February 5, 2012
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Gurdjieff in the Kabbalah
$Gurdjieff in the $Kabbalah
New Insight
I am reading a book called: "Total Kabbalah" and suddenly realised a correspondence between the diagram of the tree of life and the teachings of Gurdjieff which improves my understanding of the tree. Each sephira can be related to Gurdjieff's ellaboration of man:
Malkut is the physical body that interact with the physical world through the 5 senses that can be observed.
Yesod is the multiple "I"'s or various roles we play that act on impulses and is much asleep and operates almost like a machine without consciousness and choice but rather based on impulse which triggers learned patterns. This is the domain where we begin to observe ourselves and start the process of awakening. In Yesod we embrace subjective art and look at the world from a local perspective.
Hod is the intellect or thinking center of man which is interpreting and evaluating the sense experiences of man.
Nezach is the emotional center of man.
Tiferet is the central "I" or the observer which observes our actions, thoughts and emotions. When we are operating from multiple "I"'s , the physical, emotional and thinking centers operates out of balance and the one is doing the other's work. Tiferet is the point of self-remembering when the cental I begins to crystalise as our authentic self in touch with the divine.In Tiferet we come into contact with objective art and see the world from a more objective perspective.
Gevurah relates to the higer intellectual center, which can only be activated or accessed when the lower physical, emotional and thinking centers are operational. Gevurah is the awakening of consciousness
Hesod relates to the higher emotional center, which can only be activated or accessed when the lower physical, emotional and thinking centers are operational. Hesod is the awakening of conscience. When we refrain from expressing negative emotions in Nezach, Hesod is activated.
Keter, Hokhmah and Bina is essentially unchanged since it is beyond man's direct perception but the above correspondences elegantly explains Gurdjieff's view of man. I still need to ponder this model for its value....or if I find anything that does not make sense disregard the model. For now it is an interesting model to ponder.
Comments (2)
I always enjoy reading your posts. I always find what you write interesting and insightful, and you make me think. Thank you for sharing! I hope you have a beautiful day!
My tarot deck's book goes into Kabbalah quite a bit. Unfortunately, I have never really felt drawn to it those descriptions. Thankfully, they are not necessary to make use of the deck. When I do take the time to read those bits, though, it does seem to have an undeniable cohesiveness within my own perspectives - just a unique way of terming it. Same concepts as so many other systems, I'm not surprised to see it repeated in so many various symbologies.
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