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InKabbalah,Adam Kadmon (אָדָם קַדְמוֹן,ʾāḏām qaḏmōn, "Primordial Man") also called AdamElyon (אָדָם עֶלִיוֹן,ʾāḏām ʿelyōn, "Most High Man"), or Adam Ila'ah (אָדָם עִילָּאָה,ʾāḏām ʿīllāʾā "Supreme Man"), sometimes abbreviated as A"K (א"ק,ʾA.Q.), is the first ofFour Worlds that came into being after thecontraction ofGod's infinite light.Adam Kadmon is not the same as the physicalAdam Ha-Rishon (אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן).
InLurianic Kabbalah, the description ofAdam Kadmon isanthropomorphic. Nonetheless,Adam Kadmon isdivine light without vessels, i.e., pure potential. In the human psyche,Adam Kadmon corresponds to theyechidah, the collective essence of the soul.
| TheFour Worlds inKabbalah |
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The first to use the expression "original man," or "heavenly man," wasPhilo, in whose view theγενικός, orοὐράνιος ἄνθρωπος, "as being born in the image ofGod, has no participation in any corruptible or earthlike essence; whereas the earthly man is made of loose material, called a lump of clay."[1] The heavenly man, as the perfect image of theLogos, is neither man nor woman, but an incorporeal intelligence purely an idea; while the earthly man, who was created by God later, is perceptible to the senses and partakes of earthly qualities.[2] Philo is evidently combining philosophy andMidrash,Plato and the rabbis.[citation needed]
Setting out from the duplicate biblical account ofAdam, who was formed in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and of the first man, whose body God formed from the earth (Genesis 2:7), he combines with it thePlatonic theory of forms; taking the primordial Adam as the idea, and the created man of flesh and blood as the "image." That Philo's philosophic views are grounded on the Midrash, and not vice versa, is evident from his seemingly senseless statement that the "heavenly man," the οὐράνιος ἄνθρωπος (who is merely an idea), is "neither man nor woman." This doctrine, however, becomes quite intelligible in view of the following ancient Midrash.
The remarkable contradiction between Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:7 could not escape the attention of thePharisees, for whom the Bible was a subject of close study. In explaining the various views concerning Eve's creation, they taught[3] that Adam was created as a man-woman (androgynos), explaining "זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה" (Genesis 1:27) as "male and female" instead of "man and woman," and that the separation of the sexes arose from the subsequent operation upon Adam's body, as related in the Scripture. This explains Philo's statement that the original man was neither man nor woman.
This doctrine concerning the Logos, as also that of man made "in the likeness,"[4] although tinged with true Philonic coloring, is also based on the theology of the Pharisees.Genesis Rabbah:
Thou hast formed me behind and before' (Psalms 139:5) is to be explained 'before the first and after the last day of Creation.' For it is said, 'And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,' meaning the spirit of the Messiah ["the spirit of Adam" in the parallel passage, Midr. Teh. to cxxxix. 5; both readings are essentially the same], of whom it is said (Isaiah 11:2), 'And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.'[5]
This contains the kernel of Philo's philosophical doctrine of the creation of the original man. He calls him the idea of the earthly Adam, while with the rabbis the spirit (רוח) of Adam not only existed before the creation of the earthly Adam, but was preexistent to the whole of creation. From the preexisting Adam, or Messiah, to the Logos is merely a step.
In Kabbalah, before creation began, all that existed was God's Infinite Light. The first stage of creation began when God contracted His Infinite Light to create the vacuum. Then a ray of divine light penetrated the vacuum and thepersona of Adam Kadmon was projected into the vacuum. The first stage of Adam Kadmon was in the form of ten concentric circles (igulim), which emanated from the ray. The ray of light was then enclothed by the anthropomorphic form of Adam Kadmon (yosher), which is a realm of infinite divine light without vessels, constrained by its potential to create future Existence. Adam Kadmon is sometimes referred to asAdam Ila'a (Aramaic: "upper man") orAdam Elyon (Hebrew: "upper man").
