The Physiology and Culture of Light

We know that the retinas in our eyes- the areas on which the image is formed -contain two different kinds of photoreceptors: rods and cones. The rods are more prevalent at the edges of the image area; they are very sensitive to dim light and to movement, but they don’t contribute much to color vision. That is the task of the cones, which are more prevalent in the fovea centralis, the area in the center of the retina. Our eyes contain three different kinds of cones, each sensitized to wavelengths that correspond to red, green, and blue.


Knowing the spectral makeup of the stimulus that reaches an observer’s eyes allows us to make a good prediction of the color sensation it will produce, but it isn’t absolutely accurate because our human responses to the stimulus vary from individual to individual, and because even a single individual’s response varies according to a host of other factors. It is clear that the eye is only part of this picture of human light perception.


Even the language we speak affects our perception of light. Our vision is also affected by fatigue, and by common drugs such as nicotine and caffeine, which reduces the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream. Emotional states may also have an effect on vision. Phrases such as seeing red, feeling blue, green with envy, and black humor may contain more literal truth than one might think, since it is clear that emotions have physiological effects.


All these physiological factors affect the signal that the eye sends to the brain. What our minds do with those signals is another story. Perception is not a passive act. In many ways we see what we expect to see, filtering out that which we deem extraneous and concentrating on the patterns that are familiar to us. This is true with light as with anything else. We see light and colors in context, and the context includes that of ones surroundings.


The Lightning Flash

Ten Sefirot out of Nothing. Ten not nine. Ten not Eleven. Understand this in Wisdom and in Wisdom understand. Enquire and ponder through their meaning, so as to return The Creator to His Throne.
-Sefer Yezirah. Babylonia, 6th century. What is this Tree that you speak of? All the Divine Powers are arranged in a series of layers like a Tree, and as a Tree brings forth fruit when watered so do the Divine Powers when charged with the water of God.
-Book of Bahir. Provence, 12th century.


The Hebrew word kabbalah means "receiving" or "that which has been received." On one hand, Kabbalah refers to tradition, ancient wisdom received and treasured from the past. On the other hand if one is truly receptive, wisdom appears spontaneously, unprecedented,taking you by surprise. Jewish mystical tradition calls the Kabbalah-"new-ancient words", "the world that is coming", "the world that is constantly coming", constantly flowing, a timeless dimension of reality here and now,if one is receptive. According to the Kabbalah, every human action here on earth affects the divine realm, either promoting or hindering creation. Kabbalah blends tradition and creativity, loyalty to the past and bold innovation, walking a tightrope between blind fundamentalism and mystical anarchy. At first, these secret teachings were conveyed orally from master to disciple and restricted to small circles. In The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetsirah), composed in Palestine between the 3rd and 6th centuries, we are told how God created the world by means of 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and the ten sefirot*. Genesis had already indicated that divine speech was the tool of creation , what is new in The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetsirah)is the detailed speculation on how God combined the individual letters, as well as the ten Sefirot which are * numerical entities, living beings embodying the numbers one through ten, ciphers, metaphysical potencies through which creation unfolds. The notion that numbers are essential to the structure of the cosmos derives from Pythagorean mysticism. Gradually the sefirot evolved into the central symbol of Kabbalah.


The oral tradition of Kabbalah states that the reason for existence is that "God wished to behold God." Thus there was a previous non-existence in which, as the written tradition says, "Face did not gaze upon face." In an act of total free will , God withdrew AYIN SOF (Absolute ALL), from one place to allow a void to appear in which a mirror existence could be manifested. The act of Zimzum, contradiction, lies behind the spark that created the universe. The divine act is visualized symbolically as follows: From AYIN SOF or the Endless Light that surrounds the void, there emanated a beam of light which penetrated from the periphery towards the center. This beam of Divine Will, manifested in ten distinct stages of Emanation. Since the middle ages these ten stages have ben known as the Sefirot. The word "Sefirah" (the singular form) has no simple equivalent in any language, although its roots relate to the word 'cipher' (i.e. number) and •sapphire’. Some believe the Sefirot as Divine Powers or Vessels: others regard them as instruments or tools of divine Governance. Mystics have pictured them as the ten Faces, Hands or even garments of God. Conclusive research into Kabbalistic Literature agrees that the Sefirot expresses Divine Attributes, which from the primordial moment of Emanation are eternally held in a set of relationships until God wishes them to vanish with the void into Nothingness again. The relationships between the Sefirot are governed by three unmanifest divine principles, the "Hidden Splendors" (Zahzahot) of Primordial Will, Mercy and Rigour (or Justice). Will holds the balance, while Mercy expands, and Rigour constrains, the flow of Emanation, and so they organize the ten Divine tributes into a specific archetypal pattern. The pattern is the model on which everything that is to come into manifestation is based. It has been called the image of God but is generally known as the Tree of Life. The relationships set forth in the Tree underlie the whole of existence: and so the properties of the Sefirot may be seen in terms of any branch of knowledge. Thus while their basic definition is attributes of God, they can be defined in terms of human experience.


The first Sefirah, at the edge of the Void, is called in Hebrew Keter (Crown) It is the place of the first emanation and the ultimate return. From this point of Equilibrium the beam of light expands. From this point the light expands to Hokmah (Wisdom,Active) which is the active intellect, experienced by human beings as a flash of genius, inspiration or revelation. The third Sefirah, Binah (Understanding, Passive),which is intellect in its passive, receptive and reflective capacity. After the beam of light has left Binah it touches the place of Daat (Knowledge) this is the central pillar, the place Ruah ha Kodesh, the Holy Spirit. This place it is said where the Absolute may enter at will to intervene directly in existence.


Below Daat the Flash passes through the Pillar of Hesed (Mercy,Active) then to Gevurah (Judgement, Passive).The Lightning flash now travels to a stage lower, to the central pillar where Tiferet (Beauty) resides. Tiferet is the Heart of Hearts symbolizing the Self the core of the individual. Below Tiferet are two more complementary attributes, Nezah (Eternity,Victory, Active, Instinctive, Impulsive) and Hod (Reverberation ,Splendor, Passive, Cognitive, Controlling). These attributes belong to the operative, instrumental level of action in the structure of the tree. They correspond to the roles of the Hosts of God, sent out to do the Divine Will. Below these on the center of the pillar is Yesod (Foundation, Reflective) and Malkhut (Kingdom). Yesod is the inner self which appears as the ego, it projects a persona for others to see which may or may not reflect the true nature of the self. Malkhut is earthed, it encapsulates the root, trunk, branch and fruit of the Tree or Will, Mind, Heart and Body of the divine. In ourselves Malkhut appears as the body, with its four elements, earth, water, air and fire: the solids, liquids, gases and radiations whose interactions keep us alive.

© Copyright 1997 Denise Urban