Creation, Kabbalah, and the Creative Process:
The Genesis of Great Ideas
Every Actor Needs a Stage
by Sara Rosenthal
The story of creation is one of becoming. It is not a static process: this made this and now it is done. The universe is constantly in motion, shifting and growing, reflecting and reenacting its primordial origins. On macroscopic and microscopic levels, creation constantly repeats itself. Cycles exist within cycles. Each moment is a new incarnation, each breath a new possibility, with far-reaching influence and consequences. All the ripples of time and space emanate from the initial steps as intention manifests creation and potential strives to be actualized.
The first step in this ongoing Creation process was to make way for the possibility of distinction. “In eternal inflation, nothing persists. When all possibilities exist, none is realized,” note quantum physicists Joel R. Primack and Nancy Abrams. Initially there was “nothing but creativity: infinite potential, hot and dense, wildly experimenting with every possibility…, expanding faster and faster for all eternity, unlimited by the speed of light or by lack of space.” [1] In Kabbalistic terms, this is the Lurianic Ein Sof, ‘without end’, the infinite divine light, limitless and inconceivable in human terms.[2] Out of this primordial potential, a path was chosen. The energy was funneled in a particular direction, rejecting all other possibilities. The choice was the first act of creation.
This act is signified in Genesis by the very first letter of the first word, ‘b’reshit,’ of Genesis. The letter ‘bet’ is also ‘bayit’, house. It creates a boundary, distinguishing what is outside and protecting what is inside.[3] Likewise, the process of creation is one of distinction, that is, separating aspects of infinity in order to make them concrete. Physical existence is one of boundaries. It is defined by the constraints of space and time. Rabbi Ginsburgh asserts that in the first step of the creation process, the ‘math properties and relations governing space and time had to be defined.’ This step, in which limitations are clarified, is represented by ‘yud’, the first letter of the four-letter moniker of G-d, “yud-hay-vav-hay”.[4] The letter Yud is associated with a choice, a point of beginning. In setting the intention to create, a choice was made. The laws of time and space can also be equated with the ‘tzimtzum’, the first stage of creation according to Lurianic Kabbalah. In this version of the creation story, first there was the Ein Sof, without end, the infinite, all-expansive G-d also called ‘Ayin’, nothingness. This infinite divinity contracted, creating a space in the middle of itself in order to make room for creation. This space is a limitation, one defined by time and space. Infinity, in accepting limitations, chose to become finite. Tzimtzum is the inhalation, the Ein Sof preparing to expel the breath of creation. Following the classic arc of a story, it is the exposition, setting the scene so that the action can take place, framing the canvas upon which the artist will paint.
Principles in Action
As the Creation story occurred on a cosmic scale, so the process of creation is mirrored on a human level. The steps are the same. First, the artist must discern the right limitations from within the place of infinite possibilities (Ein Sof), where the potential for the project exists.[5] In that realm of infinity, the project is Ayin, nothing, though it holds all the potential for becoming any possible project. In the sephirotic roadmap of the creative process, this takes place in Keter, the crown. Keter represents the will for creation. It is the focused intention that produces actualized stories. As described by author Italo Calvino, “It is only through the confining act of writing that the immensity of the nonwritten becomes legible…”[6] In this first step, the artist chooses a format, thus accepting the limits inherent in that field. A writer chooses to write, thus confining the infinite creative possibilities into the realm of letters and words. A dancer chooses bodily movement. These limitations can be fluid, just as time and space can be altered, but they nonetheless limit the range of possibilities so that the project can come into existence.
Next, the process is fueled by a spark of inspiration, an initial flowing burst of creativity. It impregnates the project, giving life to what was previously an empty outline. This is the ‘light bulb moment’ of inspiration and is represented by the second sephira, Chochma, wisdom. Jim Henson comments on this mysterious force in the creative process, “…when I'm working well ideas just appear. I've heard other people say similar things - so it's one of the ways I know there's help and guidance out there. It's just a matter of our figuring out how to receive the ideas or information that are waiting to be heard.” When one embarks on a project, choosing an initial direction, the mind is open to receive these flashes of inspiration.
