A good friend of mine shared these comments with me concerning the subjects of the Language of Branches and PaRDeS. They seemed relevant to this study and I have posted them with his permission.
“As this journey of Peshat to Sod (through secular studies) begins and continues (especially without the right teacher), the students seemingly approaches progressive levels of contradiction, confusion, weird concepts, weird symbols, etc. This may excite the fan of things unique, strange, and mysterious. They may develop a superiority complex by obtaining what they view as “secret knowledge” or “the truth behind the truth,” although they do not fully understand what they have gotten into. As well, it may discourage the humble seeker who is accustomed to viewing things from a literal perspective. The farther down the path from Peshat to Sod, the more foreign, dark, and seemingly evil the path appears. Also, there may be the humble seeker who is not deterred by things they don’t yet seem to understand. They continue down the path to Sod while maintaining a more open-minded approach, something closer to Remez but that ultimately relies upon Peshat at the end of the day. In their mind, they are “eating the meat and spitting out the bones.” However, this approach is very selective in nature and only provides successes where the student has carefully selected information that supports previous beliefs while disregarding any opposing information. This kind of student will continue to think that they “get it”, and that so-called esoteric traditions support the legitimacy of their particular school of thought. The kind of students mentioned earlier, will either fully embrace things they deem weird, dark, mysterious, seemingly evil, or they will reject it. However, all three types of students have taken the wrong path.
“Peshat to Sod is the wrong approach, because from that direction, Sod will never fully be reconciled to Peshat. Some students will pretend that they agree with things they don’t understand and build their lifestyle around a lie. Others will flat out reject everything that is not literal, tangible, and capable of being understood by the most skeptical secular mind. Some will feel comfortable and seemingly uplifted by using select aspects of the deeper levels to support their previous Peshat beliefs. Peshat to Sod in no way prepares the student to fully benefit from any of these levels of study; not even Peshat.
“ “A wise disciple is a person who wishes to learn from the Creator Himself” (Rav Michael Laitman, The Path of Kabbalah, p. 260).
“ “Therefore, the Kabbalists said, and we also find it in the prayer book of the Vilna Gaon (GRA), that the order of attainment of the Torah begins with the concealed and ends with the revealed. This means that through the appropriate labor, where one first delves into the Torah of the hidden, he is thus granted the revealed Torah, the literal. Thus, one begins with the concealed, called Sod (secret), and when he is rewarded, he ends in the literal [Peshat]” (Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 103).
“The correct path is always Sod. Sod is actually the only true path. It is not a secular path and cannot be approached from that perspective. Unfortunately there are many books and teachers that would have you believe that God, or what they term the “Governing Force of the Universe,” can be studied and understood from a secular perspective. Since the uninspired masses typically approach life from a Peshat perspective, Holy men have usually always explained their understandings in a Peshat to Sod manner, although that is not how they have obtained their understanding. Seemingly it is easier to help the Peshat-minded individual to accept generalized Holy teachings if it is watered-down to their Peshat language. However, Sod is the only truth. Peshat, Remez, Derash are simply ways of attempting to explain Sod, and not meant to be an end in and of themselves. In fact, Peshat, Remez, and Derash methodologies were not created and taught to help the student reach Sod, but to help the Sod student explain and document their Sod experiences. If the Peshat-minded person will not take the Sod approach, they can never eternally benefit from the information and processes that they are involved in. Documents written by Holy men are communicated in a particular way. They are written in a way to help other Sod students recognize their Sod experiences as they read the text; they become the multi-layered language of Sod. Although such documents usually end up being somewhat of a spiritual psychoanalytic progression schematic sheet, they cannot be studied of themselves in a way to move the non-Sod student to Sod understanding and being. Unlike the contradictory conclusions that result from a Peshat to Sod approach, we will see that Sod to Peshat approach never contradict each other when built upon Sod. In fact, all truths contained therein perfectly fit together and combine to support God who is their origin.
“To further explain, the right approach to esoteric methods, teaching, symbolism, and such, we will review some teachings on the Language of Branches—the language of Sod.
“ “Baal HaSulam [Yehuda Leib HaLevi Ashlag] writes about Kabbalah that it is a method for, “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world” (The Revelation of Godliness)” (Rav Michael Laitman, The Path of Kabbalah, p. 263).
