Modern Kabbalists, both Jewish and Christian,
were significantly influenced by the genius Isaac Luria (1534-1572), known as
Ari (the Lion), who, in a sense, but without such intention, is one of the
fathers of modern occultism. Lurianic Kabbalah shifted the focus from the
mystical light of God's emanations to the soul and its "sparks,"
which strongly resembles the first premise of Aleister Crowley's Book of the
Law: "Every man and every woman is a star." Emphasizing the
microcosmic factor, the spark, the soul, suggests a fundamental change in the
esoteric mentality, which is not without consequences on the exoteric plane.
This laid the ideological foundations for the development of modern psychology.
It also laid the groundwork for revolutionary currents and the birth of
individualism in the new era, paradoxically intertwined with modern forms of
collectivism, including ideological movements, political parties, and
nation-states. This esoteric maneuver at the epicenter of history charted the
main courses for shaping the future.
Gershom Scholem, in his book Major Trends in
Jewish Mysticism, states that for Isaac Luria, the appearance of the Messiah is
the culmination of the continuous process of restoration, or tikkun. For this
reason, the true nature of redemption is mystical, and its historical and
national forms are merely auxiliary symptoms that form the visible symbol of
its fulfillment. Redemption, as Scholem interprets Luria, means that all things
are put in their right place. Tikkun, or restoration (remember, Wilmshurst spoke
of the Masonic doctrine as a doctrine of regeneration), is the world of
messianic activity. The coming of the Messiah means that this world of tikkun,
or restoration, has reached its final form. Scholem concludes that it is
precisely at this point that the mystical and messianic elements of Luria's
teaching converge. Ultimately, as Scholem says, tikkun is the path leading to
the end of all things, but it also leads to the beginning.
Judaism, at least as defined by Lurianic
Kabbalah, has the task of restoring the original harmony, that is, to repair
the damage caused by Adam's sin and fall. The essential consequence of this
damage is a kind of breaking of God's Name, or the disruption of the original
harmony. According to Luria, at that time, a split occurred in God's Name -
YHWH (yod-he-vav-he) with the falling away of the last two letters. Allegedly,
with the breaking of God's Name, the time of the mythical and mystical exile of
the Shekhinah, the divine presence, supposedly the female aspect of God, began.
The light of the Shekhinah was drawn into the klipot, the demonic world,
creating a mixture of dual nature: divine light and klipot darkness. The repair
of the world means the separation of the sparks of light from the darkness,
i.e., the disintegration of the universe as it exists. The new world will be of
pure light, eternal and imperishable. The return of the Shekhinah to her master
and their union, according to Luria, is the true purpose of the Torah's
existence. Working on this return and restoring the world's harmony is
certainly a messianic mission for an entire people. This would be the purpose
of Judaism from the perspective of Lurianic Kabbalah, as I understand it.
The moment when historical forces set their
course towards today's development is the year 1492, laden with events whose
consequences manifested later. Firstly, it is the year of Columbus's discovery
of America, which represents a fundamental shift in the understanding of the
world and the expansion of Europeans, laying the foundation for what we call
the modern era, the New Age, when the foundations of the contemporary world
were established. On the other hand, that year is linked to two great historical
tragedies: those of the American indigenous people and the Spanish Jews.
Scholem says that the end of the 15th century marked the end of a phase of
Kabbalistic mysticism and that the experience of the tragic Spanish exodus, as
a great national trauma, brought a new impetus to the development of Kabbalah.
Based on that experience, through its contemplation and attempt at explanation,
a new Kabbalah was born, shaped by the Safed school. Kabbalists up to the
period of the affirmation of Lurianic Kabbalah mainly operated reclusively, in
a typically mystical manner, as Scholem says, not particularly inclined to
spread their ideas beyond the narrow circles of Kabbalists. They had no
interest in changing the way of Jewish life. All of this changes with the
advent of Lurianic Kabbalah.
Earlier Kabbalists were oriented towards
involutive action, that is, towards the beginning, avoiding messianic ideas and
impulses. Instead of focusing on the end of the world, they were more centered
on its beginning, on returning to that beginning. Thus, they strove for a
return. The way forward meant the way back, to the state of primordial harmony.