The soul ofAdam HaRishon ("the first man") was the supreme essence of mankind. It contained within it all subsequent souls. In themidrash, he is sometimes referred to asAdam HaKadmoni ("the ancient man"),[6]Adam Tata'a (Aramaic: "lower man") orAdam Tachton (Hebrew: "lower man").
Theanthropomorphic name of Adam Kadmon denotes that it contains both the ultimate divine purpose for creation, i.e., mankind, as well as an embodiment of theSefirot (divine attributes). Adam Kadmon is paradoxically both "Adam" and divine ("Kadmon-Primary").
Adam Kadmon preceded the manifestation of theFour Worlds,Atzilut ("emanation"),Beriah ("creation"),Yetzirah ("formation") andAsiyah ("action"). Whereas each of the Four Worlds is represented by one letter of thedivine four-lettered name of God, Adam Kadmon is represented by the transcendental cusp of the first letterYud.
In the system of thesefirot, Adam Kadmon corresponds toKeter ("crown"), the divine will that motivated creation.
The two versions of Kabbalistic theosophy, the "medieval/classic/Zoharic" (systemised byMoshe Cordovero) and the more comprehensiveLurianic, describe theprocess of descending worlds differently. For Cordovero, the sefirot, Adam Kadmon and the Four Worlds evolve sequentially from theEin Sof (divine infinity). For Luria, creation is a dynamic process of divine exile-rectification enclothement, where Adam Kadmon is preceded by theTzimtzum (Divine "contraction") and followed byShevira (the "shattering" of the sefirot).
Closely related to the Philonic doctrine of the heavenly Adam is the Adam Ḳadmon (called also Adam 'Ilaya, the "high man," the "heavenly man") of theZohar, whose conception of the original man can be deduced from the following passages: "The form of man is the image of everything that is above [in heaven] and below [upon earth]; therefore did the Holy Ancient [God] select it for His own form."[7]
As with Philo the Logos is the original image of man, or the original man, so in the Zohar the heavenly man is the embodiment of all divine manifestations: the tenSefirot, the original image of man. The heavenly Adam, stepping forth out of the highest original darkness, created the earthly Adam.[8] In other words, the activity of the original essence manifested itself in the creation of man, who at the same time is the image of the heavenly man and of the universe,[9] just as with Plato and Philo the idea of man, asmicrocosm, embraces the idea of the universe ormacrocosm.
The conception of Adam Ḳadmon becomes an important factor in the later Kabbalah ofIsaac Luria. Adam Ḳadmon is with him no longer the concentrated manifestation of the Sefirot, but a mediator between the En-Sof ("infinite") and theSefirot. The En-Sof, according to Luria, is so utterly incomprehensible that the older Kabbalistic doctrine of the manifestation of the En-Sof in the Sefirot must be abandoned. Hence he teaches that only the Adam Ḳadmon, who arose in the way of self-limitation by the En-Sof, can be said to manifest himself in the Sefirot. This theory of Luria is treated byḤayyim Vital in "'Eẓ Ḥayyim; Derush 'Agulim we-Yosher" (Treatise on Circles and the Straight Line).[citation needed]
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The Primeval Man (Protanthropos, Adam) occupies a prominent place in severalGnostic systems. In the CopticNag Hammadi texts, the archetypical Adam is known as Pigeradamas or Geradamas.[10] According toIrenaeus[11] theAeon Autogenes emits the true and perfect Anthrôpos, also called Adamas; he has a helpmate, "Perfect Knowledge", and receives an irresistible force, so that all things rest in him. Others say[12] there is a blessed and incorruptible and endless light in the power ofBythos; this is the Father of all things who is invoked as the First Man, who, with his Ennoia, emits "the Son of Man", or Euteranthrôpos.[13]
According toValentinus, Adam was created in the name of Anthrôpos and overawes the demons by the fear of the pre-existent man (tou proontos anthropou). In the Valentinian syzygies and in theMarcosian system, we meet in the fourth (originally the third) place Anthrôpos and Ecclesia.[13]
In thePistis Sophia, the Aeon Jeu is called the First Man, he is the overseer of the Light, messenger of the First Precept, and constitutes the forces of the Heimarmene. In theBooks of Jeu this "great Man" is the King of the Light-treasure, he is enthroned above all things and is the goal of all souls.[13]
