Download or read book The Book of Concealed Mystery written by Continuum, and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2000-01-09 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book of the key text of the Kabbalah, a work known as the Zohar ("Splendour"). The Zohar is a commentary on the Torah and although it is sometimes ascribed to a second-century rabbi, Simon Bar-Yochai, the form in which it is most widely known originates with Moses of Leon, a native of Granada, who died in 1305.The kabbalists believe that the undefinable origin of all things is Ein Sof - the cause of causes, the infinite, that which underlies everything. The universe emanates from the divine in successive layers called esefiroti. Everything exists in God, but God extends infinitely beyond existence. All we know and are is linked together, pervaded and maintained by the divine. According to this work, the light of God must be concealed in order to be revealed to creation. Even though the kabbalists believe that ultimately Ein Sof is beyond expression or understanding, the contemplation of God's presence in all things causes our thoughts to be purified.
Download or read book Zohar the Book of Enlightenment written by Daniel Chanan Matt and published by Paulist Press. This book was released on 1983 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first translation with commentary of selections from The Zohar, the major text of the Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. This work was written in 13th-century Spain by Moses de Leon, a Spanish scholar.
Download or read book Kabbalah Revealed written by Michael Laitman and published by Laitman Kabbalah Publishers. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kabbalah Revealed: The Ordinary Person s Guide to a More Peaceful Life is a clearly-written, user-friendly guide to making sense of the surrounding world while achieving inner peace. Each of the six chapters in this book focuses on a different aspect of the ancient wisdom of Kabbalah, shedding new light on a teaching that has too often been shrouded in mystery and misconceptions. A subtle, yet profound idea weaves the book s chapters into a coherent and concrete whole. The first three chapters in Kabbalah Revealed tell us why the present world is in a state of crisis, explaining how our growing desires promote progress as well as alienation, and why the biggest deterrent to achieving positive change is rooted in our own spirits. Chapters Four through Six offer a prescription for positive change. Therein, we learn how we can use our spirits to build a personally peaceful life in harmony with all of Creation. For the first time ever, the timeless principles of Kabbalah are explained for a general readership by a world-renowned scholar of Kabbalah Rav Michael Laitman, PhD. For those seeking to achieve transformational change on a personal, communal or global level, Kabbalah Revealed is required reading."
Download or read book Kabbalah Science and the Meaning of Life written by Michael Laitman and published by Laitman Kabbalah Publishers. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science explains the mechanisms that sustain life; Kabbalah explains why life exists. In Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, a kabbalist and a scientist, combines science and spirituality in a captivating dialogue that reveals lifes meaning. For thousands of years kabbalists have been writing that the world is made of a single entity divided into separate beings. Today the cutting edge science of quantum physics states a very similar idea: that at the most fundamental level of matter, we are all literally one. Science proves that reality is affected by the observer who examines it. And so does Kabbalah. But Kabbalah says more: even the Creator of reality is found within the observer. In other words, God is inside of us, he doesnt exist anywhere else. When we pass away so does he. These earthshaking concepts and more are eloquently introduced so that even readers uneducated in Kabbalah or science will easily understand them. Therefore, if youre just a little curious about why you are here, what life means, and what you can do to enjoy it more, this is your book.
Download or read book Gershom Scholem written by David Biale and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1982 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through a lifetime of passionate scholarship, Gershom Scholem (1897-1982) uncovered the "domains of tradition hidden under the debris of centuries" and made the history of Jewish mysticism and messianism comprehensible and relevant to current Jewish thought. In this paperback edition of his definitive book on Scholem's work, David Biale has shortened and rearranged his study for the benefit of the general reader and the student. A new introduction and new passages in the main text highlight the pluralistic character of Jewish theology as seen by Scholem, the place of the Kabbalah in debates over Zionism versus assimilation, and the interpretation of Kafka as a Jewish writer.
Download or read book Physician of the Soul Healer of the Cosmos written by Lawrence Fine and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Isaac Luria (1534-1572) is one of the most extraordinary and influential mystical figures in the history of Judaism, a visionary teacher who helped shape the course of nearly all subsequent Jewish mysticism. Given his importance, it is remarkable that this is the first scholarly work on him in English. Most studies of Lurianic Kabbalah focus on Luria’s mythic and speculative ideas or on the ritual and contemplative practices he taught. The central premise of this book is that Lurianic Kabbalah was first and foremost a lived and living phenomenon in an actual social world. Thus the book focuses on Luria the person and on his relationship to his disciples. What attracted Luria’s students to him? How did they react to his inspired and charismatic behavior? And what roles did Luria and his students see themselves playing in their collective quest for repair of the cosmos and messianic redemption?
Download or read book Book Chat written by and published by . This book was released on 1887 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Christian Kabbalah written by Ernst Benz and published by Grailstone. This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christian Kabbalah is the great scholar Ernst Benz's introduction to the relatively little-known but fascinating subject of Christian Kabbalah. Christian Kabbalism is the interpretation of JewishKabbalistic themes in the context of the Christian faith, or an interpretation of Christian doctrines utilizing Kabbalistic methods and concepts. Its beginnings are generally traced back to CountPico de la Mirandola, the well-known Renaissance philosopher and creator of a Christian Neoplatonism. The great surge of mysticism within the theology and theosophy of German pietismduring the early modern period led not only to a renaissance in the study of the Kabbalah within Protestant theology, but also to a positive evaluation of the religious content of the Kabbalah in its own right. This work includes illustrations of the famous Kabbalistic master tablet of Princess Antonia and discusses in detail the work of thegreat Christian theosopher Friedrich Christoph Oetinger. Christian Kabbalah is currently the only introduction available to the history and teachings of this important form of mysticism and religiouscross-pollination.
