Can't Answer without another plug for my book at www.groundingthelights.com

"I ambitiously launched a Kabbalah class at the local Unity Church designed around Gregg Braden’s book The God Code. In part so I could ensure there would be some focus to the summer seminar. But also because Braden’s premise is based in the system of Gematria which correlates traditional Hebrew letters to numerical equivalencies. Exploring his work would be a useful way to introduce the connections between letters and numbers that add depth and dimension to the interpretation and meanings of Hebrew words and to numbers alike. Although this began as a very scholarly approach I noticed over time that something unusual was going on inside me. I began to feel led towards certain information that continued to uncover more and more hidden meaning behind the texts I discussed in the class.

For example I turned my attention to illuminate the story of “Jacob’s Ladder” as I was familiar with it from Lawrence Kushner book God Was in this Place, But I, i Didn’t Know It. The book featured conversations between several well known Rabbis from centuries past discussing the meaning of the “Jacob’s Ladder” stories each using their own well known style of analysis. As I taught and discussed the story and rabbinical analyses little details of the tale started talking to me. My thesis was that the story revealed that Jacob anointed himself as a Son of God by discovering that the DNA in our body was a direct spiritual link and communication line to higher realms of consciousness.

Jacob fell asleep with his head on a stone pillow and dreamed that angels are going up and down a ladder. When he awakes he says “God was in this place and I, i, didn’t know it.” He then stands the stone pillow up pours oil over it and calls the place Beth El or “House of God.” The detail that stood out for me was the fact that the same letters make up the word stone and son. Only a change in the vowels would distinguish one word from the other which is another pillar within Kabbalah – similar root letters in a word carry similar meaning. I thought the ladder was a metaphor for the ladder-like structure of DNA, which anthropologist Jeremy Narby later described in his book DNA and The Origins of Knowledge. Through his intensive research on shamanic healing practices Narby has concluded that the recurring imagery of twining snakes, twisting ladders, or magical vines is directly related to shamanic access to the biologic nature of the world. Narby suggests that through disciplined and rigorous training shaman healers gain the ability to tap into the micro-consciousness of human and plant cells that ‘communicate’ answers and solutions to them in trance."

Everything I've written in this thread is mine. Yes I've read the all and if you check out my recommended reading list at the end of my book you can catch up :-) mysite.verizon.net/ressgrst...ights.pdf

What is the inspiration behind this thread if I may ask? Are you building to a point you want to make regarding whether Salvation is spiritual requirement or an invention of the Church?

My own point-of-view is that the type of Salvation conventionaly understood today is designed to disempower individuals and give that power to a church authority.

The type of Salvation I discuss below is in direct opposition to that type of manipulation. It is designed to reclaim one's spiritual authority by re-uniting the discarded parts. Jacob finds spirit in matter therefore we are already spiritual beings by design. There is no need to give up that authority to an external authority of any sort.

If we want to reintegrate our duality then we can use the Messianic force which transcends the duality and creates a triality if you will with a balanced center point - the middle pillar in Kabbalistic terms.

More from my book....

I propose that the ARI Tree - the one without the connections to Hod and Netzach be referred to as the Patriarchal Tree and the GRA Tree the one with the connections to Hod and Netzach be referred to as the Restored Tree or Kadmon Tree. The first Adam (Kadmon) was created male and female before The Fall. According to the text The Fall was a result of an impulse to acquire the knowledge of both good and evil in essence the knowledge and experience of all polarities. Our purpose then becomes to integrate the opposites to find wholeness once again but with the wisdom gained in the process.

The reconnection of Malchut to Hod and Netzach can only occur when the suppressed feminine within is reclaimed and reintegrated into the consciousness. This is reflected in the 5th Commandment to “Honor thy Father and thy Mother”; within as well as without. The 5th Commandment corresponds to the Sephirah Gevurah or judgment which is the first purely divine attribute in the Tree of Life above Tipheret. Separating truth from falsehood and fantasy from reality requires judgment or discernment. Tricky business.

We now move to the Sephirah of Chesed and the 4th Commandment of observing the Sabbath. Chesed means loving kindness or what I'd like to suggest: Rest-oration. So many levels of meaning when you break-up the word restoration. Wholeness is what restoration seeks as does the observance of the 7th day. This Sephirah is associated with Jupiter. Jupiter is recognized for its expansiveness and philosophical nature…..the idea of putting all the pieces together to grasp the big picture. There is a playful nature in this. The previous Sephirah Gevurah is indicative and Chesed is invitational. Whereas Gevurah is stingy withholding the benefit of the doubt, Chesed is all about faith. There is meaning in life and it's found in gratitude.