The process of bringing the project into being continues to follow the sephirotic tree. As potential is actualized, the spark has begun the process of creating concretely. The artist then moves into a phase of Binah, understanding. In this stage, the work must gestate, grow stronger, build on the initial idea. Complexities are revealed, new dimensions discovered. The physical limitations of the project are explored. The struggle between the concrete reality of the project and the initial point of clarity is enacted here. “The artist seeks contact with his intuitive sense of the gods, but in order to create his work, he cannot stay in this seductive and incorporeal realm. He must return to the material world in order to do his work. It's the artist's responsibility to balance mystical communication and the labor of creation,” notes musician/poet Patti Smith.[7]
Bringing the project into the material realm out of the phase of ideas, echoes the next phase of the Lurianic creation myth. The sephirot, vessels created to hold the light emanating from the Ein Sof, are too fragile. They cannot hold the light and shatter, peppering the earth with broken shards of G-d’s light. This is called the Shevirat ha-Kelim, the breaking of the vessels. In the creative process, the artist feels the restrictive nature of the limited form chosen. G-d’s medium of choice was the sephirot. For the human artist, any medium, inherently restrictive, cannot contain all that one wants to express. No matter how talented the artist or how highly imaginative the project, it will still remain only in the symbolic realm. In other words, a work of art can never encapsulate the infinite creativity it strives to express because, as a concrete work created in the material realm, it is inherently limited. Author Italo Calvino attests to this fact, writing, “The unique book, which contains the whole, could only be the sacred text, the total world revealed. But I do not believe totality can be contained in language; my problem is what remains outside, the unwritten, the unwritable.”[8]
At the same time, however, it is, in its limited form, a representation of the initial potential from which it came; therefore it is both limited creative expression and direct expression of the whole creativity from which it originates. “It is like a light coming from a lamp,” reasons author Jorge Luis Borges, “and yet that light is not different from the lamp.”[9] The same applies to the universe and G-d. Though it is finite and imperfect, the concrete world represents a particular expression of the infinite nature of G-d, thus it is the Ein Sof, filtered through the specific limitations of materiality in order that man might understand it. “Like G-d, man creates his own universe, his own labyrinth which, unlike G-d’s, he can penetrate and decipher. Like G-d, who revealed Himself in the Creation, man reveals himself (his face) in the world he creates (his work).” The world around us appears this way because this is the way we are capable of comprehending it. Through our eyes, G-d sees G-dself in human terms. Through art, human shapes the shared story of humanity and divinity.
Symbolically Speaking
Symbols allow us to traverse the gap that divides individual entities. My consciousness is indefinably different compared to anyone else’s. I can understand life only filtered through my particular awareness of the world. There are ways of communication more direct than symbolic, such as eye contact, or physical interaction, but symbols serve as cross-cultural unifiers. They span the space between lands, linking the utterly unique worlds alive in every person.
Depth psychologist Carl Jung discusses extensively the remarkable similarities in symbols appearing across time and throughout space. He asserts that there is an all-pervasive consciousness that connects all of humanity at any given point in history, including the present.[10] Religious pictorial symbols, common themes in creation myths from geographically disparate nations, acute awareness in children of similar truths- these findings point to a unifying principle that underlies humanity, a ‘collective unconscious’ revealed by symbols.
As a unified set of symbols, language is particularly potent in affecting the psychology and behavior of a people. In Kabbala, the Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Formation), one of the earliest Kabalistic texts, asserts that the formation of the universe is directly related to language.[11] The building blocks of creation are the Hebrew letters. When, in Genesis 1, G-d spoke the world into being, this was a literal act of linguistic creation. Saying it made it so; this is the power of words.
The Hebrew language is especially potent in terms of symbolic depth. Not only is each word rich with implied and surface meanings, but each letter itself contains layers of interpretation. As noted earlier, the first letter of the Torah, Bet, encloses the Lurianic story of creation. This first letter signifies the entire tale of the tzimtzum, G-d’s withdrawal and limitation to allow for creation to materialize. According to the Sefer Yetzirah, “As the letters interacted, parts of the world took shape. Each letter and word created both matter and other letters and words, giving rise to language and the universe at the same time.” [12] The Torah itself is often viewed as a living entity, transmitting a powerful, transformative energy via special arrangements of the Hebrew letters.
It follows, then, that the arts of storytelling and writing are of special impetus from a Kabbalistic perspective. From “the fluidity of a thought that expands outside all language before it becomes a word”[13], it is the artist’s responsibility to channel that potential into the words that most closely approximate truth. If language shapes our reality, then the power wielded by the writer is, in essence, to continue the process begun by G-d. Just as the writers of history shape the events of the past, so do the writers of novels shape the course of the future, by literally inhabiting space in a reader’s mind. No written work should be discounted as trivial. Though we live in a world oversaturated with language, it is still pertinent to recognize the power of the pen. Borges comments that universal history is “a Sacred Scripture: one that we decipher and write uncertainly, and in which we also are written.”[14]
Writers are themselves vessels, letting G-d flow through them onto the canvas or page. In this way, the artist functions as prophet. The Hebrew for prophet, naavi, signifies a ‘spokesperson’ for G-d. In Deuteronomy 18:18, G-d says, “…and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them that I shall command him.” [15] In this light, prophet is the ‘mouth’ of G-d. According to Rashbam’s commentary on Genesis, “The root nun-vet-alef ("navi") is based on the two-letter root ‘nun-vet’ which denotes hollowness or openness; to receive transcendental wisdom, one must make oneself "open".” The term also comes from the Hebrew “niv sefatayim” meaning "fruit of the lips," further referencing the function of producing words provided by G-d. The power to write is to continue the process of creation that began with G-d. As Primack and Avram note, “The great miracle of our universe is that something is happening. Galaxies are evolving. Life is evolving. We are not just eternal potential- we are a story.”[16] Writing stories shapes the greater underlying story, charting the course of humanity.
