Tree of Life was derived from
three concepts, or rather one primary concept
and two derivative concepts “contained” or
“concealed” within it. The primary concept was
called consciousness, and it was said to “contain”
within it the two complementary concepts of
force and form.
This Chapter builds on these ideas by intro-
ducing the three Pillars of the Tree, and uses the
Pillars to clarify a process called the Lightning
Flash. It should not come as a surprise to find
that the three Pillars are called ... the Pillar of
Consciousness, the Pillar of Force, and the Pillar
of Form. The Pillar of Consciousness contains the
sephiroth Keter, Tipheret, Yesod
and Malkhut. The Pillar of Force contains the
sephiroth Chokhmah, Chesed and Netzach. The
Pillar of Form contains the sephiroth Binah,
Gevurah and Hod.
The classification of sephiroth into three Pil-
lars is a way of saying that each sephira in a Pil-
lar partakes of a common quality which is
“inherited” in a progressively more developed
and structured way from of the top of a Pillar to
the bottom. Tipheret, Yesod and Malkhut share
with Keter the quality of “consciousness in bal-
ance” or “synthesis of opposing qualities”, but
in each case it is expressed differently according
to the increased degree of structure imposed.
Likewise, Chokhmah, Chesed and Netzach
share the quality of force, or energy, or expan-
siveness. Binah, Gevurah and Hod share the
quality of form, definition and limitation. As
one moves down the Tree from Keter to Mal-
khut, force and form are combined together.
The symbolism of the Tree has something in
common with a production line, with molten
metal coming in one end and finished cars com-
ing out the other.
In older Kabbalistic texts the Pillars are
referred to as the Pillars of mildness, mercy and
severity, and it is not immediately obvious how
the older jargon relates to the new.