Bahir 28-29-30-31-32

Whenever we suggest something in mind, this leads to another idea, and then so on it goes. Keep in mind this idea as you read through the following verse 28 of the Bahir. Transformation is the topic here.

'28. They said to him: What is the letter Heh? He grew angry and said: Did I not teach you not to ask about a later thing and then about an earlier thing? They said: But Heh comes after [Daleth]. He replied: The order should be Gimel Heh. Why is it Gimel Daleth? Because it must be Daleth Heh. And why is the order Gimel Daleth? He said to them: Gimel is in the place of Daleth, on its head it is in the place of Heh. Daleth with its tail is in place of the Heh.'

Forget about where it says he grew angry. This in my opinion is a side trip. The true teaching here involves the transformation of the letters which take place. It is literally speaking about the life of the letters. Think of the vines that move through forests making all kinds of shapes. Their movement caused by as much the light of the sun as the substances (trees for example) to which they must have the support of in order to reach on high. Our thought behave in exactly the same manner. There is no certainty without the supporting thoughts which have come before and will come after. Preparation is by the light of design and the will of the one. The transformations take place because of our willingness to be both alert for and amenable to these changes. It is our spiritual nature which because the support of all thinking processes. "The order should be Gimel Heh," Gimel is the camel and Heh the window. The carrier of thought and the vision of thought. In between the transformation of thought via the door of Daleth. Also in terms of their physical form each letter from Gimel to Daleth to Heh is an extension of the other. What this is suggesting then is that we cannot have vision without transformation. Even though we carry our thoughts forward they have to become something and be transformed then into our our vision. How we perceive a thing determines its purpose and our use of the thing. We continue this transmation in the next verse 29:

'29. What is the letter Vav? He said: There is an upper Heh and a lower Heh.'

In Tarot the Vav is representative of the Hierophant, the inner wisdom or inner voice. This is where all transformation derives from. Vav is known as the hook or the nail. In this case the hook is how we bait our thoughts through vision to correspond to our heart's desire. We send forth our intention and it brings back via the inner voice or the hook of Vav the thoughts which help to conceive the thing itself. In the Sepher Yetzirah or the 'Book of Formation,' another ancient Kabbalistic text, Vav is
'The Sixteenth Path named The Enduring Consciousness.(Sekhel Nitzchi). It is called this because it is the Delight (Eden) of the Glory. As it is, there is no Glory lower than it. It is called the Garden of Eden,which is prepared for the [reward of the] Saints.' This path runs from Chokmah to Chesed, from Wisdom to Mercy. There is the knowledge of the one transformed into the letting go of the one. This means the vision appears because of the meditation of the thing itself and then by letting the vision make its own way in transformation it lets itself go into energy of Mercy or the allowing of the thoughts to seek its own level. Practically knowing that thought once arisen will transform itself by degree into our heart's desire gives us certainty to begin and step aside and let the process mature naturally. Chokmah is the upper Heh and Chesed in this instance is the lower Heh. So you see that by describing one thing we find another. We describe the letters but are talking about the Tree of Life. That is why these texts are difficult to decipher. With the aid of Modern Kabbalah we can draw our connections keeping always the one source of connection as the inspiration to continue to seek out their meanings.

The transformation of the inner soul is shown next in verse 30

'30. They said to him: But what is Vav? He said: The world was sealed with six directions. They said: Is not Vav a single letter? He replied: It is written (Psalm 104:2), "He wraps Himself in light as a garment, [he spreads out the heavens like a curtain].'

The six directions refer to the Cube of Space. It is a diagram used in many Kabbalistic studies where each direction and each corner and side are given attributes using the 32 paths of wisdom which are the connections given between the various Sephiroth or energy centers of creation. Vav is a single letter but is connected on both ends as we have seen above to Chokmah and Chesed. This connection provides the unity of the whole. What happens when we wrap a garment around us? The garment assumes our form. The garment is our thought nexus or frame of reference that as we think builds itself into the fabric of our being. These thoughts of the thing itself are not distant from us. Take them and clothe yourself with them. Then by the action of Vav or the hook, we attract more thought and therefore more energy of resident being corresponding to the thing itself. The curtain isn't one to cut off the light but is rather the curtain which is the aura of light or the aura of our heart's desire. It is the lifeforce that we are connecting to and emanating. Attention being paid here to these emanations puts us in touch with our intention and builds for all of us our world without end. This world without end is the subject of the next verse 31.

'31. Rabbi Amorai asked: Where is the Garden of Eden? He replied: It is on earth.'

How much more clear can he be? Here on earth. What is the earth? It is our contact with form, the spirit inside of the matter, the life force permeating everything. It isn't off in the distance or on some mythical world long ago lost. It is here directly in our face. By our actions, our thoughts and our letting go we enter this garden truly each day. In our moments of inspiration or laughter we enter this garden. By intuition and yes by intention and yes in stages according to our understanding. This garden of eden has nothing to do with percentages such as one percent and ninety nine percent. You cannot ascribe even the least amount of separation to a concept as all fulfilling as the garden of eden. It and we coexist together. By one step or another we enter into this garden of eden. Walk with this kind of consciousness around you and watch the magic that results. Take a few steps knowing that the garden of eden is all around you. Next there appears a semantic discussion which serves the surface but not the core. Let's peel away this surface and probe deeper into verse 32)

'32. Rabbi Ishmael expounded to Rabbi Akiba: What is the meaning of the verse (Genesis 1:1), "[In the beginning God created] (et) the heaven and (et) the earth"? [Why is the word et added in both places?] If the word et (an untranslated preposition that connects a transitive verb to its predicate noun) were absent, we would think that "heaven" and "earth" were gods. [For we could have read the verse, "In the beginning, God, the heaven and the earth created..." taking all three nouns as subjects of the sentence.] He replied: By the Divine Service! You may have reached out for the true meaning, but you have not sorted out, and therefore you speak in this manner. But [in the case of "heaven"] the word et comes to include the sun, moon, stars and constellations, while [in the case of "earth"] it comes to add trees, plants, and the Garden of Eden.'

The initial inspiration, the opening lightning flash, the prelude and the promotion of creation is described but a question is sought after. The explanations say that et is there because we should not think of heaven or earth as gods, and then this explanation is correspondingly corrected to expand the meaning of heaven and earth. It is a simplified answer and peels away only the surface skin. Deeper still we go in and find that the et is the breath, it is the ruach of creation, the soul of the sending forth. You cannot transform or initiate with the breath. Yes the breath has no apparent meaning and no sound other than the wind yet this is a very special wind because with its force of sending all of creation results. It is the force behind inspiration which carries it to the ends of the earth and indeed to the very heavens. The fact that this verse ends with the Garden of Eden ties it into the last verse. What we are saying once again is that through the force of now the propulsion of thought our ideas find their harmony in the exposition and attraction of the energy of creation. This energy of creation moves our being to become that of harmony itself as found in the Garden of Eden. Go into the weekend now with this very positive energy and enjoy all of the blessings of the Sabbath as you and the Garden draw near each other and both partake the one from the other.