The Five Named soul

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been starting to study Hayim Vital's Shaar HaGilgulim, Gates of Reincarnation. The book explains Isaac Luria's understanding of reincarnation. This is the first in a series of posts outlining the basic concepts of reincarnation as found in this text, and I hope that it will help us to understand the spiritual growth that takes lifetimes to develop.

Vital writes that there are the five names for the soul: Nefesh, Ruah, Nishama, Haya, and Yechida. He introduces them as five aspects of a person's soul, though his language quickly shifts to discuss them as five separate souls. This reflects the paradox within much Kabbalistic thought: God is one yet we discuss the ten sephirot. The soul is one, but it can be talked about as five. My understanding is that God is so indescribably large that the sephirot represent different places where God interfaces with the world. It's like describing the ocean differently as different ports around the world. The clarity of the Mediterranean is the same ocean as the murky depths of Boston harbor, yet swimming in each is a very different experience. In the case of souls, I think it is easier to talk about them as separate souls, but with the understanding that they are really one. 


We receive them as we grow older. The first soul received is the Nefesh, which is given when we take our first breath. The second is the Ruah which enters the body at age 13. The third, the Nefesh, enters the body at around age 20. He does not specify when the last two enter the body (at least not yet). 

In order for the Ruah and Nishama to enter the body, the person needs to be worthy of them by means of good deeds and following commandments. If a person is not worthy of his next soul when the time comes, he does not receive it in this lifetime. So a person may go though this incarnation with just a Nefesh, or just a nefesh and Ruah but no Nishama. 

Each soul has a ladder of spiritual growth which allows him to receive the next soul. If a person completes, or repairs, his nefesh at a point in his lifetime at some point after his 13th year, he must wait until his next incarnation to receive his ruah. Spiritual growth, by design, takes place lifetimes. The same is true of all levels. If a person completes his ruah he needs to be reincarnated again to receive his Nishama. A person is able to climb up within his soul during his lifetime, but not into the next soul. Reincarnation is a necessary part of spiritual growth.

Each of the five names of the soul represents a different soul level that can be reached by completing and repairing each step of each soul. But to merit the next soul, a person must be reincarnated.

The Long View

I've been starting to study Shaar HaGilgulim (The gates of reincarnation) by Hayyim Vital. I'll write more later on what I'm learning from the text itself but it's made me realize that I've started to take the long view in my life. I don't know if it's related to getting older, but things don't feel as rushed as they used to. I know that I have the rest of my life to work on my spiritual development. I can have רחמים compassion with myself if it takes awhile to happen. I know that growth takes place over many lifetimes, and all that I can see now is a small piece of a much, much larger picture. I can't stop working. I have to put as much effort into my growth as possible, but it's ok if things don't always go as planned.

One of my Hevrutas overslept a few days ago and we missed our study time. At first I was a little upset and annoyed, but then I realized that we've been studying together for two years and b"t we will be studying for another many years. If we miss this week, in the scope of things, it's not such a big deal. But only as long as we're made plans for next week and the week after.

There are so many stumbling blocks that lie in the path of our growth. It's important to know when we've hit them and how to move through them. But it's important not to let the yetzer harah, the impulse to self-destruction, use those stumbling blocks as an opportunity to beat us up and stop the growth.

The long view is a great motivator. It tells us that the problems we have in this life will be repeated in the next until we've worked them through. Or, more colloquially, same shit, different lifetime. I have no desire to go through these challenges again, so I know I have to work as hard as I can to grow so I don't subject myself to them again. At the same time, there will always be another chance to face these issues again. If I don't get it right the first time, there will be infinite second chances, which is both good and bad.

There is a Talmudic story about Honi the Circler who came upon a man planting a carob tree. Honi asked the man how long the tree would take to bear fruit? The man replied 70 years. Honi asked the man, Why do you plant a tree whose fruit you will never eat? The man said that he was planting it for the next generation, just as his father and grandfather had done for him. Honi walked away, suddenly felt very tired and lay down to sleep. He awoke to see the tree was now a giant and the same man picking the fruit. He asked the man if he was the one who had planted it? The man shook his head and replied that it was planted by his grandfather. Honi realized he had slept for 70 years.

Honi saw for himself that growth takes generations and lifetimes. Small seeds we plant now may grow into giant trees later on, though we won't, in our current incarnation, see them. We have to do the work so that we continue to grow. But we have to be patient to let things grow no matter how long they take.

Photo courtesy of Macropoulus

Truth within the system

I recently had a fascinating reading from a medium named Kurt Leland. He channels a spirit named "Charles" who mainly focuses on people's greater purpose in life. During the reading, I could feel a tremendous amount of power, which is one of my litmus tests. The focus of this post is not on what he said, but how he said it.

The reading was presented in the format of a very advanced version of the Michael Teachings. The basic idea is that the soul develops over lifetimes and goes through seven soul "ages" each with seven levels. Each soul has a primary archetype which remains constant throughout lifetimes. Each incarnation has various overlays which define the personality of that incarnation, and a "chief feature" which is either the greatest blockage or the source of the greatest power in that particular lifetime.

During the course of the reading, he also lead me through a powerful visualization/journey based on the fours worlds as interpreted in the lens of theosophy (of which I will write about in another post).

What he told me was accurate and true, which, according to the Ba'al Shem Tov, is the test of any medium or seer. The format he used was the method in which he conveyed the truth. It's important not to mix up the two.

There are two steps to receiving information from the spirit world. One is receiving it and the other is being able to convey it to the person receiving the healing. Kurt/Charles was exceptional at using the format to convey the reading in terms the I could easily understand and make sense of. My wife also received a reading a few months ago, and I was struck by the differences in wording between the two readings.

Is his system true? Are there seven soul ages and seven levels in each? I can't really say.

Chaim Vital writes about ten soul levels with ten stages in each. They are based on the ten sephirot. Each lifetime we can move up or down levels, but the general progression is upward. He writes about soul roots. That each of our souls grows out of similar roots. So that some people can have a soul root of Cain or Hevel, and others could be King David. The soul roots don't change over lifetimes even as we climb up the sephirot.

What is clear across systems is that souls contain certain elements which remain the same throughout lifetimes, and there is growth across lifetimes. In both Vital's system and the Michael Teachings, the end goal is union with the divine.

It's important to understand the lens of the system to clearly understand the message that's being presented. It's also important that the system is just that: a way of conveying a message so it can be clearly understood. One of the reasons I spend so much time studying Judaism is that it's the system that makes the most sense to me, and most fully explains my experiences. So the better I understand Judaism, the better I understand my relationship with God.

It's also important to realize that the power is in the message, not in the system. The system is worth studying and thinking about so you understand the message, but the power lies in the truth hidden within.

As a fellow healer, I also wanted to give a recommendation to Kurt/Charles. He does readings via Skype, so is available to anyone.  If it sounds like something that might be helpful to you, drop him a line.