Up the Tree

The Western Myth describes the unfolding of self-knowledge of the ultimate reality in the aggregate of its differential aspects in the form of the Tree of Life – the “skeleton” of any realization, any completed object or process.

At the same time the Tree itself seems to have two Roots, two “sources” of its life – Upper and Lower. From the absolute point of view, of course, the true source of all reality is the “above” it – “higher” than Keter. However, as we have already discussed, from the point of view of a single individual mind its “starting point” is the “lower Limit” – the state of maximal separation of the mind from Being. Put differently, the Tree equally maps both the process of involution of the spirit – the emergence and consolidation of the individual perspective, and its evolution, reintegration into pleromic unity.

Note that the Myth describes these two processes not as “sequential stages” but as – simultaneously, parallel processes of the rotation of the World Wheel. Specifically – always, at any moment in time what is projected is, essentially, the atemporal process of the differentiation of aspects of Being/mind and their interpenetration.

We have already said that the process of the mind’s Ascent up the Tree is traditionally described in the form of a scheme of “Initiations“, in which each level corresponds to a particular, fairly stable state of mind.

From the point of view of the mind itself, it all begins with its self-identification as an individual aspect of the self-knowledge of the One Reality. From the point of view of the Absolute this self-identification – the extreme point of differentiation – is the final stage of the separation of that individual aspect. On the Tree this position corresponds to the Sephira Malchut – a state which, on the one hand, is the complete opposition of mind to Being, and on the other – their most complete mutual reflection as opposite poles. Namely, the Way of God ends where the Way of Man begins – God becomes man in order to know Himself. And this state is what Malchut means. Of course, having become man, God can easily forget Himself as God – “fall” below Malchut – into the abysses of the Qliphoth, and then spend a long time searching for His true nature. However, having identified itself as an individual mind, it gains a foothold in this understanding, setting out on the Way of development, of reintegration. Only by recognizing itself in this way can the mind hear the “Echo of Creation”, or, as they say, find the Shekhinah, the Spirit of Ascent. As soon as the mind acquires the ability to see itself as something capable of development, as something destined for expansion, evolution (this vision is symbolized by the “Echo of the Absolute” – Shekhinah), it begins to feel a powerful pull “upward”, a “hunger of the soul“, a “longing for God”, since an attraction arises between the Shekhinah and the “Descending current” – Mezla – which are, essentially, two sides of the single Rotation of the World Wheel. That is, in order to begin development the mind must find within itself the very “possibility” of that development, cease to see itself as something finite and closed, and begin to identify with the flow, the process of the world’s self-knowledge. The mind must break the fixation on itself, on its concepts, stop generating interpretations and allow the possibility of direct self-reflection. This primary “entry into the Tree” is the first step on the Way to reintegration, the first “turning of the wheel upwards”.

Having discovered itself as a reflecting capacity, the mind takes the next step and moves from the play of concepts to the play of reflections. This breakthrough, in fact, is also fundamentally important and complex, meaning a transition from “earthly” energies to “lunar” ones – from using resources solely of the “lower root” to the perception of “upper” influences, albeit for now in the form of distant reflections. In other words, the Zealot already “sees” the Light; he does not merely “know” about it, he feels within himself those Dragon Wings which should eventually carry him to the very crown of the cosmos. Note that the “direct process” – the transition of the Spirit from Yesod to Malchut – meant the final “break”, the ultimate formation of the duality necessary for the self-reflection of reality.

The mind takes the next step when it moves from mere “reflection” of energies to attempts to operate with them, even if only at the level of speculative concepts. Understanding that arises from an inner “feeling” makes the picture of the world not merely a set of words but a free flow of representations, images not yet stable and changing, yet fairly well defined. This transition – from operating with the formal expressions of ideas to understanding their meanings – signifies the activation of “mercurial” energies and the attainment of the Degree of the Philosopher. For the Spirit this stage meant a transition from the level of Ideas to the level of thoughts – the stage of shaping its potentials.

Having learned to penetrate meanings, the mind also sees the interconnections that exist between processes and phenomena, and therefore finds within itself the ability to influence those connections and the processes themselves. This transition signifies the activation of “Venusian” energies and the attainment of the state of the Practitioner. Note that if for the Spirit Victory (Netzach) entails Glory (Hod) — that is, interconnections flowing into streams of ideas — then for the mind, conversely, the understanding of meanings is necessary for the sense of unity.

The next step – overcoming the Paroket and entering the Temple of Adeptate – we have already discussed in sufficient detail. The stages of Adeptate and Mastery that follow are also a further acquisition by the mind of its nature as pure light.

The very mapping of the Turns of the Wheel in the form of the Tree is extremely useful for the development of the mind, since it allows one to assess one’s position from two sides – as a stage of the spirit’s involution (and thus, to evaluate the potential possibilities of that state), and as a stage of one’s own evolution (and thus, to recognize the degree of one’s actualization, of realization). Mystical insights that allow one to see the Tree as a process, a flow including two rivers, were highly valuable for the formation of the Myth, and therefore – of the Law, the image of action, of the Magi. The more adequately a magus assesses his state and position, the easier it will be for him to solve the key tasks of that condition and to take the next step on his Way – a Way that has never begun.