The Kabbalah Key To The Two Levels Of Reality

“...in all religions, heaven is the realization of perfect beauty...” Paul Poster Case,

We live in two worlds, though only a few are aware of being in both.  Most are almost exclusively aware of the visible material world, represented by Sphere 10, named Malkuth, on the Kabbalah Tree of Life, where things go wrong, everything spins out of control, and all is lost sooner rather than later.  

Few live with awakened consciousness in what we can call the Heavenly Kingdom (represented by the other 9 Spheres on the Kabbalah Tree).  This is the invisible Dimension that gives birth to the visible universe and maintains its perfectly balanced, beautiful and harmonious structure, function and order.  Nothing goes wrong in the Heavenly Kingdom.  The invisible structure-function-order is always giving birth to a new, infinite, all-inclusive system of perfect balance, harmony and beauty.

Kabbalah teaches that the higher world (the inner, the heavenly) rules the lower world (the outer, the physical).  This means that the Heavenly Kingdom rules the earth plane.  But how can that be, when the two seem like polar opposites?  The Heavenly Kingdom constantly and eternally re-produces perfection, while on the earthly plane there is always “a fly in the ointment”.  No matter how much you acquire in the material world, it is never enough to make you feel lastingly safe and satisfied.  And yet, the Heavenly Kingdom that rules the earthly world provides perfect safety and abundance always.  

The Heavenly Kingdom is the invisible manifestation of God’s Perfect Love, while in the earthly kingdom the God of Love seems absent as people grow old, get sick and die, leaving loved ones to grieve; as people work hard and often come up empty, or become tragically corrupted by the spoils they acquire.  Everyone in the earthly world, except the enlightened few, feel worried all the time, and they should, because what they put their faith in cannot last.

Kabbalah’s Tree of Life diagram portrays the relationship between the lower and the higher worlds by placing the lowest Sphere on the Tree, Malkuth, at the base of the diagram.  The 9 Spheres above represent the structure-function-order of the Heavenly Kingdom, the invisible process that produces Malkuth, the physical dimension that we perceive through our five physical senses.  Malkuth is the farthest removed from the uppermost Sphere, named Kether, which represents the origin of the Heavenly Kingdom.  Kabbalah teaches that the Heavenly Kingdom itself is a manifestation or creation of a dimension above it, known in Hebrew as Ain Soph Aur or Limitless Light.  This highest dimension represents the abode of the Pure Divine Essence that is beyond name, beyond number, beyond all comprehension.

Ain Soph Aur fills creation at the level of essence, meaning that it abides in both the Heavenly Kingdom and throughout the earth plane.  It is essentially all there is.  While we experience changing forms at our level of earthly consciousness, nothing changes, all is unchanging limitless Divine Light, though we do not register it with our physical senses.

What we can register is the pattern of change in our lives.  We can also develop our inner, spiritual senses to register the unchanging Heavenly Nature of existence.  While worldly conditions come and go, we can discern an unchanging pattern directing the change that reveals the Heavenly Nature of physical reality.  We can appreciate the limitless grandeur of the universe.  We can witness that the greatest calamities or catastrophes in our life being followed by the greatest triumphs and blessings.  We can see all chaotic conditions ultimately give way to conditions of higher order, beauty, balance and harmony than existed before.  We can see that periods of loss are followed by periods of gain and lack is replaced by abundance.

We suffer emotionally when we react to what is happening without seeing it in its Heavenly context.  Here, in a nutshell, is that context, as portrayed by the pattern of the Kabbalah Tree of Life.

Sphere 1, as has been said, represents the origin of the Heavenly Kingdom of Infinite and Eternal Divine Perfection.  It is here that Ain Soph Aur constricts into a state of specific structure-function-order.  The essence of Divine Perfection spreads throughout creation from this point, where the Divine Intention for all to be takes place.  Whatever you are going through on the earth plane, however hard or difficult it may seem, it is essentially the Limitless Light of Pure and Perfect Divine Being.  If you take your attention off of the apparent tragedy or mishap occurring to you, and open your mind and heart with trust in the Infinite Light of the Divine Presence, you begin to experience the Heavenly Kingdom and find healing and the recovery of your trust and joy.

