Nugget #72 – First Triad: Ego and Israel

Let’s take a collective approach to this. If we collectively were to just simply reform the Daat, not perfect it; we would transform the world over night. However, most of the collective have a Daat that remains in a rut. A Daat that is interested in self not the collective.

We collectively are meant to be a single living organism. This will be accomplished when our ego, our Daat, becomes subservient to the Creator’s Keter, the thought of creation. This will transform us from knowledge of the world to knowledge of the Creator. When the ego blesses the person, the individual as well as the collective, will become Israel. Israel is from two Hebrew words Yasher El meaning direct to El. El is referencing to Keter, so going Direct to EL is going direct to Keter. Direct to the thought of creation, the highest level of thought there is.

Jacob did this back in Genesis 32:28 and the surrounding passages. Please reread this event. Esau’s angle was the worldly, egotistical, Daat. Jacob wrestled with this ego and eventually forced it to bless him which in turn blessed the Creator. Then Jacob was named Israel because now his ego capitulated to the thought of creation.

Ask yourself: Is there a part of us that strives to pursue the Creator and a side that will not? Do we find ourselves in conflict between those two? Is it almost as if we are both sides at the same time? Now think of yourself as Jacob and place yourself in the wrestling match.

Nugget #71 – First Triad: Individual and collective

There are two aspects of the Tree of Life that we need to keep in mind for clarity sake.  There is the ideal balanced tree that we call the Tree of Life.  This is the model that we are looking to achieve.  It also provides us a litmus test, an ideal that we can compare and measure ourselves to both on the collective level and individual level.

As individuals, Daat is associated with our unique perspective and interpretation of wisdom.  This is where we have the choice to be holy or mundane.  Now we all have a unique individualized perspective however it is what we do with that perspective.  Do we perpetuate the same old unbalanced Daat or do we refine and reform it to its proper balance?  As long as we are willing and willfully reforming our Daat to conform to Keter we are doing exactly what we are meant to.  Our reform, journey is our goal not perfection.

Nugget #70

As stated, Daat is a Sefirah that is not part of the tree of life. However, since we are created in Elohims (G-d’s) image (Genesis 1:26) there has to be something that permits us to work outside the desired balance state of the Creator yet still resemble Elohim. In a sense this is our force. That is accomplished via Daat.

We can choose to have knowledge (Daat) of the world, our will, or have knowledge of G-d via adherence to the will of G-d. Daat is where we interject our will; a sub-will so to speak, since the Creator’s will is the eventual winner it remains at the very top as Keter. Our will is a sub-keter (Daat), below Keter.

Because Keter is the guiding force behind the tree of life, we have to conclude even if we are outside the bounds of a balanced state we are still within the will of our creator. So our freewill is limited and short lived. We will eventually fall in line and balance out and thus Daat/know our Creator. This is unavoidable.

When Daat is in line with Keter it acts like a magnifier focused from the sun on a leaf. When it is not focused the sun’s light will not do much. When focused (Balanced Daat) it will burn a leaf and start a fire. Likewise, when we are balanced and focused on Keter, we carry down that light/wisdom through us and onto the world via Daat.

Nugget #69 – First Triad: Daat

There is a sort of invisible Sefirah in the “Tree of Life” that is called Daat.  It is in between Chochmah and Binah, typically slightly below those two extremes.  These 3 form the first triad that we are to balance with the aid of Keter.  Remember Keter is not part of this Triad directly.

Daat is the word we find typically translated as knowledge in terms of intimacy.  We find Adam and Eve having knowledge of each other in Genesis 4:1 this is speaking of a deep connection between the 2 that goes beyond the sexual connotation it is typically used in.  This is also used in reference of our relationship with the Creator as well that can be seen in Numbers 24:16.  “The saying of him who heareth the words of God, and knoweth the knowledge of the Most High, who seeth the vision of the Almighty, fallen down, yet with opened eyes:”

It is a mating of two complementary forces that result in some thing that is greater than the sum of its parts by being balanced.  Extremes don’t mean incompatibility but rather for mutual benefit when combined.

There are glues available that come in two tubes.  In order to activate the glue they must be combined and mixed.  This is sort of the same with Daat being a combination of Chochmah and Binah.  Binah is steady and firm while Chochmah is impulsive and changing.  Combine the two and we have flexibility and adaptability.

