Alan Jones - The Enigmatist

Reflections on "The Guph"

Posted on June 24th, 2007.

“Guph”, in terms of mystical traditions, has to my knowledge two definitions.

In studying the Qabalah, the Tree of Life, we find a model for human consciousness. There are correspondences between the spheres on the tree and specific aspects of the self.

In terms of Jewish mysticism then we find:-

The Guph which is thought of as being merely a shell or condensed matter that serves as a container for man’s spiritual energies.

Nephesh: The etheric body.

Ruach: The perceptive body.

Neshamah: The divine body.

and finally

Yechidah is the crown - the very spark of the Godhead in the human soul.

By this definition then, The Guph, is the empty vessel, the material shell which the spiritual, ethical and divine aspects of self reside.

The second definition of The Guph is the ‘well of souls’ from which life is drawn upon conception. A life once concieved is ‘given’ a soul and thus is able to become human and have the opportunity to develop a spiritual, ethical and divine understanding of the cosmos.

Tradition speaks of a time when the Guph (the Well) will become empty and so a child will be born without a soul. This is end-time - the apocalypse.

Upon reflection it could be said that we are seeing empty vessels (Guph’s) walking the planet right now!

Maybe the end of the world, armaggedon, is not about some global catastrophe; some divine rapture followed by judgement but is about the loss of humanities ability to be spiritual, to be ethical and to see the divinity within themselves.

Witness all around the intolerance and bigotry born of fundamentalism…

Witness all around the superficiality which we seem to celebrate and aspire to…

Witness all around the GUPH!

Alan

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