This has been attempted before, in the essays “Super-Ecumenical Synthesis” and “Kabbalistic Evolution”, and especially in the meditation poem “Vessel-breaking as Symmetry-breaking”. But now I have read about Gnosticism and I can weave it into the comparisons, as well as make some other changes.

First, a parallel between the Parzufs of the Kabbala and the string theory of fundamental particles of physics. According to the former, there are 11 Parzufs (or 10 by some counts), and, according to the latter, there are 11 dimensions (or 10 by some counts) in the string-created universe. We know. only the lowest 4 dimensions (3 of space and 1 of time). These might correspond to Nezah, Yesod, Malkuth, and Shekinah; in other words the long-term sustainability of life, the root of life, the kingdoms of life on earth, and our own humanity. We have no direct access to the higher divinities, who live in higher dimensions – as is said about the angels.

Nezah is equivalent to Sophia in Gnostic theology. She is said to have given birth to the Demiurge (equivalent here to Yesod the Root) without the intervention of her husband Hod, who represents Majesty. So presumably the element of ~I majesty is missing from the creation effected by the Demi-urge, but life does have the long-term sustainability of Nezah. Life does have some unsavory (non-majestic) aspects, e.g. in its physical secretions, excretions, and eliminations, but it has long-term continuity (so far, at least) through reproduction, in spite of death. (While life may lack Majesty, it does have Beauty (Tiferet) from the higher realm of Parzufs, or Aeons in Gnostic terms. Gnostics would call this the Soul.) It seems to me that, in Hindu philosophy, Shiva and Vishnu represent the Nezah-Yesod (Sophia-Demiurge) pair.

“The Dance of Shiva” pictorial allegory shows the balance of creation and destruction that is the essence of life’s sustainability, and in a story Shiva is shown to be superior to Vishnu, who created the visible world, as the Demiurge did. Brahma would presumably be the agent (or part) of Brahman, as EI Kether is of En Sof.

There are 7 Chakras along the axis of the spine, not 10 or 11 (see diagram on page 260 of “How Things Come Together”) (HTCT); presumably the highest 3 have not yet been attained or even visualized. But the lowest Chakra is the Root (Muladhara), sometimes identified with Kundalini (the life force), and Yesod. The Demiurge is also the Root. And there are only 8 body levels in esoteric doctrines. (See diagram on page 202 of HTCT). The extra dimensions, so tightly curled up, apparently come into view only one by one. Or, critics might say, these doctrines really do not fit together very well. Perhaps I am trying to force them into a bed of Procrustes.

Correspondences between Kabbala and the Chacras are represented fairly well on page 126 of HTCT. But the other comparisons on that page are less convincing.

In Greek/Roman mythology, the Gods under Zeus defeated and replaced the Titans under Saturn, as depicted by my story about the war of the Planets. This is a good parallel of the Demiurge taking the place of the True High God of the Gnostics. The Zeus/Jupiter gods behave in a rather degraded human-like manner, e.g. pursuing nymphs, feeling jealousy, and fomenting the Trojan war. This is also true of the Germanic Gods, as depicted in the Niebelungen Ring myths. At the end of Wagner’s opera evenings, we are almost glad when these gods go down into extinction (Gotterdammerung) .

In Egyptian religion, Isis gives virgin birth to Osiris, like Sophia does to the Demiurge; marries him, and resurrects him after he is killed. The latter events do not correspond to anything in Gnostic myths. In Babylonian religion, the Mother Goddess Tiamat was killed by her son Marduk, who then created the world out of her blood. Marduk may well be identified with the Demiurge and Tiamat with Sophia.

In the Greek story of Demeter (Dei Mater) and Persephone, the offspring of Sophia-like Demeter, this time a daughter, Persephone spends half her time in the underworld with Hades and the other half with her mother in the world. Persephone is truly “demi” (half) good and demi-bad, equally serving the forces of good and evil, of life and death. She is a good image of the Demiurge, whom I don’t consider wholly evil.

Nezah/Sophia is the rebellious grand-daughter (in a way) of Binah, the divine active intelligence; Binah is already showing more activism than her husband and forebears. If rebellion means change, and life can only exist because it is balanced at the peak by the constant changes of metabolism (“Stoffwechsel”), then rebellion is the true origin of life.