The Void

The Void is not really a sphere, but more of a space on the tree. The Void sits between the worlds of the soul and the worlds of the Divine.

The Void contains (sort of) the sphere Daath; although the Void is just that - a Void.

The Void marks that point past which no individual can pass. To go higher than the Void then we must let go of every concept of self.

Daath - The Sphere That Is Not

Daath is the most confusing sphere in that it both does and does not exist. In one sense it exists because it is seen, but in other sense it exists in a complete void.

Daath is the sphere of expression and education. It is the sphere which controls the way we communicate.

When an individual loves the knowledge of the scholars they are directing their attention to the sphere of Daath.

Apologies for the confusing nature of this post - but it is the nature of Daath.

Chesed

At long last we move to the sphere of Chesed. This is the sphere of Love and Compassion.

Chesed's relationship to Geburah is similar to the relationship between Hod and Netzach - in essence they are two sides of the same coin. It is impossible to love something without also willing it to come closer to yourself (feel free to argue this) and without Chesed there would be no driving force behind Geburah.

Geburah

Now we look at the more confusing spheres. The lower spheres are all spheres where most people have at least a small idea of what they are, but the higher spheres are only accessed by a very few individuals (at least intentionally).

Geburah is situated in the soul. It is the sphere of will and courage.

Consider, it is not the world which most people live or a world where most would feel safe. It is the sphere of the drive to succeed, it drives the soldier into battle, and keeps the abused child safe. Geburah enables us to gain university qualifications, and to win against all odds.

Tiphareth

Tiphareth is the first of the higher spheres on the tree. It is the true-self, or the higher-self.

Consider - Tiphareth is not Malkuth, we are not our bodies.

Tiphareth is not Yesod, although we have a past - we are something else, we can overcome the past and grow in new directions.

Tiphareth is not Hod, we think yet our thoughts are about outside stuff. WE think. Thinking is something we do, in the same way as we sleep and eat.

Tiphareth is not Netzach, although our feelings for things exist they are still empherial. It is possible to be so numb to the world that we feel nothing - yet we continue to exist.

Tiphareth is that thing which has a body, has a past, has thoughts and has feelings. Once we have moved away from these things the sense of what is there is Tiphareth.

Netzach

While Hod is the mind, Netzach is the feelings.

Now it is important to distinguish between emotions cause by the past events (I never got that puppy) and the feelings which are Netzach (What nice flowers).

Hod

The next sphere is Hod.

Hod is the rational mind. It admits no emotion, it has no emotion.

yesod

Yesod is the second to bottom sphere.

This is the repository of the past. At times you hear people talk about how they were effected by a particular event in the past - this is stored in Yesod.

Malkuth

The lowest of the spheres on the tree of life is the sphere called "Malkuth".

Malkuth is the sphere of physical existence. Malkuth admits of no thought or emotion.

For example, I sit infront of my computer typing up this post. Malkuth is me sitting here typing away. Malkuth has NOTHING TO DO with my reasons for this post.

Look around you, don't analysis or respond to your surroundings - this is Malkuth.

It is so simple that no-one can understand it.

The Tree of Life

Over the next few posts I will be describing some of the basics of the Tree of Life. Possibly intertwined with other stuff.

The Tree of Life is the basic diagram which describes the Kabbalistic system. It consists of 10 spheres and 21 lines linking the spheres. Each sphere represents a single layer of the human form.

These layers may be understood in terms of being different aspects of us. For example, we have a body - we also have a mind.

The Tree of Life gives us a Framework for looking into the connections between these aspects.