September 23, 2013 at 7:06 pm · Filed under Articles, Books
The Purifying Water
Mayim (“water” in Hebrew) is the flood that will drown your spiritual embryo if you heed the body’s questions, destroying all that you’ve worked so hard to assemble within.
The flood comes as a ruthless force that can destroy everything. Those desires that couldn’t endure the questions, meaning those that didn’t “come into the ark,” truly perish in its waters: “And all flesh perished that moved upon the earth.” And yet, the paradox is that for all its ruthlessness, the flood also purifies.
However, it purifies only those in whom the desires to attain the spiritual world prevail. It is as if man doesn’t even hear the rational questions of his body as he advances toward the goal, no matter what. In this case he acts like Noah, building himself an ark (finding the right books, the right teacher, and the right environment). He will also take shelter there with his numerous individual desires that are yet to be corrected (but will be corrected as the ark “sails” the flood waters).
The Meaning of 40: Bestowal, the Protective Womb
“Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth.”
Forty is a very significant number in spirituality. Naturally, we’re not talking about days here. The number forty represents the quality of bestowal, the Creator’s quality.
Forty is also the numerical value of the letter Mem (?). It resembles a closed space.
If you manage to withstand those forty days of the mind’s onslaught and not break, “the water will lift up the ark” and it will “float on the surface of the water.”
Let’s repeat one last time how you can cleanse, rather than drown, in the time of the flood, and how you can become a “spiritual embryo” and enter the Mem.
To accomplish this, you must pick up the necessary books and begin to “wash” yourself with them, as though with clean water. Bathe in the Light of Mercy, which, through your correct study, will cleanse you on the outside.
You draw it like a magnet by reading these books, and it will fill you on the inside when you are open to the Light and its quality of bestowal, whereupon the Light will enter you.
It is precisely the Light of Mercy that helps you reveal the one desire amidst all your other desires, the desire called Noah.
The Birth after the Purification in the Ark
How long must your desires for spiritual advancement remain in the ark?
For as long as it takes for the “flood waters” to rise above the “earth” (your remaining desires) until they “drown” in the Light of Mercy, cleansing to such an extent that you can use them correctly for your inner, personal and only desire, known as “Noah.”
You were in the ark, detached from all the egoistic desires. You didn’t use them, but remained “inside” the books and the thoughts of spiritual ascent, like an embryo in the mother’s womb. You were under the Creator’s protection, sheltered by Him. You reveled in that silence; it was like Paradise. But now you’re grown and mature, and the time of your emergence into the world is nearing. It’s time to begin your “exit from the ark.”
This means that you must begin your own path, to “leave the Creator’s womb,” as if with female waters, to be born and start working with your thus far “light” egoistic desires. You didn’t take them with you into the “ark,” having put them on hold for the right time. Now that they’ve been properly washed and cleansed with “flood waters,” it’s time for you to start correcting them.
In doing so you become increasingly closer to the spiritual world, to the Creator, since the end goal is the correction of the entire ego. Only then will you feel free, immortal, and absolutely blissful. This is what the Creator wants for you. This is the only condition under which you can be close to Him.
“What Is the Meaning of Noah’s Ark and the Flood in the Bible?” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.
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September 23, 2013 at 9:03 am · Filed under Articles, Books
“And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; every thing that is in the earth shall perish. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark.”
Building the Ark
How is this done? We can do it primarily with the help of the books. In addition to this book, you seek out others like it, written by those who have already attained their root, the Upper World, and convey through them their attainment.
These books are like roadmaps designed to guide you to your goal via the shortest possible route. These books are few in number.
They aren’t meant to expand your knowledge, but to cultivate within you the sensation of the Upper One.
They are written by great Kabbalists: Abraham, Moses, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the ARI (Rabbi Isaac Luria), and Baal HaSulam (Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag).
So, if you refuse to let up until you’ve found the right books, it means you’re “building an ark.” You delve into the books, and at first, you don’t understand them one bit, but you continue to read. This is how you “erect the walls of the ark.”
Then, you find a teacher, a guide who will not let you stray from the path, and you find friends with whom you will overcome the obstacles that stand between you and the goal. This is how you “lay the roof of the ark.”
Entering the Ark above One’s Mind
Your entrance into the ark begins the moment you “sort out” your desires and select those with which you can continue to develop spiritually. Accordingly, you will understand which desires must be “drowned.”
And this is possible only if you switch off your mind, as odd as that may sound. “Switching off your mind” means you ignore the advice of the body, your ego. It’s a difficult condition, but it can be done, and many have already traversed this journey. They wrote the authentic books about discovering the true, exalted force of love, which they called “the Creator.” They also wrote that the tiniest grain of spiritual pleasure is billions of times greater than all of the earthly pleasures combined.
So, achieving the spiritual pleasure is possible only if you escape from the iron grip of the ego and conquer your mind. Of course, your mind bombards you with questions such as, “What are you doing this for?” and “What are you really getting out of it?” “Where are the tangible benefits?” “Who are these sages that you follow their instructions so closely?”
You hear all this, but your response to your mind is, “I understand your concerns but I have faith in the sages and in what I read in these books.
Confusing Questions in Order to have Free Choice
Who’s feeding you these questions? It is the so-called “impure force.” This force has power only over your mind. But if you act in spite of your mind, you will immediately feel the kind of relief that comes after exhausting labor, because the power of the “pure force” means to do something in spite of the mind.
It may seem odd or bewildering, but both the pure and the impure forces stem from the same source. That source is the Creator, a force of absolute good that wants one thing and one thing only: to turn us into creatures worthy of Him. It is He who confuses us, deliberately, so we can decide our fate for ourselves. Every decision, every step we take we will need to weigh carefully, as though our entire life hangs in the balance.
The Mind’s Questions Flooding the Person
“And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. And the waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.”
It means the “earth”—your desire—is being “flooded with flood waters.” “Flood waters” are the questions that literally “wash over” you.
These questions aren’t simple. They are your mind’s questions. They are materialistic, rational, pragmatic, and are triggered by problems that concern the body. Their “where’s” and “why’s” aim to drown us.
The questions never let up; they return a thousand times: “What do you need this for? What’s the point? Think about yourself because your efforts aren’t bringing you any personal benefit. What will you get out of all this work? How will the Creator repay you for observing His commandments? Will it be worth it after all your toiling is done?”
These objections of the body are summed up by the question “What?” (Heb. Ma)
If you oppose the body, citing faith in the Creator that He governs all things in the name of good, then the body objects even more. Now it screams, “Who?” (Heb. Mi) “Who is the Creator, that I should obey His voice?” If you only knew, if you could see and feel that the Creator is great, you could work for Him. Just consider how much more profitable it is to work for someone respected in our world.
It is when these two objections of the body combine in you that the two questions “What?” and “Who?” (Ma and Mi) merge into one word—Mayim, which means “water” in Hebrew. And much Mayim (water) creates a flood.
“The Meaning of the Story of the Entrance to Noah’s Ark Amidst the Flood” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.
Purchase Paperback »
Purchase ePub & Kindle »
Download PDF Free »
