Marc H. Gerstein: Qabala for Beginners

13. The Formative Sefirot: Patterns

Thus far, we've covered the three "intellectual" sefirot: Kether / Crown (potential and will to actualize potential), Chochma / Wisdom (the pure inexplicable state of knowing that begins to actualize Kether's potential), and Binah / Understanding (the ability to define and explain that which is "known" in Chochma). If one accepts the idea that "beliefs create reality" or "thoughts create things," we can say that our beliefs/thoughts are in place by the time we reach Binah. It's now time to move on to the next part of the sentence; the verb "create." The process of creation (or formation) takes place in sefirot four through nine. These are: (4) Chesed / Mercy, (5) Gevurah / Judgment, (6) Tiphareth / Beauty, (7) Netzach / Victory, (8) Hod / Glory, and (9) Yesod / Foundation.

The Formative Six and the 10 Sayings of Creation

We've seen before that each sefira relates to one of the ten sayings of creation from Genesis 1. If we look at these sayings as a group, we'll see some patterns that shed light on the six formative sefirot.

  1. "In the beginning, God created..." (Kether)
  2. "Let there be light..." (Chochma)
  3. "Let there be a firmament..." (Binah)
These sayings, in essence, set the ground rules for creation of our universe, but they don't actually go into detail. As a group, they simply establish the broad idea that there will be some sort of physical world, separate and distinct from the divine essence of God. This prologue to formation also lays out an important issue that will be a vital part of our physical experience: duality (light and dark, up and down, male and female, etc. — indeed, a portion of the Zohar discusses the male/female polarity in terms of the division between the waters above and below the firmament).

Now, let's look at sayings four through nine:

  1. "Let the waters gather so land could appear..." (Chesed)
  2. "Let the earth be vegetated..." (Gevurah)
  3. "Let there be two luminaries." (Tiphareth)
  4. "Let the waters swarm with sea creatures..." (Netzach)
  5. "Let the earth bring forth animals..." (Hod)
  6. "Let us make man..." (Yesod)
Here, we're no longer dealing with broad concepts or ground rules. Sayings 1-3 represented the blueprint of creation. But in 4-9, we've taken the blueprint out of the architect's office and brought it to the construction site, and we use it to build the actual, physical components of our universe: land, water, sun, moon, (non-sentient) sea creatures, (non-sentient) land creatures, and (sentient) humans. Sayings 4-9 address things we can actually see and touch.

The Formative Six and the Ten Commandments

  1. "I am the Lord..." (Kether)
  2. "You shall have no other Gods..." (Chochma)
  3. "Don't take the Lord's name in vain..." (Binah)
Once again, we see a general prologue, or backdrop; a broad set of ground rules that articulate the nature of the relationship between humanity and divinity. Commandments 4-9 take a different focus:
  1. "Remember the Sabbath..." (Chesed)
  2. "Honor your parents..." (Gevurah)
  3. "Do not commit murder..." (Tiphareth)
  4. "Do not commit adultery..." (Netzach)
  5. "Do not steal..." (Hod)
  6. "Do not bear false witness..." (Yesod)
As was the case with the ten sayings of creation, we see a shift in focus from the broad to the specific. In 4-9, we have a list of clear-cut dos-and-don'ts that address the manner in which we go about living our day-to-day lives. Commandments 1-3 contained dos-and-don'ts, but those address our relationship with God, as opposed to the more earthly things we should do or refrain from doing.

Sub-patterns among the Groups of Six - Genesis

We've now seen that the ten creative sayings of Genesis 1, and the Ten Commandments each follow a pattern in which numbers 1-3 articulate broad ground rules, while numbers 4-9 address mundane specifics. But even within the respective 4-9 groupings, we can still identify sub-patterns. Let's start with the sayings of Genesis:

  1. "Let the waters gather so land could appear..." (Chesed)
  2. "Let the earth be vegetated..." (Gevurah)
  3. "Let there be two luminaries." (Tiphareth)
These three sayings deal with the physical makeup of the planet itself. If we view the creation of the earth as analogous to the construction of a house, we can say that sayings 4-6 address structural elements: the foundation, the walls, the roof, the floors, even the utility systems (plumbing, heating, electrical). Let's go on:
  1. "Let the waters swarm with sea creatures..." (Netzach)
  2. "Let the earth bring forth animals...". (Hod)
  3. "Let us make man..." (Yesod)
Having completed the physical structure, we move on to address that which goes into it. If we were talking about a house, we'd now be dealing with the wallpaper or paint coloring, the carpeting, the lighting fixtures, the appliances, the furniture, the window treatments, and ultimately, the people (and, possibly, domestic pets) who live there. So, too, with creation of the planet. Sayings 4-6 establish the physical structure, but it's still empty of life. Sayings 7-9 put things (living beings) into the structure.

Sub-patterns among the Groups of Six - the Ten Commandments

We see an analogous two-part subdivision when we look at Commandments 4-9.

  1. "Remember the Sabbath..." (Chesed)
  2. "Honor your parents..." (Gevurah)
  3. "Do not commit murder..." (Tiphareth)
This set of dos-and-don'ts deals with big issues affecting the way in which we live. We are directed to respect broad boundaries between ourselves and other humans (don't murder - respect their right to live), our parents (give special deference to the humans who provided our gateway into the physical world), and our God (follow a particular set of principles for living on God's day). Compare this set of dos-and-don'ts with the ones we see in Commandments 7-9:
  1. "Do not commit adultery..." (Netzach)
  2. "Do not steal..." (Hod)
  3. "Do not bear false witness..." (Yesod)
All of these address issues that are much more mundane than the ones we saw in 4-6. We move away from big-picture issues (dealing with humanity as a whole, our parents, and our God) and get down to the nitty gritty of how we should relate to the plain-ordinary humans next door.

Summary

Hence we now see that the first nine creative sayings form Genesis and the first nine Commandments follow similar patterns:

This pattern will help us understand sefirot 4-9. All of these sefirot deal with specifics; mundane tools of the formative process (as opposed to the broad intellectual backdrop we saw in 1-3). Moreover, 4-9 can be broken into two sub-groups, with 4-6 representing a purer, more exalted version of the same tools we see in 7-9.

In the next installment of this course, we'll apply these patterns to sefirot 4-9 and derive broad meanings for each sefira. That will be followed by a sefirot-by-sefirot review similar to what was done for the first three sefirot.

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Copyright © Marc H. Gerstein 1998. Posted on September 29th, 1998.
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