Kabbalah Steps toward Creativity

Mel Alexenberg

Sephirot

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The creative process

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The kabbalistic model of creative process, both Divine and human, is depicted by ten sephirot with twenty-two pathways linking them. It is called a โ€œTree of Life.โ€ It was crystallized by Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as The Ari, and his circle in the Galilee mountain town of Tzfat in the sixteenth century.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (p. 49). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Keter

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Crown (Keter), the will and intention to create, essential to setting the process of creation in motion. Crown is the single sephirah of the World of Intention.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (p. 49). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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The first stage in the creative process is the sephirah Crown (Keter)โ€”the will to create coupled with faith that one can create, and anticipation that the creative process is pleasurable. Without this intention, self-confidence, and hope for gratification, the creative process has no beginning.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (pp. 77-78). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Hokhmah

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Crown sets the stage for the sephirah of Wisdom (Hokhmah) that requires a selfless state, nullification of the ego that opens gateways to supraconscious and subconscious realms. When active seeking ceases, when consciously preoccupied with unrelated activities, when we least expect it, the germ of the creative idea bursts into our consciousness. This sudden flash of insight is what the kabbalah calls Wisdom.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (pp. 77-78). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Binah

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Like the sperm that is received by the ovum in the womb, the unformed germ of an idea from the sephirah of Wisdom enters into the sephirah of Understanding (Binah).

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (p. 79). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Together, Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge form the cognitive realm of thoughts. Knowledge both unites Wisdom and Understanding and is the gateway to the next six sephirot that form the affective realm of emotions.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (p. 79). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Hesed

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The fourth sephirah of Compassion (Hesed) is openness to all possibilities. I thought of the hundreds of artistic options open to me in creating computer angels and I loved them all.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (p. 79). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Gevurah

Compassion is counterbalanced by the fifth sephirah of Strength (Gevurah), the strength to set limits, to make judgments, to choose between myriad options.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (p. 79). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Tiferet

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the sixth sephirah of Beauty (Tiferet). This sephirah represents a beautiful balance between the counterforces of Compassion and Strength. It is the feeling of harmony between all my possible options and the choices I had made. Beauty is the aesthetic core of the creative process in which harmonious integration of openness and closure is experienced as deeply felt beauty.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (pp. 80-81). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Netzah

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The seventh sephirah of Success (Netzah) is the feeling of being victorious in the quest for significance. I felt that I had the power to overcome any obstacles that may stand in the way of realizing my artwork. Netzah can also mean โ€œto conductโ€ or โ€œorchestrateโ€ as in the word that begins many of the Psalms. I had the confidence that I could orchestrate all the aspects of creating a multimedia symphony of computer angels arising from the bowels of New York City.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (pp. 81-82). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Hod

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The eight sephirah of Splendor (Hod) is the glorious feeling that the final shaping of the idea is going so smoothly that it seems as effortless as the splendid movements of a graceful dancer. The sephirah of Success is an active self-confidence in contrast with the sephirah of Splendor, which is a passive confidence born of a trust in Divine providence that โ€œall will be good.โ€ It is the power to advance smoothly with the determination and perseverance born of deep inner commitment. It is the wonderful feeling that all is going as it should. CREATIVE INTEGRATION

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (pp. 81-82). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Yeshod

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The ninth sephirah of Foundation (Yesod) is the sensuous bonding of Success and Splendor in a union that leads to the birth of the fully formed idea. It funnels the integrated forces of intention, thought, and emotions of the previous eight sephirot into the world of physical action. In Chronicles 1:29, this sephirah is called All or Everything (kol). It channels everything that was playing out in my mind into the craft of making the artwork. It transports my private mental world into a public environmental arena in which I can create a product to communicate my ideas to others.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (pp. 81-82). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

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Malkhut

This tenth sephirah of Kingdom (Malkhut) is the noble realization of my concepts and feelings in the kingdom of time and space. It involves all the practical details that go into physically making an artwork.

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Alexenberg, Melvin L. . Through A Bible Lens (p. 82). Elm Hill. Kindle Edition.