Download or read book Kabbalistic Manuscripts and Textual Theory written by Daniel Abrams and published by Hebrew University Magnes Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 772 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kabbalistic Manuscripts and Textual Theory uncovers the unstated assumptions and expectations of scribes and scholars who fashioned editions from manuscripts of Jewish mystical literature. This study offers a theory of kabbalistic textuality in which the material book the printed page no less than handwritten manuscripts serves as the site for textual dialogue between Jewish mystics of different periods and locations. The refashioning of the text through the process of reading and commenting that takes place on the page in the margins and between the lines blurs the boundaries between the traditionally defined roles of author, reader, commentator and editor. This study shows that kabbalists and academic editors reinvented the text in their own image, as part of a fluid textual process that was nothing short of transformative. This book is certainly monumental, offering in its seven hundred pages a wealth of documentation and distilled argument that manages to be both comprehensive in its materials and transparent in its critical insights. It is rare indeed that a work of such formidable scholarship can actually be a pleasure to read and convincing in its elucidation of what are often extremely complex documentary circumstances and editorial traditions. From the foreword by David Greetham
Download or read book As Light Before Dawn written by Eitan P. Fishbane and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-29 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Light Before Dawn explores the mystical thought of Isaac ben Samuel of Akko, a major medieval kabbalist whose work has until now received relatively little attention. Through consideration of an extensive literary corpus, including much that still remains in manuscript, this study examines an array of themes and questions that have great applicability to the comparative study of mysticism and the broader study of religion. These include prayer and the nature of mystical experience; meditative concentration directed to God; and the power of mental intention, authority, creativity, and the transmission of wisdom.
Download or read book The Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov written by Yitzhak Buxbaum and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2006-09-05 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a life, in stories, of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1700-1760), the founder of Hasidism. The Baal Shem Tov, or the Besht, as he is commonly called, led a revival in Judaism that put love and joy at the center of religious life and championed the piety of the common folk against the rabbinic establishment. He has been recognized as one of the greatest teachers in Jewish history, and much of what is alive and vibrant in Judaism today, in all denominations, derives from his inspiration. Abraham Joshua Heschel, who was descended from several illustrious Hasidic dynasties, wrote: "The Baal Shem Tov brought heaven to earth. He and his disciples, the Hasidim, banished melancholy from the soul and uncovered the ineffable delight of being a Jew.">
Download or read book The Bookmart written by Halkett Lord and published by . This book was released on 1888 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Attaining the Worlds Beyond written by Michael Laitman and published by Laitman Kabbalah Publishers. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the words of Michael Laitman, "It is beyond human comprehension to understand the essence of such spiritual qualities as total altruism and love. This is for the simple reason that human beings cannot comprehend how such feelings can exist at all, as everyone seemingly requires an incentive to perform any act; without some personal gain, people are not prepared to extend themselves. That is why a quality such as altruism can only be imparted to a person from Above, and only those who have experienced it can understand it." Attaining The Worlds Beyond is a first step toward discovering the ultimate fulfillment of spiritual ascent in our lifetime. This book reaches out to all those who are searching for answers, who are seeking a logical and reliable way to understand the world's phenomena. This magnificent introduction to the wisdom of Kabbalah provides a new kind of awareness that enlightens the mind, invigorates the heart, and moves the reader to the depths of their soul.
Download or read book Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe written by Kocku Von Stuckrad and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2010 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addressing discourses of perfect knowledge in Western culture between 1200 and 1800, this book integrates the study of Western esotericism in a larger analytical framework of European history of religion.
Download or read book The Unique Cherub Circle written by Joseph Dan and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 1999 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main point delivered by this book is that Jews living in Germany during the Middle Ages developped a dynamic and variegated culture which should be recognized as a constituent of European and German medieval religiosity. The esoterics, mystics and pietists who produced works like those analyzed in this volume derived their inspiration from the traditional Jewish texts, but were also part of the world they lived in, despite the seclusions enforced by the religious prejudices of the time. The esoterical-mystical phenomena described were to a very large extent an original development in central-European Jewry, and constitute one of their most important contributions to Jewish culture as a whole. In some cases, a spiritual atmosphere reminiscent of early Protestant sects, which were to appear in the same regions three centuries later, can be discerned. Some of these texts influenced the Christian kabbalists of the sixteenth century, like Johannes Reuchlin and others. This is a major spiritual phenomenon which has been completely neglected until now, and it is hoped that this volume will contribute to a new appreciation of this aspect of European creativity in the Middle Ages.
Download or read book The Occult World written by Christopher Partridge and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 781 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents students and scholars with a comprehensive overview of the fascinating world of the occult. It explores the history of Western occultism, from ancient and medieval sources via the Renaissance, right up to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and contemporary occultism. Written by a distinguished team of contributors, the essays consider key figures, beliefs and practices as well as popular culture.
Download or read book The Scandal of Kabbalah written by Yaacob Dweck and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-12-26 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Scandal of Kabbalah is the first book about the origins of a culture war that began in early modern Europe and continues to this day: the debate between kabbalists and their critics on the nature of Judaism and the meaning of religious tradition. From its medieval beginnings as an esoteric form of Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah spread throughout the early modern world and became a central feature of Jewish life. Scholars have long studied the revolutionary impact of Kabbalah, but, as Yaacob Dweck argues, they have misunderstood the character and timing of opposition to it. Drawing on a rang.
