Sefer Ha Bahir Verses 5-10
Let us consider the next set of five verses beginning with verse 6.
6. What is a blessing? It can be explained with an example. A king planted trees in his garden. It may rain and water them, and the ground may be wet and provide them with moisture, but still, he must water them from the spring. It is thus written (Psalm 111:10), "The beginning is Wisdom, the fear of God, good intelligence to all who do them [His praise endures forever]." You may think that it lacks something. It is therefore written, "His praise endures forever."
The blessing is what we receive over and above what our basic needs would call for. It is something extra which we have set our mind upon. It is a heart's desire which produces a blessing. It is definitely something which is added after we have all that we need. The metaphor concerning the water is an apt one for the idea of blessing comes into play when our lives are overflowing with our good. We keep in the circuit of this overflowing when we allow ourselves to receive the continuous inspiration that is being offered us in each moment. We don't stop and say enough is enough but we overflow with blessings. This overflowing transmits itself easily to others who may be in need because they have forgotten how to ask or they believe they do not deserve the blessings that surround them. A sure way to promote blessings is to give them unceasingly as soon as they are called forth. Your encouragements to each other are blessings as well. When you share your inspirations and enthusiams you are sharing your blessings. Once again the beginning is Wisdom. You have to know what you want and let that become the pattern for what the superconscious works upon. When you give good material to the superconscious for reproduction into form you return the essence of what is given. You return a gift that may be exchanged endlessly each time gaining in merit (praises) because of the vibrational level of understanding that is being passed along. Each successive raise in vibrational adds its own insights. You may understand a concept but then you are inspired and the concept takes on a whole new meaning. Compared to your newest revelation, your old concept may be seen lacking in something. That is why blessings-inspirations are endless, to teach us that this is the way the superconscious works in order to prepare for us the way in which we choose to follow. That is why it is said, "his praises endure forever," there can be no end to revelation. This revelation is none other than the mind revealing itself to itself through the agency of unity and action of the Perpetual One.
7. Rabbi Amorai sat and expounded: What is the meaning of the verse (Deuteronomy 33:23), "The filling is God's blessing, possessing the Sea and the South?" Moses was saying, "If you follow my decrees, you will inherit both this world and the next." The World to Come is likened to the sea, as it is written (Job 11:9), "It is wider than the sea." The present world is referred to as the South. It is thus written (Joshua 15:19), [Give me a blessing] for you have set me in the land of the south, [therefore give me springs of water]." The Targum translates this, "behold the earth is the south."
This filling that begins this verse relates again to the overflowing of inspiration as thoughts are connected and everything is in unity with the one. The filling comes out of the void and the vastness of the deep. It is from the unfathomable that the realized must be taken. In ancient druidic circles the south is also known as the place of magic. It is the place where the primordial substance is made into light and then the forms of our heart's desire. It is unlimited, "wider than the sea." In terms of the present world and the world to come understand it this way. The present world is the status quo. By definition it is the result of other journeys taken to make this present world. The world to come is what we see when we follow the inspirations which are brought on by keeping true to our heart's desire. We maintain our focus and let the Eternal bring forth into being all that is called for in our visualizations. Give me a blessing or spring of water as it says here simply means to show me the inspiration that I may move forward from where I am to where I have set my heart's desire upon. The earth is in the south means that what we have already made is a part of the status quo. It is also part of what we'll use to spring forward into the world to come. We unify with that which is and then dissolve it into the that which is not but meant to be.
This idea of parts and of dissolution and reanimation is continued next.
