- Third Verse -
-3-
Original Hebrew:
שני העדים הוגים בעצמם
ומתבוננים במקום, אשר ברגליהם
Transliteration:
Šne ha‘Edim hogim be‘AŞMAM
Umitbonenim baMaqom, ašer beRaglehem
English Translation:
The Two Witnesses meditate on THEMSELF
And They consider Space, situated in Their Feet
Commentary:
In the Third Step (Gemini), He and She, pursuing the Objective of Their Manifestation, which is the Desire of BEING, THEIR Desire, to Know Himself, meditate upon Themselves.
In an Inner Journey, They consider Themselves in Their Name, in Their Attributes, in Their Form, from Consciousness to Space, from Their Heads to Their Feet.
He and She, the Form of all Knowledge, detail Their Knowledge.
In alignment with Their Meditation, here are some indications of the meaning of the Attributes, and of Their Relations:
Consciousness is the prime Dimension of Manifested Existence, in Which BEING perceives Himself. It is His “I am”, the “Light” Which crowns all the other Attributes That through It came to Manifestation.
At the Level of the IDEAL FORM of the Attributes, Consciousness is manifest in the Nimbus surrounding the two Heads of the Divine Couple, “crowning” Them, whereas the other Attributes are “Inside” the Divine Body.
The Light of the Consciousness, manifests first of all in the large white Nimbus, then fills Their Heads in Which It resides particularly, and from there fills Their whole Body.
The Consciousness is One for He and She; and simultaneously, on the Plane of Reason, the Consciousness is like “divided” in the two Poles of Wisdom and Intelligence, He and She thus having each Their “Own Consciousness”.
Wisdom reflects the Principle, bears the Sense of It on the Plane of Reason. In Wisdom, the Multiplicity of the Manifestation is perceived through the fundamental sense of Unity.
Intelligence is Wisdom’s Dynamic, Realizing, Potency, Who receives from Wisdom the Essences of the Concepts, and develops them in their multiple Details.
Consciousness, Wisdom, and Intelligence constitute the Upper Triangle of Attributes, whose Axis is Knowledge, which on the simplest level is borne by Consciousness.
Grace and Force, the two Poles of the Platform of Emotion which includes Imagination, bear the nature of Wisdom and Intelligence.
At the time of the Pronunciation of the Attributes, Wisdom is pronounced first, and then Intelligence. She appears by Wisdom “becoming” Intelligence, and by Intelligence “coming out” of Wisdom.
The Power of “Becoming” is the fundamental Quality of Grace, and that of “Distinction” is the Quality of Force.
Grace corresponds to the Outpouring of Emotion. This Outpouring brings about the “Dynamism”, which is Force; the Acting Potency of Grace.
The Force Principle appears also as “Rigor”, counterpart of Grace. While in His Grace BEING “gives Himself” and “becomes”, in His Force He remains. That is why BEING retains His Unmanifested State even when He has revealed Himself in His Attributes and in His Form.
Force, as Power of “Non-Change”, is thus in relation with the “Void” Aspect of the Unmanifested, and comprises as well the ability of Return to the Unmanifested.
Force is also the “Receptacle” Quality of Void, which allows Her to receive the Seed given by Grace and to bear its Fruit.
The Force Principle also “channels” the Flow of Revelation, the Flow of Grace.
Force “contains”, “measures” the Flow, so that It may be gradual, allowing the increase of Knowledge and Joy throughout the Eternal Book.
The Force Principle applies either in “transparency” or in “contrast” to the Grace Principle, both in Absolute Harmony and Unity. Thus, when Force “measures” the Flow of Revelation, it happens completely naturally, without any voluntary and separated “Act”.
Beauty is the central Attribute amidst the Ten Manifested Attributes, and the Primordial Nature of BEING. Grace and Force unite in Beauty. Beauty is the Power of Love, of Harmony, of Unity in the Duality, in the Multiplicity.
The Nature of Beauty implies that from the Simple Primordial Unity springs out the Duality, this Duality expressing the Most Complete Unity; and then the Ultimate re-Fusion into the Undifferentiated Primordial Unity.
Grace, Force, and Beauty constitute the Second Triangle of Attributes, whose Axis is Love, centered on Beauty.
Triumph appears after Beauty, representing the Act of Consciousness unveiling Beauty.
Glory then appears, representing the Image of Beauty revealed by Consciousness.
Thus, on the Platform of Accomplishment, Triumph is the Action, the Act of Manifesting, and Glory is the Fruit, “That Which is manifested”, the Image, the Form.
The Form of the Original Person is the Absolute Glory, Beauty Itself manifested, “Incarnated”.
