Seeing as how Qabalah is mentioned in this forum's description, are there any qabalists here or anyone who at least "dabbles" in it. I'd fall more into the latter, but my dabbling is probably more than Lindsay Lohan or any other celebrity/person who's started this just because it's been a fad recently.

From what I've done with Qabalah, mainly just gematria/numerology, it has been pretty eye-opening. But at the same time it's very difficult to rationalize, mainly because they are mystical/magical teachings based on a religion that teaches against magical practices, the ways of the Egyptians and pagans, and yet Qabalists claim to have a stronger unity with the divine source. And yeah yeah, the bible forbids a lot of things... that's my point. I see qabalah as more of an opening, whereas the tanakh a closing, it talks about laws, the qabalah talks about freedom. Just an analogy. How do you rationalize the two?

And another question, which has more to do with the tanakh, but I figure people studying qabalah would have an open enough mind to ponder this rationally - what of Abraham's first child, given to him by a servant not Sarah, who then went on to the East. HaShem speaks to Hagar, the servant who bore Abraham's first son, in genesis about her son to Abraham, "and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."(Gen16.12) This passage is frequently translated as "toward/against" but the actual meaning is the east. So in other words, Ishmael and Hagar went to the east of Israel, which could be thought of as Arabia, Iraq, Iran... even as far as India. Why, for example, do some Indians have the infamous semitic nose? And what is Hinduism if but a combination of pagan (like the Egyptians, Hagar's side) and monotheistic (like the Hebrews, Abraham's side) elements? Gen16.10 "And the angel of the LORD(HaShem) said unto her: 'I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude." India numbers almost a billion and has long been known for housing many people, too many to count, not just people, but peoples as well. Anyone picked up on this?


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Quoting a smart person will only make you appear smart. - Me

The thing about the more secretive aspects of most religions is this, IMHO; Religions in general have similarities pointing back to something primal that we encountered as a species during our emergence. The image of the 10 sephirot in qabalah merely points one to the idea of a world tree or axis mundi, which is the path between worlds that all things touch. If one looks back far enough, to the level of the tribe, we see where religion itself emerged, and where the original thoughts were corrupted by the will of men.

Some religions that have survived into these times contain some original elements of the first shaman, and his first song. And the dance of our peoples throughout history points the way back to our origins.

I mean honestly, I don't understand how one can view the almost unquestionable age of this species and consider anything that appeared as recently as 4-2k years ago as the One Correct Truth. Wouldn't you think that we developed contacts with what we'd call paranormal forces much farther back? Everything we cherish is practically brand new and utterly rejects the call of our most distant ancestors.

edited; Just my opinion, of course. No offense meant towards anyone who does consider their path the right one for them.



Last edited by Daemios on Sun Sep 07, 2008 12:54 am; edited 3 times in total

Actually I do believe people came far before 2-4k years ago. That's the thing about the bible: from the get go it's obvious that genesis is very metaphorical in its nature, which leaves the impression that the rest of the book is as well. Nonetheless, what is the mystic qabalist to do when he comes across passages that prohibit magic/mysticism?

So are you saying then that shamanism is above mysticism and religion? Not that I'd be against that idea..


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Quoting a smart person will only make you appear smart. - Me

Not above. Or more correct. You have to find your own path, brother. I merely wanted to mention what I have found. It fits me, but not necessarily others, you know? See, with me, I didn't have to choose this path. It found me. When you find that one thing that makes everything click together it won't matter if it's by prayer to Jesus or sacrifices to Shiva.

Just remember that there are many possibilities, and regardless of what I or anyone else says, it is you who has to accept what you are, and what you will be. If qabalah seems right to you, dive into it. I'm no expert on it though. Nor on shamanism for that matter, but we do what we must. Something told me to write that, so I did, and here we are.

All I know for sure is that finding my path after so many years following the path I was taught to follow as a tiny child has been one of the hardest things I have done in my life. Sorting out which myth I want to follow now is very difficult since I do not read volumes of material on different subjects.

I think anyone who is exploring their direction is in for a real ride, and I wish them the utmost success. As far as which path is the best one, I think that has to come from within the individual.

dolphin


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per ardua ad astra

Daemios wrote:

I mean honestly, I don't understand how one can view the almost unquestionable age of this species and consider anything that appeared as recently as 4-2k years ago as the One Correct Truth. Wouldn't you think that we developed contacts with what we'd call paranormal forces much farther back? Everything we cherish is practically brand new and utterly rejects the call of our most distant ancestors.

Great post Daemios.

Qabalah is something I'd like to learn about, does anyone know of a good page or web-site that will explain this stuff to a dummy like me??

Juno54 wrote:

Qabalah is something I'd like to learn about, does anyone know of a good page or web-site that will explain this stuff to a dummy like me??

It's really not as easy as the media has making it seem, you can't just put a red string around your arm and start calling yourself a kabbalist. If you're serious then you start learning Hebrew and Aramaic and study the torah alongside the zohar, there's also the bahir and the sefer yetzirah. But, if you're still just curious, there are organizations that provide a little background about the kabbalah. The Kabbalah Centre International (kabbalah.com) seems a lot more liberal, you can try their site for information, but I think it's commercial crap. B'nei Baruch (kabbalah.info) is a much better organization, offering free online courses; they also make a newsletter called KabbalahToday... these articles are very strange and sometimes make me think they know something is going to happen that the masses don't know.