Making Connections
Reading is a direct transfer of information. The quality of the symbols melts with the significance inside the reader, merging to unity. Though they are words being absorbed by a different consciousness every time, transformed by memories and associations, they are still the same words. A bond is created, a network of bonds, among those who have read these words. If the world is viewed as a system of information, comprised of stimuli and reactors, then books are among the most powerful tools for shifting the landscape. Once information is absorbed in this way, it continues to live inside the reader, just as Torah is said to live inside those who study it, growing and changing them from within. As more connections are founded, the world becomes less broken. If unity is the goal of Tikkun Olam, repairing the broken world after the Shevirat ha-Kelim, then reading is an effective way to unite with people and experiences all over the world, transcending time.
Painting as Prophecy
Mystics speak of achieving union with G-d. They talk in terms of ascension, describing a transcendent feeling that they have left behind time and space and are held in the hands of some all-pervasive holiness. The artist reaches a similar place in the process of creation.
In Genesis, it is stated that G-d created ‘earth’ (aretz) and heaven (shemayim). Earth serves as a metaphorical representation for condensed matter in a material form, whereas heaven connotes the immaterial spirit. Both are forms of the light of the Ein Sof, filtered through different lenses or methods. Scientists refer to light as either a particle or a wave, while maintaining both opposing states simultaneously. So too is the world both solid and fluid, aretz/particle and shemayim/wave. “Our ‘earthiness’ shows us our individual nature as particle; our ‘heavenliness’ reveals our connection to everything else as wave.” [17]
In this way we are channels for an endless wave of energetic information. As such, we ourselves are infinite, created in the image of G-d, endowed with similar powers of creation. “But,” writes Neil Douglas-Klotz, “the word for image…does not mean a fixed picture. Rather, it’s like a moving shadow of a living, breathing Being, one that encompasses all beings.”
Once G-d molded human from the clay, G-d breathed into human the “breath of life” (nishmat chayim).[18] This breath, a direct transfer of energy, is continually transmitted to human creations. With each release of creative energy through the human form, the ‘breath’ grows stronger, multiplying through creation’s successive acts of creation.
Just as G-d put energy into human, so that human might carry out the processes begun, so do works of art continue to change, shifting in subtle ways after the artist has stepped back from the project. My canvasses, linked to me by a shared energy, tell stories of the future that have not yet come to pass. During an exhibition, I experienced a tumultuous physical period. I revisited my gallery to find that my art had responded to how I was feeling. Several paintings had fallen off the wall in a specific order and placing, revealing exactly what my physical self was going through. The energy transmitted to the art continued to wave through me to the canvas.
Likewise, the energy transmitted to humans once G-d, as artist, decided to step back, continues to directly transfer. In the eyes of Kabbalists, the blueprint for this transfer is the sephirotic tree of life, comprised of various aspects of G-d. If we navigate the pathways among these divine attributes, we can reach a place of holiness, wherein lies G-d. G-d is also present in all forms, in humans and all creation, but in this place of holiness, human perceives G-d with clarity, stripped of illusion. Human sees the intricately crafted underlying pattern of the universe. Having achieved this union with G-d, human is no longer limited, thus mending the initial separation that began the creation process. This is the quest of mystics.
The path of the artist is to emulate G-d, choosing, instead of holy union, to become creator- to delve into the infinite and to return to the material realm. In Genesis, after each creation, it is emphasized that G-d ‘saw’ (רואה) what was created and ‘saw’ that it was good.[19] The emphasis on vision as part of creation connects with the artists’ process. In order to know what is good, an artist must see past the illusion of things. There is a deeper sight involved. The eyes of the artists must penetrate the layers of superficiality. Only if one can see truth can one create it, or recreate it, as the case may be. When G-d ‘saw’ that the creations were good, it means that G-d saw the deepest layer, the intrinsic core of each creation, its essence. According to Lurianic Kabbalah, within the deepest center of every material creation is a spark of the initial divine light. The Ein Sof’s emanation shattered, Shevirat ha-Kelim, and the shards of light were trapped in material bodies. Luria espouses prayer as the path to rectification, the way to repair the broken shards, Tikkun Olam. Art is also a kind of prayer. By emulating G-d, the artist is aligning with G-d’s principles. To make the truest art, one must be a true person. Nothing can be produced that isn’t already within the creator.
Mystic Metaphor
The symbols of Kabbalah are gendered. The feminine principle is associated with receiving, the masculine assigned to giving. Applying these roles to the creation myth, the Ein Sof during the process of creation represents the masculine principle, giving light. The vessels created to receive this emanated light would be the feminine. Before the process of creation began, the Ein Sof was androgynous, both male and female. During the shevirat ha-kelim, the shattering of the vessels, communication broke down between the masculine and feminine principles. The feminine aspect, the sephirot, shattered, straining towards the brokenness of reality. The masculine remained ideal, giving, while the feminine embodied struggle.
This story is repeated with the first humans. In Genesis 1:27, it is written, “And G-d created man in His own image, in the image of G-d He created him; male and female He created them.”[20] Initially G-d created one human, containing both genders, whole and undivided, in the image of the unified Ein Sof. Then G-d separated the entities, creating a receptive female and a complementary giving male. The garden was bountiful, the lights were encouraged to “be fruitful and multiply”, as when the Sephirotic tree of life multiplied, each sephira repeating in a set of patterns prescribed by the Ein Sof.