Festivity and Fantasy

The Christian theologian, Harvey Cox, characterizes the very survival skills developed by our Jewish people centuries ago when he writes:

โ€œif he is to survive, man must be both innovative and adaptive. He must draw from the richest wealth of experience available to him and must not be bound to existing formulas for solving problems. Festivity, by breaking routine and opening us to the past, enlarges our experience and reduces our provincialism. Fantasy opens doors that merely empirical calculations ignore. it widens the possibility of innovation.โ€

Feast of Fools, Harvey Cox, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1969, page 12

The Museum of the Jewish Future

Dedicated to the Jewish Experience, the Jewish future, multi-media. national digital repository.- museum as experience enhancer.

โ€œI wonder,โ€ said Agam, โ€œwhy all the museums preserve the past. With our means of communication [we could] become enthusiastic about a place where projects concerning the future, the chrystalization of our future, would be shown and explainedโ€ฆโ€™ as quoted in โ€œHomage to Yaโ€™acov Agamโ€ย  P. 151

Where the traditional jewish museum creates exhibitions, the museum of the Jewish future creates participatory environments. Where the traditional Jewish museums may have docents, the museum of the jewish future creates transformative experiences with interaction with other participants. where the traditional museum currates items of the past, the museum of the future creates scenarios.

PARDES TEMPLATE

Peshat

Simple restatement of the obvious elements.

Remez

Hints โ€“ References to similar elements.

Drash

Stories that expand on the elements and themes.

Sod

ย Traditionally secrets, but could be personal insights of the viewer.

God Given Credentials

Johnson Oโ€™conner a pioneer in the study of the individual and his/her Aptitudes.ย  The Midrash of God vs the coin maker, who makes identical coins while God makes each of us unique, with our own unique patterns of aptitudes.

Aptitudes are natural abilities

Aptitudes are natural talents, special abilities for doing, or learning to do, certain kinds of things easily and quickly. They have little to do with knowledge or culture, or education, or even interests. They have to do with heredity. Musical talent and artistic talent are examples of such aptitudes.

Some people can paint beautifully but cannot carry a tune. Others are good at talking to people but slow at paperwork. Still others can easily repair a car, but find writing difficult. These basic differences among people are important factors in making one person satisfied as a banker, another satisfied as an engineer, and still another satisfied working as an editor.ย 

Through their testing, I discovered that I had the following aptitudes:

Favoring of Visual Perceptionย  and Structural Visualization with a tendency to diagram ideas and relationships.

A marked ability to createย  ideas and scenarios

Foresight which enables the seeingย  and developing possibilities and solutions

Analytical Reasoning which fosters organizing of similar and diverse factors

What I also learned was that happiness and personal contentment for me is based on being able to activate these aptitudes on a daily basis.

check out their book on aptitudes:

https://www.jocrf.org/aptitudes/book-understanding-your-aptitudes

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ืขื•ืœื ืžืœื ื•ืžืคื ื™ ืฉืœื•ื ื”ื‘ืจื™ื•ืช ืฉืœื ื™ืืžืจ ืื“ื ืœื—ื‘ื™ืจื• ืื‘ื ื’ื“ื•ืœ

ย ืžืื‘ื™ืš โ€ฆ ื•ืœื”ื’ื™ื“ ื’ื“ื•ืœืชื• ืฉืœ ื”ืงื‘โ€ื” ืฉืื“ื ื˜ื•ื‘ืข ื›ืžื” ืžื˜ื‘ืขื•ืช ื‘ื—ื•ืชื ืื—ื“ ื›ื•ืœืŸ ื“ื•ืžื™ืŸ ื–ื” ืœื–ื” ื•ืžืœืš ืžืœื›ื™ ื”ืžืœื›ื™ื ื”ืงื‘โ€ื” ื˜ื‘ืข ื›ืœ ืื“ื ื‘ื—ื•ืชืžื• ืฉืœ ืื“ื ื”ืจืืฉื•ืŸ ื•ืื™ืŸ ืื—ื“ ืžื”ืŸ ื“ื•ืžื” ืœื—ื‘ื™ืจื• ืœืคื™ื›ืš ื›ืœ ืื—ื“ ื•ืื—ื“ ื—ื™ื™ื‘ ืœื•ืžืจ ื‘ืฉื‘ื™ืœื™ ื ื‘ืจื ื”ืขื•ืœืโ€ฆ

Sanhedrin 37a:13-15

โ€œTherefore the first human being, Adam, was created alone, to teach us that whoever destroys a single life, the Torah considers it as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a single life, the Torah considers it as if he saved an entire world.

