The Ein Sof whose name is infinite in hebrew is the concept of self manifiest GOD in the Kabalah cosmogony, also is who create any realm in the cosmos, Solomon ibn Gabirol's (c. 1021 – c. 1070) used the term "Endless One" (she-en lo tiklah).
The concept of the Ein Sof is similar to the other similar concepts from diferents religions like: the Hindu Parabrahman, the Platonic Monad, the Japanese Ame-no-Minakanushi, the zoroastrian Zurvan and many many other similar beings.
Mythology[]
Explain[]
In the Zohar explains the term "Ein Sof" as follows:
| “ | Before He gave any shape to the world, before He produced any form, He was alone, without form and without resemblance to anything else. Who then can comprehend how He was before the Creation? Hence it is forbidden to lend Him any form or similitude, or even to call Him by His sacred name, or to indicate Him by a single letter or a single point... But after He created the form of the Heavenly Man, He used him as a chariot wherein to descend, and He wishes to be called after His form, which is the sacred name "YHWH". | ” |
Basically the term "Ein Sof" signifies "the nameless being". In various passage the Zohar reduces the term to "Ein" (non-existent), because God so transcends human understanding as to be practically non-existent.
In the book Sefer Yetzirah and the Zohar, are also seen explications of the relation between Ein Sof and all other realities and levels of reality have been developed by many Jewish esoteric thinkers of the Middle Ages, such as Isaac the Blind and Azriel. Judah Ḥayyaṭ, in his commentary Minḥat Yehudah on the Ma'areket Elahut, gives the following explanation of the term "Ein Sof":
| “ | Any name of God which is found in the Bible can not be applied to the Deity prior to His self-manifestation in the Creation, because the letters of those names were produced only after the emanation. . . . Moreover, a name implies a limitation in its bearer; and this is impossible in connection with the "Ein Sof". | ” |
The Ten Sefirot[]
The philosopher and historian German-Israeli Gershom Scholem sais that: the "Ein Sof" was who emanated the ten sefirot. Sefirot are energy emanations found on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Ein Sof, the Atik Yomin ("Ancient of Days"), is the emanator of the sefirot into the cosmic womb of the Ayin in a remnant that results in the created universe. The word Ayin is composed by three letters (אי״ן), which indicates the first three purely intellectual sefirot, which precede any emotion or action. The order of devolution can be described as:
- 000. Ayin (Nothing; אין)
- 00. Ein Sof (Limitlessness; אין סוף)
- 0. Ohr Ein Sof (Endless Light; אור אין סוף)
- -.Tzimtzum (Contraction; צמצום)
- 1. Keter (Crown; כתר)
- 2. Chokmah (Wisdom; חכמה)
- 3. Binah (Understanding; בינה)
- 4. Chesed or Gedulah (Loving Kindness or Mercy; חסד)
- 5. Gevurah or Din (Power or Judgement; גבורה)
- 6. Tiferet (Beauty or Compassion; תפארת)
- 7. Netzach (Triumph or Endurance; נצח)
- 8. Hod (Majesty or Splendor; הוד)
- 9. Yesod (Foundation; יסוד)
- 10. Malkuth (Realm; מלכות)
The ten sefirot has a stage of concealment called tzimtzum, which "allows space" for creations to perceive themselves as separate existences from their creator. The sefirot exhibit reflection in sets of triads between more exalted states of being (or "non-being," when "otherness" does not yet exist) and the lower, more mundane levels of existence:
- Ayin, Ein Sof, Ohr Ein Sof
- Keter, Chokmah, Binah
- Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet
- Netzach, Hod, Yesod
Atzmus[]
The Atzmus or Atzmut is a Kabbalalistic concept related to Divine essence. normally the Atsmus is descriptive for the Godhead in the Judaism with its designated term Ein Sof ("No end"-Infinite) in the classical Kabbalah.
Was not until the century 18th where a a jewish sect call Hasidism, in where the conection between the Ein Sof and Atzmuz will be stronger, due to the Hasidic Judaism use the term Atzmus for "essence". Meanwhile the In Ein Sof is used for just Infinity, so the Atsmus is the Godhead which is beyond finite/infinite duality (Ein Sof). As the Etzem, it both transcends all levels, and permeates all levels. this Would reflect a paradoxical acosmic monism of Hasidic panentheism, that is relatable with the concepts of soul (torah) and thought; in them correspondence in the Kabalah is to the World of Atzilus which are related with the sephirah of Chokmah (wisdom) that the transcendent soul level of Chayah; in the Hasidic teology Chokmah is associated with the World of Adam Kadmon sephirah of Keter.
Popular culture[]
Videogames[]
- In the series Shin Megami Tensei, the most powerful being is the Axiom also know as the Great Will or the Great Reason is clearly based on the Ein Sof, curiously in many megaten games quite a few avatars of the Axiom are bosses, being the most recurring YHWH.
- In the Nasuverse the being Swirl of the Root is know for many names being Ein Sof one of their names in the lore.
- In World of Darkness the Ein Sof is both the Abrahmic god and second most powerful only below of I AM THAT I AM.
Novels[]
- In Unsong the Ein Sof is the highest existence, being is the source of all existence too.
- In the novel Dual Savior God is clearly based on the Ein Sof.
- God is the main antagonist in Tokyo Babel, this version of the Abrahmic God resembles to the Ein Sof.
Comics[]
- The Marvel Character One-Above-All is an analogous to Ein Sof.
- In DC comics, One spect of the Presence is the Divine Presence who is based both in the Ein Sof and Para brahman.
- The Character of Image comics Hother of Existence may be take elements of Ein Sof.