Then, as before, came the fall. Communication broke down, the male and female stopped speaking the same metaphoric language. The female again acted towards grounded realism, accepting the faults of reality with open eyes, eating the fruit with all its implied consequences. The male followed suit, accepting that life, creation, comes with struggle. The illusion of perfection was shattered, the garden of innocence disappeared. They knew then that creation can only be actualized with work and strife. The artistic spark is not enough; the artist must then put in work to be able to communicate the potential. This is the process of the imperfect universe.
If the universe were perfect, there would have been no desire for G-d to create an other (another) in the first place. The artist must have a muse, in whatever form, human or otherwise. The actor must have an audience, the choreographer must have a dancer, the writer must have a reader. It is a sacred bond, imitating the initial roles of the feminine and masculine. In some ways, the creator is not making just an artwork, but an audience with whom to share it. If there were no book, no reader would have the possibility of reading it.
When G-d created man, in G-d’s own image, it was to receive the gifts G-d could give. Rabbi Ashlag discusses that the only thing lacking in G-d’s infinite boundlessness was the ability to receive.[21] The universe was endless growth. G-d had to create an audience to receive the infinite. Just as we must surpass boundaries in order to connect with artworks born of a foreign consciousness, so we must overcome boundaries in order to connect with G-d.
Understanding the intention of G-d requires the same steps as understanding a complex novel. First, we must learn the language in which it is written. We must let our intellect develop until it has the capacity to comprehend something of a complex nature. We must be deep enough to absorb deep concepts. We must be aware, so that we can pick up on subtle cues and references. We must trust that what we know is correct, that we possess the innate wisdom to connect with truths across socio-cultural barriers. When we read, we are absorbing something of the author’s consciousness, uniting with the source from which the book was created. So too, in seeking G-d, do we study and strive, try and fail, until, ultimately, we find some kind of union, reaching a universal place of language. The fall of creation is repaired when wisdom and understanding combine, and the primordial communication breakdown is rectified.
* * *
Works Cited
Alazraki, Jaime. Borges and the Kabbalah: And Other Essays on His Fiction and Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988. Print.
Ashlag, Yehudah, Mark R. Cohen, and Yedidyah A. Kohen. In the Shadow of the Ladder: Introductions to Kabbalah. Safed, Israel: Nehora, 2002. Print.
Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981. Print.
Douglas-Klotz, Neil. The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish. New York: Penguin Compass, 2005. Print.
Drob, Sanford L. "The Lurianic Metaphors, Creativity and the Structure of Language." Newkabbalah.com. Web. 06 June 2012. <http://www.newkabbalah.com/FormProp.htm>.
Ginsburgh, Yitzchak. "Where Kabbalah Kisses Science: Three Points of Interface." Chabad.org. Chabad. Web. 06 June 2012. <http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3064/jewish/Where-Kabbalah-Kisses-Science.htm>.
Holy Bible: The New King James Version, Containing the Old and New Testaments. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1982. Print.
Jung, Carl G. Psychology and Religion,. New Haven: Yale UP, 1938. Print.
"The Kaballah." SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes. Web. 06 June 2012. <http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/kabbalah/section9.rhtml>.
Primack, Joel R., and Nancy Ellen Abrams. ""In a Beginning...": Quantum Cosmology and Kabbalah." Lecture. Web.
Smith, Patti. Just Kids. New York: Ecco, 2010. Print.
Tenen, Stan. The Alphabet That Changed the World: How Genesis Preserves a Science of Consciousness in Geometry and Gesture. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic, 2011. Print.
Notes:
[1] Primack, Joel R. and Nancy Ellen Abrams.”In a Beginning...”: Quantum Cosmology and Kabbalah.
[2] Drob, Sanford L. “The Lurianic Metaphors, Creativity and the Structure of Language.”
[3] Tenen, Stan. The Alphabet That Changed the World: How Genesis Preserves a Science of Consciousness in Geometry and Gesture.
[4] Ginsburgh, Yitzchak. “Where Kabbalah Kisses Science: Three Points of Interface.”
[5] Drob, Sanford L. “The Lurianic Metaphors, Creativity and the Structure of Language.”
[6] Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.
[7] Smith, Patti. Just Kids.
[8] Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.
[9] Alazraki, Jaime. Borges and the Kabbalah: And Other Essays on His Fiction and Poetry.
[10] Jung, Psychology and Religion
[11] SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Kaballah.”
[12] SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Kaballah.”
[13] If on a winter’s night a traveler…, Italo Calvino
[14] Alazraki, Jaime. Borges and the Kabbalah: And Other Essays on His Fiction and Poetry.
[15] The Holy Bible: The New King James Version
[16] Primack, Joel R. and Nancy Ellen Abrams.”In a Beginning...”: Quantum Cosmology and Kabbalah.
[17] Douglas-Klotz, Neil. The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish.
