Even in the existence of this concept within the qabalistic tradition a very improtant truth is brought forth which distinquishes the qabalistic philosophy from both exoteric western religion and the majority of magickal and pagan traditions. The ultimate goal of qabbalah is neither to subjugate the individual will to that of God, nor to be a servant of God nor a sheep of Christ, and neither is it to learn some art by which to coerce the Gods, nor to broker deals with any kind of external deity. Rather, the purpose of qabalah is more similar to that of the oft maligned philosophy of Freidrich Neitzche - the creation of a superman.

 

In many ways Adam Kadmon can be likened to the figure of Jesus Christ, in that he is both man and God. But unlike Jesus, who is supposed to have been unique as the only son of God, Adam Kadmon is the son of God in all of us. Adam Kadmon is a state of perfection to which we can attain, by perfecting ourselves to such a degree that we realise our most inner nature, being that nature which is common to all things, namely: God.

 

The concept of Adam Kadmon also reveals qabalah to be an essentail Platonic, or Neoplatonic philosophy (although in truth its origins go back further into history than the life of Plato). Plato wrote about an eternal world of divine 'Ideas' or archetpyes.  These Ideas are the original perfect forms of all things, as they exist still as thoughts in the mind of God. All particular material forms are imperfect copies of these original archetypal templates. Adam Kadmon is the original Idea of humanity, and hence the perfrected state with which the qabalitic seeks to unite his earthly self and thus attain perfection. Adam Kadmon can also be equated with the 'higher self' which is refered to in some magickal traditions such as Thelema.

 

The image of Adam Kadmon can be used in prayer, visualisation and meditations in a method identical to the devotional yoga of the east, in which an aspirant seeks to unite himself with a spiritual entity through constantly turning their mind towards it in devotion. The same principle, distilled into a the form of a ritual (which nevertheless must be repeated, often many times, to attain significant results) can be found in the western magickal traditon in a ceremony called 'the assumption of the Godform'.