“ “All those who attained the Light of the Creator through their work wanted all those succeeding them to enjoy what they had already discovered, as well. Therefore, they named each and every attainment so they would be able to understand their intentions and the attainments that they attained, and thus form a common language with each other” (Rabash, “Letter no. 19”).
“Thus the Language of Branches is a language using the names of people, places, and events to actually describe personal spiritual experience as one progresses in their knowledge of and adhesion with God.
Remember, that as the student begins to learn God from God, they also begin to learn of their own eternal past, present, and future as all things become reconciled into one.
“Similarly the Zohar uses the Language of Branches to comment on the individual’s adhesion experience with God, and is not a secular or doctrinal commentary on the Bible. It cannot be analyzed in a Peshat to Sod direction and make any sense as a collective work.” (Yosef)
I will be adding some further discussion on the subject soon, with supporting LDS quotes. I look forward to getting into the actual Book of Mormon text study shortly.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, December 6, 2010
What is a Study in the Language of Branches as it pertains to Scripture Study?
In reference to his method of scripture study, the prophet Nephi said, “I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning” (1 Nephi 19:23).
The Language of Branches is a language that uses familiar terms of objects, places, and people to explain the unseen makeup of our existence from raw intelligence to the fullness of the blessings that God has promised us through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Kabbalist Rav Michael Laitman said:
“Q: Who is the subject of the Torah?
A: The entire Torah, without exception, speaks of the individual. Each person is regarded as an entire world. There are rivers in this world, lakes, mountains and forests. There are people, nations men and women, children, slaves, stars, moon and sun. Everything we can think of exists inside this creature. It is the only thing that the Creator created; outside him there is only the Creator. Everything that happens to this creature happens within him. Everything we perceive with our five senses–sight, sound, scent, taste and touch–comes from the Creator Who surrounds us.
“Thus, the Torah speaks of each and every one of us; it is a personal guide to the perception of the Creator. That is why whatever we read in the Torah must be immediately ascribed to ourselves, our inner state. We must relate the characters to our properties, the events in our world are actually relationships between the hereditary, intellectual and emotional attributes. They were originally created by the Creator and we acquired them from Him and from no other, because there are no others! There are only different clothes that appear as different people through which the Creator works on each and every one of us” (Rav Michael Laitman, The Path of Kabbalah, pp. 369-370).
The Language of Branches is complementary to the Jewish exegesis method called PaRDeS.
“Each type of Pardes interpretation examines the extended meaning of a text. As a general rule, the extended meaning never contradicts the base meaning. The Peshat means the plain or contextual meaning of the text. Remez is the allegorical meaning. Derash includes the metaphorical meaning, and Sod represents the hidden meaning. There is often considerable overlap, for example when legal understandings of a verse are influenced by mystical interpretations or when a "hint" is determined by comparing a word with other instances of the same word” (wikipedia.org, Pardes (Jewish Exegesis)).
Although the Language of Branches asks us to look at a volume of scripture strictly from an allegorical and mystical perspective, it does this only to allow the student to be able to experience those truths that lie beneath the surface. As a student can learn to let go of the literal meaning of the text, they become absorbed into the world of eternal self-discovery through personal revelation and communion with God. The study method helps the individual to dissolve the limits of the conditional literal meaning. They learn to view God, oneself, and the eternities, unconditionally. This helps their understanding increase dramatically more vastly than through the previous methods of restricting the gospel experience to literal terms.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught:
“I want to talk more of the relation of man to God. I will open your eyes…All things whatsoever God in his infinite wisdom has seen fit and proper to reveal to us, while we are dwelling in mortality, in regard to our mortal bodies, are revealed to us in the abstract, and independent of affinity of this mortal tabernacle, but are revealed to our spirits precisely as though we had no bodies at all; and those revelations which will save our spirits will save our bodies. God reveals them to us in view of no eternal dissolution of the body, or tabernacle” (Joseph Smith, TPJS, p. 355).
The Language of Branches and the PaRDeS exegesis are invaluable tools to help us approach God in the abstract, obtain His character, attributes, perfections, and mysteries in the abstract, and to more effectively apply that eternal knowledge to our lives in a practical way. Although it is the case to let go of all the literal meaning of the text in order to apply the Language of Branches adequately, remember that the extended meaning never contradicts the base or literal meaning. Amazingly, as the student learns to let go of literal meaning during the study, they find that everything obtained in the study will support the literal text as well. Not only will the experience of the study do this, but it will also pull in, illuminate, and tie together all the literal teachings of the ancient and Restored gospel.
