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When I discern a pattern as to how it is employed, I can then begin to perceive its true meaning.
Zohar
Real secrets are not “top”, they are on the “bottom” or the “below“. Top secrets would just serve as “cover” and to be “above“ them would imply that this site is protecting and promoting the false secrets that serve as cover.
Originally posted by dontreally
reply to post by swordwords
When I discern a pattern as to how it is employed, I can then begin to perceive its true meaning.
Originally posted by dontreally
The inner teachings of Torah, the Tanakh are only passed down orally. The kabbalistic texts only provide the rules of how to interpret, and even than one without a thorough knowledge of Hebrew and its grammar will not get very far with his understanding. So, no one can reasonably believe he understands the bible without having knowledge of Hebrew and a thorough understanding of salient texts, like Zohar and Etz Chaim.
Yes, not having in depth knowledge of Hebrew is a handicap, but there are other ways to work past this obstacle. First of all, I use Bible software known as QuickVerse. This software includes multiple English translations and Hebrew and Greek concordances which let me see what is behind the translations. Since the concordances use the Latin alphabet, and don’t include all forms of each word, they probably fail to transmit 100% of the author’s intended meaning, but I believe that I can still discern enough to understand a good portion of the hidden content. (I am not claiming to understand all of it, I am simply claiming that I know enough to have a good understanding as to what the Bible is really about.)
Also, although Kabbalah has it roots in Judaism, the ideas and principles it embraces were transmitted throughout the ancient world and I can draw on all kinds connections that can help me uncover hidden meanings of various metaphors. The Greeks, in particular, produced a great deal of Kabbalistic material. Virtually all Greek Philosophy consists of allegoric discussions Kabbalistic concepts. Of the Greek Kabbalistic works, I find Plato’s Cratylus as one of the most helpful lessons in allegoric interpretation. This work has been dismissed my most scholars as “satire”, but I have found that the idea of “correctness of names” actually holds true when it is understood correctly. If you can accept this principle then, you know that the works of Plato are “wide”, Paul’s writings are “small”, Tacitus’ works are “silent”, and of course Philo‘s contributions are “friendly“.
Correctness of names is often concealed by variations in spelling and I have found that phonetically similar words often carry similar metaphoric meanings. For example, the Hebrew word “shem” means “name” and this idea is metaphorically expressed in the Hebrew words “shemesh” (sun) and “shemen” (oil). This also means that missing vowels is not necessarily an obstacle to determining hidden meanings. When there are phonetically similar words that appear to have opposing meanings, I follow Aristotle’s principle of “contraries”.
You are also undoubtedly aware that Kabbalists claim to have more than a hundred names for “G-d”, but to speak his true name is blasphemy. This is basically how the entire system is constructed. Each hidden idea has multiple metaphors, so there is a multitude of possible “interpretations” and it is against the rules to connect a metaphor with its true meaning.
edit on 22-2-2011 by swordwords because: corrected quoteedit on 22-2-2011 by swordwords because: fix quote