The World of Chaos and The World of Rectification
The World of Chaos and The World of Rectification are two general stages in Jewish Kabbalah in the order of descending spiritual worlds known as "the Four Worlds". In subsequent creations, they also represent two archetypal spiritual states of being and consciousness. Their concepts derive from the new scheme of Lurianic Kabbalah by Isaac Luria, the father of modern Kabbalah, based on his interpretation of classic references in the Zohar.
The implications of tohu and tiqqun underlie the origin of free will and the evil realm of the qlippoth caused by the "Shattering of the Vessels", the processes of spiritual and physical exile and redemption, the meaning of the 613 commandments, and the messianic rectification of existence.
Tikkun also means the esoteric sifting or clarification of concealed divine sparks exiled in physical creation. This new paradigm in Kabbalah replaced the previous linear description of descent by Moses ben Jacob Cordovero with a dynamic process of spiritual enclothement, where higher souls invest inwardly in lower "vessels".
The cosmic drama of tiqqun in Lurianic Kabbalah inspired the 16th-18th century popular Jewish imagination, explaining contemporary oppression and supporting messiah claimants. The essential tiqqun is to have peace and order in Creation. The revivalist Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards, internalised esoteric Lurianism through its concern with experiencing divine omnipresence amidst daily material life.
The terminology of the modern ideal of tikkun olam "repairing the world" is taken from the Lurianic concept but applied more widely to ethical activism and justice in contemporary society.
The individual tiqqun may or may not also include gilgul theology; this means that, whether or not it is contemplated about tiqqun, the latter must correspond to one or more decisive actions that prevent a previous lack. The difference between Tikkun Olam and individual Tikkun focuses on the qualitative scope and devotional commitment to it for which the rectified object is so elevated or correct, therefore, both in the World and among people. Isaac Luria stated that only subsequently can, for example, previously absent Mitzvot be fulfilled, and this is the thing related to both tiqqunim, which are different in terms of work carried out and the areas to which they refer.
Overview of Lurianic Kabbalah
reinterpreted the whole scheme of Kabbalah in the 16th century, essentially making the second of two different versions of theoretical Kabbalah: the Medieval/Classic/Zoharic, and Lurianic Kabbalah. However, he understood his new doctrinal revelation as no more than the true meaning and deeper systemisation of the Zohar. Lurianic Kabbalah became the dominant system in Jewish mysticism, displacing Cordovero's, and afterwards, the Zohar was read by Jewish Kabbalists in its light.Medieval Kabbalah depicts a linear descending hierarchy of Ohr "Light", the ten sefirot or divine attributes emerging from concealment in the Ein Sof "Divine Infinity" to enact Creation, with the Four Worlds unfolding sequentially until physical creation. Lurianic Kabbalah, in contrast, describes dynamic processes of exile and redemption in the flow of Ohr, where higher levels descend into lower states, as souls to spiritual bodies. This process introduces or interprets new Kabbalistic doctrines and concepts.
In the Lurianic scheme, Creation is initiated by a primordial and radical divine tzimtzum "self-withdrawal", forming a symbolic space in which only an imprint remains of the withdrawn Ein Sof. After this, a thin, diminished new emanation, able to create finitude, extends from the withdrawn infinite light into the vacuum. This represents the latently finite potentials in the Ein Sof.
The new emanation is the fountainhead for all subsequent creation but instead leads to a catastrophe in the emerging spiritual Worlds. Because the sefirot are pure and unrelated to each other at this stage, each attribute alone is unable to contain the enormity of the divine light as it descends into them, and the vessels of the sefirot shatter, creating the World of Tohu. Their divine light is released and reascends while the broken vessel fragments descend, still animated by sparks of Ohr. The fragments become the absorbed, animating source of the subsequent Four Worlds in stable Creation. As the fragments are animated by exiled divine sparks, a consciousness unaware of its divine dependence, the resulting Creation can exist independently rather than being nullified by its source. This process, however, overspills into the realms of evil. Tiqqun is supremely embodied in the highest of the Four Worlds, the perfected world of Atziluth "Emanation", through the sefirot reconfiguring as partzufim "personas".
Rectification of the independent lower three worlds of Beri'ah "Creation", Yetzirah "Formation", and Assiah "Action" is the task of humanity. Adam Kadmon incorporated the collective souls of humanity before eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a manifestation in Kabbalah of the sefirot. His sin introduced a new dispersal of Divine vitality into exile in Creation, and shedding soul sparks from his being.
The election of the Israelites through the Law given to Moses at Sinai in the section Mishpatim of the Book of Exodus, recollected the 600,000 root souls from Adam. The 613 commandments redeem the exiled sparks of holiness from Tohu, embedded below in physical creation. The messianic era for all peoples is inaugurated when the collective souls of Israel complete the esoteric cosmic Tikkun. National and individual spiritual failures in Jewish history delay redemption by introducing further exile of Divine vitality to the realms of impurity. Each root soul is subdivided into soul sparks that reincarnate to complete cosmic and personal tiqqun, as in Lurianism, higher levels return dynamically in lower vessels. The messianic redemption combines the advantages of the lights of tohu in mature rectified vessels of tiqqun and the unity of God and Creation.
