Heidegger and Kabbalah

Some words about the inner dimensions of Heideggers’s thought and the Kabbalah

Heidegger is one of the few so called German “philosophers”, whose work can be brought into context with Kabbalah.  Not biographically, but in a deeper sense! When Heidegger writes: “ontologically seen possibility stands over reality”, this is pure kabbalistic thinking! That’s why Heidegger, at least to my modest opinion, is one of the  few German “thinker”, that  remains vital and is still of  importance.

The basic kabbalistic „settlements“, which are already indicated in the Bahir, in order to then gain a firm form in the Zohar, namely the Sephirot with the tree of life and their varied „connections“, may initially appear artificial and very wanted, but are adequate to being and winning a tremendous power and vitality through faith.

For somebody, who is not acquainted to kabbalistic terminology and thought, some terms may sound strange and sometimes even “awkward”, but one has to consider the hermeneutic approach of the whole thing. The Kabbalah is not describing “our” world, but is creating its own. Knowing very well, that “objectivity” is an absolute illusion, in which modern man is captured and hopelessly incarcerated. But Heidegger knows the formula for freedom! The very fact, that the “world is worlding” “die Welt weltet” is basic not only for “him”, but for the Kabbalah as a whole. It is the right and only true conception of reality, because it is no “conception” and no “idea” whatsoever. Therefore, the hermeneutic circle, how Heidegger describes it, is the basic form of thinking in Kabbalah. Thinking and interpretation is almost the same in this kind of mystical thinking, which is always aware of its method. Science is never aware of it. So Heidegger says like a Kabbalist would: “science is not thinking”. “Die Wissenschaft denkt nicht”. And like the Kabbalah Heidegger comes almost automatically to tautological terms. The intramundane world (Dasein) is based on contradiction. This is the fundamental human “principle”. Therefore neither Heidegger nor the Kabbalah even more strictly following the rules of consequence logic. You cannot prove anything really true. That you have to prove something at all, shows just how weak you really are.

Have also a look at my story: “das Bild, das sich selber malt” “The painting, that paints itself”. (And by the way: in Sanscrit the instrumental form of the first personal pronoun “aham” = “I”  is “maya”, which means “through me”.) So “maya” as a “philosophical” term aiming to the total rejection of any kind of objectivism i.e. “science”.

In European „thinking“, one „theory“ only replaces the other. In this respect it is static and inorganic. The “thinking” of the Kabbalahh, however, matured organically. Because Isaak Luria developed the Kabbalahh, indeed led to its highest perfection, the „thought“ of the Tikkun, Maimonides or the Zohar are not suddenly „wrong“ in any respect.

Language

It is not “idea”, “concept” or “will”, that “produces” reality, but the word itself. That’s the secret! The coming of the being into existence can therefore only be described in the language of mysticism. Heidegger says: The language speaks, “die Sprache spricht”. Language not only transcends, but creates reality. This secret is revealed in probably the most important esoteric text, that we still have. That is the book Genesis. In 1,3:  And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.

Language is a  magical thing, but using it in daily life and almost constantly let us forget about that. (by the way: the magic formula “Abracadabra” contains the Hebrew words “deber” =“word” and “bara”= “to create”) In everyday live god has to conceal his indefinite power behind a garment (ein Gewand) of words, grammar and languages. We would be overwhelmed, if not killed, by his pure light and shine. But the real “μύστης” or Kabbalist has understood that and can use this power. In a certain sense he becomes god . That is the real, the mystical “will to power”. This has not to be  “negative”. Man can also help god in the way of redemption, or in  Hebrew words “tikkun olam”. “Olam” has many meanings: world, or soul, or eternity. “Tikkun” comes from “takan”, “straight”, i.e. doing something, that was crooked, straight again.

Coming back to Heidegger: In his poetology the artist has a key role for man, almost like a god. He puts back the historical world “onto earth”. Thus the original process of Tikkun and redemption in Kabbalah is in Heidegger “rather” an aesthetic one. But not in the “clouds cuckoo home” (Wolkenkuckucksheim) of  German idealism, but  like in Kabbalah in the whole and concrete aspect of a people.

It may sound astonishing, but Heidegger had almost unconsciously something in mind, that was in many respects similar to Kabbalah, and went much, much further than the bulk of the German Idealistic Philosophy.

In the coming weeks I want to write a little bit more about the  differences between Heidegger and Kabbalah. In the meantime you can read about my point of view, and of course my literary texts on my website: “licht-aus-der-dunkelheit.de” i.e “light from darkness”, but initially only in my native tongue German. In the near future I will  try to translate some parts at least into English.

Unterschiede

But there is also a big difference between Heidegger and  Kabbalah. In Heidegger the world is uncreated. Look at his articles about φύσις. In Kabbalah and in Christianity the world is created. Therefore in Heidegger world and earth can never fit together, there is a “Streit”, a struggle between them, thus the “idea” of redemption remains absolutely unthought. One could also call it, the enduring of a never ending conflict “das Ertragen eines Zwiespalts” (me). This world can never be perfect. One has to accept the concrete suffering of the human being and the existence of the evil. A concrete literary example of this is the world of Homer, where man can bring justice only locally and for a short period of time with the help of a god or goddess. Shakespeare’s world is not very far from that.

All of that is not acceptable for a created world with a perfect god. Nor can it put up with the suffering of the human being. Therefore the “real” reality is not of this world. Not like Heidegger`s: “Sein ist immer ein Sein des Seienden”. The approach, at least for the later Kabbalah, is absolute nihilism. All aspects of the intramundane world are rigorously in doubt, because they tear  attention from the essence of being/god. Instead of enduring the conflict, the Kabbalah flees to total contradiction. It’s a more or less war against this world. Even the moral values are questionable in themselves.