Furthermore, only one person, Adam, was created for the sake of peace among men, so that no one should say to his fellow, โ€˜My father was greater than yoursโ€ฆ.

Also, man [was created singly] to show the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, for if a man strikes many coins from one mold, they all resemble one another, but the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, made each man in the image of Adam, and yet not one of them resembles his fellow.

Johnson Oโ€™Conner Aptitudes

โ€œThink of aptitudes as individual building blocks that can work together to form a structure you can use to reach your goals in life.โ€ P. 9

  1. Structural Visualization

โ€œStructural Visualization -Drawn to taking things apart and putting them back together, building things, designing things, and figuring out how things workโ€ -P. 7

โ€œThe ability to visualize in three dimensionsโ€ P.8

  1. Inductive Reasoning

โ€œThe ability to sense a unifying principle running through miscellany or a gift for synthesis as compared to analysis.โ€ P 14

โ€œThough Inductive Reasoning is often defined as a diagnostic sense, it can also be a gift for critiquing, evaluating, and decision makingโ€ฆthe ability to formulate a conclusion or build a theory from a restricted number of clues is another salient feature of this aptitude.โ€ P. 14

โ€œThe seeing of relationships often occurs so quickly that a person might be unable to explain how the conclusion was reached.โ€ P 14

โ€œPeople who score low tend to be careful, deliberate and methodical in reaching conclusionsโ€ฆThinking of this as style, people who score low are often characterized by their thoroughness and accuracy.โ€ P. 16

โ€œPeople who score high in Inductive Reasoning should not see their careers in terms of jobs but in terms of interesting problems to solve.โ€ P. 17

  1. Ideaphoria

โ€œCreative imaginationโ€ โ€œQuantity, or rate of flow of ideasโ€ p19

ย โ€ Consider opportunities in fields in which producing a rapid flow of ideas is integral to your workโ€ฆBrainstorming often proves extremely satisfying for those with Ideaphoria.โ€ P 20

โ€œWork that moves from project to project or otherwise requires a constant influx of new ideas should keep the person with Ideaphoria challenged and fulfilled.โ€ P 21

โ€œChanges from the routine usually stimulate a person with this divergent thinking aptitude.โ€ P 22

โ€œA low score does not indicate a lack of ideas, just a slower rate of flowโ€ฆOften, it can be more important to have a constant level of concentration rather than a multitude of ideas.โ€ P. 22

  1. Graphoria

โ€œClerical speedโ€ โ€œNumber checkingโ€ โ€œThose who score higher in Graphoria are far more likely to flourish in work settings in which attention to detail and checking forms and records predominate that are those who lack this aptitude.โ€ P 25

โ€œThose who score lowโ€ฆfeel the weight of paperwork more often. Pencil and paper tasks are often arduous and distasteful.โ€ P. 27

โ€œPlay to your strengthsโ€ฆand donโ€™t let low-graphoria issues stop you from pursuing something you want.โ€ P 27

  1. Analytical Reasoning

โ€œThis innate sense of order and system indicates that people who have this aptitude are able to fit a given string of words into a constraining pre-determined pattern with dispatch.โ€ P 29

โ€œThe common thread is work that requires the ability to select and organize relevant information for a solution of a problem.โ€ P29

โ€œThose who score high in Analytical Reasoning often demonstrate the ability to organize ideas and concepts in their minds, without the use of exhaustive, step-by- step instructions. They love the challenge of creating more efficient ways to do things, mapping out systems that work more economically, or solving logical problems.โ€ P30

