But again, these were prophetic visions. The Sephirot themselves didn’t assume shapes at all or move about.
For, as Ramchal underscores, while “we do speak in terms of (the Sephirot exhibiting) ‘smallness’ and ‘greatness’, ‘ascent’ and ‘descent’, (of their being) ‘clothed’ (in one another), (and of their assuming) ‘positions’ and the like …, we nonetheless cannot say that any of these phenomena actually exist in the Sephirot themselves” or that “that (the Sephirot) possess any form at all” (comments to Petach 7). They only seem to assume them (Petach 7).
For, as he says, “if the images the Sephirot assumed were intrinsic to the Sephirot, it would obviously be impossible to attribute contradictory opposites to the same subject” under consideration like “circles” as opposed to “straight lines”. However, “since these likenesses aren’t intrinsic to the Sephirot but were willed by God” to appear one way or another to the prophet at that time, “there is no difficulty in the fact that they might appear as contradictory likenesses…. (The explanation is that) at one moment the Supreme Will wants them to appear one way, and afterwards another way” (comments to Petach 8 ) [1].
In fact, they’re “envisioned by the prophets or (spiritually-gifted) souls much the way a person ‘sees’ the thoughts passing through his mind” (comments to Petach 7); or as Ramchal put it elsewhere, exactly the way things (appear) in a dream (Petach 8). For, what they were “seeing” was a this-world representation or a translation of a related heavenly phenomenon, as Ramchal puts it in his comments to Petachim 10 and 13).
As to the rare individuals who were able to “envision” the Sephirot, we’re told that they knew that they were experiencing “visions” all along, and that they understood the import of those visions as well [2]. We’re also told that the “visions” varied with each prophet observing them (Petach 7) [3], as they were personal “visions of the soul … rather than actual physical visions” (comment to Petach 9).
We would suggest that the best representation of the experience among ordinary though particularly-gifted individuals we might know or have read about in our day and age would be the expereince of “synesthesia”. Synesthesia (from the Greek terms for “together” and “sensation”) refers to the rare experience of somehow convincingly linking two utterly different sensations to each other in one’s mind. Some people who experience synesthesia might link specific numbers with colors in their experience and thus they might sense that the number 5 somehow links intrinsically with the color red; others might sense that Monday is “actually behind” Tuesday or Wednesday; that certain words actually exhibit specific “sounds”, etc.
The point of the matter is that like the prophets under discussion who were able to link certain things about the Sephirot to this-worldly phenomena, individuals with synesthesia could experience one thing on one sensual plane while somehow sensing that it links quite naturally with something else on an entirely different plane [4].
Finally, there’s one other theme enunciated here in the third section, and it’s the fact that what the soul sees are things about the spiritual realm ”that are arranged in a specific order” (comment to Petach 9). That refers to the sequential, time-based nature of phenomena occurring in the heavenly realm which the prophets “envision”. Ramchal cites this theme again and again in his writings, so we’ll speak of it at length in the following section where it’s enunciated in the body of one of the Petachim there.
Note:
[1] See Da’at Tevunot 180 and 190; Klallim Rishonim 36; and Biurim l’Sefer Otzrot Chaim 8.
[2] See Ramchal’s comments to Petach 9 and Da’at Tevunot 182-184.
[3] See Da’at Tevunot 189-190.
[4] See R’ Aryeh Kaplan’s note to Exodus 20:15.
(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
———————————————————-
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.
You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.