[18] The Holy Bible: The New King James Version
[19] The Holy Bible: The New King James Version
[20] The Holy Bible: The New King James Version
[21] Ashlag, Yehuda Lev. In the Shadow of the Ladder: Introductions to Kabbalah.
by Sara Rosenthal
The story of creation is one of becoming. It is not a static process: this made this and now it is done. The universe is constantly in motion, shifting and growing, reflecting and reenacting its primordial origins. On macroscopic and microscopic levels, creation constantly repeats itself. Cycles exist within cycles. Each moment is a new incarnation, each breath a new possibility, with far-reaching influence and consequences. All the ripples of time and space emanate from the initial steps as intention manifests creation and potential strives to be actualized.
The first step in this ongoing Creation process was to make way for the possibility of distinction. “In eternal inflation, nothing persists. When all possibilities exist, none is realized,” note quantum physicists Joel R. Primack and Nancy Abrams. Initially there was “nothing but creativity: infinite potential, hot and dense, wildly experimenting with every possibility…, expanding faster and faster for all eternity, unlimited by the speed of light or by lack of space.” [1] In Kabbalistic terms, this is the Lurianic Ein Sof, ‘without end’, the infinite divine light, limitless and inconceivable in human terms.[2] Out of this primordial potential, a path was chosen. The energy was funneled in a particular direction, rejecting all other possibilities. The choice was the first act of creation.
This act is signified in Genesis by the very first letter of the first word, ‘b’reshit,’ of Genesis. The letter ‘bet’ is also ‘bayit’, house. It creates a boundary, distinguishing what is outside and protecting what is inside.[3] Likewise, the process of creation is one of distinction, that is, separating aspects of infinity in order to make them concrete. Physical existence is one of boundaries. It is defined by the constraints of space and time. Rabbi Ginsburgh asserts that in the first step of the creation process, the ‘math properties and relations governing space and time had to be defined.’ This step, in which limitations are clarified, is represented by ‘yud’, the first letter of the four-letter moniker of G-d, “yud-hay-vav-hay”.[4] The letter Yud is associated with a choice, a point of beginning. In setting the intention to create, a choice was made. The laws of time and space can also be equated with the ‘tzimtzum’, the first stage of creation according to Lurianic Kabbalah. In this version of the creation story, first there was the Ein Sof, without end, the infinite, all-expansive G-d also called ‘Ayin’, nothingness. This infinite divinity contracted, creating a space in the middle of itself in order to make room for creation. This space is a limitation, one defined by time and space. Infinity, in accepting limitations, chose to become finite. Tzimtzum is the inhalation, the Ein Sof preparing to expel the breath of creation. Following the classic arc of a story, it is the exposition, setting the scene so that the action can take place, framing the canvas upon which the artist will paint.
Principles in Action
As the Creation story occurred on a cosmic scale, so the process of creation is mirrored on a human level. The steps are the same. First, the artist must discern the right limitations from within the place of infinite possibilities (Ein Sof), where the potential for the project exists.[5] In that realm of infinity, the project is Ayin, nothing, though it holds all the potential for becoming any possible project. In the sephirotic roadmap of the creative process, this takes place in Keter, the crown. Keter represents the will for creation. It is the focused intention that produces actualized stories. As described by author Italo Calvino, “It is only through the confining act of writing that the immensity of the nonwritten becomes legible…”[6] In this first step, the artist chooses a format, thus accepting the limits inherent in that field. A writer chooses to write, thus confining the infinite creative possibilities into the realm of letters and words. A dancer chooses bodily movement. These limitations can be fluid, just as time and space can be altered, but they nonetheless limit the range of possibilities so that the project can come into existence.
Next, the process is fueled by a spark of inspiration, an initial flowing burst of creativity. It impregnates the project, giving life to what was previously an empty outline. This is the ‘light bulb moment’ of inspiration and is represented by the second sephira, Chochma, wisdom. Jim Henson comments on this mysterious force in the creative process, “…when I'm working well ideas just appear. I've heard other people say similar things - so it's one of the ways I know there's help and guidance out there. It's just a matter of our figuring out how to receive the ideas or information that are waiting to be heard.” When one embarks on a project, choosing an initial direction, the mind is open to receive these flashes of inspiration.
