pohaikawahine
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I tried to start a small piece on "twins" under comparative religions .... using the September 11 Twin Towers as symbols, but it didn't spark much interest .... the concept of "twins" is critical, in my view, to understanding the inner path of knowledge and I did find the following "From the Chassidic Masters, The Cosmic Twins, a parshah overview by Yanki Tauber" ..
"Our sages tell us that before G-d created our world, He created an 'earlier' state of existence -- the world of Tohu (chaos). But this was a world of 'much light and scant vessels'; as a result, the vessels burst and the light escaped. G-d then created 'our' world -- the world of Tikkun (correction), constructed with 'broad containers and scant light' that allow it to function and endure.
('Light' is the Kabbalistic term for an emanation of Divine energy; 'containers' (kelim) are the Divine forces that channel, define, and focus the 'light'. A soul, for example, is a 'light', which a body is a 'vessel'. A 'world' whether physical or spiritual, consists of lights deriving from the Divine power to reveal and bestow, and vessels deriving from the Divine power to define and delimit.)
There was a reason for this 'debacle'. G-d desired that our 'correct' world should be built upon the ruins of Tohu, so that we should delve beneath its surface to unearth the 'sparks of holiness' that are the residue of this primordial world, tap their potential, and, ultimately, integrate the two realities, capturing the immense light of Tohu in the broad vessels of Tikkun.
The Kabbalists see Esau and Jacob as the embodiment of the cosmic twinship of Tohu and Tikkun.
Esau is the raw, untamed energy of Tohu. He is a destructive force, because he lacks the discipline and control that would channel this energy in a useful, constructive way. But he is also a very powerful force -- far more powerful than the constricted and defined energies that animate Jacob's correct and orderly world. The challenge, as we said, is to bring together the cosmic twins in a way that exploits the best of both worlds: to marry the immense energy of Tohu with the focus and control of Tikkun.
The struggle to achieve this syergy is the life-history of the biblical twins, and the essence of human history as a whole. Esau and Jacob emerge from the same womb (where they were already fighting), and the rest of their lives is defined by the effort to bring them back together."
That was rather long but I didn't want to miss any of its essence. In our legends and chants of creation the "twins" reperesent the spiralling energy within the human body that must be moved upward into the brain to open the portals of the "other world" ... this is also symbolized in the spiralling snakes on the caudacaus (the medical staff symbol) .... and is our own DNA ... the continuous fighting is the symbol of what it takes to maintain the perfect balance that we seek to return to (we would call it 'pono') .... in the Hopi tradition of the native american, the twins Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya guard the north and south poles, they keep the world rotating and are in constant battle for control ....
In the Hawaiian chant of creation we use terms such a the narrow passage and the wide passage .... these sound very similar to the concept of light and vessels .... and in the Hawaiian chant the world begins in 'chaos' which is referred to as the time of the gods, the time of darkness, the time of 'po' .... but it is actually a reference to the inner process of energy (those spiralling twins) that we must move to the mountaintop before we emerge in the 'light' of day of 'ao' .... then man is born, according to the chant .....
the above quoted passage ends with "so the quest to unite Tohu and Tikkun extends beyond their lifetimes, to the nations of Israel and Edom. The eight kings which 'reigned' in Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel 'are the volatile forces of Tohu, while the people of Israel proceed to Sinai where they are entrusted with the 613 commandments that serve as the vessels for tikkun olam, the correction and civilization of the world. The conflict rages on in the battles between Judah and Rome, between spirit and matter, between law and lust,to be resolved only when the struggles of humanity culminate in the day when 'the saviors shall ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau."
I see relationships in ancient knowledge .... I see words that tell us how to find the inner path to the mountaintop .... the twin towers, the twin pillars of wisdom, the twins are symbols of an inner process that can never be destroyed and can in fact bring us together as we each seek to return to the balance ..... just my thought to share, he hawai'i au, pohaikawahine
"Our sages tell us that before G-d created our world, He created an 'earlier' state of existence -- the world of Tohu (chaos). But this was a world of 'much light and scant vessels'; as a result, the vessels burst and the light escaped. G-d then created 'our' world -- the world of Tikkun (correction), constructed with 'broad containers and scant light' that allow it to function and endure.
('Light' is the Kabbalistic term for an emanation of Divine energy; 'containers' (kelim) are the Divine forces that channel, define, and focus the 'light'. A soul, for example, is a 'light', which a body is a 'vessel'. A 'world' whether physical or spiritual, consists of lights deriving from the Divine power to reveal and bestow, and vessels deriving from the Divine power to define and delimit.)
There was a reason for this 'debacle'. G-d desired that our 'correct' world should be built upon the ruins of Tohu, so that we should delve beneath its surface to unearth the 'sparks of holiness' that are the residue of this primordial world, tap their potential, and, ultimately, integrate the two realities, capturing the immense light of Tohu in the broad vessels of Tikkun.
The Kabbalists see Esau and Jacob as the embodiment of the cosmic twinship of Tohu and Tikkun.
Esau is the raw, untamed energy of Tohu. He is a destructive force, because he lacks the discipline and control that would channel this energy in a useful, constructive way. But he is also a very powerful force -- far more powerful than the constricted and defined energies that animate Jacob's correct and orderly world. The challenge, as we said, is to bring together the cosmic twins in a way that exploits the best of both worlds: to marry the immense energy of Tohu with the focus and control of Tikkun.
The struggle to achieve this syergy is the life-history of the biblical twins, and the essence of human history as a whole. Esau and Jacob emerge from the same womb (where they were already fighting), and the rest of their lives is defined by the effort to bring them back together."
That was rather long but I didn't want to miss any of its essence. In our legends and chants of creation the "twins" reperesent the spiralling energy within the human body that must be moved upward into the brain to open the portals of the "other world" ... this is also symbolized in the spiralling snakes on the caudacaus (the medical staff symbol) .... and is our own DNA ... the continuous fighting is the symbol of what it takes to maintain the perfect balance that we seek to return to (we would call it 'pono') .... in the Hopi tradition of the native american, the twins Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya guard the north and south poles, they keep the world rotating and are in constant battle for control ....
In the Hawaiian chant of creation we use terms such a the narrow passage and the wide passage .... these sound very similar to the concept of light and vessels .... and in the Hawaiian chant the world begins in 'chaos' which is referred to as the time of the gods, the time of darkness, the time of 'po' .... but it is actually a reference to the inner process of energy (those spiralling twins) that we must move to the mountaintop before we emerge in the 'light' of day of 'ao' .... then man is born, according to the chant .....
the above quoted passage ends with "so the quest to unite Tohu and Tikkun extends beyond their lifetimes, to the nations of Israel and Edom. The eight kings which 'reigned' in Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel 'are the volatile forces of Tohu, while the people of Israel proceed to Sinai where they are entrusted with the 613 commandments that serve as the vessels for tikkun olam, the correction and civilization of the world. The conflict rages on in the battles between Judah and Rome, between spirit and matter, between law and lust,to be resolved only when the struggles of humanity culminate in the day when 'the saviors shall ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau."
I see relationships in ancient knowledge .... I see words that tell us how to find the inner path to the mountaintop .... the twin towers, the twin pillars of wisdom, the twins are symbols of an inner process that can never be destroyed and can in fact bring us together as we each seek to return to the balance ..... just my thought to share, he hawai'i au, pohaikawahine