The cabala is an ancient Jewish philosophy based upon a mystical interpretation of the Scriptures. (Note, cabala may be spelled in many variants including: cabbala, cabalah, kabala, kabbala, kabbalah and qabalah.)

One author calls cabala, “ . . . a guide book for the soul in its return path upward.” Cabala may be appreciated by considering the system as a way of personal development and self-realization based upon a map (as contrasted to considering cabala an unchanging body of learning of ancient mystical origin). The map describing cabala is called the Tree of Life. A student of cabala may use the Tree of Life map to help integrate inner and outer experiences and awareness thereby creating an active bridge between the two, hence, enabling the pupil to expand their consciousness.

Like the Chinese Book of Changes, cabala assigns meanings to numbers thereby using numbers to convey philosophic ideas. In a manner analogous to the five “elements” or “states of change” in the Chinese Book of Changes , cabala uses the Western four elements of earth, air, fire and water when interpreting aspects of one's inner and outer worlds.

I employ images of the Tree of Life wherein the ten “numbers” or “spheres” (Sephiroth in Hebrew) are superimposed upon an androgynous human sitting passively, but receptively. Each number or sphere (Sephira) corresponds to a portion of a whole person represented by the Tree of Life image. Interestingly, the ten cabalistic “spheres” of the Tree of Life have correspondences to the seven chakras.

Caroline Myss and others have noted an interrelationship between not only the ten cabalistic “spheres” and the seven chakras but also with the seven sacraments of the early Christian church (baptism, communion, confirmation, marriage, confession, ordination, and extreme unction).

Using these mythic images depicting differing wisdom systems emphasizes the overarching unity of thought behind these systems.

In the States of Change series of paintings like the one above (BASID #079) , I created works that use a cabalistic image depicting the 32 Paths of Wisdom wherein the ten Sephiroth represent different states of consciousness (through which the light of Heaven flows out onto humans) and the twenty-two paths between Sephiroth represent internal, subjective experiences the student undergoes when an individual mind travels to the next path. (In the Shen Qi series, I portrayed a map of the Tree of Life wherein the ten Sephiroth are grouped into a Cabalistic Scheme of the Four Worlds, each world possessing an attribute of either fire, water, earth or air.)

I hope meditating on these paintings helps viewers appreciate that both similarities and differences exist between belief systems, yet every philosophic and religious system teaches the same learning: all life is sacred.