Witness Consciousness

Tiferet can be like a beautiful flower of consciousness
opening in the depths of our being.

In our penultimate session, on 29th June 2011, we considered the third and fourth Halls of Kabbalah and focussed especially on that central sefirah on the Tree of Life, Tiferet. In meditation we tried to glimpse something of the deeper Self which lies behind the shifting flow of thoughts, feeling and sensations that inform our personality. Through the practice of meditation we can learn to mindfully observe the mirror of the ego, which reflects the light of consciousness through ever changing forms just as the moon reflects the light of the sun. This Tiferet or witness consciousness is what we students of Kabbalah constantly aspire to, in daily life as in meditation.

A biblical motif for this deeper Self is the 'small still voice'. Place your hand on your heart, close your eyes and listen within. Beneath the busy surface waters of the mind, there are deeper and stiller reaches of your being. In these depths lies a small, still voice that can bring perspective and wisdom to any situation in daily life, if we can but learn to listen to it...

Here is a biblical quote from 1 Kings 19 of a Tiferet moment in the life of the prophet Elijah:

The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

   Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

   

A coat of many colours

In Session 4 on June 15th 2011, we took the next step in our journey through the Seven Halls of Kabbalah and focussed on the second sefirah of Yesod. We related this to the personality level of our being and tried to acknowledge its beauties, as well as its limitations. Here is an excerpt from our notes for this session:

"In Kabbalah the ego is sometimes represented by the biblical character of Joseph with his coat of many colours and I’ve found this image helpful. Joseph is someone who passes through loss and pain and suffering to become a creative and effective personality, able to use his gifts and talents to both improve his own life and that of others. The ‘coat of many colours’ is a fine metaphor for this psychological outer layer of our being and expresses well, I feel, that our personality can be both a unique and beautiful creation and yet is also only an outer surface that we wear for a while over the deeper, eternal aspects of being. Having watched a beloved family member die of Alzheimer’s at a relatively young age, I’ve come to feel that a healthy and robust ego is something to celebrate and be grateful for, while also recognising that it is not all that we are.

Yesod is sometimes described as the ‘non luminous mirror’ and can also be imagined like a pool of water. When you look at the Tree of the Psyche, you can see how around this mirror or pool are arranged a great triad of the sefirot of Malkhut, Hod and Nezah, which at this psychological level we can imagine simply as representing physical sensations, thoughts and feelings. We can experience this when we focus awareness within ourselves, which can be like looking into a pool or mirror in which we see the endless play of sensations, thoughts and feelings that make up our moment to moment sense of self.

Sometimes the pool is calm and clear, sometimes muddy and disturbed and usually we are completely and fairly unconsciously focused upon it and identified with what we see within it. Like the Queen in Snow White, we look into the mirror of ourselves and are preoccupied with how we and the things reflected around us appear....and at our most basic we want to look good and be in control!

But the mirror, of course, shows only what we present to it, what we want to see and show to others. In this sense the ego is a mask, behind which, pushed into the shadow of unconsciousness are all the aspects of the psyche which we have learnt to hide. This is unique to each of us. ‘Anger’ for example may be a vital colour in the ego coat of a gang member but is generally pushed into the shadow of a woman priest! The content is not the issue...it’s just as important to be conscious of anger as it is of compassion. Awakening is not a process of crafting a nice ‘spiritual ego’...it’s about becoming aware of the full range of what it means to be human, to be alive and to have a real capacity for conscious choice...for the times when anger is actually the more skilful response than compassion for example.

Mythic and ‘fairy’ tales are a wonderful source of psychological insight. Just as Snow White and her dark step mother show dark and light aspects of the self, so similarly do the characters of Beauty and the Beast. In this latter story we see how the bright self is able to move through its fears of its hidden side, into a loving relationship with that which is wounded and shadowed within. 

But our folk teaching stories also show us something about the limitations of the ego and its need at times for death and transformation. With honesty we each become aware at times of inner and outer patterns that don’t well serve us or those around us and that we need to change, restrain or, like that dark queen, simply put an end to. There are also times in life when it seems we are reminded that our coat of many

colours is just a temporary creation and that while it’s good to appreciate it, it’s also good not to get too attached! Losses, redundancies and other unexpected changes remind us that our identities are impermanent and we need at times to let them die and be reborn in new forms. What appears ‘beautiful’ is sometimes simply familiar, while the ‘beastly’ is sometimes simply a new stage of self that we haven’t got to know yet!

Starting to more consciously observe the mirror of ourselves and to recognise, appreciate and constructively use and lose our masks, coats or bright selves is part of the work of the second Hall. With time and the help of others we may also start to glimpse and embrace a wider range of self as we start to integrate shadow material, but this takes us further on the path of awakening and towards the third and fourth Halls, which we will touch on more in the next session.

Earthy Kabbalah

Summer roses in the Vicarage garden.

On 1st June 2011, we gathered for our third meeting of the Introduction to Kabbalah Course. Having previously looked at an overview of the Kabbalistic scheme and the journey of Creation, we now began to explore a conscious return to our Divine Source. Kabbalists sometimes call this the Work of the Chariot and in early Kabbalistic literature it was envisioned as a journey through seven Halls or Palaces.

I think this was one of my favourite sessions, as we focussed on the first Hall, sometimes equated with sefirah of Malkhut at the very base of the Tree of Life. For us this represented the sacred nature of the earth and of the physical and practical dimensions of daily life.

For meditation we settled into the body and brought awareness to the sensation of our breathing, which is a simple way to become more centered, calm and clear. Although it's not necessarily easy to stay gently focussed on body and breath as the endless play of thoughts and feelings draws our minds away. With practise however, we can learn to keep steadily returning to our chosen focus and thus build up concentration, which is helpful in everyday life as much as in meditation. Once grounded in an awareness of body and breath, we took a meditative walk into the garden. When the mind is quiet, it wonderful how we can realise that the natural world is full of Grace. The Holy One seems to speak to us in the rich colour of a leaf, the light on a flower or the delicacy of a feather in the grass. A curl of silver birch bark lies on the ground like a tiny Torah scroll, waiting to reveal its Mysteries. I think we all returned from this natural meditation feeling inspired and renewed. In the words of Josh, who joined us for the first time on that Wednesday evening...

"I thought I was coming to study, but instead rediscovered the beauty of the Garden of Kabbalah"