The Son of God/Man, Holy Spirit, the Trinity and the Word have their origins in mystical Judaism.
Most people are aware of Christianity's Jewish origins, of course we know that Jesus himself was Jewish. However to most people, the concepts and terminology found in the New Testament seem uniquely Christian. The Holy Trinity, The Word (Logos), the idea of the Son of God, although not evident in traditional Judaism today, all have their origins in ancient Jewish mystical tradition. If so, this would be a strong indication that Jesus must have been familiar with the body of mystical knowledge, today known as Kabbalah.
For those unfamiliar with it, the Kabbalah is a vast and ancient set of Jewish mystical works. Although often highly obscure and complex, it contains a consistent underlying infrastructure, through which much of its obscure mystical may be better understood. Last time, we looked at the deeper meaning of the Holy Name YHVH, which contains the idea of the universal macrocosm and microcosm, and combines the masculine and feminine aspects of the Divine. It is this same infrastructure that can also be employed to gain a deeper understanding of the origin of the cardinal symbols of Christianity.
Known in Hebrew as Yehoshua Ha'Nozri, Jesus of Nazareth was an enigmatic figure, for whom evidence barely exists in the historical record. The story of his life has been carried down to us mainly by the Gospels. Of course this should certainly not suggest, as some have said, that he did not really exist. Nazareth was by all accounts neither a great nor influential place in the early first century AD. So it is possible that the name Ha'nozri, rather than denoting his place of birth, may pertain to his association with, and explicit respect for, Jewish mystical knowledge. The term Nazarene given to Jesus, is usually associated with the Christian followers of Jesus, and is mentioned in the New Testament several times (e.g. in Mark, Acts). In Hebrew, this normally transliterated form of Ha'nozri may also imply association with the Nazarites, who were an ancient informal group of people, starting with Samuel in the Old Testament, who had taken a vow of celibacy and abstained from alcohol and who dedicated their life to self purification. Although Jesus may also have been born in Nazareth, Ha'Nozri could just as well derive from the term Nazirite, meaning a person who has taken vows of abstinence, which itself comes from the words, na'zir (purify), and also na'zur in Aramaic, meaning separate.
At the time of Jesus, there were many distinct communities who chose to live apart from others and follow a spiritual life in Judea. Today we know these groups collectively as the 'Essenes' and many of these people would have been Nazirites. They are thought to have existed from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD and probably consisted of many independent groups of spiritual communities, who had in common the practice of abstinence, who eschewed alcohol and worldly pleasures and in some cases even marriage, (although celibacy was not the essential feature of Jewish spiritual life that it later became for Christians). The existence of Essene communities in Judea is reasonably well documented, (for example by Pliny, Philo and Josephus), and some believe that they were also the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many of them followed the ancient tradition of sacred mysticism. They all espoused an eschatological faith in the imminence of the Messiah and believed that those times were the last days before the end of the world. This was a very different tradition from mainstream Pharisaic Judaism that was practiced by the Priests in the Temple, about whom Jesus was often highly critical. Jesus himself almost certainly spent time studying and meditating with such communities, and in doing so, would likely have picked up the mystical significance of Jewish ideas such as the Lamb, (from the Passover sacrificial tradition), the Son of God/Man, Holy Spirit and the Trinity, from other unwritten mystical traditions. The Kabbalah was at that time an oral tradition and was not written down until well after Jesus's lifetime.
To understand the origin of the term - Holy Spirit, it will be useful to have read my last blog, in which is described the Holy Name - YHVH. In Hebrew, Holy Spirit is Ruach Hakodesh. Ruach, a feminine noun, is normally translated as 'spirit' but can also mean wind or breeze. It's name implies movement and may usefully be contrasted with the term Shechina, which is also a feminine term, but which denotes a static divine residual power that dwells in holy places: such as the Oron Kodesh, the 'ark', where the Torah is housed in the synagogue, and the Kotel, the Western wall of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. Both terms are associated with the second letter Heh of YHVH. It will be remembered that the first pair of letters, Yod and Heh, refer to the macrocosm (also later known in the Zohar as the Greater Countenance), which describes the ultimate, eternal nature of reality. The second pair of letters, Vav and Heh, refer to the microcosm, (known as the Lesser Countenance). The primordial microcosm is symbolised in Adam (ADOM KADMON - the Primordial Man), in the Book of Genesis. Here we see the origins of the Christian idea of the Son of Man and the Son of God. Although both terms occur frequently in the New Testament, Jesus often refers to himself as Son of Man, there is an important distinction in mystical tradition, where Son of Man has a different meaning to Son of God. The Son of Man will be very familiar from the Old Testament: (eg Ez iii, 1, where God addresses Ezekiel as Son of Man).
