Judaism and Enlightenment - Guidance from the Ancient World

Judaism and Enlightenment 1.

"God is unified oneness-one without two, inestimable. Genuine divine existence engenders the existence of all of creation. The sublime, inner essences secretly constitute a chain linking everything from the highest to the lowest, extending from the upper pool to the edge of the universe. There is nothing - not even the tiniest thing-that is not fastened to the links of this chain. Everything is catenated in its mystery, caught I its oneness. God is one, God' secret is one, all the worlds below and above are all mysteriously one. Divine existence is indivisible."

Moses de Leon, Sefer ha-Rimmon, quoted from The Essential Kabbalah, by Daniel C. Matt, p. 26

Judaism and Enlightenment 2.

Each of us emerges from Ein Sof and is included in it. We live through its dissemination. It is the perpetuation of existence. The fact that we sustain ourselves on vegetation and animal life does not mean that we are nourished on something outside of it. This process is like a revolving wheel, first descending, then ascending. It is all one and the same, nothing is separate from it. Through life branches out further and further, everything is joined to Ein Sof, included and abiding in it.

Delve into this. Flashes of intuition will come and go, and you will discover a secret here. If you are deserving, you will understand the mystery of God on your own.

Moses Cardoveros

Judaism and Enlightenment 3.

The purpose of the soul entering this body is to display her powers and actions in this world, for she needs an instrument. Thereby she perfects herself above and below, attaining a higher state by being fulfilled in all dimensions.

Moses de leon

Judaism and Enlightenment 4.

Our soul enters this body to use it as an instrument for experiencing its all knowingness ... its powers ... and its actions in this world of physicality.

By descending to this world, it increases the flow of its power to guide the human being through the world on a path that serves its greatest good! Thereby, it perfects itself above and below, attaining a higher state not by "doing", but by "being" so that it may be fulfilled in all dimensions. If the soul is not fulfilled both above and below, it is not complete.

Before descending to this world, the soul emanated from the mystery of the highest level. While in this world, the soul is completed and fulfilled by this lower world.

Departing this world, it is filled with the fullness of all the worlds ... the world above and the world below. At first, before descending to this world, the soul is imperfect and it is lacking something ... experiential knowledge. By descending to this world, it is perfected in every dimension.

Moses de Leon