The process of bringing the project into being continues to follow the sephirotic tree. As potential is actualized, the spark has begun the process of creating concretely. The artist then moves into a phase of Binah, understanding. In this stage, the work must gestate, grow stronger, build on the initial idea. Complexities are revealed, new dimensions discovered. The physical limitations of the project are explored. The struggle between the concrete reality of the project and the initial point of clarity is enacted here. “The artist seeks contact with his intuitive sense of the gods, but in order to create his work, he cannot stay in this seductive and incorporeal realm. He must return to the material world in order to do his work. It's the artist's responsibility to balance mystical communication and the labor of creation,” notes musician/poet Patti Smith.[7]
Bringing the project into the material realm out of the phase of ideas, echoes the next phase of the Lurianic creation myth. The sephirot, vessels created to hold the light emanating from the Ein Sof, are too fragile. They cannot hold the light and shatter, peppering the earth with broken shards of G-d’s light. This is called the Shevirat ha-Kelim, the breaking of the vessels. In the creative process, the artist feels the restrictive nature of the limited form chosen. G-d’s medium of choice was the sephirot. For the human artist, any medium, inherently restrictive, cannot contain all that one wants to express. No matter how talented the artist or how highly imaginative the project, it will still remain only in the symbolic realm. In other words, a work of art can never encapsulate the infinite creativity it strives to express because, as a concrete work created in the material realm, it is inherently limited. Author Italo Calvino attests to this fact, writing, “The unique book, which contains the whole, could only be the sacred text, the total world revealed. But I do not believe totality can be contained in language; my problem is what remains outside, the unwritten, the unwritable.”[8]
At the same time, however, it is, in its limited form, a representation of the initial potential from which it came; therefore it is both limited creative expression and direct expression of the whole creativity from which it originates. “It is like a light coming from a lamp,” reasons author Jorge Luis Borges, “and yet that light is not different from the lamp.”[9] The same applies to the universe and G-d. Though it is finite and imperfect, the concrete world represents a particular expression of the infinite nature of G-d, thus it is the Ein Sof, filtered through the specific limitations of materiality in order that man might understand it. “Like G-d, man creates his own universe, his own labyrinth which, unlike G-d’s, he can penetrate and decipher. Like G-d, who revealed Himself in the Creation, man reveals himself (his face) in the world he creates (his work).” The world around us appears this way because this is the way we are capable of comprehending it. Through our eyes, G-d sees G-dself in human terms. Through art, human shapes the shared story of humanity and divinity.
Symbolically Speaking
Symbols allow us to traverse the gap that divides individual entities. My consciousness is indefinably different compared to anyone else’s. I can understand life only filtered through my particular awareness of the world. There are ways of communication more direct than symbolic, such as eye contact, or physical interaction, but symbols serve as cross-cultural unifiers. They span the space between lands, linking the utterly unique worlds alive in every person.
Depth psychologist Carl Jung discusses extensively the remarkable similarities in symbols appearing across time and throughout space. He asserts that there is an all-pervasive consciousness that connects all of humanity at any given point in history, including the present.[10] Religious pictorial symbols, common themes in creation myths from geographically disparate nations, acute awareness in children of similar truths- these findings point to a unifying principle that underlies humanity, a ‘collective unconscious’ revealed by symbols.
As a unified set of symbols, language is particularly potent in affecting the psychology and behavior of a people. In Kabbala, the Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Formation), one of the earliest Kabalistic texts, asserts that the formation of the universe is directly related to language.[11] The building blocks of creation are the Hebrew letters. When, in Genesis 1, G-d spoke the world into being, this was a literal act of linguistic creation. Saying it made it so; this is the power of words.
The Hebrew language is especially potent in terms of symbolic depth. Not only is each word rich with implied and surface meanings, but each letter itself contains layers of interpretation. As noted earlier, the first letter of the Torah, Bet, encloses the Lurianic story of creation. This first letter signifies the entire tale of the tzimtzum, G-d’s withdrawal and limitation to allow for creation to materialize. According to the Sefer Yetzirah, “As the letters interacted, parts of the world took shape. Each letter and word created both matter and other letters and words, giving rise to language and the universe at the same time.” [12] The Torah itself is often viewed as a living entity, transmitting a powerful, transformative energy via special arrangements of the Hebrew letters.
It follows, then, that the arts of storytelling and writing are of special impetus from a Kabbalistic perspective. From “the fluidity of a thought that expands outside all language before it becomes a word”[13], it is the artist’s responsibility to channel that potential into the words that most closely approximate truth. If language shapes our reality, then the power wielded by the writer is, in essence, to continue the process begun by G-d. Just as the writers of history shape the events of the past, so do the writers of novels shape the course of the future, by literally inhabiting space in a reader’s mind. No written work should be discounted as trivial. Though we live in a world oversaturated with language, it is still pertinent to recognize the power of the pen. Borges comments that universal history is “a Sacred Scripture: one that we decipher and write uncertainly, and in which we also are written.”[14]
Writers are themselves vessels, letting G-d flow through them onto the canvas or page. In this way, the artist functions as prophet. The Hebrew for prophet, naavi, signifies a ‘spokesperson’ for G-d. In Deuteronomy 18:18, G-d says, “…and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them that I shall command him.” [15] In this light, prophet is the ‘mouth’ of G-d. According to Rashbam’s commentary on Genesis, “The root nun-vet-alef ("navi") is based on the two-letter root ‘nun-vet’ which denotes hollowness or openness; to receive transcendental wisdom, one must make oneself "open".” The term also comes from the Hebrew “niv sefatayim” meaning "fruit of the lips," further referencing the function of producing words provided by G-d. The power to write is to continue the process of creation that began with G-d. As Primack and Avram note, “The great miracle of our universe is that something is happening. Galaxies are evolving. Life is evolving. We are not just eternal potential- we are a story.”[16] Writing stories shapes the greater underlying story, charting the course of humanity.
