Tzimtzum, the concept of 'contraction and condensation' caused by the Demiurgic Light-impulse and motion of Ain Sof, is of interest for our tradition, as it can be linked to ideas related to the Coagula and restricting of the originally Lawless (Acausal) Becoming of Primal Azoth (Primal Azoth = the original uncreated element of Chaos, unbound by the later created four elements of cosmos).
The Tzimtzum was the cause of time, space and causality within the Lurianic Kabbala and, from our perspective, was the act of the 'falling emanations' from the right side of Ain Sof downward towards that which would finally be manifested within Malkuth.
According to our tradition, the 'Thoughtless (Black) Light' did not emanate within the same 'space' (or, more correctly, the Void) that the Demiurgic Light did.
The second emanation of Ain Sof was a sinistral impulse sent to counteract that which the 'Thoughtful Light' had set out to accomplish. Similar to the way in which the Demiurgic Light acted as the Coagula-Impulse and restricting force that confined in form the sparks of the Divine in a once ‘empty and formless’ space, the Black Light acted as the Solve-Impulse of Ain Sof and filled a parallel empty space with its own emanations in order to counteract the manifestations of the Light of Creation.
In this way the Sitra Ahra became an antithetical mirror image of the Tree of Life within the Outer Darkness. This is a crucial aspect of the anti-cosmic gnosis as it separates the Dayside and the Nightside in a fundamental way, while still explaining the link and interaction between the Universe A/1 and the Universe B/2=11.
Through kliffotic intrusion into the Dayside, the forces of the Nightside aid the return of the divine sparks constrained within the Sefirotic forms, back into the original unbound form they had before the Tzimtzum process imprisoned them within the cosmic Vessels/Kelims of Hyle.
The kliffotic forces are thus known to manifest themselves through various aspects of dissolution of cosmic form and structure, and can therefore be perceived as 'agents of destruction'. But the actual truth is that even though annihilation is their exoteric effect, their true goal is nothing less than the Liberation of Azoth/Pneuma/Spirit. In order to draw parallels to other relevant lines of practice, spiritual speculation and gnosis, we can liken the creational process of the relevant Kabbalistic systems of thought to the genesis of cosmos as described in the Enuma Elish.
In the Enuma Elish, the Ain itself is the Two-fold Nothingness of Tiamat and Absu (2=1-1=0) and the 'Thoughtful Light' within this context manifests itself out of the unconscious state/dreams of the Primal Chaos/the Zeroth Two Within the Void. As a result of the coming forth of the unwanted bastard gods of cosmic order, the Primal Chaos counteracted the impulse that birthed their unwanted, and one could say, 'aborted' children, by rising up against them.
This anti-cosmic impulse of Black Light of the 'Zeroth Power of Two' is described as the will of Absu to slay the new gods and later as the Wrath of Hubur (Tiamat's anti-cosmic aspect) which gives birth to the Eleven Champions of Chaos (0=2=11).
The Sitra Ahra, if understood from a similar perspective, was not the leftovers or shells of failed cosmic worlds imprisoning the divine sparks. According to Gnosis, the antithetical 'Other Side' is as old as the Sephirotic world of the Tree of Life, and its origins are just as divine. The difference is that the two sides represent different impulses of the Divine - one being the Coagula and restriction, and the other being the Solve and liberation.
In other words, the spheres of the kliffot manifested almost simultaneously with the sephirot, forming their adversarial (i.e. 'Satanic') reflection in the Outer Darkness, beyond and outside of the confines of the Tree of Life.
We also believe in a form of the 'shattering of the vessels' that is somewhat similar to the ideas presented within the Lurianic Kabbala, but our understanding regarding the cause and effect of that 'Cosmic Catastrophe' differs from theirs.
Contrary to their belief that the sparks which spilled out from the broken vessels of the sephirot fell down into the 'dark world of kliffot' and are now in need of being lifted back up into the supernal sephirot in order to be redeemed, our conviction is that the actual redemption of those sparks was achieved by their transcendence into the Sitra Ahra.
The shattering of the vessels was caused by the At-Azoth process which increased the power of the divine sparks and caused the cosmic vessels to overflow and crack, thus liberating the imprisoned Azoth from the prison of causal clay. The breaking of the vessels was orchestrated and caused by the forces of the Black Light, and are interlinked with the Great Gift of Lucifer and the bringing down of the fruits of Daath/Gnosis to the slumbering Man and Woman.
It was also this cosmic catastrophe which opened up the black holes and gates to the Sitra Ahra within the formerly fully closed circle of cosmos.
The 'Cosmic Catastrophe' is thus an ongoing process that in its final phase will lead to the return of all back into the Unmanifested and Unbound Mystery, thus fully effacing the stifling causality established by the demiurgic act of Tzimtzum.
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