"8. Why did God add the letter Heh to Abraham's name, rather than any other letter? This was so that all parts of man's body should be worthy of life in the World to Come, which is likened to the sea. To the extent that we can express it, the Structure was completed in Abraham. [Regarding this Structure] it is written (Genesis 9:6), "For in the form of God, He made the man." The numerical value of Abraham is 248, the number of parts in man's body. "
The "Structure was completed," is none other than the sum total of our heart's desire. You see that in the next verse is explained that it was "in the form of God, he made man," which shows us that at first it was everything and then it came to be something. It isn't just any something but man. Man here represents the specific choices that Man makes to live in his world. Man is made up of all the parts or of every choice he's ever made consciously or unconsciously but. In addition Man is made in the form of God which means that Man is a fluid ever changing being. Whatever your state is now you being made in the form of God may change the appearance of your life situation. You may accept for yourself a good life with all the richness such a life comes with. When you move into the world to come, the world of the realization of your heart's desire all of you moves. Your being, all of its thought forms are raised into this world to come. It is important to think of the world to come not as the place you go when you die but rather when you die to the old way of being. Then truly are you transported to this world to come.
Further exposition on the same topic going a little deeper now in verse 9.
9. What is the meaning of (Deuteronomy 33:23), "[The filling is God's blessing, the Sea and the South] he shall inherit it (YiRaShaH)?" It would have been sufficient if the verse said, "inherit (RaSh) [the Sea and the South]." But this comes to teach us that God must also be included. The word YiRaShaH thus contains the letters RaSh YH [meaning, "inherit God"]. What does this resemble? A king had two treasuries, and he hid one away. After many days he said to his son, "Take what is in these two treasuries." The son replied, "Perhaps you are not giving me all that you have hidden away." The king said, "Take everything." It is thus written, "the Sea and the South, he shall inherit it." Inherit God (YH RaSh) - everything will be given to you if you only keep My ways.
"God must also be included." You cannot assume the form of God and operate under the same aspects as God without having God become a part of everything you are. How could an limited being become more than it is? An unlimited being can, however, become anything it sets its mind or intention to. When you let go into the Perpetual One you no longer fight the power that is in you. Then this power flows freely into being. By making use of this power you are then able to wield this power increasingly well. You are able to be open to receiving your good. You are able to change your mind when negativity surrounds you so that you can face the right direction again. Your purpose has become one pointed. You no longer seek the Perpetual One. You are the One. You have so identified with that which is that you become the thing itself. You and your heart's desire are one. Out of your choices you not only receive what you currently understand and can make into the world to come, you also gain access to the way in which the worlds are accessed. You obtain the hidden knowledge which becomes available to you because of your intention and willingness to let one be one. You stand out of your own way and follow only one way which is the way of the Eternal, the Perpetual One.
Watch now how mind is revealed in all its splendor in verse 10.
"10. Rabbi Bun said: What is the meaning of the verse (Proverbs 8:23), "I was set up from eternity (Me-Olam), from a head, before the earth?" What is the meaning of "from eternity (Me-Olam)?" This means that it must be concealed (He-elam) from the world. It is thus written (Ecclesiastes 3:11), "He has also placed the world (Ha-Olam) in their hearts [that they should not find out the work that God has done from the beginning to the end]." Do not read Ha-Olam (the world), but He-elam (concealment). The Torah said, "I was first, so that I might be the head of the world." It is thus written, "I was set up from eternity, from a head." You may think that the earth was before it. It is therefore written, "before the earth." It is thus written (Genesis 1:1), "In the beginning created God the heaven and the earth." What is the meaning of "created"? He created everything that was needed for all things. And then God. Only after that is it written "the heaven and the earth."
The head comes before the earth. The thought comes before the form. The structured awareness always before the dissolution of chaos, even before the primordial stuff. Why must it be concealed from the world and who are they? The thoughts which make up the primordial stuff cannot of themselves unify and transcend themselves. The spark of light or of inspiration is needed. That is why the way of unity follows the light into creation as in "he created everything that was needed for all things," the way of God or that aspect of what he created was the aspect of the creator within everything. It is only after created God, that the heaven and earth can appear out of this. You even the concept of God is a part of what is created. When we say he in verse ten it is referring to this process which brings forth something from nothing. Without a plan there is nothing. Make a plan and follow it through and then there is the heaven and earth with God as the being which follows through with the intended completion of the design. Before there was anything the first thing that is created is the concept of creation itself. Then everything else follows. Into whose heart is the world concealed. It is the heart of the unformed because through light or inspiration the heart of the unformed flows into manifestation according to the design laid forth by our intentional visualization of our heart's desire.