This Sphere also indicates that in any situation the Perfect Will of the Divine is at work.  You can learn to contact this Will as your guide through any situation.  It requires a complete settling down of all emotional reaction and desire and dwelling in a state of clear and calm mental stillness.  Then direct your attention to the innermost core of your being on a feeling level, with a willingness to surrender your preconceived notions and biases regarding what you should do.  This is a receptive state of prayer, in which you are prayerfully listening rather than speaking to God.

The 2nd Sphere on the Tree is named Chockmah, which translates from the Hebrew to mean Wisdom.  It indicates that whatever is happening in your life is a product of the Perfect Wisdom of Divine Love.  A higher purpose is always being served, one that balances out any pain and suffering you may be going through to fill your life with abundant blessings that more than compensate.  

Perfect Heavenly Wisdom pervades existence and you as a human being have the capacity for contacting it.  If you look for the higher purpose being served by what happens, you will find it.  If you surrender your automatic reaction patterns and beliefs, you can follow the inner guidance of higher Wisdom into harmonious outcomes and experiences that are glorious beyond your imagining.

Sphere 3 on the Tree is named Binah, which means Understanding.  It represents the Perfect Understanding that recognizes your every genuine want and need and designs the universe to more than meet and satisfy them.  You never have to worry about your needs being met.  The universe is always in the process of meeting them.  You just have to learn how to trust and go with the flow of life to see the universe handling everything perfectly for you.

You can awaken to the Understanding of how life is always working for you, but there is a cost.  You have to be willing to sacrifice your current ideas and beliefs that tell you anything can be wrong or go wrong.  You need to be willing to live in the “mind of unknowing”, a state of consciousness Socrates worked on leading others into in the great Dialogues of Plato.  Socrates’ great advantage over the sages of his day was that he knew that he did not know, while they lived in the illusion of believing that they knew the truth.  As you learn to embrace uncertainty and stop trying to figure things out, the perfect way that your life is working will become increasingly evident to you.

The 4th Sphere on the Kabbalah Tree of Life Diagram is named Chessed, which translates to mean Mercy.  It represents the Mercy of the Heavenly Kingdom that sees to it that everything that occurs is perfectly benevolent and beneficent. Divine Love is in charge, and Divine Love loves you.  All that you can ever want and need is given.  You don’t have to work hard, sacrifice your joy and harden your heart to make ends meet.  You just have to trust that you are always going to be perfectly taken care of and you will find the truth of that demonstrated by your circumstances.  This trust needs to be upheld in the most difficult of times, though, to experience its richest fruition.  By remembering that you actually live in Heaven, which is all about the expansion of your joy, even when conditions seem dire, trust that no real threat to your true being exists.  

We cultivate our conscious relationship with Divine Mercy by counting on Grace, not control, to handle every challenge. Relate to all events and beings with grace.   Whatever happens, relate to fear as based on imagination.  Even if you don’t understand the higher purpose being served by, say, being stuck at a red light when you are running late for an appointment, be willing to trust in that purpose and release your resistance to and negative judgment about what is happening.  Relate kindly and compassionately toward everyone, including your apparent attackers. Remind yourself that whatever is done is done in the context of the infinite Heavenly System that creates and controls all.  No person can block the Heavenly structure-function-order always at work, but you can block your perception from appreciating that Heavenly level by focusing exclusively on the event at hand, viewing it outside of its Heavenly context.

Sphere 5 on The Tree is named Gevurah, which means Justice.  This Heavenly Attribute of existence tells us that any appearance of injustice is short-lived and essentially illusory.  Everything balances out in the end.  We receive what we send out to alert us to the course correction we need to employ for a higher, Heavenly experience of life.  We ultimate get what we deserve, and that is ultimately nothing but a form of Perfect Divine Love, even when there is temporary pain involved.  Gevurah is the Heavenly quality that sets limits on giving and receiving.  What you do not have, let go of.  What you have that is departing, let go of.  You don’t need more of anything or of anyone than you receive in the present moment.

