Kabbalah and Psychology Part 5

How many Souls?

The human psyche is a multi-dimensional structure that can be analyzed from various perspectives. On the one hand, all mental problems can be seen as stemming from the innate complexity of human personality. On the other, once the inner conflicts that arise as a result of that complexity are resolved, the most profound secret of all the inner teachings of the Torah is revealed: the secret of the Workings of the Divine Chariot.6 These are even more profound than the Workings of Creation. Each of the laws of nature ( , the Workings of Creation) although intricately intertwined, can be fathomed by the human mind and directed to a particular purpose with essentially predictable results. But the human mind is such a complex, multifaceted organism, that no one can satisfactorily predict the outcome of situations involving human interaction, because typically, individuals produce highly original output. Most mental problems can be resolved by recognizing the voices and conflicts of the various personae that co-exist within the psyche. But when we speak of a healthy Jewish psyche, we need to recognize that it contains more than one soul. The animal soul controls those instincts common to both humans and animals, suggesting an evolutionary mindset. The Divine soul is the breath of life that God blew into the

The idea of the Workings of the Chariot is discussed later in this text.

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nostrils of Adam when He created him. In addition to these two souls, there exists the Intellectual soul which mediates between the other two. 7 Each of these three souls exists on a different plane of consciousness. 8 The animal soul is in a state of self-consciousness. While advocated by many psychologists as a positive phenomenon, self-consciousness (or self-awareness), from the perspective of the Torah and Chassidut, is the result of the primordial sin-- a fallen state of consciousness. Before Adam and Eve ate from the fruit their nakedness was meaningless to them. Their acquisition of self-consciousness and awareness of their nakedness was the result of eating from the forbidden fruit. In contradistinction, the Divine souls consciousness involves constant

awareness of Gods presence. It is a very positive type of consciousness, as the verse states, I place God before me always.9 One might think that in order to achieve a state of constant awareness of God, one would have to detach oneself completely from the physical world and become a recluse. However, the ultimate goal of Judaism is to connect the spiritual with the physical world, by performing Gods commandments. A reclusive lifestyle is untenable in the long run. The third type of consciousness is intermediate, achieved by bitul (nullification) of the intellectual soul as an entity in its own right, making it an egoless link between the

The fact that there are three different souls relates to the three body problem, an unsolvable physical problem that concerns how the gravitational pull of three bodies will affect their motion. The problem is unsolvable, therefore the motion is unpredictable. See Three Levels of Consciousness towards end of article on Kabbalah and Astronomy on this website. Psalms, 16:8.

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Divine soul and the animal soul. In this way, spiritual messages from the Divine soul flow naturally into our mundane routine, vitalizing the animal soul. A person who lives his or her life to the full, totally connected to the Divine, does not need to consciously think about God all the time. Our individual contributions should be supplied in a natural, flowing way, and our being at one with God ought to be unselfconscious. We term this, natural consciousness. The rectification of self-consciousness is the true, Jewish messianic objective that will ultimately bring about the redemption of humanity.

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