A Wisdom Archive on Ain

Introduction and links to related topics

Ain Aior - Ain Aior. See ''EIN ''OR

Ain Soph - Ain Soph. See EYN SOPH

Ain Soph - Ain Soph (Hebrew, Jewish). The "Boundless" or Limitless; Deity emanating and extending.

Ain Soph is also written En Soph and Ain Suph, no one, not even Rabbis, being sure of their vowels. In the religious metaphysics of the old Hebrew philosophers, the ONE Principle was an abstraction, like Parabrahmam, though modern Kabbalists have succeeded now, by dint of mere sophistry and paradoxes, in making a "Supreme God" of it and nothing higher. But with the early Chaldean Kabbalists Ain Soph is "without form or being", having "no likeness with anything else" (Franck, Die Kabbala, p. 126).

That Ain Soph has never been considered as the "Creator" is proved by even such an orthodox Jew as Philo calling the "Creator" the Logos, who stands next the "Limitless One", and the "Second God". "The Second God is its (Ain Soph’s) wisdom", says Philo (Quaest. et Solut.). Deity is NO-THING; it is nameless, and therefore called Ain Soph; the word Ain meaning NOTHING. (See Franck’s Kabbala, p. 153 ff.)

Sephiroth - Sephiroth (Hebrew, Jewish). The ten emanations of Deity; the highest is formed by the concentration of the Ain Soph Aur, or the Limitless Light, and each: Sephira produces by emanation another Sephira.

The names of the Ten Sephiroth are -
Kether - The Crown;
Chokmah - Wisdom;
Binah - Understanding;
Chesed- - Mercy;
Geburah - Power;
Tiphereth - Beauty;
Netzach - Victory;
Hod - Splendour;
Jesod_Foundation; and
Malkuth - The Kingdom.

The conception of Deity embodied in the Ten Sephiroth is a very sublime one, and each Sephira is a picture to the Kabbalist of a group of exalted ideas, titles and attributes, which the name but faintly represents. Each Sephira is called either active or passive, though this attribution may lead to error; passive does not mean a return to negative existence; and the two words only express the relation between individual Sephiroth, and not any absolute quality.

Torah - Torah (Hebrew) Instruction, doctrine, precept; a revelation, oracle. Used by the Hebrews to describe the Mosaic writings, the Pentateuch. A distinction was drawn between the original written law -- the Mosaic Torah and the rest of the scriptures (torah shabbichethab, "law which is in the writing") -- and what the later Jews called the oral law or torah by mouth (torah shebbe`al peh,

"law which is upon the mouth" or from the lips) which became codified as the Mishnah and is supposed to have been handed down by Ezra.

"Of the ''hidden Thorah'' it is said that before At-tee-kah (the ''Ancient of all the Ancients'') had arranged Itself into limbs (or members) preparing Itself to manifest, It willed to create a Thorah; the latter upon being produced addressed It in these words: ''It, that wishes to arrange and to appoint other things, should first of all, arrange Itself in Its proper Forms.'' In other words, Thorah, the Law, snubbed its Creator from the moment of its birth, according to the above, which is an interpolation of some later Talmudist. As it grew and developed, the mystic Law of the primitive Kabbalist was transformed and made by the Rabbins to supercede in its dead letter every metaphysical conception; and thus the Rabbinical and Talmudistic law makes Ain Soph and every divine Principle subservient to itself, and turns its back upon the true esoteric interpretations" (TG 331).

Tsimtsum - Tsimtsum (Chaldean) [from the verbal root tsaman to contract, press together]

Contraction; a Qabbalistic term containing the philosophical idea of a previous expansion -- otherwise there could have been no subsequent contraction. Hence, tsimtsum is used to designate centrifugal and centripetal motion, expansion and contraction, which under the direction of the supreme of the Sephiroth brought forth and maintains the universe.

