The Chicken Qabalah

[koan]

The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford (as recorded by Lon Milo Duquette) puts the Qabalah in such wonderfully readable and enjoyable terms that I feel compelled to share some of it.


The Ten Command-Rants

I. ALL IS ONE.

II. THE FIRST COMMAND-RANT IS A LIE. ALL IS NOTHING.

III. THERE REALLY ISN'T A CREATION, TIME OR SPACE, HEAVEN OR EARTH...BUT THERE IS YOU.

IV. WE PERCEIVE THERE IS A CREATION, TIME AND SPACE, HEAVEN AND EARTH BECAUSE OF A FUNDAMENTAL DEFECT IN OUR POWERS OF PERCEPTION.

V. tHIS DEFECT CAN NOT BE REPAIRED, BUT IT CAN BE OVERCOME.

VI. IN ORDER TO OVERCOME OUR DEFECTIVE POWERS OF PERCEPTION WE MUST BE WILLING TO ABUSE THEM UNTIL THEY BREAK.

VII. EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN AND EARTH IS CONNECTED TO EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN AND EARTH.

VIII. EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN AND EARTH IS THE REFLECTION OF EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN AND EARTH.

IX. EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN AND EARTH CONTAINS THE PATTERN OF EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN AND EARTH.

X. LOOK HARD ENOUGH AT ANYTHING AND YOU WILL EVENTUALLY SEE EVERYTHING.

[Tombstone]

Thanks for sharing this. This is the first time I've been exposed to Qabalah "writings".

What do you think of these commandments? It appears that the flavor is very close to "humanism". Or?

[koan]

I find the theology of this book, and Qabalah in general, to be the basis of most spiritualist thought and metaphysical practices. The "Command-Rants" are interesting to study. I'd like to hear input from other members on each one! You don't have to be Jewish or a Qabalist to have an opinion on the concepts. And participating doesn't mean you have become a Qabalist. No sacrifice of current faith is required.

I. All is One.

It is no big leap to imagine a great big "something". This concept is the same as believing in one God. That God is given a personality at times but generally is seen as being the representation of an embodiment of all things in one form. The statement as a first "Command-Rant" seems to imply the beginning point of spiritual searching is to imagine and try to comprehend a Point. A Source for all things.

[koan]

II The first Command-Rant is a lie. All is nothing.

Astronomers and physicists tell us that there is more nothing in the universe than anything else. 90% nothing. There is infinately more nothing in an atom than protons and electrons...

In Qabalah there are three kinds of nothing.
The first is called "Ain"- this nothing is really nothing, not even the concept of no thing. Now if Ain just sat around nowhere doing nothing it's a sure bet that nothing was going to get done. However, something happened to make Ain actually become Nothing (maybe it's because it was Nothing all along and just had to wake up to the fact.)

This new, defined Nothing the Qabalists call Limitless Nothing, or Ain Soph

The third kind of Nothing is a hybrid Ain Soph called Ain Soph Aur, Limitless Light. Like a light bulb that goes off in the vastness of Ain Soph when it realizes the perfect Notness of its Nothingness! Nothing is Not! or tantamount to "Something is!" and sets the stage for the concept of One.

(descriptions from The Chicken Qabalah)

I feel so silly now thinking that there was either Something or Nothing. What a strange world this is.

[koan]

III. There really isn't a creation, time or space, Heaven or Earth...but there is you.

If all is Nothing, then all we see is an illusion. Get used to it. In this Command-Rant is seems the only thing that is real is Mind.

[koan]

...but there is you.

The Rabbi has much more to say on this part.

On the other hand, you are real - a sparkling image of the absolute reality. You must remember, however, that the real you is something far different and more wonderful than your ape-like brain and reptilian nervous system can grasp. The real you is not just a piece of the force of universal consciousness - the real you is, in essence, the universal consciousness itself! You are not your body, or your brain, or your mind, or your astral body, or any of the more subtle sheathes that yogis and spoon-benders say you are nestled inside. Bodies and brains and minds are as unreal as creation, time, space, Heaven or Earth. The real you doesn't eat, or drink, or think, or sleep, or die. I'm sure we would all be amazed to know just how skinny, and light, and thoughtless, and sleepless, and immortal we really are.

