50 Spirituality Studies The common reading of this metaphysical model is as an illustration of creation: the blessing of Being, emanating from His metaphysical will, flows or glows through the different instruments He (also) keeps creating (the Sefirot) so that our world and every existence may be. Thus, Being receives a different revelational “shape” in each instrument, but, on the other hand, also unifies and balances all of them into one unity (Shneur Zalman 1973; Halbertal 2016). The flat circles in the illustration above can be envisioned as multi-dimensional, different organs, through which the blessing of the blood flows, both sustaining and transforming each organ to its own different shape and function to create one organic unity (for the Sefirot’s body analogy see Steinsaltz 2006, 106–107, 175–180; Halbertal 2016, chap. 11, part C, min. 03:10). While the description above outlines the downward emanation of Being, the movement between the Sefirot flows in both directions. Therefore, since this article aims to trace spiritual development, I suggest focusing on the upward path, from Malchut through Yesod, describing how Being is gradually revealed to consciousness. However, to fully appreciate the distinctiveness of this proposed model, it is necessary to first situate it within the broader landscape of metaphysical maps of reality and spiritual development. 4.2 Alternative Maps of Spiritual Development From the perspective I suggest here, one can view the Ten Sefirot model as one of many classical spiritual, philosophical, or religious models that attempt to represent the various aspects of reality as a whole or as paths of spiritual development toward wisdom. Among them are the Ten Bulls of the Zen tradition, the Great Chain of Being of Neoplatonism and Christianity, Plato’s allegories of the Divided Line and The Cave, and the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism. A 20th-century example of a much less impactful attempt to draw metaphysical levels of reality is Karl Popper’s (1980) three-world theory. Classical models of spiritual development, such as the Ten Bulls in the Zen tradition or the Noble Eightfold Path of Theravada Buddhism, often outline a hierarchical structure aimed at liberation. As Ruksat et al. (2025) note, the Buddhist approach prescribes a progression of morality, mind, and wisdom to achieve liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering (Ruksat et al. 2025, 815–816). In contemporary contemplative psychology, Van Gordon et al. (2021) describe this “wisdom phase” as centering on the realization of “emptiness” (Sa. śūnyatā) (Van Gordon et al. 2021, 1845). This involves a “process of deconstructing the ego-self” (Van Gordon et al. 2021, 1846) to realize that “an independently and inherently existing self can never be found” (Van Gordon et al. 2021, 1847). Consequently, in this state of emptiness, dualities dissolve, and as Van Gordon notes, “there is no here or there… No good or bad” (Van Gordon et al. 2021, 1846). A parallel movement is found in the Zen Ten Bulls, where the eighth stage, explicitly titled “Both Bull and Self Forgotten” (Suzuki 1974), represents the total transcendence of the self and the object of the search, moving toward a void of non-distinction. In contrast, the proposed “bottom-up” reading of the Ten Sefirot is distinct in its cumulative nature rather than a negating one. This is expressed, for example, in that while spiritual development in the Buddhist model seeks to overcome and deconstruct the self to relieve suffering, the suggested reading of the Sefirot model does not. Rather, it acknowledges the limitations of the “I” (see below, specifically the spiritual stage between Hod and Netzach) without seeking to fundamentally dissolve its existence. In other words, instead of the Zen goal of “forgetting” the self, and the Noble Eightfold Path of deconstructing the ego-self, the suggested reading seeks to integrate “the distinct-immaterial ‘I’” as a necessary vessel, or medium, for wisdom. Just as distinct immaterial entities (like family or Socrates) revealed in earlier stages (Yesod to Hod) should not be discarded when one reaches higher stages, so too the “I” itself is not an illusion to be overcome. As consciousness ascends to Netzach, Tiferet, and so on up to Binah and Chochmah, it does not expose these entities as illusions but rather balances their role as distinct manifestations of the “Divine Will” (Heb. Keter) within the world. This approach, combining the bottom-up accumulative reading of the Ten Sefirot with realist phenomenology, offers an advantage for Educational Theology. Van Gordon et al. (2021) argue that phenomena from the perspective of Buddhist emptiness exist only in a “relative manner” and
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