Qlippoth and Sefirot, RHP and LHP Duality, Non-duality

[whimsicalwarlock]

I want to first clarify, I am not an expert by any means so this is all just an observation that I've made.

I see so many people on here discussing things in the context of LHP or RHP as an exclusive thing or practice that they or others are engaging in. The more i look into this, the more i'm getting the sense that looking at the Sefirot or the Qlippoth as a singular path to take, is unbalanced. It feels as if the two are really meant to be conjoined as one and practiced together as a whole rather than as two separate paths. The two almost seem necessary to be practiced together because from my perspective it seems to sort of come down to the human mind and the way we have a tendency to think in a very dualistic way and that brings me to my next point.

In Buddhists practice there is a teaching that duality is ultimately an illusion and that you cannot actually have "Light" without "dark" and that at its absolute core there actually is no distinction between one or the other and the difference that we perceive isn't actually real.

I'm having trouble understanding how one path is meant to be the "way to enlightenment" if both are possibly only really just two sides of the same illusion and it feels like the RHP/LHP distinction is a sort of moot point when through the lens of non-duality it seems both are necessary in order to ascend. When you consider the non-dualistic mindset it almost seems to make the distinction between both as insignificant and it seems almost self-defeating to consider them as separate things.

I guess what i'm trying to say or ask for opinions on is, Is it just an illusion or imbalanced to only go one way or the other, or is the entire thing as a whole an illusion distracting us from a higher truth that would take us further into enlightenment, or is it possible every single piece is necessary as it all is just one more stepping stone one each persons path to ascension?

Any input is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[iseht]

The more i look into this, the more i'm getting the sense that looking at the Sefirot or the Qlippoth as a singular path to take, is unbalanced.

They are poles at either end of a single system. The Qlippoth exists because the light of the Sefirot exists, when the shattering of the vessels occured the light became trapped and displaced within the broken shards. Enlightenment through this path is then seeing that the two share the same root, they are the inhalation and exhalation of divinity.

 

[Morell]

There are many way to understand the Tree of Life. Not all include Tree of Death. On some paths, there is no Tree of Death, and Qlippoth are shells around Sephiroth themselves.

And it depends on your path. The balance must be there for everyone, though if you want to work with only one of the trees, I assume that is it possible, as long as you are able to keep balance.

 

[Primeboy777]

Balance is Key

 

[HoldAll]

In my understanding of Lurianic Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah, there's no polarity to be found here. The sephirot have their respective opposites within the Tree of Life, and any balancing force should be exclusively sought there, in my opinion. The qliphot were originally thought to be completely evil, and I don't mean darque chic evil, but inimical to life evil. For example, the opposite of a rich meal (chesed) is a frugal meal or fasting (din/geburah); the qliphotic equivalent would be food poisoning or stomach cancer.

I've yet to come across the whole Tree of Death concept in Jewish Kabbalah, if somebody could point me to a reputable source though, I'd be grateful.

 

[whimsicalwarlock]

In my understanding of Lurianic Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah, there's no polarity to be found here. The sephirot have their respective opposites within the Tree of Life, and any balancing force should be exclusively sought there, in my opinion. The qliphot were originally thought to be completely evil, and I don't mean darque chic evil, but inimical to life evil. For example, the opposite of a rich meal (chesed) is a frugal meal or fasting (din/geburah); the qliphotic equivalent would be food poisoning or stomach cancer.

I've yet to come across the whole Tree of Death concept in Jewish Kabbalah, if somebody could point me to a reputable source though, I'd be grateful.

Oh ok, I hadn't considered it from this perspective. I thought of the tree of death as more of a lack of, like understanding negative side of what happens when theres no wisdom, or no understanding or no mercy. I still saw it as a form of understanding i suppose. From that lens, I have a hard time understand what the actual value of the qlippoth would even be then. Through that perspective, it almost comes across as total spiritual blindness or self destruction

 

[iseht]

Oh ok, I hadn't considered it from this perspective. I thought of the tree of death as more of a lack of, like understanding negative side of what happens when theres no wisdom, or no understanding or no mercy. I still saw it as a form of understanding i suppose. From that lens, I have a hard time understand what the actual value of the qlippoth would even be then. Through that perspective, it almost comes across as total spiritual blindness or self destruction

The Tree of Death is a western occult invention of Mathers and crew. The Golden Dawn lineage blended it with Jungian influences and turned it into the polar shadow work map that most people see today.

The Zohar, where this all came from, presents the Qlippoth very differently, just as HoldAll is describing. The Zohar though is full of meandering lines of thinking and thought exercises that don't really form any kind of complete system so this whole area is really quite open for interpretation, particularly when it comes to use in spiritual practice which the writers of the Zohar weren't terribly concerned about. They were more interested in abstract ontological reasoning.

The core premise is that the Qlippoth are containers for lost sparks of light that must be reclaimed and the excess waste of the qlippothic realms should be discarded. Think of it along the lines of alchemical purification, of extracting gold through a purification process.

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"The evil persona of a man is in the Sphere of the Qlippoth, and the devils are the Microcosms of the Macrocosm of the Qlippoth. This evil persona hath its parts and divisions, and of it the part which toucheth the Malkuth of the Nephesch is its Kether. Tremble therefore at the evil forces which be in thy own evil persona. And as above the Kether of a Man are his Angelic and other forms, so below the Malkuth of the Evil Persona are awful forms, dangerous even to express or think of."

This passage from Regardie sums up the modern occultist understanding quite well I think.