โ€œAnalytical Reasoning is our name for the ability to naturally and quickly organize information, activities, or steps in a process. To capitalize on this ability, seek out ways to create systems, craft strategies, and be involved in planning.โ€ P33

โ€œIf you scored low or average, this is not to say you canโ€™t be organized or canโ€™t plan out activities, just that it might be more of a deliberate effort and that you might need more time.โ€ P 33

โ€œThose scoring high may well lack the temperament to express themselves in an orderly way outside the mind.โ€ P 33

  1. Numerical Aptitudes

ย โ€œNumber Patternsโ€, โ€œBeing able to see meaning in numbers is useful in fields that involve analyzing and/or interpreting numerical information.โ€ P 36

โ€œNumber Facilityโ€: โ€œPeople who score high on this test have a facility for doing arithmetic quickly and accurately.โ€ P36

โ€œNumber Memoryโ€- โ€œMemorizing multiple numbersโ€

  1. Auditory Aptitudes

โ€œTonal Memory, an ability to remember sequences of tones, is often thought of as the central music aptitude; after all, most people mainly associate music with melody. It is the ability that causes some to come home from a musical or a concert singing that great new song.โ€ P40

Pitch Discrimination, measures the ability to distinguish between different frequencies, or pitches, of sound. People with this aptitude are more likely to notice mistakes in music, whether they are their own slightly sour notes or those of the person behind them in the chorus.โ€ P41

Rhythm Memory is similar to tone memory, but relates to the ability to learn and remember rhythms or beats rather than tunes. Those with Rhythm memory might find themselves turning up the bass on their stereos or tapping their fingers or feet along with the drum line.โ€ P 41

  1. Silograms

Named after a researcher Kim Margolis, Silograms is her last name spelled backwardsโ€ฆIf your have this aptitude, you may find that repetitive memorization is not a burden for you when learning languages or any type of specialized words. A high score on Silograms should encourage you to explore the rich world or foreign languages and cultures.โ€ P 45

โ€œHaving a facility for learning new words easily can be a great asset whether your career involves international communication or keeping up with ever-changing technical lingo.โ€ P 48

  1. Memory for Design & Observation

โ€œAs Memory for Design measures the ability to quickly absorb and reproduce abstract line diagrams, those who score high on this test may have an advantage in remembering charts, graphs, electronic schematics, molecular diagrams and other patterns or designs. People with the aptitude often notice that they are more aware of styles and trends in visual fields from fashion to architecture.โ€ P 50

โ€œSince Observation is the ability to notice and remember small visual details, it is helpful for inspectors, detectives, appraisers, antique dealers, or anyone else who is responsible for monitoring or evaluating quality or consistency.โ€ P 51

  1. Color Discrimination

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  1. Visual Designs

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  1. Dexterities

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  1. Foresight

โ€œExaminees are presented with a simple arrangement of lines on a screen and are asked to generate possibilities about what each design reminds them of or suggests to them. P59

โ€œIf you scored high on foresight, you see possibilities, lots and lots of possibilities. For some, the sheer number of possibilities may make it difficult to choose a direction. Having long-term goals to help focus these possibilities is very important. P59

โ€œThough high foresight suggests the need for long-term goals, it does not automatically provide them.โ€ P60

โ€œTo avoid some of the frustrations that can come with not having an outlet for this aptitude, spend some time thinking about what is important to you in a more general way. Are there themes that you return to in your conversations, reading, activities, and experiences? What would those closest to you describe as your strongest interests?โ€P61

Low scoring in Foresight? โ€œYou may prefer working in the here and now rather than trying to set your sights on something years in the future. Instead of saying โ€œIt could beโ€, you might be more inclined to think, โ€œIt isโ€โ€ฆBreaking goals into small steps makes it easier to measure progress.โ€P62

โ€œHigh and low Foresight can both be advantageous; one makes long-term planning highly satisfying once a goal is envisioned, and the other helps in getting things done in the here and now. Wherever your score lies, make your plans so they suit your natural tendency to focus on the future or the moment. P64

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