Some LDS may not feel comfortable with the fore quoted statement:
“We must relate the characters to our properties, the events in our world are actually relationships between the hereditary, intellectual and emotional attributes. They were originally created by the Creator and we acquired them from Him and from no other, because there are no others!” (Rav Michael Laitman, The Path of Kabbalah, pp. 369-370).
We have been taught through modern revelation that:
“I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man—the immortal part, because it has no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two; then it has a beginning and an end; but join it again, and it continues one eternal round. So with the spirit of man. As the Lord liveth, if it had a beginning, it will have an end. All the fools and learned and wise men from the beginning of creation, who say that the spirit of man had a beginning, prove that it must have an end; and if that doctrine is true, then the doctrine of annihilation would be true. But if I am right, I might with boldness proclaim from the house-tops that God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself. Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation about it” (Joseph Smith, TPJS, p. 354).
So then how could God and no other have originally created our underlying intellectual and emotional attributes? (This does provoke interesting contemplation of the underlying intellectual and emotional attributes that have always existed within our intelligence. How well do you know your original self?) As far as our intelligence is concerned, He couldn’t have created those things. However, because He is omniscient (all knowing), and has all things before Him past, present, and future, He has provided us with spirit bodies and physical bodies that perfectly complement and enhance our original intellectual and emotional attributes. That way the greatest probability of obtaining eternal life (John 17:3) is made available according to our individual inner workings, and God’s ability to know us better than we know ourselves. Without adding His creations to our intelligence, we never could grow and progress in such a way to allow the whole being of our intelligence to reach the state of oneness and likeness to God. We were never perfect as raw intelligence, spirit children, or as mortals, and God does not have the ability to destroy any parts of our intelligence. It therefore becomes needful, that God’s additional creations (spirit and physical bodies) are such that they are able to help our intelligence, as a whole entity, learn to become like God through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost.
However, I only used the aforementioned quote to help define scripture study in the Language of Branches. Although Kabbalists are famous for the use of such a study practice, it is our intent to apply it to the Book of Mormon and experience it bringing out all the hidden flavors of the Restored gospel and all eternal truth. I believe that there are many beneficial Kabbalistic practices that relate to and enhance the LDS experience, however, I will not be looking to Kabbalists as the final authority on anything—only God is. Not only is this study method beneficial to the LDS community, by providing a substantially enhanced method of mutually reinforcing gospel study/personal revelation, but it also helps to provide further evidence that authenticates the Book of Mormon as an ancient text of Jewish origin.
The Language of Branches is a language that uses familiar terms of objects, places, and people to explain the unseen makeup of our existence from raw intelligence to the fullness of the blessings that God has promised us through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Kabbalist Rav Michael Laitman said:
“Q: Who is the subject of the Torah?
A: The entire Torah, without exception, speaks of the individual. Each person is regarded as an entire world. There are rivers in this world, lakes, mountains and forests. There are people, nations men and women, children, slaves, stars, moon and sun. Everything we can think of exists inside this creature. It is the only thing that the Creator created; outside him there is only the Creator. Everything that happens to this creature happens within him. Everything we perceive with our five senses–sight, sound, scent, taste and touch–comes from the Creator Who surrounds us.
“Thus, the Torah speaks of each and every one of us; it is a personal guide to the perception of the Creator. That is why whatever we read in the Torah must be immediately ascribed to ourselves, our inner state. We must relate the characters to our properties, the events in our world are actually relationships between the hereditary, intellectual and emotional attributes. They were originally created by the Creator and we acquired them from Him and from no other, because there are no others! There are only different clothes that appear as different people through which the Creator works on each and every one of us” (Rav Michael Laitman, The Path of Kabbalah, pp. 369-370).
The Language of Branches is complementary to the Jewish exegesis method called PaRDeS.
“Each type of Pardes interpretation examines the extended meaning of a text. As a general rule, the extended meaning never contradicts the base meaning. The Peshat means the plain or contextual meaning of the text. Remez is the allegorical meaning. Derash includes the metaphorical meaning, and Sod represents the hidden meaning. There is often considerable overlap, for example when legal understandings of a verse are influenced by mystical interpretations or when a "hint" is determined by comparing a word with other instances of the same word” (wikipedia.org, Pardes (Jewish Exegesis)).
