T H E T R E E OF L I F E

THE DWELLER IN THE HEART

Lesson Tw enty-four

As the fourth Sephirah re flec ts the second (Chokmah), and as the fifth re fle c ts the th ird (Binah), so is the sixth Sephirah the reflection of the f ir s t (K ether). On the T ree of Life the sixth Sephirah is the apex of a down-pointing trian g le whose basal angles a re Chesed and Geburah, and th is trian g le re fle c ts the trian g le of the Supernal T riad having K ether at its apex, and Chokmah and Binah fo r its basa l angles.

F u rth e rm o re , T iphareth is at the apex of a down-pointing equ ila tera l trian g le , of which one of the sides is the path of the le tte r Daleth, the side at the righ t the path of the le tte r Heh, and the side at the left the path of the le tte r Zain.

Hence, as may be seen from an inspection of the d iagram of the T re e of Life, the sixth Sephirah is , as it w ere, a re s e rv o ir into which flow, by the channels of various le tte rs , the influences of the five Sephiroth above it on the T re e .

F rom th is sixth point descend the paths com m unicating the Holy Influence to the four Sephiroth below T iphare th , and these , as you have learned from THE MASTER PATTERN, a re the paths and Sephiroth finding expression in human personality . The sixth Sephirah is exactly midway between the f i r s t and the tenth Sephiroth. Thus it is the m iddle point on the C en tral P illar, known to Q abalists as the P illa r of M ildness.

Thus the name fo r T iphare th , among the Thirty-tw o Paths of W isdom, is som etim es given as "The Intelligence of Separated Influence," o r "Intelligence of Parted o r A llotted Outflow," and som etim es as "Intelligence of M ediating Influence." All th ree nam es fo r th is path a re derived from the cen tra l position of T iphare th , and from the fact that it co l­lects at one point the descending powers from above, and from that sam e point d is t r i ­b u tes those powers through the channels which a re below. T his you can see c lea rly by looking at a d iagram of the T ree of L ife.

F o r convenience in p resenting the su b jec t-m atte r of th is cou rse , we a re taking the Sephiroth in s e r ia l o rd e r from 1 to 10. Yet inspection of the diagram of the T ree will show you that th e re m ust be a sense in which T iphareth becom es active before Chesed and Geburah, and even before the link between Chokmah and Binah is estab lished .

Note that a fte r the path of Aleph has c a r r ie d the power of K ether to Chokmah, and the path of Beth has c a r r ie d the power of K ether to Binah, the sam e power of K ether is c a r r ie d through the path of G im el down to T iphareth before the c u rre n ts of descending in ­fluence a re estab lished in the paths of Daleth, Heh, Vav, Zain, Cheth, Yod and Lam ed. The sum of the num bers of the T h ree Supem als (K ether, Chokmah and Binah) is 6. So also is the sum of the values of the le tte rs Aleph, Beth and G im el. And again, 6 is the consequence of 1 x 2 x 3 , w hether we take th ese num bers to be those of K ether, Chokmah and Binah, o r w hether we take them as the values of Aleph, Beth and G im el.

Thus the path of G im el descends not to the fourth Sephirah, as one might expect, but to the six th . And, though the Hexad of Sephiroth known as M icroprosopus, the L e sse r Countenance, includes the six Sephiroth from 4 to 9 inclusive, 6 is the dominant cen te r of th is Hexad and becom es active before e ith e r Chesed o r Geburah a re energ ized by the

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descending influences from above.

Again, before Chokmah com m unicates its influence to Chesed through the path of Vav, it sends down its power to T iphareth through the path of Heh. In like m anner, the influence from Binah is com m unicated to T iphareth by the path of Zain before Binah sends down h e r power to G eburah through the path of Cheth.

F u rth e rm o re , Chesed pours its influence into T iphareth through the path of Yod be­fo re it energ izes Netzach through the path of the le tte r Kaph. S im ilarly , Geburah f i r s t sends down its influence to T iphareth through the path of Lamed before energizing Hod through the path of Mem.

Thus T iphareth is estab lished and energ ized by the T hree Supem als before ev er the fourth and the fifth Sephiroth a re brought from latent, o r potential, being into actual a c ­tiv ity . Even then, nothing is tran sm itted to the four Sephiroth constituting the fie ld of human personality until the upper Hexad of Sephiroth, from K ether to T iphareth , has been com pletely energ ized .

K ether is the Crown of the Kingdom but T iphareth is the King; and th e re fo re ■pc, M elek, "K ing," is one of the nam es of the sixth Point. K ether corresponds to the p rin ­ciple of ru le rsh ip . T iphareth is the active m anifestation of that p rincip le , the R uler Who w ears the Crown.

