Kabbalah and Psychology Part 6

In the Image of God

God creates the world continuously through ten channels of Divine energy, called sefirot. When contemplated deeply, these ten sefirot can be seen in every phenomenon. Each sefirah is a Divine emanation of brilliant spiritual light or energy. One of the most important reflections of the ten sefirot is the human soul, which is stated explicitly by the Torah to be created in the image of God. In the soul, these ten channels manifest as ten powers, or faculties. Each power of the soul relates to a specific aspect of mental health. In our quest to study psychology from a Torah perspective, understanding the ten powers of the soul is of paramount importance. The spiritual powers of the soul are clearly described and defined in Kabbalah and Chassidut.

The Ten Powers of the Soul

The ten powers of the soul are categorized into three intellectual faculties of the mind (chochmah, binah and daat; wisdom, understanding and knowledge); three emotive powers (chesed, gevurah, tiferet; loving-kindness, might and beauty); and four behavioral attributes (netzach, hod, yesod and malchut; victory, thanksgiving, foundation and kingdom). The emotive powers together with the behavioral attributes are referred to as the seven qualities of the heart. Above the ten sefirot is Keter, the crown, which corresponds to the superconscious powers of the soul. When we count the ten sefirot, we include either
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knowledge or crown, since knowledge is but the psyches conscious reflection of the super-conscious. left axis Super-conscious Binah, Understanding Joy Daat, Knowledge Connection Gevurah, Courage Fear Tiferet, Beauty Compassion Behavioral attributes Hod, Acknowledgment Sincerity Yesod, Foundation Truth Malchut, Kingdom Lowliness Netzach, Victory Confidence Chesed, Lovingkindness Love middle axis Keter, crown Faith Pleasure Will right axis

Intellectual Faculties

Chochmah, Wisdom Self-effacement

Emotions

Fig. A

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