The supernal worlds of tohu and Tiqqun
Origin of ''Igul''-Circle and ''Yashar''-Line
, in his comprehensive systemization of Medieval Kabbalah, had reconciled previous Kabbalists' opinions of the sephirot by describing each as Divine ohr invested in ten spiritual keilim "vessels." This overcame the philosophical difficulty of Divine attributes, as in the Infinite Ein Sof before Creation, the sephirot were entirely nullified into non-existence in the simple unity of endless Divinity. They emerge as Divine attributes only from the perspective of creation by combining two aspects of lights and vessels. The spiritual vitality, denoted as "light", similarly manifests in two levels of Ohr Sovev and Ohr Mimalei. First the light creates the vessels, then animates them. Only the vessels differ in their natures, while the light remains unified.Isaac Luria accepted this but adapted it to his new scheme. As the Kav "ray" of illumination shines into the ḥalal or primordial "vacuum"), beginning Creation, it first forms the pristine realm of Adam Kadmon, described in previous Kabbalah, the first of the comprehensive Four or Five Worlds. Adam Kadmon is the realm of Keter, supra-conscious Divine Will. Due to its supreme transcendence, it is often excluded from listing with the other Four Worlds. Medieval Kabbalists listed Keter as the first Sephirah, but debated its relationship with the Ein Sof or Limitless Divine. Luria described Keter as an intermediary to the sephirot, not identified with the Ein Sof, but transcending the sephirot. He excludes it from their usual listing, substituting Da'at "Knowledge" instead. If the sephirot are listed with their vessels, Chokmah becomes the first principle. Adam Kadmon is all light with no vessels before the emergence of the sephirot; its expanse within the ḥalal is limited by the power of the Reshima and by its future potential to create vessels. Adam Kadmon is the divine will of Keter and the "plan" of the latent Chokmah within Keter for all subsequent detailed creation in potential. Its anthropomorphic name figuratively denotes that man is both the purpose of creation below and the embodiment on high of the sephirot Divine attributes, not yet manifest.
The sephirot manifest in two general metaphorical-figurative schemes, as igulim and Yosher/Yashar. Igul denotes potential creation encompassed within the female principle. Yashar denotes manifest creation, the male principle, where creation proceeds as a hierarchical progression. As Igulim, ten concentric "circles," the sephirot act sequentially and independently from each other, from Keter in closest proximity to the Ein Sof, to Malkhut at the centre. As Yosher, an "upright" 3-column linear scheme, the sephirot act as a harmonized configuration of related powers in the scheme of man. As in the soul of man and represented in his bodily form, each sephirah fulfils its particular function while correlating and sharing with the other powers as a whole arrangement. As Adam Kadmon is before the emergence of the sephirot, it relates to both schemes only in latent potential. As the Kav shines into the vacuum, it first emanates the ten sequential Igulim, then is "enclothed" by the Yosher scheme as Adam Kadmon.
Emergence of the sephirot - ''Akudim, Nekudim, Berudim''
From Adam Kadmon emanate five lights. As the Yosher scheme relates to the figure of man, and Adam Kadmon embodies Keter and its latent Chokmah, so these five lights figuratively emanate from the "head" of Adam Kadmon: from the "eyes, ears, nose, mouth and forehead". These interact with each other to form three specific olamot after Adam Kadmon, three evolving stages in the first manifestation of the sephirot systemised by Luria:- Akudim 10 lights in one vessel - stable tohu Chaos
- Nekudim 10 isolated lights in 10 vessels - unstable tohu Chaos
- Berudim 10 inter-relating lights in 10 vessels - beginning of tiqqun
The potency of Lurianic scheme, with its new doctrines and paradigm, arises from its power to systemise and unify previously unexplained and unrelated Kabbalistic notions. In this case, previously Iggulim and Yosher were alternative and complementary descriptions of the sephirot in Medieval Kabbalah. In Lurianic Kabbalah their difference becomes the root cause of the new process of dynamic crisis-catharsis in the Divine unfolding of Creation. Akudim is the initial stable stage of Olam HaTohu, the first emergence of the sephirot in undifferentiated unity, 10 lights encompassed in one vessel. In this supreme abundance of Divinity, there is no distinction between each sephirah, all Creation being included in potential. Luria read this as Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth", the initial vital source from which all would unfold. Nekudim is the secondary unstable form of chaos, referred to in general by "Olam HaTohu", which precipitates the catastrophe of Shevirat HaKeilim. Berudim is the initial incomplete stage of Olam Hatiqqun, beginning rectification of the sephirot, as it is reconstituted enough to exist stabily. However, supernal rectification is only completed subsequently in Atzilut, first of the comprehensive Four spiritual Worlds after the Shevirah, through the secondary transformation of the sephirot into personas. Atzilut, therefore, is generally referred to by "Olam Hatiqqun". All three stages Akudim, Nekudim, Berudim are also described sometimes as three initial stages in the emergence of the World of Atzilut. However, in general, unqualified reference to "Atzilut" denotes its complete recified form after Berudim, the first of the comprehensive Four Worlds.