We attune to the Perfect Justice of the universe by first trusting in it.  When we judge a situation or an event as “wrong” we are experiencing our negative judgment, not what is actually happening.  Surrendering all negative judgment that sees any individual or event as wrong, unjust, inferior or inadequate frees us from the blinders that prevent our seeing and enjoying the perfect Heavenly Nature of whatever happens.  We further our attunement to Perfect Justice by recognizing when we need to set limits in order to maintain balance and harmony.

Sphere 6 on the Kabbalah Tree of Life is named Tiphareth, which means Beauty.  The universe is a “thing” of infinite beauty, a product of the invisible matrix of Infinite Power, Intelligence and Love that creates all conditions.  Beauty is, essentially, what the universe is and what the heavenly matrix that creates and re-creates the universe essentially does.  The invisible Heavenly Matrix is making Infinite Beauty out of your life, out of your circumstances, out of you.  The Sphere of Beauty occupies the central place on The Tree, meaning that it functions as the centralizing aspect of your life.  All conditions are moving into a state of Perfect Harmony and Beauty.  You don’t have to do anything to make this happen.  Just follow the cues of the universe by remaining centered in your heart and by following the feeling of going with the flow, trusting in the Infinitely Beautiful, Harmonious outcome that is always destined.

We become conscious, deliberate co-creators with Beauty when we allow ourselves to live in it, and to be guided by it.  When you experience Beauty through, say, a glimpse of a magnificent wonder of nature, the Beauty you experience is internal.  The outer scene triggers an inner condition that you allow yourself to experience.  The Beauty of the universe is ever-present, and you can open your heart to it right now.  Allow yourself to live in Beauty and Beauty is where you live.  Choose thoughts that are beautiful, feelings that are beautiful, ways of speaking that are beautiful, ways of acting that are beautiful.  You have the innate capacity for recognizing, appreciating and following the guidance emanating from this central attribute of Heavenly Perfection.

Sphere 7 On The Tree is named Netzach, which is translated to mean Victory.  In Heaven, Victory is all that happens.  Defeat and failure are nonexistent.  There are no real dangers, no mistakes, no mishaps.  God’s Perfect Purpose is always served, God’s Love always advanced.  All we do is rise on the wings of love, into expanding joy, forever and ever.  This is, essentially, the path you are on right now.  Disappointment is based on illusions of the mind that falsely interprets physical appearances.  When you cannot have your way, it is because that way is not actually for you.  Let it go and allow the triumphant nature of what is happening to unfold.  The truth is that in this Heavenly Kingdom you always have your way, you are always free to romp and play “in the fields of the Lord”.

To experience your ever-present Victory, live in it.  You can do this by imagining how you would feel if you knew that your TOTAL Victory is always assured, that the fulfillment of your deepest desires is what the universe is really always about.  Your desires give direction to the universe, just as a child’s wants would direct an all-powerful, infinitely loving mother and father to do everything necessary for their child’s constant joy of feeling totally loved.  You can “rest assured” in the Infinitely Loving Victory that defines your eternal life.

Sphere number 8 on Kabbalah’s Tree of Life is named Hod, which means Glory.  All that happens is a Glorification of God’s Perfect Love, of the Perfectly Loving Nature of the invisible Heavenly matrix or structure-function-order that gives birth to the universe.  Nothing but Perfection exists.  Nothing but Perfection ever happens.  Perfection is inscribed in your heart with the feeling of boundless love and beauty.  To know what is really happening is to be filled with overwhelming gratitude.

To open your consciousness to experience the Glory of the moment, relax your focus on the mundane matters of the world before you.  Expand your perspective by contemplating the Glory of the cosmic grandeur that is the context for whatever is happening.  Open your heart to the Love of Perfect Heavenly Existence.  You can conceive of Heaven, of an all-fulfilling state of eternal being, if you allow the joy of it to permeate your heart and guide your imagination.  As you learn to accept and trust in the reality of Heaven’s authority over your life, your consciousness reflects it like a still pond reflects the light of the bright noonday sun.