Although the Language of Branches asks us to look at a volume of scripture strictly from an allegorical and mystical perspective, it does this only to allow the student to be able to experience those truths that lie beneath the surface. As a student can learn to let go of the literal meaning of the text, they become absorbed into the world of eternal self-discovery through personal revelation and communion with God. The study method helps the individual to dissolve the limits of the conditional literal meaning. They learn to view God, oneself, and the eternities, unconditionally. This helps their understanding increase dramatically more vastly than through the previous methods of restricting the gospel experience to literal terms.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught:
“I want to talk more of the relation of man to God. I will open your eyes…All things whatsoever God in his infinite wisdom has seen fit and proper to reveal to us, while we are dwelling in mortality, in regard to our mortal bodies, are revealed to us in the abstract, and independent of affinity of this mortal tabernacle, but are revealed to our spirits precisely as though we had no bodies at all; and those revelations which will save our spirits will save our bodies. God reveals them to us in view of no eternal dissolution of the body, or tabernacle” (Joseph Smith, TPJS, p. 355).
The Language of Branches and the PaRDeS exegesis are invaluable tools to help us approach God in the abstract, obtain His character, attributes, perfections, and mysteries in the abstract, and to more effectively apply that eternal knowledge to our lives in a practical way. Although it is the case to let go of all the literal meaning of the text in order to apply the Language of Branches adequately, remember that the extended meaning never contradicts the base or literal meaning. Amazingly, as the student learns to let go of literal meaning during the study, they find that everything obtained in the study will support the literal text as well. Not only will the experience of the study do this, but it will also pull in, illuminate, and tie together all the literal teachings of the ancient and Restored gospel.
Some LDS may not feel comfortable with the fore quoted statement:
“We must relate the characters to our properties, the events in our world are actually relationships between the hereditary, intellectual and emotional attributes. They were originally created by the Creator and we acquired them from Him and from no other, because there are no others!” (Rav Michael Laitman, The Path of Kabbalah, pp. 369-370).
We have been taught through modern revelation that:
“I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man—the immortal part, because it has no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two; then it has a beginning and an end; but join it again, and it continues one eternal round. So with the spirit of man. As the Lord liveth, if it had a beginning, it will have an end. All the fools and learned and wise men from the beginning of creation, who say that the spirit of man had a beginning, prove that it must have an end; and if that doctrine is true, then the doctrine of annihilation would be true. But if I am right, I might with boldness proclaim from the house-tops that God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself. Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation about it” (Joseph Smith, TPJS, p. 354).
So then how could God and no other have originally created our underlying intellectual and emotional attributes? (This does provoke interesting contemplation of the underlying intellectual and emotional attributes that have always existed within our intelligence. How well do you know your original self?) As far as our intelligence is concerned, He couldn’t have created those things. However, because He is omniscient (all knowing), and has all things before Him past, present, and future, He has provided us with spirit bodies and physical bodies that perfectly complement and enhance our original intellectual and emotional attributes. That way the greatest probability of obtaining eternal life (John 17:3) is made available according to our individual inner workings, and God’s ability to know us better than we know ourselves. Without adding His creations to our intelligence, we never could grow and progress in such a way to allow the whole being of our intelligence to reach the state of oneness and likeness to God. We were never perfect as raw intelligence, spirit children, or as mortals, and God does not have the ability to destroy any parts of our intelligence. It therefore becomes needful, that God’s additional creations (spirit and physical bodies) are such that they are able to help our intelligence, as a whole entity, learn to become like God through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost.
However, I only used the aforementioned quote to help define scripture study in the Language of Branches. Although Kabbalists are famous for the use of such a study practice, it is our intent to apply it to the Book of Mormon and experience it bringing out all the hidden flavors of the Restored gospel and all eternal truth. I believe that there are many beneficial Kabbalistic practices that relate to and enhance the LDS experience, however, I will not be looking to Kabbalists as the final authority on anything—only God is. Not only is this study method beneficial to the LDS community, by providing a substantially enhanced method of mutually reinforcing gospel study/personal revelation, but it also helps to provide further evidence that authenticates the Book of Mormon as an ancient text of Jewish origin.
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