Ratzon: God’s Will

Keter on the Tree of Life is called Ratzon, which means God’s Will or Desire. The nature of Keter is Ain (No-thingness), and Ain Sof (the Infinite), and Ain Sof Or ( the Infinite Light), for as the first Sefirah it is completely inseparable from the Godhead. God’s Will is, thus, the potential of creation, from beginning to end, all within Godself; hence Infinite Potential. Yet, at the same time, God’s Will is all that was, is or ever shall be, and though potential, God’s Will is everything actual. At the level of Malkut there is the actual and there is the potential, but at the level of Keter, in truth, there is no difference between potential and actual. This distinction is the difference between space-time and eternity, for space-time (creation) is the actualization of the infinite and eternal potential (Creator).

Ain, Ain Sof and Ain Sof Or are the principle terms for God in the Kabbalah and indicate the Godhead proper, which is the transcendental, nameless and unknowable aspect of God. The Supernals, Keter, Binah and Hokmah, are inseparable from the Godhead, and are the Godhead to the Seven Sefirot of Construction below. These, in turn, are inseparable from the Supernal Godhead and are the Godhead to creatures and creation below. Keter, thus, represents the Cause of causes which is completely hidden in the Godhead; hence God’s Ratzon (Will/Desire) is Nameless and Unknowable – the First or Supreme Mystery.

From this Supernal Source all of the Holy Sefirot come into being. Thus, God’s Will or Desire becomes Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Mercy, Judgment, Beauty, Dominion, Submission, Foundation and Kingdom, and these emanations of God’s Will are the underlying metaphysical structure of creation; hence the image and likeness of God to which creation gives birth. According to the Kabbalah, God’s Will or Desire in creation is God’s own image and likeness – the Human One, specifically the Anointed One, which is to say the Enlightened Human Being. Thus, God’s Will is our Enlightenment and Liberation, or our conscious unification with Divine Being.

We gain a glimpse of God’s Will in this sense within Nature, which according to the Tradition is the secret operation of God’s Spirit. For, given the plethora of life on earth, the inner dimensions and heavenly realms aside, it is quite clear that there is an Energy-Intelligence in Nature that labors continually to generate increasingly higher and more refined life-forms. Thus, we may speak of God’s Will as the Life-Will and Life-Power and principle of Life-Form in the archetypal sense; and we may speak about God’s Will as the Force of Evolution expressed in Nature-Creation. In terms of evolution on a physical level we may say that there is a principle of the survival of the fittest, thus we may say the same principle is operating on a psychic and spiritual level. On the psychic and spiritual level what is good and true, or “fit” accords with God’s Will or Desire.

The nature of higher more refined life-forms is a higher state of being-consciousness-force or energy-intelligence of being; hence greater intelligence and self-awareness. This is clear in the evolution of the human kingdom from within the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms on earth – the human kingdom being founded upon these previous developments and representing a significantly higher level of intelligence and awareness. What is unique to a human being compared to any other creature on earth, because of the human intelligence and awareness, is a capacity for conscious evolution; specifically an evolution towards Enlightenment and Liberation or the Highest of Life, which is called the Kingdom of God. In terms of Gnostic Christianity and the Kabbalah this is an evolution to Supernal or Messianic Consciousness; hence a conscious unification with God and Godhead. This is God’s Will, and it is our True Will or True Desire.

God’s Will is the Life-Will and is reflected in the will of life to generate itself, to live and grow and preserve itself, and to be and become the ever-more it can be; hence the actualization of the infinite potential of the Life-Will. The very nature and essence of the Life-Will is Infinite and Eternal – Ain Sof; hence Eternal Life. In the state of Eternal Life there is no death, thus, in essence Eternal Life is a continuity of the Presence of Awareness throughout all states of consciousness, from the material dimension to the supernal dimension of consciousness. This, of course, is Supernal or Messianic Consciousness, which is to say Enlightenment and Liberation.

In this sense, when we speak of God’s Will, we are not speaking of something separate or apart from our inmost being or the inmost part of our soul, but rather God’s Will is integral to the Soul of Light in us, and it is our own inmost heart’s desire – hence our True Will or True Desire. Thus, when we say we seek to bring our will into harmony with God’s Will, and that in so doing we make God’s Will our own, we are saying that we seek to enact and embody our True Will – the Holy Desire for Union with Divine Being. Esoterically, in Christian Gnosticism, it is in this sense that we speak of the Messiah or Christ as God’s Will for us; hence that we, too, might “wear the Supernal Crown” or embody the Christos.

What we are speaking about is the Supreme Mystery and, therefore, our words do not express the Truth of which we are speaking, but rather they indicate the Truth and Light revealed in our experience. As Buddha said of the Dharma, our words are like “a finger pointing at the moon,” which must not be mistaken for the moon itself.

As for the term “God,” this, too, is merely a finger pointing at the Truth that cannot be spoken or explained. While some say that they believe in God and some say that they do not believe in God, and yet others say that they neither believe nor disbelieve, in truth, all of this is in the mind – merely conceptual. But what we mean by “God” is Supramental and Supernal, completely beyond mental consciousness, beyond all thought and thinking. Thus, belief and disbelief on the level of vital and mental being has nothing whatsoever to do with God. Yet, here we can speak a great secret: In the Pure Radiant Awareness or Supernal Consciousness there is God and No God, which is to say that there is no conception of God at all, but rather, there is the direct experience of the Truth and Light inwardly perceived. This Truth is Ain and it is Keter in the Kabbalah, and its realization is Christ Consciousness in Gnostic Christianity. In this sense you may understand our Noble Ideal to unite ourselves with Christ in God: the Light-Presence in the Light-Continuum. Praise God!