This “Incarnation” takes place through the Attribute of Foundation.
Foundation is the “Source” Aspect by Which Beauty expresses Itself to manifest. It is the “Expansive” Aspect of Joy, of Increase, the Power of “Generation”.
Foundation is also the Dimension of the Senses, which embody the aspect of Opening towards the Manifestation through Perception.
It is also the Law, the Principle by Which is ensured the Harmonious Order proceeding from the Primordial Beauty.
Foundation is the Source; Triumph is the Act, the Springing Out; and Glory is the Fruit and the Taste of the Joy of the Manifestation, Joy of reflecting the Image of the Principle and of tasting the Manifested Existence.
Triumph, Glory, and Foundation form the Third Triangle, whose Axis is Manifestation, centered on Foundation.
Space is the Field, the Place, the Primordial Substance enabling the “Concretization '' of the Principle (hence Its designation as “Kingdom '' in the Qabala [Kabbalah], the mystical tradition of Israel). It is the Receptacle Attribute in Which the Nine Upper Attributes project Themselves.
Space is the “Void” Aspect, counterpart of the “Filling” Aspect of Foundation.
In the Unmanifested (before the Manifestation, and at Its End) the Void Quality of Space includes and “hides” the Aspect of Variety of Beauty. In the Manifest, Space is impregnated with Beauty Which, by Foundation, projects Itself in It and There takes Form (appears in Glory), Space being to Beauty the Substance and the Place.
After the Pronunciation of the WORD, the Dimension of Beauty of each Attribute irradiates Its Dimension of Space, and thus the Attributes appear in Their Form, the Divine Body of Truth.
Such are the two fundamental aspects of Space, one of “hiding”, and the other of being the Field of the Manifestation.
The three Triangles of Attributes Consciousness-Wisdom-Intelligence, Grace-Force-Beauty, Triumph-Glory-Foundation, and the Tenth Attribute Space, constitute together four Planes, corresponding to the Four Elements Air, Water, Fire, and Earth respectively, as can be seen in this representation:
In addition to the Elementary groups, each Attribute in Itself corresponds to a distinct Element (or combination of Elements).
The Air and Fire Elements are globally of masculine polarity, and Water and Earth, of the feminine polarity, in their relationships with each other.
Polarities in the Middle Attributes:
There is a correspondence between Foundation and Grace, and between Space and Force: Grace is the Quality of the Foundation, and Force is the Quality of Space.
The Enunciation of the Attributes following Beauty echoes that of the Attributes enounced previously: Triumph and Glory convey Consciousness and Beauty; and Foundation and Space represent the Principles Whose Qualities are defined on the Plane of Emotion as Grace and Force, and are manifest on the Plane of Reason in Wisdom and Intelligence.
Thus, the Attributes of the Middle Column are also clothed with Masculine and Feminine Polarities: Masculine for Consciousness and Foundation, and Feminine for Beauty and Space.
Mirroring in the Seven Letter Name:
The last three Letters of the Name express in an inverse order the three global Phases of the Passage of BEING to Manifestation from the In-Oneself:
Space corresponds to the Unmanifest, the In-Oneself.
Foundation corresponds to the Step of the Pre-Manifest, that is the Primordial Emotion, then the Awakening of the Breath of BEING (hence the two characteristics of Foundation, that of Expansiveness corresponding to the Emotion, and that of Law corresponding to the Breath).
Accomplishment corresponds to the Appearance of the Consciousness, by Which BEING is made manifest.
The first four Letters of the Name: Consciousness, Reason, Emotion, Beauty, appear in an order that mirrors the gradual Awakening of BEING through the three phases expressed by the three other Letters: Space, Foundation, and Accomplishment:
BEING is first of all Beauty, the Primordial Beauty, “hidden” in the Primordial Space of the In-Oneself.
Then, in the Phase of Foundation, appears the Emotion; then the Breath of BEING, His Reason.
And in the Phase of Accomplishment appears the Consciousness.
From Consciousness, the Breath enunciates symmetrically the Degrees Which brought the Appearance of Consciousness, that is: Reason, then Emotion, and then Beauty. And then, in Conclusion, are enunciated the Letters of the three Global Phases: Accomplishment, Foundation, and Space.
The Seven Letters of the NAME also have between Them a Plane of Association symbolized by the Seven Seven Branched Candlestick .
At the Center is Beauty; Emotion is connected to Accomplishment; Reason to Foundation; and Consciousness to Space:
Consciousness illuminates the Field, Space; Reason rests on the Principle, on the Foundation; Emotion accomplishes Itself through Action, in Accomplishment. And all is One in Beauty.