In a previous article on the Kabbalah, we spoke of it as being a tradition embodying a noble philosophy, which is but slightly understood, owing to its symbolical representations.
There were three forms of symbols introduced by the Ancient Theosophists to express their thoughts and convey their ideas from one to another. The object of the symbolic language was for the purpose of preventing their esoteric knowledge from becoming public property and to obviate persecution from those who were in authority and held different views. These three forms were: hieroglyphics, numbers and allegories.
It is the Kabbalistic science of numbers of which we purpose to speak. Deity in constructing the universe, employed but few means to accomplish a great purpose. They consisted of energy and law. The former is under control of the latter. The first act was the positing of energy, which formed substance. In this manner He converted chaos, which was a motionless, dark abyss, into activity and light. Light is not energy, but primarily resulted from the activity of atomic substance.
God creates all things by number, weight and measure, and with an arithmetical and geometrical precision. The universal continuity observed in nature is owing to the law that controls energy. Any interference with this law throws energy out of harmony, producing discord, and consequently a varying of continuity.
Every seed has within it an individual life energy which gives to it when developed into a plant or tree its type and form. Any external interference induces a struggle for life in the forces in maintaining their ancestral types and forms. Heredity may produce the same by interfering with the law controlling development.
The Kabbalists never intended to convey the idea that numbers possessed special virtues. They merely represent them; for example 3 represents a life entity; without this ternary combination it would be impossible for life to exist. The self-existing Deity is a Triune Entity; so is every individual life form. Whether it be a Monera, the lowest structureless life organism, or Man, the highest in the scale of living beings. Number three is therefore called the generating number.
Again, 7 is the harmonic numeral, there being seven primary grades of harmony, and in order to extend it, the scale of seven must be repeated, and every repetition lessens the harmony and tends to discord.
The Sepher Jetzirah, which is recognized by the Kabbalist as the key of the Sohar, is a wonderful and obscure work. Its wisdom is represented in ten numbers and twenty-two letters. From the numbers “are drawn or cut” the twenty-two letters which are divided into three mothers, seven double and twelve single letters. According to the Sepher there were three acts of creation; 1st, Conception or Idea; 2nd, The Word; 3rd, The Writings. For example, first, God conceived in His own mind, the archetype of the universe which constituted the design; second, the Word represents the law and the energy it controls and directs in carrying out the design; third, the product arising from the second constitute the writings.
The Sepher Jetzirah teaches that the hidden ways of wisdom are in the ten sephiroth, which are usually termed spheres. The Hebrews use the word “ways,” which with us mean degrees, forms or species. These hidden ways are the workings of the forces producing differentiation of forms, which represents the twenty-two letters, which are expressed as one in three, and three in seven, and seven in twelve, making twenty-two.
The ten sephiroth interest us the most for they represent the unity and synthesis of numbers and the manifestations of Deity in nature. The first sefir is called the Crown on account of its being the abode of the En Soph[40] the unmanifested infinite Being; but the first form by which he became known was the Memra or “word,” which is represented by the first three sephiroth, namely, Kether, “the Crown,” Chochma, “wisdom,” Binah, “understanding.”[41] To express it more clearly, the first three sephiroth comprise a Triune Entity, the verbalized spirit of God consisting of self-consciousness, wisdom and love which embodied the Word, “the heavenly man,” “the man on high,” (Ezekiel I, 26), the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalist, the Paradisical Adam of Genesis, the Christ of the Christians and the Buddha of the Buddhists.