I find this rather relieving. It takes a lot of pressure off to think that what I think is irrelevant in the larger sense of who I am. I guess I can stop overworking my brain and let myself coast for a bit? I do kind of enjoy building a personality though. Maybe it's kind of like a good drawing. You might put it up on the wall for a while but if it gets damaged you can always draw another one...or take it down and work on it a bit more, improve or alter it and put it back up again for another while.

[koan]

got reading this book again and remembered that I never finished posting it here. The format goes: my writing in indigo, author's writing in black

IV. WE PERCEIVE THERE IS A CREATION, TIME AND SPACE, HEAVEN AND EARTH BECAUSE OF A FUNDAMENTAL DEFECT IN OUR POWERS OF PERCEPTION.

The human being only perceives a small portion of light and sound and falls well short of the ability to make sense of what we do perceive beyond a superficial level.

Do you really think we could gather enough information ... to unveil the ultimate reality? Get real! We are all sleepwalkers stumbling blind, deaf, and numb through a life we could never understand even if we could see, hear, feel, or smell like Superman.

It is perfectly natural for you to ask, "Why is there evil in the world?" or "Why do bad things happen to good people?" but stop flattering yourself. You're never going to find an answer to those questions by gathering information with your senses and attempting to process that information with your brain.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by koan

I find the theology of this book, and Qabalah in general, to be the basis of most spiritualist thought and metaphysical practices. The "Command-Rants" are interesting to study. I'd like to hear input from other members on each one! You don't have to be Jewish or a Qabalist to have an opinion on the concepts. And participating doesn't mean you have become a Qabalist. No sacrifice of current faith is required.

I. All is One.

It is no big leap to imagine a great big "something". This concept is the same as believing in one God. That God is given a personality at times but generally is seen as being the representation of an embodiment of all things in one form. The statement as a first "Command-Rant" seems to imply the beginning point of spiritual searching is to imagine and try to comprehend a Point. A Source for all things.

All is one.
I understand this to be true. Or at least I think thats our purpose or intent, our reason for being. However its not practical. Its not working. Our differences and intolerance are too great. We percieve eachother as enemies and act accordingly. In our essence we are one, in our living and acting world we are very seperate. We still havent found the link that will join us. Something very grand and spectacular must happen for that to be realized.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by koan

II The first Command-Rant is a lie. All is nothing.

Astronomers and physicists tell us that there is more nothing in the universe than anything else. 90% nothing. There is infinately more nothing in an atom than protons and electrons...

In Qabalah there are three kinds of nothing.
The first is called "Ain"- this nothing is really nothing, not even the concept of no thing. Now if Ain just sat around nowhere doing nothing it's a sure bet that nothing was going to get done. However, something happened to make Ain actually become Nothing (maybe it's because it was Nothing all along and just had to wake up to the fact.)

This new, defined Nothing the Qabalists call Limitless Nothing, or Ain Soph

The third kind of Nothing is a hybrid Ain Soph called Ain Soph Aur, Limitless Light. Like a light bulb that goes off in the vastness of Ain Soph when it realizes the perfect Notness of its Nothingness! Nothing is Not! or tantamount to "Something is!" and sets the stage for the concept of One.

(descriptions from The Chicken Qabalah)

I feel so silly now thinking that there was either Something or Nothing. What a strange world this is.

Rhetoric.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by koan

III. There really isn't a creation, time or space, Heaven or Earth...but there is you.

If all is Nothing, then all we see is an illusion. Get used to it. In this Command-Rant is seems the only thing that is real is Mind.

We create life, we birth. The heavens create explosions which in turn create new life, a birth of a different sort. The Earth itself is a manifestation of daily creation, providing us with food to eat, water to drink and air to breathe. It all came from something somewhere. Life is creation by nature. Its something, it is, it exists and its real.