtwo streams of thought which, long before, had sprung from a common source.One of these streams was the Hermetic philosophy, the other was the Kabala.In our modern dictionaries the Kabala is defined as "the mystic Theosophyof the Hebrews." The prominent Kabalistic writer, Dr. Christian D. Ginsburg,speaks of it as a system of religious philosophy, or Theosophy, whichnot only exercised a powerful influence upon the Jews for hundreds of years,but also captivated the minds of some of the greatest thinkers of Christendom.What is known today as the Kabala is a highly complex system havingfour distinct divisions. The first, or practical Kabala, deals principallywith ceremonial magic. The second division, or the literal Kabala,is subdivided into three sections: (1) the Gematria, which discussesthe numerical value of Hebrew words; (2) the Notaricon, which treatsof the formation of words; and (3) the Temura, which deals withthe relationship between words. The third division is the unwritten, orsecret Kabala, which is always transmitted orally. The fourth isthe dogmatic Kabala, which consists of four sections: (1) the SepherJetzirah, or Book of Formation; (2) the Sepher Sephiroth, whichunfolds the Doctrine of Emanations; (3) the Asch Metzareph, whichtreats of the science of Alchemy; and (4) the Zohar, or Book ofSplendor. The Zohar itself has five sections: (1) the SepherDzeniouta, or Book of the Concealed Mysteries; (2) the Idra Rabba,or Greater Holy Assembly; (3) the Idra Suta, or Lesser Holy Assembly;(4) the Beth-Elohim, or House of the Gods; and (5) the Book of theRevolutions of Souls.The traditional origin of the Kabala closely resembles the openingsentences of the fourth discourse of The Bhagavad-Gita. Accordingto the account, the Kabala is divine Wisdom which was first taught by Godto a company of angels. Adam caught glimpses of these truths and passedhis vision on to Noah. Noah communicated it unto Abraham, who in turn taughtit to the Egyptians. Moses gained his knowledge in Egypt and passed iton to his seventy elders. From them the Kabala was transmitted orally untilthe year A.D. 80, when some of the teachings were committed to writing.At this point tradition stops and actual history begins. And from thathistory we can complete Krishna's sentence and say: "In the course of timethe mighty art was lost."The actual origin of the Kabala is somewhat different. At thebeginning of our Fifth Race(1),about one million years ago, the knowledge which had been accumulated bythousands of generations of initiated Adepts was recorded in written form.The language used was Senzar, the secret sacerdotal tongue whichpreceded Sanscrit and was known to the Initiates from time immemorial.Among the scriptures drawn from this primeval source were the ChaldeanBook of Numbers, the Sepher Dzeniouta and the Sepher Jetzirah.These books form the basis of the written Kabala. The unwritten,secret, or orally transmitted Kabala belonged to the Chaldees orMagi, those great Aryan(2)Adepts who came to Babylonia thousands of years before the Jews settledin that country, and who, according to a statement made by one of the TheosophicalMahatmas, "were at the apex of their occult fame before what you term theBronze Age." Abraham gained his knowledge of the Kabala from the Chaldeeswhile he was living in the city of Ur. Moses acquired his in Egypt whenhe was a priest of the Sun, living in the city of Heliopolis.The first person to be initiated by Moses was his elder brother Aaron,whose name heads the list of initiated Nabaiim, or Prophets. Fromthat time on, Schools of the Prophets began to appear in the countriesinhabited by the Jews. In these schools every branch of science was taught,the study of Alchemy(3) formingan important part of the curriculum. They were also Schools of the Mysteries,where the probationers were subjected to the same rigorous form of disciplineas the Eastern Chela(4). Thosewho had passed through their final initiation were known as the Innocents,the Infants, or the "Little Ones."The first Jews to call themselves Kabalists were the Tanaiim,who lived in Jerusalem about the beginning of the third century B.C. Twocenturies later three important Jewish Kabalists appeared. The first wasJehoshuah ben Pandira, now known as Jesus the Christ. The second was thegreat Chaldean teacher Hillel. The third was Philo Judaeus, in whose writingswe find a clear statement of the three fundamental propositions of Theosophy.He defined God as an "Idea free of all mixture, devoid of all combination,which pervades everything and fills the entire Universe." Within that unlimitedand unnameable Principle, he said, "is an eternal and immutable Law whichis the strong and lasting support of the Universe." In regard to man, Philowrote that "Man is the noblest of all creatures by reason of the higherelement, the Soul, which is pure in its essence, the faithful image andcopy of the Eternal Idea." (De. Decal. xxv.)During the siege of Jerusalem in the year 80 A.D., an Adept-Rabbi, Simonben Jochai by name, escaped from the city and hid himself in a cave, wherehe remained for twelve years. After his death two of his disciples, RabbiEliezar and Rabbi Abba, collected some of the manuscripts he had left andcompiled them into a book. This was the original