משל הםAll of It Parable

mashal hemIn Gamatria ↗

An almond rod was shown; the rod was never the message.

Everything the Ari wrote of these levels is parable, as Nefesh HaChaim says; R. Chaim Vital writes that there is no body above, and that the images, even the shapes of the letters, are given only to help us understand. Ramchal compares them to Jeremiah's almond rod — a vision that carried a meaning, not a real object. Yet the parables are not arbitrary: circles mirror the round heavens, the upright figure the human form. Learn the parable first and its meaning after; in Etz Chaim, begin with the 'second edition' sections.

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