According to theNaassenes, the Protanthropos is the first element; the fundamental being before its differentiation into individuals. "The Son of Man" is the same being after it has been individualized into existing things and thus sunk into matter.[13]
The Gnostic Anthrôpos, therefore, orAdamas, as it is sometimes called, is a cosmogonic element, pure mind as distinct from matter, mind conceived hypostatically as emanating from God and not yet darkened by contact with matter. This mind is considered as the reason of humanity, or humanity itself, as a personified idea, a category without corporeality, the human reason conceived as theWorld-Soul. The same idea, somewhat modified, occurs inHermetic literature, especially thePoimandres.[13]
A portion of these Gnostic teachings, when combined withZoroastrianism, furnishedMani with his particular doctrine of the original man. He even retains the Jewish designations "Adam Kadmon" (=אדם קדמון) and "Nakhash Kadmon" (=נחש קדמון), as may be seen inAl-Fihrist.[citation needed] But, according to Mani, the original man is fundamentally distinct from the first father of the human race. He is a creation of the King of Light, and is therefore endowed with five elements of the kingdom of light; whereas Adam really owes his existence to the kingdom of darkness, and only escapes belonging altogether to the number of demons through the fact that he bears the likeness of the original man in the elements of light contained within him. The Gnostic doctrine of the identity of Adam, as the original man, with the Messiah appears in Mani in his teaching of the "Redeeming Christ," who has his abode in the sun and moon, but is[14] identical with the original man. It also appears in this theory that Adam was the first of the sevenfold series of true prophets, comprisingAdam,Seth,Noah,Abraham,Zoroaster,Buddha, andJesus. The stepping-stone from the Gnostic original man toManichaeism was probably the olderMandaean conception, which may have exercised great influence. Of this conception, however, there remains in the later Mandaean writings little more than the expression "Gabra Ḳadmaya" (Adam Ḳadmon).[15]
Adam Kasia, also referred to using the portmanteauAdakas in theGinza Rabba,[16] means "the hidden Adam" inMandaic.[17] The hidden Adam is also calledAdam Qadmaiia ("First Adam")[17] orGabra Qadmaiia ("First Man"). InMandaeism, it means thesoul of the first man and the soul of every human.[17][18][19][20]Adam Kasia shows many similarities with the Jewish idea of Adam Kadmon.[21]
Outside of anAbrahamic context, theCosmic Man is also an archetypical figure that appears in creation myths of a wide variety of cultures. Generally he is described as bestowing life upon all things, and is also frequently the physical basis of the world, such that after death parts of his body became physical parts of the universe. He also represents the oneness of human existence, or the universe.
For instance, in thePurusha sukta of theRigveda,Purusha (Sanskritpuruṣa,पुरुष "man," or "Cosmic Man") is sacrificed by thedevas from the foundation of the world—his mind is the Moon, his eyes are the Sun, and his breath is the wind. He is described as having a thousand heads and a thousand feet.[22]
One tradition associates Adam Kadmon or the biblical Adam and the figure ofCadmus in Greek mythology, both associated withdragons/serpents.[23][24]
The Marvel Comics characterEternity has called himself Adam Qadmon.[25]
InPersona 5 Royal, the ultimate Persona of the antagonist Takuto Maruki is named Adam Kadmon.[26]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Arendzen, John Peter (1909). "Gnosticism". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.It is likely, on the other hand, that the name 'Cadmus' reminded Blake of Adam Kadmon, the primitive Man of the Cabbala, and so set him thinking about the curse on Adam and his sons — the curse, that is, that lies upon all men. [...] The resemblance between 'Cadmus' and Adam Kadmon, it may be added, would focus Blake's attention all the more closely on this story of two divine figures who were transformed into harmless serpents [...]
Twice, [Henry Miller] acknowledges his lineage to "Adam Cadmus," a fusion of Adam and the Greek god Cadmus, who was the grandfather of Dionysus and father to Semele.
Takuto Maruki: 'With my power- No... with mine and Adam Kadmon's together, our reality is nigh!'
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Adam Kadmon".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
