Is anyone here knowledgeable of Kabbalah?

[Aerist]

1. That's the question that I continue to ask, but those here who assert reincarnation seem unable to answer.

2. Reincarnation assumes many guises in the popular mindset because it's an answer to the question of justice. Many seek it in the hope that the guilty will get their just deserts somewhere down the line; many others seek it in the hope that somehow it 'gets them off the hook' for their own injustices; many seek it because the ego cannot abide the idea of itself not being around ...

3. ... one has to separate the (metaphysical) science from setimentalism.

1. Everyone I know has a differnt answer, but they don't seem short of one. For what it is worth, here is another:
from the top down - I am - life is. Sometimes in incarnation, sometimes out.
from the bottom up - the essence moves on to another body (although that will also be determined by the previous lives), the bodies and their foibles disintegrate.

2. Yes. But this can be valuable if it gets people into spiritual disciplines.

3. Well, that's what metaphysics is all about. In this universe, anyways .

 

[b.finton]

Greetings, Dikaios.

You wrote: "I especially want to know about how the concept of cycles of the soul is different, if at all, from the Buddhist concept of reincarnation."

My understanding about the "transmigration" of souls is set forth with some detail on my website. Posting urls is not allowed, however; so if you email me I will provide you with that link.

I'll try to cram many words into a few:

All imperfect souls die; so "transmigration" is not a useful concept; but we are more than souls locked for a perfecting time in human bodies: we are fallen angels.

The body is the outer garment. The soul is the inner garment. The immortal angel is what is clothed, and the Spirit of God is what holds it all together.

In essence, the body is the chrysalis of the soul; and when a soul is perfected, it gains immortality. So the understanding is that perfection is not the prerequisite for eternal life, but eternal identity is.

b.

 

[Aerist]

So I would say there's a lot of crossover, but if someone were to start talking about 'a Christian Kabbalah', then I'd say I prefer to study the original and therefore authentic (Platonic) forms, rather than a syncretic 'fixing' that's probably not too well founded in either the Hebrew or the Hellenic.

My understanding is that the Hebrew Kabbalah is not too accessible either nowadays without either being born into one of the Chassidic groups, or following on from a study of the Torah and Talmud at yeshivah (dedicated school) level.

Personally, and without too much evidence, my belief is that all of that is unnecessary metaphysics, even if a certain type of personality would find it an enjoyable pursuit. Why? well, apart from the aforementioned "Meditations on the Tarot" (which I thought was an ecstatic read, even though it used a different [Papus?] correspondence between the Tarot and the Otz Chaim than usually used), I would advise any modern beginner without access to a school to look at the works of Dolores Ashcroft-Nowiki, Dion Fortune and Will Parfitt. I defy anyone to read those authors and say that they are not affected by them.

 

[Taurean]

I can tell you a lot of things about Qabalah, but best thing is to read Dion Fortune's the Mystical Qabalah and Gareth Knight's A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism.

Reincarnation is considered a reality in most of these systems, and the tree of life is supposed to give access, though by no means easily, to consciousness of the layer of self that does not perish in time-space.