Lurianic Kabbalah marked a shift in the mystic's thought towards a
revolutionary breakthrough forward, adopting the formula for the final phase of
the world's process, pushing for redemption instead of creation. This
accelerated the development of ideas about creating historical crises and
catastrophes, charging ahead. This shift can be said to have an apocalyptic
character. What would that be if not the foundation of the formula for a new
age, but in a Jewish manner, in line with the historical mission of Judaism?
This is the ideological premise of revolutionary messianism, the intellectual
fuel of modern history. Of course, this did not come out of nowhere; it
certainly relied on already existing Kabbalistic, Gnostic, and Christian
directions. This prepared the Jewish spirit for a new era, not just to be a
passive observer striving to understand, but an active agent, placing itself at
the very center of history.
Experienced trauma, a survived catastrophe, can
be a trigger for revolution. Redemption is revolution, revolution is
liberation, but the cost is catastrophe. So when we invoke freedom, we are
actually invoking catastrophe. The spirit of liberation is catastrophic,
apocalyptic, prone to millenarianism. Catastrophe hints at the end of the
world, and this is one of the fundamental assumptions of Judeo-Christian
doctrines. Catastrophe and the notion of the end of the world are at the root
of messianism. Theoretically, a parallel can be drawn between the catastrophic
scenario and Aleister Crowley's Aeon of Horus. Also, from the perspective of
the apocalyptic scenario, the Aeon of Horus is in its anti-nominalistic hints
similar to the description of the reign of the Antichrist in the Revelation.
Only in the Aeon of the goddess Maat (representing balance, justice), which is
prophesied by Crowley's Book of the Law, and which follows after the Aeon of
Horus, would an age similar to that foreshadowed by Judeo-Christian doctrines
about a post-apocalyptic world emerge, when the primordial harmony is restored,
when a new Heaven and a new Earth are created. The Aeon of Maat implies the
abolition of the division in the human being caused by the creation of separate
sexual nature. That is to say, as Christ himself foretells, in the heavenly
kingdom there will be neither male nor female, nor any essential differences
between its inhabitants. This means a return of humanity to an androgynous
state.
The consequences of the expulsion of the Spanish Jews in 1492, emphasizes Scholem, were not limited to them alone; rather, this trauma and awareness of catastrophe spread throughout the Jewish diaspora, creating a new mood. This process lasted an entire century and contributed to the merging of apocalyptic and messianic elements of Judaism with the traditional aspects of Kabbalah. Thus, the final era became as significant as the first. New teachings, according to Scholem, emphasized the concluding phases of the cosmological process. The pathos of messianism permeated the new Kabbalah and its classical expressive forms in a way entirely foreign to the Zohar. Scholem concludes that a connection was established between the beginning and the end. The spread of such a spiritual atmosphere triggered a flood of messianic expectations, feelings, and fervor. The end of the world became a pressing concern. Just as with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, in the Jewish case, destruction begins with exile, but this time the destruction of the world begins with the exile of the Jews.
Just as Adam and Noah were responsible for all living things on Earth, so the Jews (particularly the Messiah they await) are responsible for all of humanity. Hence, it is not surprising that Jesus Christ, with a universal mission of salvation—not only for the Jews but for all of humanity until the end of time—emerged from the Jewish people. At the same time, outside Judaism, except for the catastrophe of the Byzantine cultural and civilizational sphere which fell under Ottoman rule, a new era was emerging. New perspectives were opening for the advance of Western man, to the horror and sorrow of the rest of humanity. The advent of this new historical moment spread slavery and death continuously from 1492 to the present day. Concurrently, Judaism was forging its own path, a path of redemption and gathering for the central and ultimate event, which is the coming of the Messiah. This path underwent various trials, schisms, heresies, emancipation, pogroms, migration, the Holocaust, and Zionism. This aspiration was particularly accelerated by the catastrophe of 1492. It created a special mystical mentality that was certainly influenced by the ideological tendencies of the external world, but which was itself often influenced by Jewish messianic ideas.
