Daniel Matt: Cosmology and Consciousness (excerpt) -- A Thinking Allowed DVD w/ Jeffrey Mishlove
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NOTE: This is an excerpt from the two-part, 60-minute DVD. http://www.thinkingallowed.com/2dmatt.html Daniel Matt discusses the core teachings of Jewish kabbalistic mysticism, and describes the qualities that connect the divine being to the human being. In discussing modern thought, he notes that while the big bang story is inconsistent with the biblical account of creation, it is in harmony with the teachings of prophets and mystics. Daniel Matt, Ph.D., is professor of Jewish spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He is author of God and the Big Bang and The Essential Kabbalah.
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2:14 ... "The #Zohar -- the major text of the #Kabbalah -- translates the the opening words of Genesis [Bereishit B'rah Elohim...] not as: in the Beginning #God created -- but as: In the Beginning the Infinite created God... So God turns from subject of Creation to the object of Creation... "
>> The Zohar explains the term "Ein Sof" as follows:
Before He gave any shape to the world, before He produced any form, He was alone, without form and without resemblance to anything else. Who then can comprehend how He was before the Creation? Hence it is forbidden to lend Him any form or similitude, or even to call Him by His sacred name, or to indicate Him by a single letter or a single point... But after He created the form of the Heavenly Man, He used him as a chariot wherein to descend, and He wishes to be called after His form, which is the sacred name "YHWH". [...]
In other words, "Ein Sof" signifies "the nameless being." In another passage the Zohar reduces the term to "Ein" (non-existent), because God so transcends human understanding as to be practically non-existent.[...]
In addition to the Sefer Yetzirah and the Zohar, other well-known explications of the relation between Ein Sof and all other realities and levels of reality have been formulated by the Jewish mystical thinkers of the Middle Ages, such as Isaac the Blind and Azriel.[...] Judah Ḥayyaṭ, in his commentary Minḥat Yehudah on the Ma'areket Elahut, gives the following explanation of the term "Ein Sof":
Any name of God which is found in the Bible can not be applied to the Deity prior to His self-manifestation in the Creation, because the letters of those names were produced only after the emanation. . . . Moreover, a name implies a limitation in its bearer; and this is impossible in connection with the 'Ein Sof.'
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Sof -
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yes it is finished..very thorough
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read the book...very in depth. enjoyed it very much. oneof my favorite authors on kabbalah as far as modern scholars are concerned
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Gershom Scholem said that Crowley was perverse and only mentioned him in passing. As for A E Waites understand of a latin version of the Zohar, he said neither knew enough hebrew to comment. Its more for western minds. And in my opinion is more Hermetic then truly Torah and rabbinic Kabbalah which are rooted in traditions that gained momentum in spain during its moorish renissance .
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This is so inspirational!
7m 19sLenght
37Rating