#3.6 The Kabbalah and Justice

Justice and the Kabbalah regarding the Spirit of Prayer

Posted on October 25, 2014by In My Anguish

The Tree of Life, commonly called the Kabbalah, associates Mercy with Judgement, as  they are opposite each other : Mercy is the 4th sefirot and Geburah or Judgement is 5.  These are two of the divine attributes of Yahweh.

The Hebrew Alpha-bet reads right to left, and so does the tree.   The left side where  Judgement (Geburah) resides is Feminine, while the Right is Active and Masculine (Chesed #4).  This means that even numbers are active while uneven numbers are unstable and passive – like the atom they receive instructions.

Then there is the Middle Pillar or the spine of tree,.  If one reads up  Malkuth #10 to #1 Kether, as you ascend the tree,  you must be one of the Kingdom i.e. a believer.  Nothing happens without that first step towards God.  From there, you need solid foundation (yesod) in His teachings and ways. Tipareth the central sefirot, typically translated as Beauty, is not physical beauty, but a total equilibrium, absolute balance between the left and right arms of the Tree.

As we continue on with the Spirit of Prayer, keep in the mind the picture of the Tree and how Law describes the fall.  It is  an intertwining of God himself and his teaching, esoteric philosophy, Jewish mysticism and Christian religious reflecting on the Four divine attributes of Malkuth, Yesod, Tipareth and Kether that together help man balance himself between illusion and the real (mind).  They are the Golden Mean man should be striving towards in this life.

The word Justice, shows up on the tree typically as HOD or splendor.  It too is often misunderstood as the splendor of God’s bounty, but the noun splendor in English means “the exercise of authority in vindication of right by assigning  reward or punishment,”

It came from the Old  French ” justise” and probably was imported during the Norman conquest.  The Old Fr. word  itself is from the Latin . justitia “righteousness, equity,” and from the idea justus “upright, just” (see the word just (adj.)). The O. Fr. word had widespread senses, including”uprightness, equity, vindication of right, court of justice, judge.  How that relates to HOD or Splendour is very Talmudic:  the Glory of the Law of God or Natural Law. 

When Justice was first used  in English c.1200 it was just as a title for a judicial officer, or judicial administrator or as positive law and while that seems that there are no heavenly implications, one must remember the biblicial and esoteric statute "as above, so below" so that the positive law was supposed to reflect Natural Law and not be a perversion of it.

Mercian was a language spoken in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia (roughly the Midlands of England). Together with  Northumbrian, it was one of the two Anglian dialects of Britain before the Norman Conquest and the Kingdom of Mercia at its greatest extent (7th to 9th centuries) is shown in green, with the original core area (6th century) given a darker tint.

In the Mercian hymns by Geoffrey Hill,  the Latin word justitia is glossed into Old English  as   rehtwisnisse or right witness -- hence we "swear" with our right hand on the Bible that we are telling the truth or damning our immortal soul if we are lying.  Of course in polygot society that does have problems as Moslems are allowed to lie if it will further the cause of Islam.

Latin does not carry over per se, the Greek idea, that Justice is blind but adds a nuance that Justice is “weighty” referring back to the Egyptian idea of Ma’at’s weighing a man’s heart at death to see how far it had fallen from the original ideal.

English does do a lovely job of marrying the two ideas into a new whole.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

#3 Spirit of Prayer - God's warning to Adam

William Law and the Spirit of Prayer...
[Pryr-1.1-11] "Therefore, my Son, be content with thy angelical Nature, be content, as an Angel in Paradise, to eat Angels’ Food, and to rule over this mixed, imperfect, and perishing World, without partaking of its corruptible, impure, and perishing Nature.

Lust not to know how the Animals feel the Evil and Good which this Life affords them; for if Thou couldst feel what they feel, Thou would have to be one of them and since Thou canst not have their Sensibility, unless Thou hast their Nature: thou canst not at the same time be an Angel and an earthly Animal.

If the bestial Life is raised up in Thee, at that  same Instant the heavenly Birth of thy Nature must die within.

English: Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil עברית: חטא עץ הדעת - ד"ר לידיה קוזניצקי (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Therefore turn away thy Lust and Imagination from a Tree of Knowledge as  that can only help Thee to gain  Knowledge of  Good and Evil, that belongs to the Animals of this mundane World. 

The bestial Nature can receive Good or Evil from the Stars and Elements;  but they have no Power,  over that Life which proceeds from those element.

Instead my Son, be content with Angels’ Bread; and in doing so, do not unlock that bestial life and fall into the pit of Slavery for Life.  Once you are   Stripped of thy angelical Garment, you  will have to hide your  Body  in all its Glory, for you will become more naked than any Beast that crawls upon Earth, and you will  be forced to seek refuge from those very Beasts as you will find your skin softer than theirs and will need  a Covering to protect you from them and the elements around you.  Also , you will have to  hide yourself from the Sight of thine own Eyes as you will find yourself repulsive and ugly. 

Soon after that, you will become a  shameful, fearful, sickly, wanting, suffering, Creature and suffer the same speedy Death as does the Dust of the Earth, and the poor Beasts of Burden, because now you are their Brethren."

[Pryr-1.1-12] This Paraphrase I leave to the Reflection of the Reader, and proceed to show,that 

[Pryr-1.1-13] Thirdly, that the Misery, Distress, and the sorrowful Condition, which Adam  brought upon Himself by his Transgression and so onto all of his Posterity,  was not because of the severe vindictive Wrath in God, who called  for Justice to  rectify His impugned  [challenged] Sovereignty and so inflicted pains and Punishments suitable to the offence of his just Indignation.

NO!  It is evident that Adam had nothing  but Overflowing of Love and Goodness from his Heavenly Father and that his Lameness, Blindness and Wretched Sufferings were from nothing but his own voluntary Acts brought upon himself by himself when he did not take the Goodly advice.