Zohar.For the next thousand years the Kabala was studied in secrecy and silence.But in the eleventh century Rabbi Ibn Gebirol (also known as Avicebron)produced two important Kabalistic works: the Fons Vitae, and theKether Malchuth, the latter being a superb poem indicating the impersonalityof the First Great Principle:Thou art ONE, and Thy Unity is never diminished,never extended, and cannot be changed. Thou art ONE,and no thought of mine can fix for Thee a limit, or define Thee. Thou ART,but not as one existent, for the understanding and vision of mortals cannotattain to Thy existence, nor determine for Thee the where, the why andthe how.In the twelfth century the Theosophical Doctrine of Emanations was introducedby Rabbi Isaac the Blind and his pupil Rabbi Azariel ben Menachem, andin the thirteenth century a second Zohar appeared, this one compiledby the Spanish Rabbi Moses de Leon. After the appearance of this Zohar,the Kabalistic teachings were taken up by the Christians, the first Christianto call himself a Kabalist being Raymond Lully. Since that time virtuallyeveryone connected with the work of the Theosophical Movement seems tohave been a student of Hebrew philosophy. As men like Sir Isaac Newton,Spinoza and Leibnitz drew attention to the Kabala, the number of its studentssteadily increased, and when H.P.B. came on the scene there were hundredsof kabalistic students scattered about in Europe and America, many of whombecame members of the Theosophical Society.The present-day Kabala contains many Theosophical teachings. The SepherDzeniouta opens with the words: "The Book of the Concealed Mysteriesis the Book of the Equilibrium of Balance." This refers to the Point inthe Circle, which "hangeth in that region which is negatively existent."That region is described as Ain-Soph, the "Boundless" or "Limitless."Within Ain-Soph the Primordial Point, Sephira, appears. Sephira,by dividing itself into two parts, emits Chochmah, the male potency,and Binah, the female potency.The first three Sephiroth are purely intellectual in metaphysics.They express the absolute identity of existence and thought, and form whatthe modern Kabalists call the intelligible world. -- (Franck: Die Kabbala.)From this primordial Trinity seven emanations issue, each emanation differingin its degree of perfection in proportion to its distance from the SupremePower. According to the Kabala, matter is merely the most remote effectof this emanative energy.The story of the successive attempts to form universes, which is fullydiscussed in The Secret Doctrine, appears also in the Zohar:There were old worlds which perished as soon as they came intoexistence, were formless and were called sparks. The sparks are the primordialworlds which could not continue, because the Sacred Aged had not yet assumedits form of King and Queen (which occurred in the Third Race) and the Master(the reincarnating Ego) was not yet at work. -- (Idra Suta.)Many Kabalists have taught the Theosophical tenet that man was hermaphroditein the early part of the Third Race. Some of them say that man was createdwith a male and a female body which were joined together at the shoulders.Others say that the separation of the sexes occurred during the "sleepof Adam." The Kabalists also say that man is a seven-fold being, and inMyer's Kabala a definite Hebrew name is given to each of the sevenprinciples, corresponding perfectly with the Sanscrit names used in Theosophicalliterature. The doctrine of Reincarnation is also a Kabalistic teaching.In the second book of the Zohar the soul pleads for freedom from rebirth,saying that she does not wish to be returned to earth where she will againbe subjected to all sorts of pollutions. But the soul is informed thatshe will be reborn even against her will.In the third book of the Zohar the fate of the soul who has broken herconnection with her Higher Self is graphically described: "All souls whichhave alienated themselves from the Holy One have thrown themselves intoan abyss, and have anticipated the time when they are to descend once moreupon the earth." -- (Idra Suta.)The cycle of rebirths which every soul, under the law of Karma, mustexperience, is described in the Kabala under the term Gilgoolem.Philo Judaeus shows that the doctrine of Reincarnation was accepted bythe Kabalistic Jews in the first century B.C.: "The air is full of souls;those who are nearest to earth descending to be tied to mortal bodies returnto other bodies, desiring to live in them." -- (De Somniis.)It is quite apparent that the written Kabala of the present day containsnumerous Theosophical teachings. But an important question arises: Is thereal Kabala contained in the books now known by that name?The word Kabala comes from the root Q B L, which means "to receive."This suggests that the true Kabala is no mere book or collection of books,but rather a system which has been passed down orally from one generationof Initiates to the next. According to the teachings of Theosophy, theKabala is not merely one system, but consists of seven systems whichmay be applied in seven different ways, providing seven interpretationsto any given esoteric subject. The real Kabala, therefore, is not availableto the public. The book which contains the fullest record of these sevensystems