MISCELLANEOUS READINGS
TREE OF LIFE

Introduction to the Kabbalah
Z'ev Ben Shimon Halevi
Notes in bold are my interpretation

Preface: The Tree of Life is an analogue of the Absolute, the Universe and Man. Man, meeting point between Heaven and Earth, is an image of his creator. A complete but unrealised tree in miniature, and lower than the angels, his is to choose to rise higher by climbing the branches of himself, and so to gain the ultimate fruit.

The relative universe hovers between the poles, all and nothing. Either end of the axis can be seen as nothing or all as both become the entry and exit for the absolute who stands apart from creation.

The tree is a model of the universe. it is a template of all the world, carrying within it a recurring system of order. Any complete sub organism or organisation is an imitation of its plan. Man is the prime example. He is a microcosm of the macrocosm.

As man is an image of creation so creation is but a reflection of the creator. Through the tree of life we have an objective connection which gives us insight and knowledge by the principle of parallel- into the upper and lower, inner and outer universes.