Making Connections
Reading is a direct transfer of information. The quality of the symbols melts with the significance inside the reader, merging to unity. Though they are words being absorbed by a different consciousness every time, transformed by memories and associations, they are still the same words. A bond is created, a network of bonds, among those who have read these words. If the world is viewed as a system of information, comprised of stimuli and reactors, then books are among the most powerful tools for shifting the landscape. Once information is absorbed in this way, it continues to live inside the reader, just as Torah is said to live inside those who study it, growing and changing them from within. As more connections are founded, the world becomes less broken. If unity is the goal of Tikkun Olam, repairing the broken world after the Shevirat ha-Kelim, then reading is an effective way to unite with people and experiences all over the world, transcending time.
Painting as Prophecy
Mystics speak of achieving union with G-d. They talk in terms of ascension, describing a transcendent feeling that they have left behind time and space and are held in the hands of some all-pervasive holiness. The artist reaches a similar place in the process of creation.
In Genesis, it is stated that G-d created ‘earth’ (aretz) and heaven (shemayim). Earth serves as a metaphorical representation for condensed matter in a material form, whereas heaven connotes the immaterial spirit. Both are forms of the light of the Ein Sof, filtered through different lenses or methods. Scientists refer to light as either a particle or a wave, while maintaining both opposing states simultaneously. So too is the world both solid and fluid, aretz/particle and shemayim/wave. “Our ‘earthiness’ shows us our individual nature as particle; our ‘heavenliness’ reveals our connection to everything else as wave.” [17]
In this way we are channels for an endless wave of energetic information. As such, we ourselves are infinite, created in the image of G-d, endowed with similar powers of creation. “But,” writes Neil Douglas-Klotz, “the word for image…does not mean a fixed picture. Rather, it’s like a moving shadow of a living, breathing Being, one that encompasses all beings.”
Once G-d molded human from the clay, G-d breathed into human the “breath of life” (nishmat chayim).[18] This breath, a direct transfer of energy, is continually transmitted to human creations. With each release of creative energy through the human form, the ‘breath’ grows stronger, multiplying through creation’s successive acts of creation.
Just as G-d put energy into human, so that human might carry out the processes begun, so do works of art continue to change, shifting in subtle ways after the artist has stepped back from the project. My canvasses, linked to me by a shared energy, tell stories of the future that have not yet come to pass. During an exhibition, I experienced a tumultuous physical period. I revisited my gallery to find that my art had responded to how I was feeling. Several paintings had fallen off the wall in a specific order and placing, revealing exactly what my physical self was going through. The energy transmitted to the art continued to wave through me to the canvas.
Likewise, the energy transmitted to humans once G-d, as artist, decided to step back, continues to directly transfer. In the eyes of Kabbalists, the blueprint for this transfer is the sephirotic tree of life, comprised of various aspects of G-d. If we navigate the pathways among these divine attributes, we can reach a place of holiness, wherein lies G-d. G-d is also present in all forms, in humans and all creation, but in this place of holiness, human perceives G-d with clarity, stripped of illusion. Human sees the intricately crafted underlying pattern of the universe. Having achieved this union with G-d, human is no longer limited, thus mending the initial separation that began the creation process. This is the quest of mystics.
The path of the artist is to emulate G-d, choosing, instead of holy union, to become creator- to delve into the infinite and to return to the material realm. In Genesis, after each creation, it is emphasized that G-d ‘saw’ (רואה) what was created and ‘saw’ that it was good.[19] The emphasis on vision as part of creation connects with the artists’ process. In order to know what is good, an artist must see past the illusion of things. There is a deeper sight involved. The eyes of the artists must penetrate the layers of superficiality. Only if one can see truth can one create it, or recreate it, as the case may be. When G-d ‘saw’ that the creations were good, it means that G-d saw the deepest layer, the intrinsic core of each creation, its essence. According to Lurianic Kabbalah, within the deepest center of every material creation is a spark of the initial divine light. The Ein Sof’s emanation shattered, Shevirat ha-Kelim, and the shards of light were trapped in material bodies. Luria espouses prayer as the path to rectification, the way to repair the broken shards, Tikkun Olam. Art is also a kind of prayer. By emulating G-d, the artist is aligning with G-d’s principles. To make the truest art, one must be a true person. Nothing can be produced that isn’t already within the creator.
Mystic Metaphor
The symbols of Kabbalah are gendered. The feminine principle is associated with receiving, the masculine assigned to giving. Applying these roles to the creation myth, the Ein Sof during the process of creation represents the masculine principle, giving light. The vessels created to receive this emanated light would be the feminine. Before the process of creation began, the Ein Sof was androgynous, both male and female. During the shevirat ha-kelim, the shattering of the vessels, communication broke down between the masculine and feminine principles. The feminine aspect, the sephirot, shattered, straining towards the brokenness of reality. The masculine remained ideal, giving, while the feminine embodied struggle.
This story is repeated with the first humans. In Genesis 1:27, it is written, “And G-d created man in His own image, in the image of G-d He created him; male and female He created them.”[20] Initially G-d created one human, containing both genders, whole and undivided, in the image of the unified Ein Sof. Then G-d separated the entities, creating a receptive female and a complementary giving male. The garden was bountiful, the lights were encouraged to “be fruitful and multiply”, as when the Sephirotic tree of life multiplied, each sephira repeating in a set of patterns prescribed by the Ein Sof.
