666 And Mystical Knowledge

A few people have mentioned that yesterday was 666 (June 6, 2006) and have asked if these numbers have any significance in Judaism. Quite frankly, I don't know. Nevertheless, I can postulate what it could mean from a kabbalistic perspective, in such a way that we can understand how "666" came to mean "the mark of the beast" to Christians.

We know that vav (6) and its multiples refer to tiferet-zer anpin. Shabbat consciousness is represented by 7 (tiferet + malchut or zer anpin + nukvah). The "error" of Adam and Chavah was partaking of knowledge prior to shabbat (attaining shabbat consciousness).

So, from these few pieces of information we can see that 666 basically represents a perpetuation of the error which occurred in Gan Eden through the 3 lower worlds of beriyah, yetzirah and assiyah -> which is partaking of mystical knowledge prior to its time, thereby effectively dissociating zer anpin from nukvah.

Simple.

Consequently, we can understand that "666" would refer to a mystic who partakes of mystical knowledge prior to its time. Necessarily, such a person is a "beast" who has not brought his/her animal soul and g-dly soul into harmony, through attaining the level of "shabbat consciousness" prior to partaking of this knowledge.

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