Abulafia taught the path of proper meditation, which for him was a combination of both rational and intuitive thought, using the many permutations of the 72 Triad Name of God.
His system was open-ended, meaning that it led to direct personal revelation and insight from sources higher than one’s conscious self.
The Active Mind, the source of revelation, and the purpose of Torah, and of life itself.
This lesson will focus on teachings from Abulafia’s book Hayei Olam HaBa (Life in the World to Come) that discusses the Active Mind.
Also, we will include a lesson from Abulafia’s book Sitrei Torah, a commentary of RaMBaM’s Guide to the Perplexed, to show the relationship between the Active Mind and the race of the Metatron.
It was this open-ended approach that led him into direct opposition with the growing philosophical school, and their subsequent disavowal of Abulafia’s path.
Needless to say, many ignored this detachment and bonded with the Abulafian way. Shaarei Tzedek, Sulam Aliyah, from Giktalia, to RaMaK, to Hayim Vital, Abulafia’s system is today alive and well.
This is Lesson #8 in our
Kabbalah 101+ Beyond the Basics series
(This is not your rabbi’s Kabbalah).