The Shabbat ritual seeks to endow the participant with a sense of the Messianic Age by creating a twenty-four hour space of sacred time. In Judaism lighting the two Shabbat candles symbolizes the marriage of the bride and bridegroom. Representing the union of Malchut and Kether from our Tree of Life. To welcome the bride we sing “Lecha Dodi” inviting the Shekinah to come to the wedding party from Malchut. Rabbi Luria the developer of the ARI or male Tree and his followers would sing this song parading to the synagogue dressed in white for the Sabbath services at sundown in Sfat, Israel.

There is wholyness about this ritual that invites everyone into the mood of gratitude and abundance. Abundance is represented by the double loaves/portions of bread and gratitude by the prayers to the King (Melach). Wine represents spirit as the bread represents sustenance and matter. We wash our hands and say a blessing to purify the temple of our bodies. Then we bless our children to acknowledge our love for them.

This environment reveals meaning. The number seven for the seventh day and Chesed share a gift for seeing into what's true. Silence is meditative and study is reflective. Transformation into wholeness is accomplished through ritual and reflection which helps us see what’s right in the world instead of chronically focusing on what is wrong.

Throughout history rabbis have suggested that lovemaking is at its best on this day. The act itself by virtue of the specialness of the day becomes bathed in the sacred time that's created. Under the beautiful circumstances of Shabbat, lovemaking can't help but be more satisfying than a common stress reliever type of encounter. As our hearts are much more open as a result of the ritual, the potential energy exchange can be almost magical. I could go on and on which is a danger of Chesed but another octave longs to begin.

We continue the cycle moving from Chesed to the next Sephirah Binah. To accomplish this we must cross the abyss of Da’at, which means knowledge. The word Binah itself means understanding. The Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden was called The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or Good and Bad. The Trees are organized and arranged so we can learn “to be like Gods” by going through the experience of duality. The first clue to this mystery is the expression to be like Gods in the plural sense. There are so many God names to contend with in the Hebrew including the name Elohiem which itself is plural. It’s no wonder the expression says Gods. The paradox though is that we are told there is only one God. In fact in the Shema prayer we state “The Lord is one.” The Rabbis explain that these God names are just aspects or facets of the one God.

The third commandment warns us not to take God’s name in vain. Here the text specifically speaks of God in the singular sense. In that case are we to refrain from taking the one particular name in vain or does this apply to any or all of the large stable of God names? And what in God’s name does vain mean anyway?

I was brought up to understand that taking God’s name in vain meant to not swear with his name in the expression such as God Damn it. This made sense until I discovered plenty of other nastier words and phrases that didn’t contain the word God at all.

The definition of vain that works here for this particular exercise is from Webster’s –

vain 1. Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying. ``Thy vain excuse.'' ... 2. Destitute of forge or efficacy; effecting no purpose; fruitless; ineffectual; as, vain toil; a vain attempt.
Webster’s Dictionary

When I look at these meanings or the lack of meaning they convey, I find all the Hebrew God names to be just that, lacking of substance. This is in direct contrast to the second commandment which asks us to basically keep the notion of God totally void of image. Why this schism?

In the Hebrew bible one particular God name is given the most prominence – YHVH which is the amalgamation of the letters yud-hey-vav-hey. The problem with these letters is that it is impossible to say this God name because no one knows how to pronounce it, with the supposed exception of the high priests who do so in private on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The name is unpronounceable because each letter can have its own sound or be silent within a word. I guess this would make the 3rd Commandment a “free pass” law since there is no way to break the rule. Since the names we use in place of this mysterious word are also empty and meaningless anyway Adonai or Hashem, how can you make them worse?

Of course you can go the way of the translators and make it Jehovah or Jave or Yavay, etc. but that’s just purely ignoring the Hebrew intent of keeping this name enigmatic. Yah is one variation used in Hebrew but only very rarely.

The other God name appearing over and over in the bible is Elohiem. Elohiem is given the distinction of being the Creator God but the form is plural. The God name El is the singular from of this name and is spelled aleph-lamed EL. This God name was discovered on ancient wall writings in pre-patriarchal sites around the world in a form of Hebrew known as the Negev script. It turns out the Hopi alphabet has the same number of letters as Hebrew and ancient Hopi inscriptions in this Negev script style have been discovered. The El name is also contained within variations of the pagan God names in the bible such as Baal.

The bible frequently alternates the use of Elohiem and YHVH interchangeably. In Hebrew prayers the name YHVH is replaced by Adonai which means the Lord. YHVH is granted the superior status over all the other Gods because he is “the Father.” This God name is associated with Chochmah, the next Sephirah up the tree. It only makes sense that if Chochmah is associated with the Father, then Binah must be associated with the Mother and indeed it is. Binah spelled bet nun hey connotes a container for creation or a womb. El is the God name associated with Binah although most often it’s shown in its plural form as it is in the Bible – Elohiem. Is El or Elohiem the God name that we are supposed to not take in vain?

