South African Sophian Gnostic Circle
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The Third Commandment: Affirmation & Zelem (image)
posted Thursday, 14 February 2008
You shall not make wrongful use of the Name of the Lord your God [Yahweh Elohenu], for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name (Exodus 20:7).
This is the Commandment that corresponds with Binah-Understanding, the Sefirah of Imma and Olam Ha-Beriyah (universe of creation). In Judaic tradition, specifically this is the Great Name of Yahweh, but extends to all of the Names of God, which are as garments of Yahweh, and as the Essential Name of Eheieh, “I Am” or “I Shall Be,” is within the Name of Yahweh, it alludes to this Most Holy Name of God. First and foremost this Commandment addresses the speaking of the actual Names of God in prayer and worship – corresponding to Binah and Elohim, Supernal Imma (Mother), there is Supernal Force in these Divine Names that have been revealed to us by the Holy One, the power of creation itself, so that when used correctly they can bring about great good and wonders, but conversely, used wrongly, they can bring about great harm. Such is the very nature of any mode of power or energy, whether material, psychic or spiritual, it can be used for good or evil, or in a positive or negative way; thus, by extension, as well as the Holy Names of God, the Third Commandment is a teaching on the use of power in general – an admonition to use power skillfully, with knowledge, understanding and wisdom (Habad).
As taught in Living Gnosis, this Commandment also extends to our speech with regards to ourselves and others – the power of “I am” and “you are” statements that we make about ourselves and others; in the inmost part of our soul is the power of Eheieh, the Divine I Am, and it is this we wish to draw out from within ourselves and others – thus, always, we wish to practice speaking in affirmation of ourselves and others, and avoid speaking in negation.
The power of speaking on all levels is very potent and effective – it is the power to create or destroy, to uplift or tear down; this is reflected in the term for a human being in Hebrew, one who is created in the image and likeness of God, the “Speaking One,” and it is reflected in the teaching of God creating through word and speech, and the Messiah being called the Word of God. In a very literally why, we shape ourselves and create our lives by our speech – there is a great manifesting power in our speech.
Speech, of course, is not only what we verbalize or speak out loud – it is also the thoughts and emotions in our minds and hearts, and the images that are generated by the mind; and it is also actions, for actions come from our speech – it is the movement of our energy-intelligence on all levels.
In the teachings we speak often of the power of affirmation and our need for affirmation – it is a great power; and with affirmation we speak often of creative envisioning – the power of creative imagining coupled with it. As simple and ordinary as it may seem, great wonders can transpire through affirmation and creative envisioning, as is well known by mystics around the world.
In speaking about the power to envision coupled with affirmation, naturally the question of the image that we hold of ourselves and the image we feel that others hold of us arises, the question of our self-image, and interestingly enough our supernal zelem, the image of ourselves as we are in the Messiah and God, corresponds to Binah and to the Third Commandment – whether speaking in affirmation or negation, it is an expression of our self-image, how we see ourselves or how we think others see us.
In the healing arts of the tradition it is well known that there are two principle underlying causes of illness in the body and dis-ease in consciousness – almost always there is some compromise or obstruction in our relationship with God and almost always there is something of a distorted or negative self-image; we are not seeing and envisioning ourselves as we are in God, the True Light. The Third Commandment speaks to both of these issues, for if we are not aligned and in harmony with the Divine, the source of our being, and in the delusion of lack, the illusion of separation, we have a negative self-image, how can the blessings of God or the healing power of God rest upon us? If the flow of the Divine Light, the Life-power, is obstructed, in effect, the blessings and healing power of God are withheld from us – not that God withholds anything from us, but we are unable or unwilling to receive, and therefore we cannot receive.
It is rather like the question of receiving forgiveness – in God, through the Messiah, we are forgiven our sin or negative karma, but in order to receive that forgiveness we must forgive ourselves and others; to receive forgiveness we must be forgiving, as Adonai Yeshua teaches us. In a similar manner, if we are to be blessed and affirmed by God, and if we are to be healed and made whole, we must affirm and bless ourselves and others, and we must envision ourselves and others as we are in the Messiah and in God, envisioning ourselves according to the Divine Intention for us, God’s will for us; it is an active and dynamic surrender to Divine Grace in cooperation, one that is proactive, as taught in the Holy Gospel.
