Consciousness
In Kabbalah, consciousness is related to several sephiroth on the Tree of Life, primarily Geburah and Tiphereth. These two sephiroth are superior to the intellect (Netzach), heart (Hod), vital energy (Yesod), and physical body (Malkuth). This understanding corresponds to Hinduism and Buddhism. For example, in Buddhism, the skandhas or aggregates provide a window into the workings of our psychology. Skandha (Sanskrit; Tibetan: phung po) literally means “group, pile, aggregate, heap,” and is a general term of Buddhist philosophy describing the basic faculties of a sentient being or “personality.”
There are five skandhas:
- Corporeality or form (rupa)
- Sensation (vedana)
- Perception (samjana)
- Mental Formations (samskara)
- Consciousness (vijnana)
The Skandhas relate to five lower bodies or sephiroth of Kabbalah:
- Physical Body (Malkuth)
- Ethereal Body (Yesod; made of four ethers and vibrating with Tattvic energy)
- Lunar Astral/Emotional Body (Hod): the body of desires
- Lunar Mental Body (Netzach)
- Essence or Consciousness (Tiphereth)
In each of these traditions, these are the lowest aspects of what is possible to acheive. Consciousness is the means to ascend higher. This is always accomplished by awakening and perceiving more by means of the purification of the individual.
"Light and consciousness are two phenomena of the same thing; to a lesser degree of consciousness, corresponds a lesser degree of light; to a greater degree of consciousness, a greater degree of light." - Samael Aun Weor, The Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology
