Meditation and Judaism by DovBer Pinson

Author:DovBer Pinson [Pinson, DovBer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781461629528
Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc.
Published: 2013-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Divine Ecstasy: Achieving the State of No Self-Awareness

In mystical thought, the supreme state of ecstasy is where one has little to no self-awareness of the experience. The meditator, being in a condition of bitul, has transcended his ego and has reached the ayin. A Chassidic master once observed545 that Adam, prior to eating and internalizing a fruit from the tree of knowledge was in a perpetual state of meditation. His entire being was involved and preoccupied with meditating on the Creator. There was no part of him that was separate from the meditation, and he never felt himself to be meditating. Later on, however, it says: “Behold, man has become like the Unique one among us.”546 Man had become distinct, unique, and separate. Now, man operates with the consciousness of separateness. So while meditating he is aware that he is meditating.

If the desire is to reach the level of ayin, then a fitting meditation is to contemplate the divine ayin, the power beyond creation, and from whence creation emanated. The nothing that preceded the something. In order to meditate on this ayin, it would assist one to know how this level of ayin is spoken about in Kabbalistic literature, and how the ayin relates to the Kabbalistic view of cosmology.

God in the Kabbalah is called the Or Ein Sof—The Infinite Light.547 Unlike the mathematical or philosophical definition of infinite, which is something that is unmeasurable and nondimensional, the infinite that is God is beyond these definitions. In mathematics, the word infinite means beyond grasp or measurement; yet the infinite of something finite is by its very definition a finite entity. For instance, infinite refers to an infinite quantity of finite numbers, as in, one, two, three, and so on, ad infinitum. God’s infinite, however, is beyond all conceivable limitations.

This type of infinity that is unique to God, defies the linguistic distinctions that we interpret reality with. However, we facilitate our own discourse (the only discourse we know) when speaking of God, by describing what God is not.548 We interpret the infinite in finite terms, by saying what God is not.

In fact, even this description is a definition of God being beyond definitions, of being beyond our grasp. The moment we language God, we have transmogrified God’s unique essence, for God is also beyond the definition of being ein sof—infinite.549

This leaves the human mind with an anomaly. Since the Infinite is beyond all limitation and definition, and the finite world created exists by definitions, then, given the limitations of human comprehension, it seems to us that there exists an abyss between the Creator and creation, between the infinite and the finite. This would hold true of the spiritual worlds, as well, for however sublime and lofty those worlds may be, they are still finite by virtue of having been created.

Another anomaly pertaining to creation is that since the Creator is ein sof, how is it that finite creatures emerged into existence? How can there be a transformation from the infinite

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.