When I read The Powers of the Universe by Brian Swimme, it immediately made me think about the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life and how these mirror them so well. I don’t know if he had any of this in mind when he wrote them, but I wanted to Highlight the relationships I saw between them. The Tree of Life is a metaphor, a rubric for understanding and relating to the cosmos, to God, and to ourselves. We can use this symbol and its web of interconnection as a way to the break down our experiences of life. They are the path of the creative energy from God to the cosmos, and the path we walk to enter the presence of God. The Divine is found in each sephirah individually and collectively. Before the Holy One created the cosmos, they constricted into themself to make space for the cosmos to be made. I am simplifying this idea, but essentially, the closest aspect of the ineffable God to creation is the Ein Sof, the Limitless Nothing. Like number 0 on Swimme’s list, this is the Seamlessness, the ground of being and nonbeing from which all the ever greening power of God flows into the cosmos as the infinite light. # The Crown The first sephirah is called Kether (keter) which means the crown. This is where the Divine will to create enters the cosmos, and where we encounter the God called, “I am that I am.” The virtue we practice here to encounter the Divine is Attainment, union with the One beyond Words. At this height, words do not help us so I will talk about this, I will discuss it in more in its mirrored sephirah of knowledge lower. The Crown is the ultimate expression of Centration, the power of concentration and exhilaration and it is the point everywhere and nowhere that the power of God enters the cosmos. # Wisdom Wisdom or Chokhmah is the second serphirah and it is visualized as the unbounded flash of creation before it has any limitations. This is the point of illumination where the taboratic light draws us from the limited understanding of separate selves into the interconnected wholeness of the Divine. The virtue of Wisdom is Devotion, where we behold God face to face. Of course, we know this is not the actual face of God, but the Ishtadevata (the wished for deity), the Yidam (meditational deity we identify with) I cannot help but see the connection with this devotion with the power of allurement, which is the power of attraction that holds things together. It is this allurement that is at the heart of our devotions that draws us into the heart of the Godhead. Some people will never see beyond their allurement to their wished for Deity or as Meister Eckart said, to leave God for God, but a true devotion draws us to serve the cosmos better as we realize our interconnectedness and interbeing better. # Understanding Understanding or Binah is the third sephirah. This is where the infinite flash from Chokhmah is given form. This is where we process our emotions and reason and it brings about teshuva, repentance, the changing of our minds. The virtue of understanding is silence because we have learned when to speak and when to contemplate further. At its heart, this sephirah embodies the power of Emergence, the power of creativity because this is the place where ideas take on words and creativity energy takes form. # Knowledge The secret or hidden sephirah called Da’ath (da’at) or Knowledge is the mirror of the crown in the abyss between the three supernal sephiroth that are at the very limit of words to touch and the more approachable sephiroth below. It is charged with the power of Wisdom and Understanding and exists as the synthesis of the two. Knowledge is the harmony found between wisdom (practical, experiential learning) and Understanding (theoretical book learning). The virtue of Knowledge is Detachment which is defined as the Perfection of Justice. It might be better to call this nonpartisanship or impartiality. It is the state where we focus on the facts without deference to our relations to the subject or subjects at question. Like with the Crown, this is a beautiful expression of centration where the center of creation is everywhere in everything at all time so there cannot be favoritism between things. # Loving Kindness Loving Kindness, or Chesed, is the fourth sephirah. This is the sphere of grace, compassion, and inspiration. The virtue of Kindness is obedience which is not bowing to the rules of others, but the willingness to sacrifice the selfish ego to end bigotry, hypocrisy, gluttony, and tyranny which are all born from selfish impulse to control and conform others to the preconceived notions we have. The virtue might better be named selflessness, but isn’t because we seek a balance between our inclination for selfishness and selflessness. Both extremes are seen as a path to destruction, bigotry, hypocrisy, and tyranny. Our obedience is to the God is in all things and all things are in God, so we have to find a balance. This reminds me of the cosmic power of Homeostasis, which is the power of maintaining achievement, what the Universe values. # Strength/Judgement The fifth sephirah is called Strength (Geburah) and Judgement (Din) and is the counterpoint to the mercy and loving kindness found in Chesed. The virtue of this sephirah is energy and courage, both of which are necessary to stand up to the injustice we encounter in life. Strength both names and interferes with these injustices and works toward justice. Like the cosmic power of cataclysm, the power of destruction, Strength often calls us to tear down unjust hierarchies and other systems of injustice in the world around us as well as the aspects within ourselves that have to be torn down so something better can be built or to be allowed to return to their natural state. # Beauty Beauty or tiphareth is the sixth sephirah and is the balancing point between Kindness and Judgement, Mercy and Strength. It is the place of symmetry. Here we seek the vision of the harmony of things and seek to understand the mysteries of the Crucifixion. The virtue of this sephirah is devotion to the Great Work, the restoration of the world, the Tikkun olam. Comparing this to the cosmic power of Synergy, the power of working together, mutually enhancing relationships, I can see nothing but beauty here. It is in the work of this sephirah that we encounter the interconnectedness and interbeing of our true nature, and work to build a life and a world in accordance with this knowledge. This synergy is our Great Work. # Victory The seventh sephirah is called Netzach which can be translated as "Eternity": 'perpetuity', 'victory', or 'endurance.’ Here we seek the vision of beauty triumphant through the virtue of unselfishness. The balanced energy of mercy and judgement created beauty which enters into the four sephiroth closest to us and that we interact with most without knowing it. Mercy is now experienced as the cosmic power of Transmutation, the power to change the self through disciplines and constraints. # Splendor Splendor, or Hod, is the eighth sephirah, which is the place of surrender, sincerity, and withdraw. The balanced, beautified power of Strength has been changed into splendor, the surrender to creative power of God. The virtue practiced here is truthfulness, where we speak and seek to see the world as it is, and thus enter the Light the Apostles encountered on Mount Tabor in the vision of splendor. This is the home of the cosmic power of Transformation, the power to change the whole through communion and intimacy. Truthfulness is the fuel to the personal and interpersonal transformation. # Foundation Foundation, or Yesod, is the ninth sephirah, which is sometimes called Tzaddik, or the righteous. Here we seek the vision of the machinery of universe through the practice of the virtue of independence. This virtue might better be understood as Nietzsche’s person who becomes a wheel rolling from their own center, or as the Apostle Paul said, “So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).” We are not called to blindly follow anyone, but to seek the righteous path through our own path. Now, when I look at the next cosmic power, Interralatedness. the power of care, how the Universe responds to the other, this is the realization that leads to independence. Once we realize that we are all in the same state as people seeking to understand the great mystery, then we realize that we have to test all the claims of other to see how their revelations about the nature of the world compares to our own and practice a great care not to impose our beliefs on others. # Kingdom Kingdom/kingship, or Malkuth is the tenth serphiah. It is sometimes called the Shekhinah or presence of God. It is the place where all the other powers and natures of the above sephirah manifest into the world. It is a mirror, or the moon reflecting the light above it into our eyes. The virtue we practice here is Discrimination, where we learn to differentiate between this and that. We apply names to help us learn and grow, but always know that these names are for our benefit and do not define the thing named. Compare this with the cosmic power of Radiance, the power of magnificence, how the Universe communicates. It is the same thing. I don’t know if Brian Swimme had any of this in mind when he formulated the list of cosmic powers, but I find the correlation to be so interesting and thought I would share.