Explaining Kabbalah Dream 14-06-23

« La Kabbale (de l’hébreu קבלה Qabbala « réception », forme anglicisée écrite plutôt Cabbale ou Qabale en français) est une tradition ésotérique du judaïsme, traditionnellement présentée comme la « Loi orale et secrète » donnée par YHWH à Moïse sur le mont Sinaï, en même temps que la « Loi écrite et publique » (la Torah). Elle trouve sa source dans les courants mystiques du judaïsme synagogal antique. »

Here is this morning’s dream. I should preface this with the statement that I have studied kabbalah from various published texts but with a background of someone skilled in the art of molecular group theory, symmetry, an open mind, and institutional understanding. I will add a few footnotes at the end. In no way do I see this, kabbalah, as satanic, nor is it some groovy thing a pop star might get a tattoo of.

The dream starts in the Department of Chemistry of Imperial College, South Kensington. I am in the fourth floor secretarial offices with Alan B. He is as I remember him but aged slightly and he is wearing a yarmulke on his head. This is surprising to me for although I knew his background, I never saw him thus attired.

He is standing by the printer waiting for a document to arrive. I greet him and he comments that the print queue must be long. Slowly out of the printer a sheet of A3 paper comes out and on it there is a kabbalistic otz chiim or eitz chaim. I glance at it and point out the common mistake which is deliberate in much of the published “work”. He says that he did not know that I knew about kabbalah.

I say that I have looked into it a little and see it as a model for the manifestation of the universe and how an idea or thought form comes into being, from before a germ of an idea.

I draw his attention to ein, ein soph and ein soph aur and explain that this is “deity” unmanifest often call God transcendent and this is a guess for what lies beyond the veil. An attempt of the seers of old to verbalise what they could not see. I point at the top trinity above da’ath and say that this is God imminent or that first part of deity which is, present participle, manifesting, in manifestation.

I say that the veil represents that which is in the very initial act of manifesting, that which is neither unmanifest or manifest. It represents the cusp of beingness, the as yet non nascent dream of existence.

He looks taken aback and says that he thought that kabbalah was pretty much a Jewish thing. I explain that yes that is where it was first started and that it goes way back. He points to da’ath on the tree.

I explain to him that herein lies the crux, because beyond {above} this we are dealing with models of deity which must be by way of conjecture. Whilst human I believe it difficult to conceptualise such states of awareness. In many ways da’ath encapsulates the mystery of beingness in that one cannot see beyond form whilst in form. The model of a triangle is reflected here with the apex of the triangle pointing up instead of down. Da’ath is a kind of lower reflection of the veil of existence.

Alan looks a little freaked.

The dream ends….

* Whilst working in pastoral care a student who had been on holiday at a rabbinical kabbalistic kibbutz had a big discussion on kabbalah with me and saw fit to give me a book on the subject. She was astounded that I could discuss such matters with her. 

*There is a Toltec interpretation of “Jacob’s ladder” the lightning strike of manifestation too.

Mount Sinai – The Clockmaker – Islam Dream 17-11-23

Here is this morning’s dream. The wife says that I was kicking about whilst having it.

The dream starts with me walking down from Mount Sinai past Saint Catherine’s monastery I am to meet someone there. I have just watched {again} the dawn on top of Mount Sinai. As I near the walls of the monastery I am taken suddenly to The clockmaker. I travel instantaneously to his workshop.

In front of me is small man with wispy grey hair who is wearing an Eastern European black cap. He has wire rimmed glasses with circular lens holders perched on his nose. He is wearing a light tan leather apron and a white collarless shirt. He shows me the clock. In front of him is an exquisite mechanical clock mechanism about one metre in diameter. There are fly wheels and rotor arms all in motion. It is truly something. He says to me in a Swiss-German accent that I should watch carefully.

The clock starts to move and transform. It self-organises via a different shape to a nearby part of the workshop. It stutters a bit then continues to mark time. It struggles to regain equilibrium.

The clockmaker says that the clock shows the current lack of harmony in the world. It is struggling to find the simple harmonic motion needed for it to count time. He says that world is dangerously out of balance. He says that he has never seen it this bad.

I am taken swiftly back to the foot of Mount Sinai. At the edge of the car park are two large prayer carpets. On each of them in a few rows about a dozen long are Muslim pilgrims. They are in full stretched out prayer position. One mat has men and the other has women with hijab. They are all dressed completely in white. I understand that they have done purification washing. The white is very marked. They are about to make a pilgrimage to the summit of Mount Sinai. I had shared the night there with another group.

I meet a tall dark haired English man in the car park. He is wearing khaki shorts and an army jacket. He is stood by a fancy black 4×4 vehicle. He greets me and gesticulates to the people in prayer. I say to him that in 2003 I spent the night of my birthday prior to dawn on top of Mount Sinai as I have just done. That time whilst there were a few Muslims the peak was full of Japanese tourists. I say that something profound happened to me back then which I understood to be an initiation. I came down a changed man. The peak this time had many followers of Islam and they were all atop in prayer. I say that the last time I was at Saint Catherine’s I discussed the coming of the Imam Mahdi with my Egyptian guide. I managed to get him to go against guidelines which said not to talk about Islam with the punters.

Dawn 31st August 2003.

He opens the boot of the car and shows me some tourist tatt he has bought. There is a small ornamental sword with red hieroglyph like writing on it he is keen to have my opinion. I look at the sword and say to him that it is a cheap fake. This confirms his opinion.

His wife and two sons arrive and he drives us all across the Sinai Peninsula to the Israel border. As we approach the border, we can see the sign in Hebrew and English saying Israel. There are several small calibre bullet marks in the sign. The border guard stops the car and ushers us into the border post to check our paperwork. He sees my passport and official Science Museum pass.

I go to a computer terminal in the post to check in. The children go to a drinks vending machine. The dark haired man come over to me. We are parting here. I am going back to London. He has a slim notebook computer. He asks me to take this back to the Science Museum, where I am curator, for examination. I explain to him that because I do not know what he has been up to on his computer that would be very, too, risky for me especially given the current world climate.

Dream ends.

*The clock maker aspect of this is reminiscent of Kālacakra tantra, the wheel of time. Perhaps the west “imagines” or “pictures” the same thing but with a different visual vocabulary.