44 Spirituality Studies 1 Introduction Drawing on the Jewish metaphysical model of the Ten Sefirot, this study presents a map of ten phases in a spiritual-educational journey for a person or culture, toward wisdom. Sefirot (Heb. ספירות ) is the plural of Sefirah (Heb. ספירה). Sefirot is a Kabalistic term for the ten symbolic, metaphysical mediums through which God manifests Himself in reality (Matt 1997; Steinsaltz 2006; Steinsaltz 2025; Levi 2009). The first known use of this unusual name to refer to the foundation of creation and the world goes back to the ancient Book of Creation (Heb. ספר יצירה – “Sefer Yetzira”). The theory and description in this article are based on the assumption that although the Ten Sefirot model is usually interpreted as representing the mediums through which everything, the world (or worlds), emanates from God “top-down” (Matt 1997; Steinsaltz 2025), it can also be understood as an educational, developmental “bottom-up” roadmap for a person or culture that seeks wisdom. This study is situated in the field of educational theology and spiritual phenomenology. The methodology employed is a phenomenological hermeneutic, or phenomenology of the givenness (Marion 2002; Mackinlay 2010), analyzing the traditional Kabbalistic symbols of the Ten Sefirot not from a zoom-out perspective, but from the perspective of human consciousness climbing from the bottom up in spiritual and educational development. This educational theological roadmap can therefore serve as a universal invitation; it does not claim superiority over other spiritual maps or philosophical analyses (in the spirit of Huber 2026, 2). Therefore, it is suggested as relevant, in part or in whole, to all individuals or communities that seek to contemplate the meaning of wisdom and the phenomenological stages towards it. In other words, while the model’s architecture is theological, relying on a particular orthodox tradition, the phenomena it describes are universal human experiences accessible to any consciousness, regardless of religious affiliation. Absolute wisdom is the absolute knowledge of the true meaning of Being as a whole. Such knowledge regulates every moment in life and every aspect of it: every thought, feeling, word, or deed (Plato 1967, Meno 97b–98a). Therefore, we can say that wisdom increases in line with the quality and duration with which a person or a culture encounters the true meaning of Being as a whole (a meaning that is, at least partly, mind-independent) and increases the duration and quality with which this true meaning regulates one’s life in more and more aspects. By Being (in capital B), I refer to the Hebrew word Havaya (Heb. הוויה ), a fusion of the words essence, truth, reality, presence, existence, and active creation of being/s. In other words, Being is a neutral philosophical parallel to “God”, the source that continuously provides Being to beings or entities, whether spatiotemporal or not. This will be clarified later. In this context, spirituality is the eros of consciousness that pushes one to empower the place of truth and wisdom in one’s life and world. Spiritual moments arise when this orientation is activated; the more such moments there are, the more spiritual one’s life becomes. In the next section, I indicate some points regarding the cultural and existential context of wisdom seeking. The following section describes the methodology. Then, I provide some general background on the Ten Sefirot Model and a brief review of alternative classical models that aim to represent the various aspects of reality as a whole, how it has been created, or a path of spiritual development toward wisdom. In this context, I highlight some advantages of the reading of the Ten Sefirot that I am about to propose. In the subsequent sections, I present the main thesis, a phenomenological description of the ten spiritual-educational stages based on the Ten Sefirot. Finally, I conclude the article by emphasizing five points that characterize this study.
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