The Four Worlds - Part I

According to Kabbalah, God’s creation of the world occurred in four distinct stages: “Then He saw it, and He spoke it; He prepared it, and He probed it” (Job 28:27). In the Zohar’s interpretation, each of the four actions mentioned in this verse occurs in a separate realm or “world.” The highest of the four words is called Olam Ha’Atzilut, the World of Emanation, for it is in this realm that the essence of all that is destined to be created first emanates from God’s will. The names of the other three worlds – Beri’a (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Making, or Action) – derive from a verse in Isaiah: Kol hanikra vish’mi velikh’vodi berativ, yetzartiv, af asitiv – “All that is called by My name, and for My glory I have created it; I have formed it; I have also made it” (Isaiah 43:7).

These stages of creation are analogous to the process by which an architect plans a building project. First there is the germ of the idea in the architect’s mind. Next, he conceives the size, shape, and general layout. Later, he draws up floor plans for each floor, including the dimensions of each room, closet, and staircase. And finally, he specifies the exact materials and quantities of each that will be used in each part of the building. Only after these planning stages are completed does any physical construction begin.

In Kabbalah, the four worlds represent not only the stages through which God created the world at the dawn of time, but they are also the stages through which God constantly transmits His will into the universe. They are the stages of existence. For God is always creating, and only through God’s continued will does the universe continue to exist. The four worlds are spiritual in nature and exist beyond the bounds of space and time. Therefore, the terms “higher” and “lower,” as used in the context of Kabbalah, should not be taken to imply any spacial relationship. Rather, “higher” and “lower” in Kabbalah are merely a manner of speaking, indicating the position of a given world in the chain of causation, with each “higher” world generating the elements of the world “below” it. Above the entire chain of causation is God Himself, who in the literature of Kabbalah, is often called Ayn Sof – the Infinite.

In the above verse from Isaiah, “and for My glory” may be taken as a veiled allusion to Olam Ha’Atzilut. But there is a still higher level mentioned in that verse – “All that is called by My name” – and that level, called Adam Kadmon, is not generally counted among the worlds, because, like the sefira of Keter – whose essence that world represents – it exists within the Will of God and is therefore completely hidden and beyond our knowledge.

Each of the four worlds embodies the essence of one of the sefirot, in the sense that it is through that particular sefira that the world in question is created. (At this point, you may do well to review my post of 30 July 2009 – "The Sefirot - Part I.") Thus, the world of Atzilut represents the essence of Chokhma (Wisdom), Beri’a represents the essence of Bina (Knowledge), Yetzira represents the essence of Tif’eret (Grandeur), and Asiya represents the essence of Malkhut (Kingdom, or Kingship). The physical world is under the direct control of Asiya, the lowest of the spiritual worlds.

As stated, each of the worlds is created through the primary action of one particular sefira. Nevertheless, each world manifests the action of all ten sefirot, and thus the transmission of God’s will within each world cascades down through the entire hierarchy of the ten sefirot, with each sefira manifesting a different attribute of God’s conduct of the universe – such as Wisdom, Understanding, Mercy, Justice, etc.

This, then, is the general structure of the spiritual world of Kabbalah. But we have just scratched the surface. There is much more to say about the worlds and their interaction with the sefirot, a subject that we will explore further in the forthcoming weeks.


© Copyright 2009 by Ben Roshgolin. All rights reserved.

The Sefirot – Diagrammatic Representation

This is one of the diagrammatic representations of the sefirot. Note that there are three sefirot on the right, three sefirot on the left, and four along the midline. Please refer to the discussion in my post of 30 July 2009 ("The Sefirot – Part I").


© Copyright 2009 by Ben Roshgolin. All rights reserved.