is the Oriental Kabala. There is only one copy of this bookin existence, and that is in the hands of those Initiates who, at the presentday, are the only genuine Kabalists, and out of whose possession it isnot likely to come.Students of Theosophy know that no Great Teacher has left his esotericinstructions in books which are available to the public. The Hebrew Initiateswere bound by the same pledge of secrecy as all other Initiates. As Simonben Jochai was an Adept-Rabbi, and therefore bound by the SodalianOath not to reveal the Mysteries to the world at large, it is quite apparentthat even the original Zohar could not have divulged those Mysteries,whatever else it may have revealed. As for the second Zohar of Moses deLeon, it is known that he was helped in his compilation by a number ofSyrian and Chaldean Christian Gnostics, and that it passed through manyother Christian hands in the course of time. This second Zohar isonly a little less exoteric than the Old Testament itself.Is there really any printed book which contains the real Kabala?The Oriental Kabala, the only book which contains a complete record ofthe seven systems, is in the hands of Eastern Initiates, and thereforenot available to the public. Nor is the Chaldean Book of Numbers,which forms the hidden basis of the written Kabala, now procurable. Onlytwo or three copies of this book are extant, and they are in the handsof private individuals. A Chinese Kabala, called the Yih-King, issaid to have been written in 2850 B.C. in the dialect of the Akkadians,those early Aryan immigrants who first civilized Babylonia and made ita center of Sanscrit learning. Who at the present time has access to thiswork? An important Vatican manuscript of the Kabala is said to have beenpossessed by the Count de St. Germain. Where is it today?Many students are eager to learn the esoteric meaning of Hebrew philosophy.But although one may read all the books of the Kabala in the original,and then the numberless commentaries, in the end he can only find himselfutterly confused by the many different translations of the texts, by theveils deliberately thrown over the archaic doctrines and by theignorance of profane writers. Many clues to the Hebrew Mysteries will befound in the writings of the medieval Kabalists, but they can yield littleaccurate information unless the student possesses the key.Where can this key be found?H.P.B. once made an interesting statement which should give pause toall would-be students of the Kabala. She said that she was the onlyKabalist in America. Perhaps the student will find what he is seekingif he turns to her voluminous writings for information. If he perseveresin his search, learning to read between the lines and within the words,he will find three keys to the Mysteries. As for the rest--The last four keys of the seven that throw wide open the portalsto the mysteries of Nature are in the hands of the highest Initiates, andcannot be divulged to the masses at large -- not in this, our century,at least. -- (The Secret Doctrine, II, 517.) Next article:Great TheosophistsAlchemy and the AlchemistsFOUR (4) FOOTNOTES LISTED BELOW:COMPILER'S NOTE: I added these footnotes; they were not in the article.If any of them don't paint an accurate enough picture, or are incorrect,I hope the Editors of THEOSOPHY magazine will spot them and point the inaccuraciesout to me, so that I can make the necessary corrections.(1) "Fifth Race" means the whole Human Race here.The use of this term is that of a Root-Race. A "Root-Race" is containedwithin a much longer evolutionary period (or cycle) called a Manvantara,which has a beginning and an ending. In the present Manvantara we are inthe evolutionary period of humanity known as the Fifth Sub-Race of theFifth Root-Race. A Manvantara is many millions of years long. Within thatimmense period there are seven Root-Races, each of which is divided intoseven "Sub-Races", which are each divided into seven "Family-Races. Itis always cycles within cycles. The shortest of these cycles is about 30,000years. There is always a long period of overlapping as one racial periodof development blends into the next one. But it is we, each eternal soul,individually, and all of us together, who are going through all of theseevolutionary periods over and over again, incarnation after incarnation,from age to age, with no final end to this cosmic process.Back to text. (2) "Aryan" is the name of the present long evolutionaryracial period (or cycle) that we are in as a whole humanity, and whichis known as the Fifth Race (or the Fifth Root Race). The last long evolutionaryracial cycle for humanity was named the Atlantean one, and was the FourthRace (or the Fourth Root Race).Back to text.(3) "Alchemy", or the Chemistry of Nature, istrue knowledge of how everything in Nature and Man works on every plane(on this planet and throughout the cosmos) -- spiritual, mental, psychic,and physical.Back to text.(4) "Chela" is a disciple, the pupil of an Adeptor a group of Adepts.Back to text. Main Page | IntroductoryBrochure | Volume 1--> Setting theStageKarma and Reincarnation | Science | Education |Economics | RaceRelationsThe WISDOM WORLD | WorldProblems & Solutions | The People*s Voice | Misc. |
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