Note[1]

The first chapter of Genesis in the Bible, accepted by the Christians, says:—

      1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

         These opening lines, as well as the rest of the grand poem, called “The Bible,” have been for centuries either ridiculed by those who were ignorant of the wisdom concealed in the allegorical or symbolical language in which the book is written, or they have been regarded with awe, terror and superstition by those, who, incapable of seeing their true esoteric meaning, have looked upon the exoteric sense, which these words conveyed, as the final dictum of an extra-cosmic deity. In addition to these unfortunate circumstances, there is an inaccuracy of translation from the Hebrew text, which is very much to be regretted, and which becomes apparent already in the beginning of the chapter. If by Prasit we understand the active principle of the creation, instead of its beginning, in such a case we will clearly perceive that Moses never meant to say that heaven and earth were the first works of God. He only said that God created heaven and earth through the principle, which is his son.[2]

          If the Christian translators of the Hebrew Bible had been more conversant with the Hebrew language and with the occult meaning of Hebrew words, they would perhaps have translated it differently, and if the doctrine of evolution and the construction of the sidereal universe had been known to them, they would probably not have left their readers to suppose that the word “creation” meant the formation of something out of nothing, or that their “history of creation” or the first four chapters of “Genesis” was intended to present an allegory of our planet “Earth,” leaving them in ignorance of the fact that it referred to the grand evolution of the universe when, after the night of Brahma was ended, a new activity commenced; when “God awoke from his slumber” and sent out of his divine essence the germs and sparks from which worlds grew into existence.

          If we examine the occult meaning of the original text, from which the Bible of our present day has been composed, and call to our assistance the explanations offered by the Cabala, we find the following principles represented as laid down in “The voice of Israel.”

      1. From nothing can proceed nothing. There is therefore no substance which sprang from nothing, or was created by nothing. Even matter cannot have originated from nothing; no more can it have derived its origin from itself, because it is destitute of shape, and differs only in one grade from nothing, and is almost equal to nothing. Hence it follows, that no matter exists of itself.
      2. All that exists is solely of a spiritual nature. This spiritual nature is uncreated, eternally intellectual, sensible and living, autonomous, and necessarily self-existent. It is the infinite Godhead, the first-cause of every cause.
      3. All existing things must have emanated from that infinite Being. Seeing then they can have emanated from Him only, they must exist in Him only. The World then is the immanent effect of the Godhead, in which He has exhibited his attributes and properties in a variety of degrees and modifications.
      4. The nearer the thing emanated is to the infinite fountain-head, the sublimer and holier it is, and the farther it is from the same, the more it is destitute of the divinity and therefore of perfection.
      5. In order that that emanation might proceed from the hidden source of the infinite and divine light, and become manifested as the modification of divine powers and attributes, God caused a primitive source to emanate from Himself; from and by which all other emanations came and still come into existence. The primitive source of all things emanated from the Godhead is called Adam Kadmon, original man, the first and only-begotten Son of God.
      6. This first-begotten Son of God manifested himself in his emanations in ten special modes, or in ten rays of light, which they call Sephiroth. Through these Sephiroth proceeded from the Adam Kadmon, or original man, as the immanent effects of his emanation, the spirits without all matter, the angels as created distinctly existing substances, yet without matter, and those beings that with respect to their existence and power depend upon matter, in short all that is not God.
      7. Though all that exists flowed, by means of primitive emanation, from the divinity, yet is the world different from the Godhead as the effect is from the cause; nevertheless, not as separate from, but rather as immanent in the Godhead. The world is thus the revelation of the Godhead, not according to innate hidden being, but according to visible glory.

