The Birth of Reality

When a Magus speaks of the birth of Reality from Dreaming or of Worlds from the Interworld, and when a physicist speaks of the birth of matter from a singularity or the “vacuum fluctuations,” they are, in fact, describing the same process, the only difference being that for the Magus the interspace is a realm open to exploration, whereas for the physicist something “deeper” than quantum fields remains inaccessible.

In this sense, the Hermetic myth, in accordance with the principle of the “Great Arcanum,” distinguishes three states of being – Interworld (Abyss, Tehom, dreaming without a dreamer), Dreaming (“the personal world”), and Reality (“collective dreaming”), each of which may be considered from two aspects — being and consciousness, and integrated into the concept of Supra-Reality – Hoshek.

In other words, when we speak of mind “dissolved” in space, of the vacuum or bardo – we consider the Abyss or the Interworld; when we attempt to describe an individual localized stream of consciousness, we speak of “Dreaming,” whose highest form is ecstasy and samadhi; and when we single out the “verifiable,” formed aspect of existence, we speak of “reality.” In this sense, one may describe Dreaming as an attempt by consciousness to “reconcile” Reality and the interspace, to confer upon the Abyss the characteristics of formed existence. In fact, by exactly the same mechanism, “islands of stability” are born in the Interworld – “Cities,” which can be regarded as smaller analogues of worlds, a kind of intermediate state between chaotic and cosmically ordered reality. Thus, when in the “Book of Genesis” it is said of the earth that it was “without form and void,” “tohu va bohu” (‏תהו ובהו‏‎), what is implied is the arising of the Interworld, which is at the same time called the “world of chaos,” “Olam ha-Tohu” (עוֹלָם הַתֹּהוּ); and when later the “appearance of light” (יהי אור) is mentioned, the localization of consciousness is described; and when it comes to the “firmament in the midst of the waters” (רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם), what is meant is the emergence of a definite reality, the “physical world,” which acquires the name “Olam ha-Tikkun” (עוֹלָם הַתִּקּוּן), the “world of correction” or the “world of ordering.”

Thus, the manifestation and cosmic ordering of reality directly depends on the degree of self-identification and individuation of the streams of consciousness that create it. It is precisely in this sense that Kabbalists speak of the world as a “product of egoism”: the more clearly consciousness knows itself and its individuality, the more distinctly it creates the milieu for its own manifestation; the reality of our world is directly proportional to our own reality.

At the same time, as we noted, the interspace is not merely the “other side” of reality; it is also a source, a field of potentialities for all manifested worlds. Forces that receive their first form in the Interworld then finally manifest, actualize, and realize themselves in worlds. One might say that the Abyss is a “seed fund” for all manifested phenomena. For example, the principle of earth, expressed in the Interworld as the City Falias, manifests in worlds as inertia, the Strong Interaction (in hadrons) and its carriers – gluons, the chemical element Carbon, and so on. One might say that each of the “seeds” of the interspace unfolds into an entire spectrum of possibilities, and in this sense appears as a manifestation of the corresponding eidos.

In a similar way, Finias gives rise to electromagnetic forces and photons; Gorias – to the weak interaction and bosons; Murias – to gravitation; the spirits of the Interworld – Archons, Epiclets, Gatekeepers, and others – also manifest in worlds as various constructive and destructive forces. Accordingly, each of the aeons of the Interworld gives rise to a spectrum of spaces and subspaces, and is the “progenitor” both of the corresponding sefirot and of the qlippot.

The study of the Interworld is, in fact, a journey to the roots of the universe which, like any roots, carry within themselves life-giving energy and are also a habitat for chthonic and destructive forces. The serpents nesting in the roots of Yggdrasil are at once manifestations of the primordial wisdom that nourishes it, and of the destructive or predatory forces inhabiting the Interworld.