Chochmah - Binah - Daat : Creation and Creativity

[muman613]

I was just thinking of the creative process. I know this process because my line of work involves a very high level of creativity. Software engineering combines the imprecision of art with the clockwork of science. It has occurred to me that the process of software development very closely resembles the very act of Creation of this world (Briat HaOlam). While Hashem very absolutely created SOMETHING from NOTHING (Ex nilo) a software engineer creates computer code from his or her mind. A software engineer generates a plan before he sits down and starts to type. Jewish religion believes that Hashem created the entire creation after he had created the Torah, the Torah is the blueprint of creation. The software engineer must create a specification in order to lay out the requirements for the software.

According to Kabbalah there is a concept which the acronym of ChaBaD represents. These three types of understanding/knowledge are called Chochma, Binah, and Daat. It is important to understand these concepts because they are the spiritual root of all of creation.

Chochma - This word can be understood by looking at its phonetically similar words 'Koach' 'Ma' or 'The potential of what is'. The mystical sources reveal that Chochma is the spark of creation, the beginning of the idea which will ultimately result in action in the world.

http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380785/jewish/Chochma.htm

As chochma emanates from keter, it "appears" in an obscure and undefined state. It is only potential being. It is virtually non-being. Thus the verse states, "and chochma emerges from nothingness" (Job 28:12). In other words, it is in a state of constant flux between being and non-being - between revelation, the first point of immanent being, and non-revelation as it returns to its state of potential and merges in its source, keter. Chochma flashes in and out of existence.

Bina - This word is similar to livnot meaning 'to build'. This is the stage of creation where the steps are defined to reach the goal of creation. Binah forms the Chochma into actual actions required to complete the plan. The physical world is represented in the three dimensions of 'depth', 'breadth',  and 'length'

Chabad explains Bina with this parable:

http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380790/jewish/Bina.htm

A further analogy: Imagine that you are walking in an unfamiliar place on a very dark night. Suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminates the whole area, and for an instant you can see everything with absolute clarity. But, a moment later, the night is just as dark. Now you have to reconstruct what you saw in that momentary flash of lightning in order to find your way home. The lightning flash is akin to the activity of chochma, which flashes in and out of existence. Reconstructing what it was that was revealed when the darkness was briefly illuminated is akin to the functioning of bina.

Again, bina is the expansion and extension of the initial point-like revelation of G-d into a comprehensive system.

Daat - This is the actual expression of the concept in the physical world. Daat is felt and perceived and experienced. Daat is also the word for 'Knowledge' or 'consciousness'.

Aish.com describes Daat as:

http://www.aish.com/sp/k/Kabbala_9_Daat_-_The_Bridge_Between_Idea_and_Reality.html

THE BRIDGE

Without daat, no matter how profound the idea, no matter how well developed it is logically, it will not turn to action. Daat bridges the awesome gap between concepts and reality.

Let us turn to the first usage of daat in the Torah to demonstrate this. The Torah tells us that Adam "knew" as a way of referring to sexual intimacy. But this is not meant as a mere euphemism. Rather, it accurately portrays that relationship. For marriage is a process where two people become acquainted with each other. As they grow closer together intellectually and emotionally they are becoming bonded, but their relationship is still not "concrete." When the bonding becomes a physical act, it is rightfully called daat.

Now we can understand better why the term daat is used to describe a person whose knowledge of G-d is at the highest, bonding him firmly to the Divine. The term connotes a relationship with the Almighty that is as real as a piece of matter that can be actually held in hand.

This is why daat is used to describe a prophet's connection to the Divine. A prophet is referred to "haskel vayodea Oti" –- as one who "perceives and knows Me."

These three concepts called Chochma, Binah, and Daat comprise parts of the system of creation. Understanding them and how they reflect into human creation can help us learn about the ways of Hashems world.

References :

http://www.chabad.org/global/popup/default_cdo/aid/1136/jewish/Something-from-Nothing.htm

http://www.jewishmag.com/156mag/mysticism_primer6/mysticism_primer6.htm

http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_cdo/kid/3025/jewish/Daat-Knowledge-Awareness-Connection.htm

http://www.aish.com/sp/k/Kabbala_9_Daat_-_The_Bridge_Between_Idea_and_Reality.html

http://www.kabbalaonline.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380431/jewish/Right-and-Left-Brain-Activity.htm

http://www.beingjewish.com/basics/torahstudy.html

What is the secret of our existence? The Torah. Though, actually, it's no secret. It is our very reason for existence. More to the point, it is the reason that the world exists.

The Midrash tells us that Hashem created the Torah two thousand years before He created the universe (Midrash Beraishis Rabbah, 8). When the time came to create the universe, Hashem used the Torah as a blueprint. Just as a builder places walls where the blueprint says to put them, and doors where the blueprint says to put them, Hashem created the Torah and used that as a blueprint. (Midrash Beraishis Rabbah 1:1)

What does this mean? It means that the reason we are born with hands is because Hashem wrote in the Torah the Commandment of giving charity. We need hands to give charity, so we are born with hands.

We have parents because the Torah says "Honor your father and your mother."

The Torah commands us to pray; the Torah commands us not to gossip; the Torah commands us to eat Matzah on Passover night; the Torah commands us to teach our sons Torah: therefore, we are born with mouths.

Without this knowledge, we would have thought precisely the opposite. We would have assumed that since we have eyes, Hashem commanded us not to look at idols, and not to look at debauchery, etc. But the truth is the reverse. Hashem created the Commandments first, and then gave us the ability to obey or transgress those Commandments.

The Torah was not only the blueprint for Creation, it is also what keeps the world in existence today! The Rabbis teach us that the observance of the Covenant of Circumcision and the Covenant of the Torah keep the world in existence (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbos 137b; Pesachim 68b; Nedarim 31a).