          These principles may be reduced to two chief principles, and two fundamental doctrines:

      1. Everything that has existence has emanated from the primitive source of the infinite light, spirit and life. The creation of the world is a revelation of the intrinsically incomprehensible Godhead, called by the Cabalists “the concealed above all concealments.” The creation therefore consisted merely in this, that the primordial Being drew forth out of himself the power of light and life for the gradual impartation to an infinite degree.
      2. God is everything, and God is nothing of that which is not God.
      3. As proof for the first of these principles, the Cabalists adduce the maxim, that, since no being can come into existence from nothing, it follows that no creation can proceed from nothing.[3] That which is must, according to its essence, be from eternity, or else it was not at all. The Being, however, that was from eternity, cannot be mutable and inconstant matter, which, since it unceasingly alters its form, has no durability in itself, and cannot therefore be from eternity; while, on the contrary, that which is eternal must be of the opposite character, i.e., of a nature invariable like itself, existing by itself and unchangeable.

          Hence it follows that all that exists, must in an absolute sense be a spiritual essence. This spiritual essence is uncreated, eternal, containing in itself the principle of all existence, intellectual, self-determining, immense, absolutely necessary, originating in itself, and therefore nothing else than the Godhead, who is called Ensoph or the infinite Being; because it is the primeval cause of all that exists.

          That which exists cannot exist by itself and without god, but in Him and through Him; it can only be regarded as having emanated from, and therefore as a revelation of, the infinite Being.

      1. The second principle the Cabalists explain in the following manner. God is everything. Not as if He could be divided as to His essence, but He is all because there is nothing that does not proceed from Him alone, exist and cohere through Him. For this reason they also call him makon (space), because that everything is in him, and hoo (he), because He is in all.

          When they say that all proceeds from Him, they disclaim the idea leading to the conclusion, that there is any thing material on His part, but that all created beings have their origin in Him according to  that which is in them of light, spirit and life. This kind of becoming and being they designate by the expression nahir, which has a two-fold signification of shining and outflowing. When they say that all things exist by Him, it is with reference to this that all things were brought into existence by the uninterrupted ray proceeding from God, which pervades all space and is called God. In a similar sense they understand the expression, all things cohere through God, viz., that all things are animated, sustained and united by means of the spirit of God. In this sense are all beings God himself, which they designate by the expression hoo (the being).

          In the same way they most emphatically maintain that God is nothing of all that which is not God; i.e., which belongs to the world. For they say, the world is but the veil of the most hidden or incomprehensible Being, through which penetrates the impression of the highest power and wisdom of God, especially his most exalted attributes. But God himself is not the unity in nature; but the absolute unity above nature, and is therefore not subject to number, measure or any other estimation, but is to man an abstract idea of spiritual contemplation.

          From the above definitions it appears that the words “In the beginning God created” mean something very different, from what those, unacquainted with the esoteric philosophies, commonly suppose them to imply. As to the words “the heaven and the earth,” it does not require a great stretch of the imagination, and will become clear by a further study of the Cabala that they refer to the material and spiritual universe. If we therefore attempt to render the first verse of the first chapter in Genesis in a language more appropriate to the intelligence of our century and more in accordance with the esoteric truth, which that sentence contains, we might perhaps say:

          The one, unthinkable, self-existent, eternal, unchangeable and infinite supreme cause, the inexhaustible source of all life, power and intelligence, which in itself is space, duration and motion, produces out of itself and by the activity of its own inherent will, the principle out of which the spiritual and material universe is evolved.

          This first emanation of the Supreme, the first ray of Light, both male and female, the Adam Kadmon of the Chaldeans, the One Life or Vach of the Hindus, the Logos of the Greeks, the Word or Christ of the Christians, and Seventh Principle of the Occultists, is the beginning, by which all things come into existence; it is the embodiment of the law of evolution, the cause and energy manifested in the visible and invisible universe. It is called by the Cabalist primordial man, the first and only begotten son of God; Sephira or Divine Intelligence, the mother of all the Sephiraths, while the concealed Wisdom is the father.

