The Awakening Ground: A Guide to Contemplative Mysticism
5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
• The work introduces six stages that articulate how the mind breaks through its own restrictive habitual reflexes to awaken to the ground of En Sof, which is the mind’s essential nature
• Each stage is illustrated by the author’s own original works of art and line diagrams
• Draws upon obscure sources such as the 13th-century Kabbalistic text Fountain of Wisdom, various alchemical and gnostic texts, and the writings of Isaac the Blind
The author reveals how meaning never remains static--its nature is to move, transmit, and display--yet its precious potential becomes buried under layers of mental constructs. He explains how the mind’s habits and reflexes impose structures of containment that try to make sense out of phenomena, but these very structures actually obscure their essence completely. Smith’s experiential path to gnostic awakening reveals how, in the wake of the lesser concerns of the conceptual mind, primordial purity shines in resonances of vast poetic beauty, if a sensibility of wonder, awe, and delight is cultivated.
Offering a step-by-step analysis to the ecstatic aspects of contemplative revelation, David Chaim Smith explores how to ride the razor’s edge of the paradox to coax the mind from the sleep of habituation towards the culmination of gnosis. Although the process is described within the traditional symbol system of kabbalah, its import is a truly radical exponent of extreme mysticism.
David Chaim Smith
David Chaim Smith was born in 1964 in Queens, New York. His early career was as a visual artist throughout the 1980s. In 1990 he began an immersion into the root sources of Alchemy and the Hermetic and Hebrew traditions of the Kabbalah. In 1996 he abandoned visual art for a total dedication to spiritual practice, from which came a unique blend of practical mysticism and creative innovation. This blend coalesced while working with an obscure thirteenth-century text called The Fountain of Wisdom, which he mapped out diagrammatically in notebooks during his ten-year hiatus from visual art. The resulting symbol vocabulary served as the basis for his 2006 return to art, generating the content for several books. He currently lives in the suburbs of New York City with his wife, Rachel.
Related to The Awakening Ground
Related ebooks
The Kabbalistic Mirror of Genesis: Commentary on the First Three Chapters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Universal Kabbalah Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meditation and Kabbalah Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bahir: Illumination Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Angel & The Abyss: The Inward Journey, Books II & III Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sanctuary of the Divine Presence: Hebraic Teachings on Initiation and Illumination Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMagical States of Consciousness: Pathworking on the Tree of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kabbalah of the Soul: The Transformative Psychology and Practices of Jewish Mysticism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The secrets of the Zohar Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gold: Israel Regardie's Lost Book of Alchemy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Splendours: The Inner Mysteries of Qabalism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ehyeh: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Qabalah: A Magical Primer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Son of Chicken Qabalah: Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford's (Mostly Painless) Practical Qabalah Course Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sepher Rezial Hemelach: The Book of the Angel Rezial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Guide to the Zohar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation in Theory and Practice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meditation and the Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unlocking the Zohar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret Doctrine of the Kabbalah: Recovering the Key to Hebraic Sacred Science Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ecstatic Kabbalah Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shamanic Qabalah: A Mystical Path to Uniting the Tree of Life & the Great Work Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe New Hermetics: 21st Century Magick for Illumination and Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kabbalah and the Power of Dreaming: Awakening the Visionary Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sword & The Serpent Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Zohar: Annotated & Explained Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hymns of Hermes: Ecstatic Songs of Gnosis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Judaism For You
The Rational Bible: Genesis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History of the Jews Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank Remembered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living a Jewish Life, Revised and Updated: Jewish Traditions, Customs, and Values for Today's Families Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tanach, the Jewish Bible in English translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic & Mysticism: Second Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why the Jews?: The Reason for Antisemitism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Torah: The first five books of the Hebrew bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Testament of Solomon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kabbala: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism and Its Secret Doctrine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Zohar: Annotations to the Ashlag Commentary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary and Analysis of Man's Search for Meaning: Based on the Book by Victor E. Frankl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Practical Qabalah Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Jubilees Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rational Bible: Exodus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jewish Wisdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I and Thou Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Books of Enoch Collection Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5
Reviews for The Awakening Ground
6 ratings0 reviews