*Commentary on the Kavanah for the Hazkarah* **Paragraph 1** "Seclude yourself" renders the term *hitboded* in Hebrew. This is a technical medieval term for the preparation required for entering into prophetic states. As we will see, for Abulafia, prophecy (נבואה) is one of the most important names for the state of consciousness brought on by the *hazkarah*. The term can mean both *secluding oneself from others* and also *secluding the most transcendent part of the self from other lower parts*. Here I think both meanings are intended. **P. 2** Above, we discussed this section: Abulafia calls our day-to-day state of mind, in which we identify with our stories and social roles, and in which we play movies inside our heads about our successes and failures, "thoughts of this world". When he says that your soul leaves your body, he is using the body as a symbol of "this world" and the day-to-day state of mind. When he says that we must "die in this world", he means completely letting go - for awhile - of our sense of individual self. Since in the state of awareness or presence, we let go of our thoughts and stop listening to the talk show about ourselves, its as if our persona and our social role dies. We leave it behind. Now that we are dead in this world, we become alive in "the world to come". This phrase symbolizes for Abulafia and other medieval Jewish thinkers the dimension of the eternal. It is the *space* and *flow* of awareness unburdened by the need to play a part in the ego's drama. In this space, since we leave our individual identity behind, we become "all life", the undifferentiated source of life, that surrounds and is the source of every individual life. *How do these ideas resonate with you? Do you recognize any of the states of mind and being described in the text as similar to states that you have experienced?* **P. 3** Here Abulafia talks about the intellect (שכל *sekhel*). This is also a technical medieval term. Its meaning partially overlaps the modern meaning of intellect, but the medieval meaning is much more expansive. For Abulafia, Maimonides and other medieval thinkers, intellect is the element in the universe that comprises knowledge and awareness. It is a kind of universal consciousness that exists forever in a state of transcendence and bliss. Each human mind is like a tiny piece or spark of the universal intellect. When we leave behind thoughts of this world, and with them our individual identities, then our awareness returns to the pool of all awareness, and we feel how we are part of the universal intellect. This movement from differentiation to unity with everything is parallel to the movement from being an individual living thing to being part of universal life, as described in paragraph 2 above. *Does this idea of intellect feel like something you share in? Have you ever felt like your mind was a cell or spark in a larger consciousness?* **P. 4** After all that mystical-philosophical talk above, the text suddenly swerves into this visual mythical image. Note: I've changed the gender. In the original everything is in the masculine. A queen of queens or king of kings is an imposing majestic figure, maybe like a cosmic Mount Rushmore cut out of the bottom half of the sky. Above, our individual lives became one with all life, and then our individual minds became part of universal mind. Now, we behold a personal god[dess] figure who evokes in us an experience of "awe" and "ascension". Is She what we look like when we are universal life and mind? Or is She who we encounter when we are in that state? I'm not sure. In a moment, it won't matter (see below :) **P. 5** In the final paragraph, Abulafia seeks to activate something in us, a layer of our awareness, in which we intuit that our individual awareness is part of the larger sea of universal divine awareness, which in P. 4 took the form of the queen of queens. He describes us facing hir, and then becoming one. This is accomplished through the power of *hazkarat hashem* (the vocalization of the name), so Abulafia attributes our union with divine awareness to the power of the name. *I find this paragraph trippy. Should we imagine two faces merging into one? What would it feel like to be that face? When I put myself inside these words, it feels sometimes like my brain is dissolving. I think Abulafia structured this text - using concepts, images and words - to prepare us for this final paragraph, in which he dunks us under the surface of the sea of divine awareness. Do you resonate with this description? How would you describe your experience of it? There is a lot of practical instruction in this text. Here's an overview of some of its key points: ![[In the Hour - Stages]]