The whole universe, however, was incomplete, and did not receive its
finishing stroke till man was formed, who is the acme of the creation
and the microcosm. "The heavenly Adam (i.e. the ten Sephiroth) who
emanated from the highest primordial obscurity (i.e. the En Soph)
created the earthly Adam" (_Zohar_, ii. 70). "Man is both the import and
the highest degree of creation, for which reason he was formed on the
sixth day. As soon as man was created everything was complete, including
the upper and nether worlds, for everything is comprised in man. He
unites in himself all forms" (_Zohar_, iii. 48). Each member of his body
corresponds to a part of the visible universe. "Just as we see in the
firmament above, covering all things, different signs which are formed
of the stars and the planets, and which contain secret things and
profound mysteries studied by those who are wise and expert in these
things; so there are in the skin, which is the cover of the body of the
son of man, and which is like the sky that covers all things above,
signs and features which are the stars and planets of the skin,
indicating secret things and profound mysteries whereby the wise are
attracted who understand the reading of the mysteries in the human
face" (_Zohar_, ii. 76). The human form is shaped after the four letters
which constitute the Jewish Tetragrammaton (q.v.; see also JEHOVAH). The
head is in the shape of [Hebrew: iod], the arms and the shoulders are
like [Hebrew: hei], the breast like [Hebrew: vav], and the two legs with
the back again resemble [Hebrew: hei] (_Zohar_, ii. 72). The souls of
the whole human race pre-exist in the World of Emanations, and are all
destined to inhabit human bodies. Like the Sephiroth from which it
emanates, every soul has ten potencies, consisting of a trinity of
triads. (1) The Spirit (_neshamah_), which is the highest degree of
being, corresponds to and is operated upon by the Crown, which is the
highest triad in the Sephiroth, and is called the Intellectual World;
(2) the Soul (_ruah_), which is the seat of the moral qualities,
corresponds to and is operated upon by Beauty, which is the second triad
in the Sephiroth, and is called the Moral World; and (3) the Cruder Soul
(_nephesh_), which is immediately connected with the body, and is the
cause of its lower instincts and the animal life, corresponds to and is
operated upon by Foundation, the third triad in the Sephiroth, called
the Material World. Each soul prior to its entering into this world
consists of male and female united into one being. When it descends on
this earth the two parts are separated and animate two different bodies.
"At the time of marriage the Holy One, blessed be he, who knows all
souls and spirits, unites them again as they were before; and they again
constitute one body and one soul, forming as it were the right and the
left of the individual.... This union, however, is influenced by the
deeds of the man and by the ways in which he walks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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