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The ABBA Tradition, a profound book about uncovering the meaning of life, harkens back to the teachings of the ancients, particularly from the Jewish mystic tradition of Kabballah.
Within the pages of The ABBA Tradition are profound insights and enlightening ruminations on life’s awe-inspiring complexities and paradoxical simplicities.
The name of the ABBA Tradition comes from the Greek word ἀββα, which means father and which alludes to the Holy One of Israel, the Father of Christ and all of Existence, the omnipotent entity known as God. Michael Hattwick’s writings claim that the world is a set of interlaced, overlapping layers of being, the Four Realities of the Physical, Psychological, Transpersonal, and Transcendent. People forget these Four Realities, and by opening up to the truth, individuals can begin to correct themselves and discover who they are, who they are meant to be, and how to live according to the Divine Plan.
The ABBA Tradition is Michael Hattwick’s book on uncovering the meaning of life, based on ancient teachings and oft-misunderstood discoveries; specifically, they are rooted in the Jewish mystical traditions and esotericism of the Kabballah.
The Kabballah, or The Tradition
The Kabballah (also spelled Kabbalah, Kabalah, Cabala, or Qabala) is a set of mystic teachings about the essence of God. Most of its knowledge is based upon revelatory and secret readings of the Hebrew Scriptures. A practitioner is a Kabbalist.
The most basic idea of the Kabballah is that the world is divided into the material and spiritual worlds. In the spiritual world, there is nothing but light, and this infinite light is God himself, Who is said to have no qualities, for to give Him even one would be to limit Him.
God, according to the Kabbalists, contains and transcends anything and everything.
The Kabballah, in common parlance, is mostly misconceived as the secret art of becoming a magician, or a superhuman, with clairvoyant abilities and miraculous, otherwordly qualities. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. The Kabballah teaches practitioners not to attain power but to perfect the Self–that is the ultimate purpose of studying Kabballah.
When an individual has perfected the Self, they become enlightened, awake to the realities of the world, transcending and making communion with the Ein Sof, another name for God, which means the Endless One. To study the Kabballah sincerely and intimately is to be attuned to the essence and roots of one’s soul; essentially, the Kabbalist ascends to become closer to God.
This ascension is embodied in the structure of the Sefirot, or the Tree of Life, whose levels represent the ten virtues upon which God manifests in the material world.
The Sefirot, or The Tree of Life
Ein Sof, or God, according to the Kabballah, cannot be understood truly, and as such, He could only be known through the ten virtues through which He manifested Himself. The Sefirot are not God Himself, but the limitations the human mind ascribes to His infinite qualities. The Sefirot are not to be understood as different attributes, for each only represent a piece of totality. They are interrelated, interdependent, and interconnected parts that illustrate a far grander whole. It is through understanding the whole of the Sefirot and how they play into each other that an individual can understand, albeit limitedly, Creation itself and come closer to the Ein Sof.
These are the Ten Sefirot and what they represent:
- Keter, or the Crown, represents consciousness and the connection between humanity and the Divine. It corresponds to the space directly above the head.
- Hokmah, or Wisdom, represents creativity, intuition, and masculine energy; it corresponds to the brain’s right half.
- Binah, or Understanding, represents stability, thought, and feminine energy; it corresponds to the brain’s left half.
- Hesed, or Compassion, represents benevolence, order, and laws; it corresponds to the right arm.
- Gevurah, or Judgment, represents strength, wrath, and justice; it corresponds to the left arm.
- Tiferet, or Beauty, represents individuality, balance, and symmetry; it corresponds to the torso.
- Netzah, or Victory, represents emotion and grace; it corresponds to the right leg.
- Hod, or Glory, represents determination and intellect; it corresponds to the left leg.
- Yesod, or the Foundation, represents energy, imagination, and communication; it corresponds to the genitalia.
- Malkhut, or Sovereignty, represents the physical world and self-expression; it corresponds to the feet.