          The first ray manifested itself in ten rays of light, and with these the Cabalists connect the ten names of God, ten orders of angels, the three heavens and the seven planets, the ten patriarchs, etc. En-Soph is nonexistent, for it is incomprehensible to our finite intellects and therefore cannot exist to our minds. When the time for an active period had come, then was produced a natural expansion of the Divine essence, and from this eternal light was emitted a spiritual substance. This was the first Sephira, containing in herself the other nine Sephiraths or intelligences. In their totality and unity they represent the archetypal man, who in his individuality or unity is yet dual or bisexual, for he is the prototype of all humanity.

          The ten Sephiraths are divided into three classes, each of them presenting to us the Divinity under a different aspect, the whole still remaining an indivisible Trinity. The names of the ten Sephiraths are:

      1. Kaither, Crown; 2.  Chochmah, Wisdom; 3.  Beenah, Understanding; 4.  Chaised, Grace; 5. Geburah, Strength; 6. Tiphaireth, Ornament; 7. Naitsach, Victory; 8. Hod, Majesty; 9.  Yessod, Foundation; 10. Malchut, Kingdom.

          These ten Sephiraths form at the same time four worlds in various gradations. They influence these worlds from the upper to the lower, but in a diminishing degree, and are conceived as so many degrees of spirit, light and life, descending in a gradually coarser state or corporification. These worlds are:—

      1. The Azilah, or emanated world, as the next to the Divinity, contains the ten Sephiraths in their greatest potency, and is therefore directly adjacent to the incomprehensible Being of the Godhead, and immediately emanated from him. It is the highest and most perfect manifestation of God, without defect, alternation and change, but over remaining the same. It is the noblest, and the beings contained therein are the immediate emanations from Adam Kadmon, or the Logos and therefore of the same nature with him.
      2. The Beriah, or created world, is the next emanation from the Azilah world. Though this contains likewise the ten Sephiraths, they are not of so great a potency as those of the other, and this is therefore lower and more confined than the other. The substances which it contains are, however, yet without matter, of a pure spiritual kind. As they have the Azilah world as their source, so they are in their turn a source to the inferior worlds.
      3. The Tezirah, or fashioned world, is the next emanation from the Beriah world. Its substances, though already subject to individuality, do not yet consist of matter. This is then the world of angels, i.e., the intelligent and yet incorporeal beings, who are enveloped in a lucid covering, who, when they appear to man, adopt a still coarser matter.
      4. The Assiah, or formed world, consists of the grosser parts of the three upper worlds, which on account of their materiality and weight, are sunk down to this lower world. Its substances consist of matter confined to space, which are perceptible to the grossest senses under various shapes and are subject to an unceasing change and a continual mutability of existence and decay; of decrease and increase and gradual transformation. They therefore call this world a world of seemingness and illusion. For in it there is nothing simple and indivisible, but mere composition, which at every moment changes form, internally and externally.

          To those who cannot elevate their minds above the world of forms, who constantly move on a low material plane, who reject intuition, spirituality and inspiration as idle dreams, and cannot conceive of the nature of an idea, and who therefore feel it their duty to reject and ridicule the ancient symbolical writings, which include “the Bible” as nonsense, fancy and superstition, the above explanation may at least serve to show what the subject is, which they ridicule and reject; while to the Christian fanatics, who profess to believe in the letter of their “Bible,” it may prove that, if they would examine those letters by the light thrown upon them by the “Bibles” of other nations, and learn to distinguish between the esoteric and exoteric sense, their conceptions of their own professed religion would become more grand and sublime in proportion as their knowledge extended. They would at once see the harmony and conformity existing between the fundamentals of their own religions and those of other nations; their spiritual aspirations would grow; they would come out from their state of isolation and realize the grand doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Universal Humanity.

Notes:

[1] The Theosophist. By an American Buddhist [Franz Hartmann, M.D.] (May, 1884), 182-184. {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than minor typos, by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}

[2] See Isis Unveiled, by H.P. Blavatsky, p. 36.

[3] When it is said that God created the world from nothing, it is not to be read mëayin, but meensoph, i.e., from the infinite Being.