Sphere of the of the supreme crown (Kabbalah)

This sphere of awareness is associated with the divine self and thus with the development of a higher sense of self. It corresponds to the developmental phase of final synthesis of the experience of life. The state is described by the names: [supreme crown]

(kether); [unending]

and [mystery of mysteries]

. Among its many other names are: ancient holy-one; cause of causes; unity, all of which indicate the expression of a state of awareness that contemplates, by attribution (investiture) or negation (divestiture), the qualities of the god-head. The two pre-eminent qualities are: nothingness which is a transcendent unity, beyond mind or existence; and being-ness, or "I-am" consciousness. As the infinitude (En-Sof), this contains its self-conscious, intelligible quality, the sephiroth or archetypes of creation. In this sense Kether or En-Sof is the cause of causes. In its other aspect it is an abyss, or void. Yet this supreme state is also called, "who ?" (mi) and is considered the end at which the spiritual quest rests. From Kether come all the subsequent levels on the Tree of Life, male to female, across and down the tree, itself being beyond sexual polarity, both neutrally sublime and yet transcendentally potent. It is symbolized by the positive and negative archetypes of deity and by the planet Neptune.

This sphere is the first of ten described in the Kabbalistic system of sephiroth, and is their culmination.