Divine Essence - Hasidic thought

[Henosis]

I've been exploring and investigating the principle of Atzmus. Within Hasidic thought, Atzmus is the absolute essence of divinity... The essence of the Creator prior to free will being potentiated. Within Kabbalistic and Hasidic thought, these are the stages of the infinite light prior to the tzimtzum. These are totally transcendent states of mind, subject to individual interpretation.

These are discussed in the Hasidic text of Seder hishtalshelus as follows...

• 1 Atzmut ("God's Absolute Essence")
• 2 Yachid ("The Single One")
• 3 Echad ("The One")
• 4 Sha'ashuim Atzmi'im ("The Delights of Self")
• 5 Aliyat Haratzon ("Rose in His Will")
• 6 Ana Emloch ("I will reign")
• 7 Ein Sof ("No End" - classic term for the Unknowable God in Kabbalah)
• 8 Kadmon ("Primordial One")
• 9 Avir Kadmon ("Primordial Atmosphere")
• 10 Adam Kadma'ah Stima'ah ("Concealed Primordial Man")

My personal interpretation of these stages of God before any creative act is as follows... these are more related to transcendent yet inner essential "feelings" than any type of thought. I expressed my interpretation of the essential "feeling" by the term in parenthesis...

1 Divine Essence (Faith) Transcendental essential unity
2 Divine Power (Strength) Transcendental essential power
3 Divine Revelation (Clarity) Transcendental revelation of inner unity
4 Divine Delight (Bliss) Transcendental joy of unity
5 Divine Motivation (Benevolence) Transcendental desire to do Good
6 Divine Desire (Kingship) Transcendental desire for Good to rule
7 Divine Infinity (Eternity) Transcendental brilliance
8 Divine Wisdom (Brilliance) Transcendental "superplan", the engravement or garment placed on the brilliance serving as a super-blueprint of creation
9 Divine Limitation (Mercy) Transcendental initial limitation of the infinite light, mercy counteracts the upcoming severe judgment/gevurah of the tzimtzum
10 Divine Thought (Free Will) The initial impulse of the Original thought, which will be "implanted" or inserted into the vacuum after the tzimtzum

Steps 8-10 I placed in italics as I see these as truly the beginning of the creative process. I believe the infinite has its initial impulse of "thought" before the tzimtzum as described in steps 8-10.

It's an interesting perspective of how the creative urge may have sprung from the infinite. This is mainly based on Hasidic readings of the stages of the Ohr Ein Sof prior to creation. This sublime and transcendent interpretation may see even Ein Sof as an emanation, and an intermediary between Atzmus (or perhaps Echad) and Kether. Atzmus means "Self".

While these stages are the most transcendent, they are relating to the highest essence of the divine, or in other words, the highest essence of the Self. Kabbalah often focuses on the "soul level" of Atziluth/Chayah, while the "soul level" of Ein Sof/Yechidah "enables the higher divine source to permeate and descend lower into perception, as essence permeates all while remaining distinct".

The process of the infinite light and its emanation into the void after the tzimtzum is the process of a "thought" occurring in an infinite mind. We are this thought in progression.

Anyway, I just wished to share some insightful and beautiful thoughts.

Love and Light