"The Unknown Absolute, above all number, manifested Itself through an emanation in which it was immanent yet as to which it was transcendental. It first withdrew Itself into Itself, to form an infinite Space, the Abyss; which It then filled with a modified and gradually diminishing Light or Vitalization, first appearing in the Abyss, as the centre of a mathematical point which gradually spread Its Life-giving energy or force throughout all Space. This concentration or contraction and its expansion, being the centripetal and centrifugal energies of creation and existence, the Qabbalists called Tzimtzum. The Will of Ain Soph then manifests Itself through the Ideal Perfect Model or Vitalizing Form, first principle and perfect prototype in idea, of all the to be created, whether spiritual or material. This is the Mikrokosm to the Ain Soph, the Makrokosm as to all the created. It is called the Son of Elohim, i.e., God, and the Adam Illa-ah or Adam Qadmon, the Man of the East or Heavenly Adam" (Myer, Qabbalah p. 231).

This idea is analogous to the Hindu inbreathing and outbreathing of Brahma.

Tsimtsum is stated to be particularly active in the third `olam or lowest triad of the Sephirothal Cosmic Tree -- each Sephirothal Tree is divided into a set of three triads, called respectively 1) intelligible or intellectual world; 2) formative or paradigmatic world; and 3) the natural world. It is in this last triad of Sephiroth, called `olam ham-Muteba`, where tsimtsum is specifically active.

Ain Soph Aur - Ain Soph Aur. See EYN SOPH OR

Thorah - Thorah (Hebrew, Jewish). "Law", written down from the transposition of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Of the "hidden Thorah" it is said that before At-tee-k-ah (the "Ancient of all the Ancients ") had arranged Itself into limbs (or members) preparing Itself to manifest, It willed to create a Thorah; the latter upon being produced addressed It in these words: "

It, that wishes to arrange and to appoint other things, should first of all, arrange Itself in Its proper Forms". In other words, Thorah, the Law, snubbed its Creator from the moment of its birth, according to the above, which is an interpolation of some later Talmudist.

As it grew and developed, the mystic Law of the primitive Kabbalist was transformed and made by the Rabbins to supersede in its dead letter every metaphysical conception; and thus the Rabbinical and Talmudistic Law makes Ain Soph and every divine Principle subservient to itself, and turns its back upon the true esoteric interpretations.

Cerberus - Twin of Orthrus, who is symbol of Set. The tri-cephalic dog with the dragon''s-tail guarding the gate of Hades, who permits entry but prevents exit, is probably derived from pre-Hellenic Ker + bero (pherontes), meaning simply "head-bearing", for originally he had a hundred heads and not merely three. His three heads stand in parallel to and midway between the three rivers leading to Hades (Phlegeston, Styx and Lethe, which divide the dead from the living) and the three judges within Tartarus Rhadamanthus, Minos and Aeacus who judge men''s souls. He is the Greek equivalent of the jackal-headed Egyptian God Anubis (or the wolf-headed deity of Abydos, Wepwawet, "Opener of the Ways"). Proof of this can be seen in the fact that whereas Cerberus is the offspring of Typhaon (the terrible stormcloud or cyclone, and the last of the titans) and the serpent-woman, Echidna, Anubis is the son of Osiris and Nephthys (sister of Isis), who assisted in the putting back together of the parts of Osiris and his resurrection. As Gods descend from one people to another, they usually degenerate into monsters. We see this readily in the transformation of pagan deities into Xtian demons. Anubis is god of the three processes of death, resurrection and reintegration, who leads the soul to the underworld under his protection, but Cerberus is merely a monster who guards the pathway. Mention should also be made of the three ultraexistential "beyond" Gods: Ain Soph, Tao and Abraxas.

Hamsa - Hamsa or Hansa (Sanskrit) "Swan or goose", according to the Orientalists ; a mystical bird in Occultism analogous to the Rosicrucian Pelican.

The sacred mystic name which, when preceded by that of KALA (infinite time), i.e. Kalahansa, is name of Parabrahm ; meaning the " Bird out of space and time". Hence Brahma (male)is called Hansa Vahana "the Vehicle of Hansa" (the Bird). We find the same idea in the Zohar, where Ain Suph (the endless and infinite) is said to descend into the universe, for purposes of manifestation, using Adam Kadmon (Humanity) as a chariot or vehicle.

Ain Soph Aur - Ain Soph Aur (Hebrew, Jewish). The Boundless Light which concentrates into the First and highest Sephira or Kether, the Crown. [w. w. w.]

Ain - Ain (Hebrew, Jewish). The negatively existent; deity in repose, and absolutely passive.