staffs
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Staffs
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Post by staffs on May 29, 2005 12:20:42 GMT
Saw a programme on Discovery about this and Kabbalah.
Anyone care to enlighten me a little further.
MP
Russell,Whistler ,Gnostic ?
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staffs
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Staffs
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Post by staffs on May 29, 2005 13:38:55 GMT
No takers yet then Is this question to be a stumbling block ?
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ruffashlar
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Lodge Milncroft No. 1515 (GLoS), Govanhill Royal Arch Chapter 523 (S.G.R.A.C.S.)
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Post by ruffashlar on May 29, 2005 16:48:15 GMT
This thread should be put onto the Kabbalah forum, as the Zohar is one of the key texts of the entire subject and any discussion on it should be placed where it can be referred to easily. The Zohar is described by one online source as being the work of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, one of the most important sages in Jewish history, [who] lived over 1800 years ago. ...the Zohar, the primary source text of Kabbalah, is built around Rabbi Shimon's revelations to his inner circle of disciples. He is said to have died on a day called the Lag b'Omer, which is a minor holiday sandwiched between two periods of mourning called the Omer. In order that the memory of his death did not spoil the little holiday, but on the contrary be another reason to feel great joy, he spent his last hours sharing the the most sublime secrets of the Torah with his disciples, and this is the Zohar, "The Radiance" or "The Splendour". The Zohar is basically a commentary on the Torah, the Pentateuch or Five books of Moses. However, each of the textual references is given a mystical evaluation which in its language and symbolic philosophy can be pinpointed as the first book of the Kabbalah. After much Googling, I found an online source of the Sefer haZohar, or Book of Splendour, here:- home.utah.edu/~rfs4/jkm30.htm#Heading23226- embedded in the middle of a big page of other works and letters, also worthy of perusal, which were the postings of a Kabbalah newsgroup. For myself, I cannot read the Zohar without the warm, lilting voice of Jackie Mason as Rabbi Hyman Krustofski taking the part of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai: the beautiful sage inspired by glory on the threshold of the infinite...
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staffs
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Staffs
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Post by staffs on May 29, 2005 19:50:27 GMT
Ruff,The link is absoloutely mind blowing !
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ruffashlar
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Lodge Milncroft No. 1515 (GLoS), Govanhill Royal Arch Chapter 523 (S.G.R.A.C.S.)
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Post by ruffashlar on May 29, 2005 22:40:04 GMT
Indeed, what is the use of having a mind if it is never blown away? The fantastic burst of exploding light: that is zohar!
Yes, it is a very mystical book. It is very pure, in the most dangerous sense of the word: it sees clearly right through all illusions and apparent distinctions. The path to righteous illumination is the descent into wickedness, degradation and debasement, but travelled in the reverse direction. Mirrors which reflect the light, and prisms which refract it, are important as more than symbols for the Zohar: they are the function keys which transmute and transform light into every intelligible thing in creation and, by extension, can connect everything back to that light.
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