I have been asked on more than one occasion as to whether the Shem HaMeforash should be pronounced and used in a mundane setting. Certainly, the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) uses this name extensively, however, it has been forbidden in its pronunciation. There are people in our society that now believe that this is THE proper name of the Creator and that by not using it routinely we negate the admonition in the Torah to honor and safeguard this Name. These sincere people are interested in preserving their concept of a sacred term, which for them identifies their perception of an authentic "God" over and above all the other so-called gods.
Why does Judaism not pronounce this
name? I could answer by saying that the exact pronunciation has been
lost and the most minor mispronunciation would be an abrogation of
the Divine Identity. However, this is not my answer. My thoughts on
this subject run much deeper and express an issue of paramount
importance. Let me give a summary of why we don't pronounce this
"name."
There are many so-called names of Divine
quality in the Hebrew Bible and each of these expresses a certain
quality of emanation. Within Torah cosmology and theology the idea of
a Divine Essence is a simple and complete Oneness. There is no
distinction of applications or attributes and there are no titles or
names given to It. It is not an It at all but simply No-Thing.
No-Thing can only be No-Thing because if it became Some-Thing then it
would cease to be No-Thing. Transcendence and Infinity cease to
exist whenever it takes on characteristics (positive or negative).
Characteristics, which are assigned by names and titles, define
Some-Thing. Some-Thing is finite and immanent by its very nature of
being. Some-Thing is also created it is not the creator. Further, the
finite cannot in any way relate to No-Thing because that is beyond the
conceptual abilities of Some-Thing.
The No-Thing conceals
No-Thingness, meaning that potentiality comes into existence. Within
a state of potential, a seed of Consciousness is planted.
Consciousness though has No-Thing to be Conscious of so it
internalizes its perception so that it may become Conscious of
Itself. All of creation is generated in a manner of
Self-actualization: Consciousness becoming Self-aware.
All of
the names, titles, descriptions, analogies of a Creator in the Hebrew
Bible are a description of this evolutionary process of
Self-awareness. It's is the unfolding of Consciousness, which is
taking place in the context of an immanent Some-Thing.
With
this knowledge, it becomes important to understand that there is not a
Creator Deity with a proper name. The assertion and application of a
proper name hinder the process of evolving Consciousness.
Consciousness must become aware of its Self in order to fulfill
Itself. The culmination of this process leads to the ultimate
Conscious state of realizing that there is no Self. At the end of the
evolutionary period, the No-Thing will behold the Some-Thing and
ultimately fulfill the words of the Rambam: It will be the "Knower,
the Knowledge and the Known."
So where are the people who
cry out to a Deity via a proper name mistaken? They are mistaken
because through the application of a proper name they "objectify"
the process of Consciousness. This objectification causes them to
look at the process and perceive it as a proper Being. They create a
"god" in their mental perception. This "god" of
their has a name and attributes, it possesses emotions and personality.
In other words, they create an "image," albeit a mental one
and this is a violation of the Torah's command to not create any
images. The objectification of the Divine process, which creates a
Deity of some sort is avodah zara (idolatry).
Now that I have
explained why it is imperative that we understand that YHVH is not a
proper name we must understand what it means. In the context of the
description of the unfolding of Consciousness, which I have expounded
upon thus far you should now understand that "YHVH" is one
of the descriptive titles/names of the finite emanation of
Some-Thing.
"YHVH" is better understood not as a
noun but as a verb. In actuality, it is an acronym that is descriptive
of the relationship of the No-Thing with the created Universe through
the Some-Thing. The YHVH acronym is as follows:
* HaYa- He
Was
* HoVeh- He Is
* YeHeH- He Will Be
This
acronym contained within YHVH is a description of the unfolding
Consciousness from No-Thing to Some-Thing and then to No-Thing (in
actualization). YH is No-Thing and VH is Some-Thing. It is our job as
the transceivers of Consciousness to unite the two. This is why the
term "YHVH" doesn't appear in the Torah narrative until
Genesis 2- mankind is fully Assiyatic in Gen. 2 and thus at that
point in the narrative, he existed in all 4 worlds and had the
potential to engage in Conscious evolution. (This is the secret
behind the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as well.)
THE NAME - the prohibition to utter His Name in vain
Hebrew
letter VAV acts both as a consonant, W, or as a vowel, 'oo.' It can
act as a part of a word or as a prefix that means 'and.' In this
sense, VAV is like a connecting tissue, like a mirror where things
reflect and meet. Kabbalistically, its form denotes Divine light
streamlined downwards into the Creation.
Grammatically,
the morphology of the Tetragrammaton, God's Name made of four
letters, י-ה-ו-ה,
reflects fusion of different forms of the Hebrew verb 'to be.' It is
a very elusive word, because grammatically it is neither one of the
forms we know. It denotes future continuous tense, meaning that it
is an ever evolving Existence that brings everything into being.
This name is so elusive, and thus reflects so perfectly the
prohibition to utter His Name in vain, that we even don't know how
it should be pronounced correctly. All the attempts in English
literature to spell it as it is written, are incorrect as they defy
the grammar and the phonetics of Hebrew language. Only
priests in the Temple knew to pronounce this Name
correctly. Therefore
in Jewish tradition we do not even attempt to read this Name, lest
we misspell it, but replace it instead with the name Ado-nai, which
means literally My Lords. It is plural because it reflects the idea
that this name does not refer to God Himself (only the
Tetragrammaton Name does), but to His manifold manifestations in the
worlds.
"On a frequent basis we attach a meaning of a
word from the Bible based on our own language and culture to a word
that is not the meaning of the Hebrew word behind the translation.
From Meditation 8.30.11 "ezekials beating heart" –
Matisyahu
