{"id":58,"date":"2006-10-05T17:25:54","date_gmt":"2006-10-05T17:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/summametaphysica.com\/ge\/10000-the-epicenter-of-the-divine\/10002-the-primordial-divine\/"},"modified":"2018-04-23T20:15:03","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T20:15:03","slug":"10002-the-primordial-divine","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/10000-the-epicenter-of-the-divine\/10002-the-primordial-divine\/","title":{"rendered":"100.02 The Primordial Divine (pps.65-67)"},"content":{"rendered":"

hard cover 65
\n100.02 The Primordial Divine<\/p>\n

The infinite potentials\/Potentials of the Divine, including the potentials to create the universe, within which God would create man to strive for his own munificent potentialities,214<\/sup> are inherent in the eternal Divine215<\/sup><\/p>\n

Who calls the generations from the beginning, I, the Lord, First. And the Last, I am He.
\n-Isaiah 41:4 (cf.44:6, 45:11)<\/p>\n

the Holy seed shall be the stock thereof.
\n-Isaiah 6:13<\/p>\n

. . . who shut up the sea with doors,
\nWhen it broke forth,
\nand issued out of the womb?
\n-Job 18:8<\/p>\n

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214 <\/sup>See below for citations regarding linkage of God’s potential to man’s potential. Note that TB Hagigah 1 lb admonishes against inquiry into origins or futures. However, the works of Maimonides and other medievals, aside from the kabbalists, stand as clear counterweights to this admonition.<\/p>\n

215 <\/sup>See Isaac the Blind, “God beheld in Himself these essences, which would manifest themselves at the creation of the world.” As cited in Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah<\/em>, <\/em>p. 281. Scholem’s footnote 172 says: “As quoted in Sefer ha-Emunah weha-Bittahon,<\/em> chap. 18, and in somewhat better text, in the old miscellanies preserved in Ms. Christ Church College 198, fol. 25b.” Isaac the Blind, son of the Rabad, Provence, France, is referred to by Scholem as “the central figure in the oldest Kabbalah.” Ibid., p. 252. Cf. Isaac the Blind’s commentary on the begining of Midrash Konen, as cited in Scholem, ibid., p. 287. Cf. ibid., p. 451, citing a text of the kabbalists of Gerona. “Before God created the world . . .all things were mixed together and all the essences were hidden, for He had not yet brought them forth from potentiality to reality, like a tree in whose potency the fruit is already present.” Scholem footnote 205 says: “Thus in Ms. British Museum, Margoliouth 752, fol. 36a. A very similar passage also in Kether Shem Tob<\/em> in Jellinek, Auswahl kabbalistischer Mystik,<\/em> 41 .”
\nCf. Abraham Ibn Ezra in his commentary on Daniel 10:21. “And man alone is the foundation of the sublunar world and it is because of him that the world was created, his soul being linked to the Upper Soul.” As cited in Stitskin, Eight Jewish Philosophers<\/em>, p. 120.
\nCf. Saadia Gaon, Beliefs and Opinions 4:1. “Although man is not the largest of the creatures, by virtue of his soul he encompasses the entire universe.”
\nCf. Bokser, Abraham Isaac Kook<\/em>,<\/em> p. 379.
\nCf. Kant’s argument in favor of the “principle of plentitude” (the principle that whatever can exist must somewhere actually exist, since otherwise the creative capacity of God would not be fully realized): “It would be absurd to represent the Deity as bringing into action only a small part of his creative potency.” From Kant, Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels <\/em>(1 755), pt. 11, chap. vii, as trans. in A. O. Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being, <\/em>p. 140. Cited in Passmore, The Perfectibility of Man,<\/em> p. 216.<\/p>\n

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Out of whose womb came the ice?
\nAnd the hoar-frost of heaven,
\nwho hath gendered it?
\n-Job 38:29<\/p>\n

* * *<\/div>\n

Independent of time, matter, and energy, and indeed, independent of a universe, existed Holy Divine Potential-the pri-mordial Divine.216<\/sup> At the eternal origins of out-of-time: Holy Potential within potential within potential . . . ad infinitum<\/em>-tracking to the forward edges of time.217<\/sup><\/p>\n

At the embryonic stage of holiness, deep in the womb of nothingness, deep at the core of out-of-time, hinged on an indefinable and infinite circularity, there was an ascending holy metaphysical fire: Yearning, imploring, calling forth into the void.218<\/sup><\/p>\n

[The concept of a primordial Divine has clear and direct precedent in the concept of the En Sof <\/em>of Kabbalah.219<\/sup> See section 100.03 below.]<\/p>\n

Traversing the Bridge<\/em><\/p>\n

And as nature abhors a vacuum, Holy Potential abhors nothingness. This is a cosmic axiom.<\/p>\n

Simultaneous with the eternal origins of out-of-time, an equilibrium of nothingness was thrown into disequilibrium by its own Holy Potential. Exploding and imploding. Echoing through this day and racing towards infinite time, Holy Potential screamed forth.<\/p>\n