This becomes evident once the spiritual infrastructure of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life is understood. Son of Man (Beyn Adam), implies direct descent through the House of David, from Adam the primordial man. Son of God (Beyn Elohim), implies the evolved form of the microcosm, represented by the second pair of letters - Y+H in YHVH; where the Son (Vav) gains union with the Father through the Holy Spirit (second Heh of YHVH). In Kabbalistic tradition a Son of God is more normally associated with the Archangels, such as Michael and Gabriel. This description can however, also be given to a perfected or fully evolved human being, one who has attained the highest union of humankind (symbolised by the pair of letters, (VH) with God (YH). So by this means, the Sons (and Daughters) of Man become Sons (and Daughters) of God. The instrument for that union is in Jewish tradition described as the Bride of the Sabbath, that is the second Heh, paired with Vav, the Son of Man, which symbolises the feminine power of the Holy Spirit, and is also described as the Bride (Kalah) of the King or Bride of the Sabbath. It is the second Heh that enables the Divine union, the return of Vav, the Son of Man to the eternal Father Yod, thereby becoming a Son of God. The subtle significance of this would likely have been missed by the early Judeo-Christian followers of Jesus, who were probably not Nazarites. It would not however have been missed by the Essenes. Sadly however, the Essenes did not last for long enough after Jesus to have had much influence on Christianity.
The mobile, flowing energy of the Holy Spirit is perhaps the most important component in the potential for the Divine union of mankind with the divine source. It is also the most mysterious and incomprehensible of Christian symbols, as for the above reasons, the original meaning was lost once Jesus went. Paul, who can be considered as the founder of Christianity as we know it, almost certainly would not have had the background to have understood this. The only person in the New Testament, who is believed to have been associated with mystical knowledge is John the Baptist, who very likely associated with the Essenes, but had his own sect that practiced ritual baptism. The Christian baptism with water is almost certainly a remnant of an ancient Jewish ritual, and even today the purifying ritual bath (mikveh), remains a feature of life for ultra Orthodox Jews. Baptism, or ritual cleansing, (Heb. T'vilah), has some aspects in common with Jewish purification rites. John the Baptist (Heb. Yochanan Ham'tabil from the root T'vilah), used baptism to cleanse his disciples. John believed that his disciples would experience the blessing of the Holy Spirit in their lifetime, indeed he is said to have baptised Jesus himself and announced him as Messhiach (Messiah). Although John was to our knowledge the only one who practiced baptism, Mark and Luke all refer similarly to Jesus, by describing how they may baptise with water, but that they know of someone who will baptise in the spirit, (examples of this include: Mark i,8; Luke iii,16; John i,37). Unlike the other authors of the Gospels however, it seems that only John would have been fully aware of the symbolic significance of the meaning of 'baptism in the spirit'. The 'spirit' here is understood to be Ruach Hakodesh, the Holy Spirit.
The first verse of the Gospel of St John (John i:1) starts: "In the beginning was the Word". This refers to Gen i, 2, ''...and God said Let there be light". This is known as the primordial utterance (Heb, Maa'mara). John later says (John i,14): "...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us". This might seem strange to those unfamiliar with Kabbalah. In the first verse of John 1 is contained the description of Y +H of YHVH. The Zohar explains that it is the Father Y, the macrocosm who utters 'Let there be light'. In answer it is H who executes the command "...and there was light". Strangely in Hebrew, the word for God that occurs in Genesis 1, both for the utterance and its execution, is ELOHIM, who is normally associated with the Primordial Mother AIMA and represented by the first H in YHVH. No differentiation may be made between the Father and Primordial Mother at this stage. This is also highly redolent of Indian mystical yogic tradition, which holds that Parambrahma the ultimate Godhead does not manifest. He only expresses his desire and it is She, Adi Shakti (Primordial Mother) who responds. That why ELOHIM creates Heaven and Earth in Genesis 1, not the Father (EL or YAH). The very first verse of 8th Century Hindu mystic, Adi Shankaracharya's celebration of the Divine Mother, Saundarya Lahari, says, echoing earlier Puranic tradition:
Only when united with Shakti, can Lord Siva manifest,
Otherwise, that god cannot even move,
How then could one of little merit be able to bow to, or even praise,
One, such as You O Goddess, who is adored by the Gods Vishnu, Siva and Brahma.