The 9th Sphere On The Tree is named Yesod, which means Foundation.  This Sphere represents the Eternal Providence of Heavenly Existence.  Heaven would not be truly Perfect if it came to an end or ever became redundant.  Absolute, Infinite Love and Joy forever expanding is the gift to you of Heaven above.  When you respond to events with sadness, disappointment or disdain you are reacting to a misinterpretation of a transitory appearance of a Permanent Reality that is always present.  The physical universe is constantly changing, but the invisible Heavenly matrix that gives birth to it is a permanently established process of Infinite Love.

Patience and trust are keys that open consciousness to the Eternal Heavenly Framework of creation that always perfectly supports you and provides for you in every way.  There is no need to rush in anything.  On the earth level, it is only a matter of time before the Heavenly Perfection of the universe makes all apparent wrongs truly right.  You can always count on the universe to solve your problems, achieve your goals, satisfy your wants and needs in ways that feel so miraculous you want to fall on your knees to weep in thanks giving.

The Sphere that occupies the base of the Tree of Life is numbered 10 and named Malkuth, as we have alluded to above.  Its name translates to mean “Making”, referring to a craftsman’s act of making a physical object.  It refers to the physical dimension “made” by the Heavenly matrix, the outermost projection of the Heavenly System that creates and guides all that is from within and above.

The “problem” or challenge with incarnating into the earth plane is that it appears to be the all-in-all.  Until our inner, spiritual senses have adequately awakened, we take it out of its Heavenly context.  Being so far removed from the highest Heavenly plane or dimension, represented by Sphere 1 on the Tree, the Heavenly process that produces our physical world seems absent.  Being aware only of the dimension of time, unaware of our Eternal Heavenly Source, we have to wait and see how the Heavenly structure-function-order plays out on earth.  In the meantime, though, we can open our heart to feel the larger cosmic or Heavenly context of our present moment existence and experience the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Malkuth, the earthly kingdom, is an outer reflection or projection of our internal state of consciousness.  This means that the more we live in awareness of the Heavenly Kingdom, the more Heavenly miracles manifest in our lives.  Our task here is to live in Heavenly Consciousness, to be “in the world and not of it”.  As we do this, our inner life is enriched by joy as our outer life demonstrates more Heavenly conditions by grace.

Challenges must continue as long as we abide in our physical body, but those challenges are more easily met as we deliberately abide in the Heavenly Consciousness that manifests Perfection.

On the earthly level, everything that comes must go.  But what passes is replaced by another perfect system of order and beauty.  You can destroy every planet in the universe, but the invisible structure-function-order of the Heavenly Kingdom will recreate the infinite order and beauty of a new universe.  This is what the Christ meant when he said “You can destroy this temple, but I will build it up again in three days.”   

In this transitory earth plane you cannot keep what you have.  All will be lost.  And then, all will be replaced by another life of infinite order, balance and beauty.  As you learn how to live in expanded states of joy your life, the universe, will manifest in forms more magnificent, blessed and sacred to you.

As we learn to entrust ourselves to the Heavenly Kingdom, to the Perfect Divine Love that rules creation, we find our lives growing easier, richer and more fruitful in every way.  We no longer panic about anything, surrendering to the Heavenly structure-function-order that is in charge, that is always destroying one form of the universe in order to create a new, even more glorious universe of infinite order and beauty.  Contemplating the Kabblah Tree of Life diagram, with reference to its Heavenly meanings, can facilitate your cultivation of this trust.

The Heavenly forces of the Tree of Life work in your life all the time, solving every problem, replacing every lack with abundance, healing you of every ailment.  On the earth plane it is just a matter of time before the great turn around in your life.  As Isidore Friedman used to say, “Patience is trusting in the time things take.”  Live more and more in the Heavenly Kingdom to develop perfect trust the Divine Timing.  Your life is in Heavenly Hands.