K ether is the un iversal p rincip le of selfhood, the cosm ic SELF, Yekhidah, the ONLY ONE, the Indivisible. T iphareth is that sam e princip le m anifested as the EGO, seated in the h earts of m en.

Rem em ber, K ether is not one, and T iphareth another. T iphareth actually is K ether when K ether is m anifested as standing in ce rta in re la tionsh ips to o ther aspects of being. N or does the fact of th ese re la tionsh ips deprive K ether, m anifest as T iphareth , of one iota of the lim itle ss power which is cen tered in K ether itse lf .

What we a re dealing with, in our study of the T ree of Life, is a Single Power as that Power p resen ts itse lf to the human m ind. It is ou r minds that make the various ap p ea r­ances of separa tion . Yet it is also our minds that a re capable of receiv ing from su p e r­consciousness the co rrec tiv e influence which enables us to transcend the separa tive a c ­tivity of in tellect, and rea lize the tru e Unity veiled by the appearances of the M any.

The path of the le tte r G im el, which c a r r ie s the influence from K ether down to the sixth Sephirah, is , as we have explained, the th ird projection of M ezla, the Holy Influ­ence, from K ether. In the construction of the T ree , th is path is equal in length to the fu ll d iam eter of any one of the four construction c irc le s employed in making the T ree; but th is path of G im el is actually the d iam eter of the second of those c irc le s .

By the conventional rep resen ta tion of irra tio n a l num bers by approxim ate whole num ­b e rs , th is path of Gim el is 52 units long. Thus its length is designated by the num ber which is that of the full spelling of “ i n ' , o r IVD-HH-VV-HH, Jehovah, thenam e of the F a th e r . 52 is the num ber also of ND'N, Aima, M other, a name of Binah, and of 32, Ben, Son, one of the nam es of T iphare th . Thus, even in the con­struction of the T r e e , the path of Gim el stands fo r the com bination of F a th e r, M other, and Son.

THE TREE OF LIFE: 24 -3-

As the d iam eter of the second c irc le used in constructing the T ree , the path of Gimel is the d iam eter of the c rea tiv e world, and is th e re fo re a symbol of what d e te r­m ines the lim its of c rea tiv e activ ity . The upper end of th is path is K ether at the cen te r of the c irc le corresponding to the archetypal w orld . The low er end is T iphareth at the cen te r of the c irc le corresponding to the form ative w orld . Thus the path of Gim el links together the archetypal and the form ative w orlds through the ac tiv ities of the c rea tiv e w orld.

The archetypal w orld corresponds to the f i r s t le tte r of “ I n ' , which is the l e t ­t e r of Chokmah, the F a th e r. The c rea tiv e w orld corresponds to the f ir s t H in H I" ', and th is is the special le tte r of Binah, the M other. The form ative w orld co rresponds to the th ird le tte r of 711“ ' , which is Vav, the le tte r having p a rticu la r correspondence to T iphareth , the Son. Thus, even in the construction of the T ree , the path of G im el, in its actual geom etric functions, as well as by the num ber of its units of length (52), r e ­p resen ts the union of F a th er, M other and Son.

T his path is the th irteen th path, and an ancient com m entary says: "All the paths, when they a re united in the Supreme Unity, a re united through th is th irteen th path, fo r

iriK, Achad, Unity, reso lved into num bers, gives 13." What th is m eans is that the le tte rs of “ HK have the values 1, 8 and 4, so that the num ber of the w ord itse lf is 13 . We may th e re fo re expect to find the idea of unity definitely exp ressed by the path of G im el.

How th is is so, and in what m anner it is explained by Q abalists, we shall consider in our next le sso n .

This week try to rea lize that the path of G im el is the symbolic rep resen ta tio n of un iversal subconsciousness within which you live and move and have your being. This is the princip le of m em ory which you partake of -- as the Son of God. Within the m em ory of K ether is the Self-recognition of that aspect of being which is T iphareth , generic hum anity. You a re now - - you always have been - - you always w ill be in union with the Indivisible One, through the path of Gimel as your p rincip le of m em ory . T ru e , th e re is much that you think and fee l and do which seem s to belie th is tru th . But rem em ber, a child who is learning how to w rite does not give a legible re su lt at f i r s t . E arly m usical effo rts bring much d isco rd . N evertheless, the child is not le ss the offspring of its p a ren ts during its young and form ative y ea rs than it is a fte r it has gained in sk ill.

No m a tte r how undeveloped you a re , your capacity is infinite! Let the path of Gimel which connects K ether to T iphareth help to bring you to the rea liza tion of who and what you a re .