Genesis<\/em><\/p>\n

Flowing from the Essence of the Divine, the infinite holy potential of the Divine demanded more expression.220<\/sup> Among these elements were the potentials for creation of the universe, and within the latter the potentials for man to quest for his<\/p>\n

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216 <\/sup>We find it easier to posit Infinite Holy Potential as eternally preexisting all, as opposed to positing the classic God of Israel-an entity-as preexisting all.
\nCf. Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah<\/em>,<\/em> p. 348. Later in the text (section 200.00) we call Holy quest for potential the underlying ‘dynamic.’ Subsequent to the First Printing, Haim Cohen, Former Justice, Supreme Court of Israel, suggested that the term ‘abstract dynamic’ or ‘dynamic abstraction’ might be closer to the intended mark. I agree, in particular, for the embryonic staees of Holy quest for potential<\/p>\n

217 <\/sup>See Sefer Yesirah<\/em> (1562) fol. 63a, as cited in ibid., p. 341. “Before anything at all was created, God was unfathomable and limitless, alone and unique, capable of subsisting by Himself in the potency of existence.”
\nCf. ibid., pp. 282-283, 441.
\nCf. Hirsch, Chapters of the Fathers,<\/em> on Avot 5:1. “However, in this world . . . all the things that were made first were contributing factors in the creation of what came after them, and were, in fact, completed by the latter. . . . All things sustain and are sustained in their turn.”<\/p>\n

218 <\/sup>See Matt, Zohar<\/em>,<\/em> p. 24.<\/p>\n

219 <\/sup>See Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah<\/em>,<\/em> pp. 281-284, 438, 443.
\nCf. ibid., pp. 431-432. “Asher ben David, too, expresses himself clearly in a theistic and personalistic vein, identifying ‘en-sof’<\/em> with the personally conceived supreme primordial cause.”
\nAsher ben David was the nephew of the aforementioned Isaac the Blind and grandson of the Rabad. He “carried on the traditions of his father and uncle during the first half of the thirteenth century in Provence and at the same time served as one of the most important links with the mystical centers newly forming in northern Spain, above all in Gerona.” Ibid., p. 252.<\/p>\n

220 <\/sup>See Hirsch, Timeless Torah,<\/em> p. 16.<\/p>\n

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spiritual potential,221<\/sup> as well as others, including mercy, love, truth, justice, beauty, and harmony.222<\/sup> The holy potential core of the Divine demanded more than just potential.223<\/sup> For the potentialities of Divine creation are inherent in the eternal Divine origins and in the Divine Essence itself.224<\/sup><\/p>\n

At the eye of the primal cosmic storm, warping from out-of-time towards time, unzipping the cosmic void into positives and negatives, the infinite Divine blaze leapt forth. A creative supra-conscious dynamic, transcending time, space, and eternity. Focusing its holy metaphysical force. Genesis.225<\/sup><\/p>\n

and God divided the light from the darkness.
\n-Genesis 1:4<\/p>\n

A holy dynamic flows forth through this day, tracing its origins to the inner core of the Divine. Beneath the eddies and swirls at the surface of the cosmic stream, beneath the deep and powerful major cosmic currents, from out of the epicenter of the holy, flows the deepest primal current\u00e2\u20ac\u201dquesting, beseeching, and indeed, screaming\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfor ultimate potentiality.226<\/sup><\/p>\n

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221 <\/sup>See Hirsch, Chapters of the Fathers, <\/em>on Avot 5:1. “Man is the final work of creation, the goal and summit of the whole, in whom all creation culminates.”<\/p>\n

222<\/sup> Note also the statement of the Sages. “For the sake of Israel, Moses, [and the precepts of] challah, tithing, and first fruits, was the world created.” See also Hirsch, Timeless Torah,<\/em> p. 5.<\/p>\n

223 <\/sup>The possible argument, alluded to by Maimonides, that every poten- tiality needs an agent to actualize it, is inapplicable to our context for at least three reasons differentiating our case: (1) infinite potential, (2) potential within potential ad infiniturn, and (3) holy potential.<\/p>\n

224 <\/sup>Maimonides notes (Guide<\/em> 2:26) in particular from Rabbi Eliexer:<\/em> “Whence were the heavens created? He took part of the light of His garment, stretched it like a cloth . . .”<\/p>\n

225 <\/sup>See “The Creation of Elohim,” in Matt, Zohar<\/em>,<\/em> pp. 49-50.
\nNote in particular the “radical” position of the Zohar<\/em> <\/em>at the conclusion of the chapter:<\/p>\n

With the Beginning
\nthe Concealed One who is not known
\ncreated the palace
\nthe palace is called Elohim
\nthe secret is:
\n“With Beginning _________________ created Elohim<\/em>”
\n(Genesis 1 :1)<\/p>\n

226 <\/sup>See Greenberg, Perspectives: <\/em>Voluntary Covenant, p. 2.<\/p>\n

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hard cover 65 100.02 The Primordial Divine The infinite potentials\/Potentials of the Divine, including the potentials to create the universe, within which God would create man to strive for his own munificent potentialities,214 are inherent in the eternal Divine215 Who calls the generations from the beginning, I, the Lord, First. 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