Nugget #68 – First Triad: Balancing point

We ultimately form a collective around the spark of Chochmah and represent that spark.  Only a few follow this pattern at the moment.  Eventually mankind in their entirety will represent that spark by following it collectively.  This is why, for the moment, it appears only a few if anyone strives for the Creator.  However, I have found many, for a brief moment, do push the clutter of the world aside and see there is more than meets the eye.  This gives hope that mankind can change and will change.

Interpretation of Chochmah to Binah is in our hands.  There is a meeting ground between Chochmah and Binah, a blurring of boundaries between the two.  We have to find a point that brings the two together in a balance.    We may say, “Sure, we have Keter”.  Actually this does not count because it is the creator’s will called “the thought of creation” that Keter represents.  We need to have our will also involved so that we can exercise “freewill”.  If we were to take a string and hold it on both ends with a free moving weight in between, we would have a weight suspended slightly lower and centered between both ends.

This balancing point is our preferred location between the two extremes of Binah and Chochmah.  However, we will tend to meander between those points.  Our goal is to “use” Keter, “the thought of creation” as our guide to finding that point.  With our string and weight, our example above, we see gravity is used to find the balancing point.  Likewise we can consider Keter as being gravity.  If we wish we can push the weight to the left or right against the “will” of gravity.  We too have that freedom.

Ask yourself:  What is that balance point between Chochmah and Binah?

Nugget #67 – First Triad: Interpretation

Binah is only a subset of the revelation of Chockmah at the individual level.  There is always a loss during the individual interpretation level.  If we were to take a block of wood we can see there are literally a limitless number of possibilities for that wood block.  As we carve the block of wood it becomes more and more refined and the possibilities start to diminish.  Eventually only one possibility of expression will remain when finished.  Likewise Chockmah is that block of wood while Binah is the final expression of that block of wood.

A blank page of paper can be viewed as Chochmah.  This sheet of paper is open to all possibilities.  It can be a newspaper article, page of a book, the Constitution of the United States, sketch, or art, or anything else.  In fact we can write and draw for eternity and find no two pages are the same, maybe similar but not the same.  Binah is that paper transformed with writing and/or art.

Understand that the final expression is based upon the individual.  More than one may receive the same flash of Chochmah, but each person may derive an entirely different final form of the “block of wood” or sheet of paper.   This is not a negative thing.  The Creator knows who should receive these revelations and knows that there will be separate unique expressions but collectively they meet the need that the Creator set out to answer at a collective level.

For instance, take a group of people and circle them around a sculpture.  Now ask each person to reveal their understanding of the sculpture.  It will be found that each person will have a different understanding of the sculpture because of their perspective.  If we were able to collectively describe the sculpture, as one mind, we would find a much more accurate representation of the sculpture.  So having many receive a spark of wisdom will create a circle of people that collectively represent that spark. 

Contemplate:  Rehash this in your mind; the difference between the individual and the collective.  It is not about me, myself, and I.  It is about we, ours, and us.  Torah is all about the collective without sacrificing the individual.

Nugget #66 – First Triad: Binah

Looking at the Tree of Life we find Keter being at the top center with Chochmah slightly below and to the right.  Binah, our next Sefirah is on the left slightly below Keter.

Binah is typically translated as understanding.  Chochmah is non-verbal, non-visual, and non-communicable.  Binah is verbal, visual, and communicable.  It puts form and shape to the wisdom shared in Chochmah.  It is where, in a sense, “the rubber meets the road”.  There is a sense of structure and permanency with Binah.  Chochmah is spontaneous, short lived, impulsive, natural, and unstructured, while Binah is planned, organized, constructed, enduring, eternal, and stable

Binah is like a knife blade.  If we were to take a dull knife it would be very difficult if not impossible to cut with it.  But sharpen the blade and precision surgery could be conducted.  Binah sharpens the blade and makes it useful.

To continue with our “thought of creation”, plan, and execution model presented in the previous few Nuggets, Binah is the completion of planning and the potential beginning of execution.  Key here is “beginning of”.  This triad is dealing with the intellect so action is not part of the equation.  Action takes place in the last of the 3 triads.  There should be a clear picture of the plan and the desired look of the finished product.

Ask yourself: Does the plan ever get fully or properly expressed in action?  How does this relate to the concept of sin?