The problem with El being the name commandment three refers to is that YHVH allows no other Gods to be above it. This is shown in the text. From a gematria standpoint though, YHVH adds up to 26 and EL adds up to 31. This gives more gematria weight to EL. With logic that only a higher intelligence could come up with, meshed with an extraordinary sense of humor, The God name El must be reduced by adding the values of the two digits together from 31 to 4. Now the name YHVH has greater gematria weight then El by 22 (26-4= 22) or the full span of the Hebrew aleph-bet from the first to the last letter. YHVH becomes the aleph and bet or the alpha and omega over EL.

This is all lovely games with numbers but if the Mother Binah and Father Chochmah were to unite and create a child who’s name is the combination of theirs’ or in other words the result of the equation understanding + wisdom = x, what would x be?

In the “God Code” chapter I demonstrate that the name of God’s first born when combining the 5 elements of DNA – earth (carbon), air (nitrogen), fire (hydrogen), water (oxygen) and phosphorus becomes LOVE. In Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic the word is Le or El Ohev or To LOVE.

In this exercise let’s just add up the letters using the funny logic above and we get 26+4 which is 30 equal to the gematria value of the letter lamed. L once again which has the esoteric meaning: aspiration: contemplation of the heart.

Lamed or a heart that understands knowledge. This speaks directly about the Tree of Life and the positions of the Sephirot. Binah is the true creator Mother, nature, the womb of our being. She is associated with Saturn the planet that rules matter the solidifying force. Saturn is also known as the light bearer, the task master that contrives our life lessons. In the “God Code” chapter I’ve shown phosphorus to be a key ingredient of our DNA. Phosphorus also literally means “light bearer” and is associated with the “morning star.” Ironically phosphorus is found in military flares which the Phoenix Lights were painted out to be by the military.

The third commandment tells us that the name of God, the true name of God is anything but empty when revealed to the diligent student. Whether its love, to love, a heart that understands knowledge or EL-YHVH, the incredible depth of this undertaking – understanding – is undeniable. The album cover image from Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” visually demonstrates the relationship from Chochmah to Binah and its crossover the abyss of Da’at. Chochmah sends the pure white light to Binah the prism where its spectrum is divided up into the rays/tones of creation.

Chochmah means wisdom which implies that creation is infused with a divine intelligence or a plan that unfolds in its own way. I say unfolds in its own way because the planet Saturn ruler of time as we know it rests in Binah therefore Chochmah is beyond time and beyond our material understanding (Binah).

The Sephirah Chochmah is associated with the entire 12 houses of the Zodiac. The number 12 is directly related to the 12 tribes and the 12 signs of the Great Wheel. Christians might say that this is also representative of the 12 apostles.

The Son is born from the marriage of wisdom and understanding – Chochmah and Binah – El and YHVH – Love. The name David means beloved and King David is associated with Malchut which aspires to unite with Kether – the crown.

The 2nd Commandment chastises us to “have no other Gods before me” and not to “make for yourself an idol.” The essence of this commandment is reflected in the dynamic nature of this Sephirah in how it separates and unites Gods and names keeping an inherent mystery alive concerning the nature of our universe. There is no way to capture just a portion of this dynamic divine force apart from itself nor is there any way to put another force before it. The prohibition of idolatry ultimately diffuses YHVH into All That Is.

Finally the upper most Sephirah is Kether. The 1st Commandment is more of a declaration – I AM your Lord your God that delivered you out of Egypt. The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim which means “narrow place.” The narrow place referred to is the very bottom of the Tree of Life prior to free physical existence and the very top of the Tree prior to conscious existence. This is a statement of beingness and ultimate power, responsibility and obligation. Kether means crown. This is the crowning of the prince within his kingdom as the ultimate goal of the Knight’s quest to marry Malchut the kingdom with Kether the crown. This is what the Sabbath is supposed to teach us. We are to realize that there is a “greater work” than our day to day tasks to get through the world. Our quest for Wholyness is not in vain and we do not have to put it into any kind of framework or cast it into any kind of preconceived notion. All we need to do is to simply realize ourselves – our “I Am-ness.” When the “I am” of the crown (Kether) meets the “I am” of the Kingdom (Malchut) then we can say “I am that I am” or “Ayeh Asher Ayeh” which was the name told to Moses on Sinai by “the presence” of the burning bush.

The crown placed on the Adam Kadmon may now be understood as the realized Davidic “Love” Consciousness or known otherwise as the realized Christ, Buddha, or Krishna Consciousness. It is the marriage of the yin and yang and the connection point of heaven and earth.