In this, perhaps, we may gain some insight into the wisdom of confession and repentance, and perhaps come to understand something of the deeper spiritual and metaphysical meaning – for if there are negations and a negative self-image, these must be seen and acknowledged, confessed, and in place of them we must generate affirmations and a new positive self-image, repenting of the negativity. Essentially, in confession we recognize and let go of negativity – sin, and in repentance we turn to God, the True Light, reintegrating ourselves with the Divine Light and Truth; it is this that is our healing, this that is our salvation – our enlightenment and liberation.
This, of course, is the wisdom of the generation of divine pride or spiritual self-worth as taught in Living Gnosis and elsewhere in our forums, letting go of our grasping at name and form, and personal history, and in place of it generating a new self-image or self-identity with fully evolved and divine being, the Messiah. We see this again and again in spiritual practices of the tradition – the visualization in prayer and mediation of our dissolution and transformation into the self-radiant image of Divine or Enlightened Being; likewise, the very principle of the basic initiation in Christian traditions reflects this – the baptism, chrism and wedding feast, for going down in the waters of baptism we are raise up as a new person in the Messiah, and that person is anointed in the Messiah and unified with the Messiah – fully evolved being, Divine and Supernal.
Coupled with this is spiritual humility – our surrender to Divine Grace, for we are not raised up by our own power, but we are raised up through the grace of Adonai Yeshua Messiah, the power of God. Enacting spiritual self-worth, we open and become sensitive to the Holy Spirit – in so doing the Holy Spirit enters to illuminate and heal us, transforming and uplifting us.
Of course, the active power of this is that it reflects and expresses our true nature and being – who and what we are in God, the True Light; we are enacting the truth of our being as revealed in Hayyah Yeshua, the Risen Messiah – our innate nature, which is inseparable from the Messiah and God.
Now, quite naturally, to call upon Ha-Shem (The Name) we need to have spiritual self-worth and spiritual humility – only in this way can we draw upon the light-power that is in the Holy Names of God and in our holy soul; when there is spiritual self-worth and spiritual humility, the Holy Shekinah rests upon us and the Holy Spirit moves with, in and through us, and so we are affirmed in God’s presence, wearing the Body of Vision, the supernal zelem of ourselves in Hayyah Yeshua.
In this respect you may know and understand how important confession and repentance is – looking and seeing where self-negation and negative self-images enter into play, dispelling them, and generating in place of them self-affirmation and positive self-images; hence, confessing sin and repenting of sin – recognizing missing the mark and adjusting one’s aim.
In our journey, of course, this is a constant ongoing process – a daily part of the spiritual life and practice. It is rather like driving your car down the road, to remain on the road and to arrive at your destination you must constantly make adjustments, responding to ever changing conditions and steering your car where you wish to go – the same is true in the spiritual life as we sojourn towards our destiny in the Messiah, the Anointed of El Elyon.
Engaging in this self-purification, confession and repentance, calling upon Ha-Shem in the Blessed Name of Yeshua Messiah, we can receive the answer to our prayers, the blessings and tikkune-healing we seek – the angels and God will answer our prayers.
As indicated above, this is completely connected to forgiveness – thus innate to this practice is the remembrance of our forgiveness in the Messiah, and our willingness to forgive ourselves and others; within and behind our self-negations and negative self-images there is most often an unwillingness to forgive ourselves and others, and thus an unwillingness to receive the forgiveness of God.
Perhaps in this we may gain insight into the wisdom of the outer teachings of the Holy Gospel and the mystery drama that plays out with the Lamb of God (El).
In closing we can share a teaching of the Christian Mekubalim for the sake of contemplation: “Through the Blood of the Lamb we are empowered to speak the Great Name of God, and speaking it the holy ones and shining ones will speak it with us – it will be spoken in the Mystical Body of the Risen Messiah.”
Adonai, may we receive Your blessing and empowerment to speak Your Great Name and proclaim the Gospel of Truth – may we receive the Shekinah of Messiah in full and be a blessing upon all our relations; amen.