{"id":476,"date":"2011-03-06T11:31:13","date_gmt":"2011-03-06T15:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=476"},"modified":"2011-03-06T11:31:13","modified_gmt":"2011-03-06T15:31:13","slug":"the-makeup-of-the-visions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/03\/06\/the-makeup-of-the-visions\/","title":{"rendered":"The makeup of the visions"},"content":{"rendered":"

But again, these were prophetic visions<\/em>. The Sephirot<\/em> themselves didn\u2019t assume shapes at all or move about.<\/p>\n

For, as Ramchal underscores, while \u201cwe do speak in terms of (the Sephirot<\/em> exhibiting) \u2018smallness\u2019 and \u2018greatness\u2019, \u2018ascent\u2019 and \u2018descent\u2019, (of their being) \u2018clothed\u2019 (in one another), (and of their assuming) \u2018positions\u2019 and the like \u2026, we nonetheless cannot say that any of these phenomena actually exist in the Sephirot<\/em> themselves\u201d or that \u201cthat (the Sephirot<\/em>) possess any form at all\u201d (comments to Petach<\/em> 7). They only seem<\/em> to assume them <\/strong>(Petach<\/em> 7).<\/p>\n

For, as he says, \u201cif the images the Sephirot<\/em> assumed were intrinsic to the Sephirot<\/em>, it would obviously be impossible to attribute contradictory opposites to the same subject\u201d under consideration like \u201ccircles\u201d as opposed to \u201cstraight lines\u201d. However, \u201csince these likenesses aren\u2019t intrinsic to the Sephirot<\/em> but were willed by God\u201d to appear one way or another to the prophet at that time, \u201cthere is no difficulty in the fact that they might appear as contradictory likenesses\u2026. (The explanation is that) at one moment the Supreme Will wants them to appear one way, and afterwards another way\u201d (comments to Petach<\/em> 8 ) \u00a0[1].<\/p>\n

In fact, they\u2019re \u201cenvisioned by the prophets or (spiritually-gifted) souls much the way a person \u2018sees\u2019 the thoughts passing through his mind\u201d (comments to Petach<\/em> 7); or as Ramchal put it elsewhere, exactly the way things <\/strong>(appear) in a dream <\/strong>(Petach<\/em> 8). For, what they were \u201cseeing\u201d was a this-world representation or a translation of a related heavenly phenomenon, as Ramchal puts it in his comments to Petachim<\/em> 10 and 13).<\/p>\n

As to the rare individuals who were able to \u201cenvision\u201d the Sephirot<\/em>, we\u2019re told that they knew that they were experiencing \u201cvisions\u201d all along, and that they understood the import of those visions as well [2]. We\u2019re also told that the \u201cvisions\u201d varied with each prophet observing them <\/strong>(Petach<\/em> 7) [3], as they were personal \u201cvisions of the soul \u2026 rather than actual physical visions\u201d (comment to Petach<\/em> 9).<\/p>\n

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 \u201csynesthesia\u201d. Synesthesia (from the Greek terms for \u201ctogether\u201d and \u201csensation\u201d) refers to the rare experience of somehow convincingly linking two utterly different sensations to each other in one\u2019s 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 \u201cactually behind\u201d Tuesday or Wednesday; that certain words actually exhibit specific \u201csounds\u201d, etc.<\/p>\n

The point of the matter is that like the prophets under discussion who were able to link certain things about the Sephirot<\/em> 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].<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s one other theme enunciated here in the third section, and it\u2019s the fact that what the soul sees are things about the spiritual realm \u201dthat are arranged in a specific order\u201d (comment to Petach<\/em> 9). That refers to the sequential, time-based nature of phenomena occurring in the heavenly realm which the prophets \u201cenvision\u201d. Ramchal cites this theme again and again in his writings, so we\u2019ll speak of it at length in the following section where it\u2019s enunciated in the body of one of the Petachim<\/em> there.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em> 180 and 190; Klallim<\/em> Rishonim<\/em> 36; and Biurim l\u2019Sefer Otzrot Chaim<\/em> 8.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Ramchal\u2019s comments to Petach<\/em> 9 and Da\u2019at Tevunot <\/em>182-184.<\/p>\n

[3] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Da\u2019at Tevunot 189-190<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See R\u2019 Aryeh Kaplan\u2019s note to Exodus 20:15.<\/p>\n

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n

———————————————————-<\/p>\n

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here<\/a> at a discount.<\/p>\n

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here<\/a> at a discount as well.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).<\/p>\n

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But again, these were prophetic visions. The Sephirot themselves didn\u2019t assume shapes at all or move about. For, as Ramchal underscores, while \u201cwe do speak in terms of (the Sephirot exhibiting) \u2018smallness\u2019 and \u2018greatness\u2019, \u2018ascent\u2019 and \u2018descent\u2019, (of their being) … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}