Then, as before, came the fall. Communication broke down, the male and female stopped speaking the same metaphoric language. The female again acted towards grounded realism, accepting the faults of reality with open eyes, eating the fruit with all its implied consequences. The male followed suit, accepting that life, creation, comes with struggle. The illusion of perfection was shattered, the garden of innocence disappeared. They knew then that creation can only be actualized with work and strife. The artistic spark is not enough; the artist must then put in work to be able to communicate the potential. This is the process of the imperfect universe.
If the universe were perfect, there would have been no desire for G-d to create an other (another) in the first place. The artist must have a muse, in whatever form, human or otherwise. The actor must have an audience, the choreographer must have a dancer, the writer must have a reader. It is a sacred bond, imitating the initial roles of the feminine and masculine. In some ways, the creator is not making just an artwork, but an audience with whom to share it. If there were no book, no reader would have the possibility of reading it.
When G-d created man, in G-d’s own image, it was to receive the gifts G-d could give. Rabbi Ashlag discusses that the only thing lacking in G-d’s infinite boundlessness was the ability to receive.[21] The universe was endless growth. G-d had to create an audience to receive the infinite. Just as we must surpass boundaries in order to connect with artworks born of a foreign consciousness, so we must overcome boundaries in order to connect with G-d.
Understanding the intention of G-d requires the same steps as understanding a complex novel. First, we must learn the language in which it is written. We must let our intellect develop until it has the capacity to comprehend something of a complex nature. We must be deep enough to absorb deep concepts. We must be aware, so that we can pick up on subtle cues and references. We must trust that what we know is correct, that we possess the innate wisdom to connect with truths across socio-cultural barriers. When we read, we are absorbing something of the author’s consciousness, uniting with the source from which the book was created. So too, in seeking G-d, do we study and strive, try and fail, until, ultimately, we find some kind of union, reaching a universal place of language. The fall of creation is repaired when wisdom and understanding combine, and the primordial communication breakdown is rectified.
* * *
Works Cited
Alazraki, Jaime. Borges and the Kabbalah: And Other Essays on His Fiction and Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988. Print.
Ashlag, Yehudah, Mark R. Cohen, and Yedidyah A. Kohen. In the Shadow of the Ladder: Introductions to Kabbalah. Safed, Israel: Nehora, 2002. Print.
Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981. Print.
Douglas-Klotz, Neil. The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish. New York: Penguin Compass, 2005. Print.
Drob, Sanford L. "The Lurianic Metaphors, Creativity and the Structure of Language." Newkabbalah.com. Web. 06 June 2012. <http://www.newkabbalah.com/FormProp.htm>.
Ginsburgh, Yitzchak. "Where Kabbalah Kisses Science: Three Points of Interface." Chabad.org. Chabad. Web. 06 June 2012. <http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3064/jewish/Where-Kabbalah-Kisses-Science.htm>.
Holy Bible: The New King James Version, Containing the Old and New Testaments. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1982. Print.
Jung, Carl G. Psychology and Religion,. New Haven: Yale UP, 1938. Print.
"The Kaballah." SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes. Web. 06 June 2012. <http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/kabbalah/section9.rhtml>.
Primack, Joel R., and Nancy Ellen Abrams. ""In a Beginning...": Quantum Cosmology and Kabbalah." Lecture. Web.
Smith, Patti. Just Kids. New York: Ecco, 2010. Print.
Tenen, Stan. The Alphabet That Changed the World: How Genesis Preserves a Science of Consciousness in Geometry and Gesture. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic, 2011. Print.
Notes:
[1] Primack, Joel R. and Nancy Ellen Abrams.”In a Beginning...”: Quantum Cosmology and Kabbalah.
[2] Drob, Sanford L. “The Lurianic Metaphors, Creativity and the Structure of Language.”
[3] Tenen, Stan. The Alphabet That Changed the World: How Genesis Preserves a Science of Consciousness in Geometry and Gesture.
[4] Ginsburgh, Yitzchak. “Where Kabbalah Kisses Science: Three Points of Interface.”
[5] Drob, Sanford L. “The Lurianic Metaphors, Creativity and the Structure of Language.”
[6] Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.
[7] Smith, Patti. Just Kids.
[8] Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.
[9] Alazraki, Jaime. Borges and the Kabbalah: And Other Essays on His Fiction and Poetry.
[10] Jung, Psychology and Religion
[11] SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Kaballah.”
[12] SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Kaballah.”
[13] If on a winter’s night a traveler…, Italo Calvino
[14] Alazraki, Jaime. Borges and the Kabbalah: And Other Essays on His Fiction and Poetry.
[15] The Holy Bible: The New King James Version
[16] Primack, Joel R. and Nancy Ellen Abrams.”In a Beginning...”: Quantum Cosmology and Kabbalah.
[17] Douglas-Klotz, Neil. The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish.
[18] The Holy Bible: The New King James Version
[19] The Holy Bible: The New King James Version
[20] The Holy Bible: The New King James Version
[21] Ashlag, Yehuda Lev. In the Shadow of the Ladder: Introductions to Kabbalah.