Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation) - Westcott

tion, and where in consequence certain general and superficial relations perceived in the natural world passed for the science of Nature." . . . "Its form is simple and grave; there is nothing like a demonstration nor an argument; but it consists rather of a series of aphorisms, regularly grouped, and which have all the conciseness of the most ancient oracles."

In his analysis of the “Sepher Yetzirah” Hebrew: "Book of Formation," one of the earliest extant books on Jewish esotericism, he adds:—

“The Book of Formation, even if it be not very voluminous, and if it does not altogether raise us to very elevated regions of thought, yet offers us at least a composition which is very homogeneous and of a rare originality. The clouds which the imagination of commentators have gathered around it will be dissipated if we look in it, not for mysteries of ineffable wisdom, but for an attempt at a reasonable doctrine made when reason first arose—an effort to grasp the plan of the universe and to secure the link which binds all the elements around us to one common principle.”

“The last word of this system is the substitution of the absolute divine Unity for every idea of Dualism The belief that the world is governed by two opposing principles, such as good and evil or spirit and matter—for that pagan philosophy which saw in matter an eternal substance whose laws were not in accord with Divine Will; and for the Biblical doctrine, which by its idea of Creation, postulates two things, the Universe and God, as two substances absolutely distinct one from the other.”

“In fact, in the ‘Sepher Yetzirah,’ God—considered as the Infinite and consequently the indefinable Being, extended throughout all things by his power and existence—is, while above, yet not outside of numbers, sounds, and letters: the principles and general laws which we recognize.”

“Every element has its source from a higher form, and all things have their common origin from the Word (Logos) Greek: "Logos," meaning word, reason, or divine utterance, the Holy Spirit. . . So God is at once, in the highest sense, both the matter and the form of the universe. Yet He is not only that form; for nothing can