Drawing on the Tree of Life
Mapping consciousness
Spiritual wisdom from within
Kabbalah is Jewish mysticism, or the receiving of spiritual wisdom from within. I like to think that wisdom is received by revelation, and that revelation occurs in what I call the room within. This is the home of that which I AM, or my true nature. To enter the room within is to gain eyes that see and ears that hear. Jesus referred to the prophet Isaiah when he said that such eyes and ears are needed by those who would know and understand his teachings, or the teachings of all spiritual masters for that matter. I think that the wisdom revealed within is the same for all who would see and hear by letting go of their worldly ways to experience their true nature.
To gain eyes that see and ears that hear, enter the room within. Herein, you remember your true nature. As renewed vision penetrates the veils of ignorance draped across your eyes by false perceptions of separation, the mystery of existence, long hidden from your view, is revealed. What was once forgotten is remembered in moments of awareness. Intuition takes over as the light of wisdom penetrates the waning darkness. You realize that you are that which I AM—and that there is no separation. You become fully aware of consciousness in existence, or the whole of the all.
Consciousness is totality. It is the emptiness that is nowhere, the eternal field of infinite possibility. Separation is a thought in consciousness, a possibility that cannot be made real because consciousness is whole, complete, and perfect. It has no parts or pieces. Consciousness expresses separation as existence, much like a child expresses a unicorn as illusion in a dream. Existence is an illusion of separation in consciousness. You know existence as the universe. You experience existence as the me of the body.
The me of the body is not your true nature. You are neither your body nor its personality. Your true nature is consciousness expressing existence. You are consciousness-expressing. You are the dancing that is the dance. Consciousness expressing separation as existence is I AM. You are I AM. I AM is the expressing that is existence.
As the me of the body, you have lost touch with I AM. Your true nature is hidden by veils of perception that appear to separate you from others and your world. You struggle to survive on your own and to find fulfillment in a world of ignorance and fear. This is the way of the world. It leads to pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. To remember your true nature, walk the way of the path. It leads to the room within. Herein, you touch the eternal I AM. The veils are lifted to reveal the whole of the all. The whole of the all is consciousness in existence. To know this is to receive wisdom and joy in unity with all.
Kabbalah’s Tree of Life affords me the opportunity to diagram the words I use in describing my beliefs about the nature of existence and its unity in consciousness (see diagram). Consciousness is the crown of the Tree of Life as I see it. Consciousness is all things in existence, or the whole of the all. It is intelligent and aware. Being the eternal field of infinite possibility, it is the womb of existence. Intelligence and awareness unite in the womb as thought. From the womb comes existence.
Existence is a thought of separation within consciousness which cannot manifest as real. It manifests as illusion, or as a dream. Existence is not real. The womb of consciousness gave birth to existence as the universe, or the world as you know it. There is also a possibly of a world of souls without form as described in various religions. Another possibility is the hypothetical multiverse described by physicists. Is there even more to existence? It is not known.
The womb that is consciousness is an emptiness that is nowhere, with no beginning or ending, and no time, space, or objects. The womb is nothingness. There are no differentiations, comparisons, or distinctions. There is no this and that. This is the simplicity of consciousness. This is reality.
True reality is consciousness, which can only be described with terms from our world of separation. For example, consciousness is not oneness because it has no comparison, neither is it eternal or infinite. These are terms of separation. You can describe consciousness in terms of separation, but they do not translate to reality because reality has no distinctions for comparisons. Descriptions and names do not apply to reality.
The eternal field of infinite possibility gives rise to all things in consciousness. The thought of separation lies in this field. Consciousness manifests the thought of separation as existence. You know existence as the world in which you live. It is a world of this and that which can be represented by yin and yang, which are in opposition yet interconnected as a whole. The concept of yin and yang originated in Chinese philosophy and symbolizes the dualism of existence. In representing separation, yin and yang are two poles of unity. They are the pillars of this and that in my use of the Tree of Life.
I chose Kabbalah’s Tree of Life to represent what cannot be described because it is an ancient method of representing what cannot be said. Even more so, I like how it works to put concepts into relationships for better understanding. My adaptation of the Tree of Life has eleven nodes, plus additional terms related to consciousness. These terms appear as separations. In truth, they do not exist, neither does the oneness represented by the diagram. All the words are diagrammed in ignorance by me in body. My Tree of Life representation is a mythology of consciousness and its aspects in the world of existence. The crown of the Tree of Life is emptiness. The root is your physical body. Your truth is planted in the ground of goodness which is the source of your being. From this ground of being, I AM nurtures awareness as you return to consciousness.
As the me of the body, you are aware of your existence. You are less aware of your true nature. To move up the central pillar of the Tree of Life from body to consciousness is the journey of awakening. The journey begins when you enter the room within to remember I AM. This is the way of the path upward on the Tree of Life. To enter the room within is to lose attachment to the world and its ways. Yin and yang come fully into harmony. Their unity in existence is the fullness of the whole of the all. There is no this and that, there is only consciousness. There is no other. To realize consciousness is to awaken to reality. In doing so, you touch the eternal, which is your true nature.
Using the Tree of Life, I have tried mapping existence as I see it. The effort places I AM at the center of existence as the expressing that figuratively is the dancing that is the dance. I AM is a stream of conscious energy. You are I AM. You are the energy of movement expressing existence. As a stream of conscious energy, you enter existence as discrete awareness. In body, you are a personality in form, or the me of the body. You are limited by the senses and capabilities of the body. The one attribute of the me of the body that affects all else is fear. Fear is derived from the perception of separation. You are bound to the body and its world of fear by thoughts of lack, desire, expectation, and attachment to what you think will fulfill you. Your ignorance in body cannot grasp the wisdom that is I AM, so sit in the still silence of the room within. Wisdom will come to you. Wisdom is the nourishment that grows you from the ground of goodness in which you are planted firmly. You do not know wisdom. It knows you. Absorb its wonder. Draw on its vitality in contemplation. You will expand into consciousness.