Jewish tradition is neither as clear nor precise as that of India on this subject, but the Zohar does attempt to describe the mystical union from which the whole Creation ensued. The energies or rays described below, refer to the emanation of the ultimate, which is AIMA, the Primordial Mother. Here is a description of the Creation from the Zohar (Bereshith, Zohar I, 15a, Soncino Zohar, p63):
“At the outset, the decision (desire?) of the King made a tracing in the supernal effulgence, a lamp (light) of
scintillation and there issued within the impenetrable recesses of the mysterious limitless, a shapeless nucleus enclosed
in a ring, neither white nor black, nor red nor green nor of any colour at all. When He took measurements, he fashioned
colours to show within, and within the ‘lamp’ there issued a certain effluence from colours (which) were imprinted
below. The most mysterious Power enshrouded in the limitless clave, as it were, without cleaving to its void, remaining
wholly unknowable until in the force of the ‘strokes’(rays, energies?) there shone forth a supernal and mysterious
‘point’. Beyond that ‘point’ there is no knowable, and therefore it is called ‘Reshith’ (beginning), the creative utterance
which is the starting point of it all.”
According to Hindu tradition the highest God Sadashiva never manifests, so it is also with God almighty, Y of YHVH. The whole creation of the macrocosm can only manifest through Her (H), who in Hebrew is ELOHIM.
The manifestation in flesh of (V), the microcosm, is the descendant of ADAM KADMON - the Son of Man (Beyn Adam). The letter Vav represents the microcosm, the epitome of whom is humankind, and mankind's highest manifestation, according to John, was Jesus. He is the epitome of humankind, representing the fully evolved human being, who is born in full commune with his Father (Y), by means of the Holy Spirit (second H in YHVH). Hence a Son of Man may become a Son of God by means of the 'baptism of the spirit'. This union is ultimately represented by the four letters of the Holy Name, YHVH. The microcosm was therefore to be reunited with the macrocosm. The underlying message of Jesus seems very clear: that the divine union between humankind and God through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, was to be enjoyed by the whole of humanity, and only by that can we then receive ..'the peace of God that surpasses all understanding' (Phil: iv, 7).
The Trinity is another fundamental article of Christian faith, yet few Christians have any idea of its sacred Jewish significance. Jesus ensured that the idea of the triple aspect of the Godhead came down to Christianity, but not its ancient origins. To understand this we need to look at the Tree of Life. Those familiar with this structure will be aware that it is arranged on three pillars, and has ten fruits or emanations, known as Sephiroth which are arranged on seven levels. The Sephiroth may be understood as cardinal qualities of the macrocosm and consequentially of the microcosm. Here we are only concerned with the highest three emanations. According to the Zohar, these are: first, Kether (crown), representing the macrocosm, the eternal abode of Yod in eternal union with Heh (also AIMA or Elohim, the Divine Mother), the second Sephira, Chochma (wisdom), which is known to be the quality of the 'Son' and which although coming from the macrocosm, manifests in the universal microcosm. The third Sephira is Binah (understanding), which comes from Elohim, (first H in YHVH) on the macrocosm, but who also manifests as Holy Spirit, the flowing feminine power within the microcosm, that gives life and spiritual fulfillment. So from this we get:
1. Kether Y (+ H) = Father (although always in union with AIMA)
2. Chochma V = Son
3. Binah Second H = Earthly Mother, Holy Spirit
An understanding of this sacred knowledge can therefore can shed light on these otherwise mysterious symbols of Christianity. This is likely to have been how Jesus would have understood these ideas, which only later, through various councils, became fundamental articles of Christian faith. Our research into this subject has revealed how similar the root of all religions are, not how different. There are many such parallels as we have already seen, for example in Yogic Indian tradition. This has been already described in my past blogs, and is presented in much more detail in my book, 'The Seventh Day'.
Happy Diwali
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