Ain, Ain Soph, Ain Soph Aur

 

Ain is the highest and first of the viels. It is literally translated as 'nothing', or simply 'no'; it is absolute emptiness, the opposite of existence, complete absence.

 

Ain Soph is the middle of the three viels, and it proceeds from Ain by necessity.  It is literally translated as 'no limit'.  If there is nothing then there are no boundaries or limitations; this is the limitless foundation - the eternal in its purest sense.

 

Ain Soph Aur is the lower viel, situated closest to the Tree of Life, and it proceeds from Ain Soph as a necessity. It means 'limitless or eternal light'. Without any limitations, all things happen by virtue of the fact that there is no reason why they shouldn't.

Light plays a very important role in the philosophy and symbolism of Qabalah, and the Ain Spoh Aur is that light. Light means many things to a Qabalist - the light of wisdom, of life, of grace and so on, but in attatching all these associations  it is important to remember that these refer to our human experience of light, and the way an inner communion with the eternal light can heal and transform you, but not the simple nature of light in and of itself. So what is the nature of this mysterious light? In metaphysics such questions can be over-analysed; the light of Qabalah is the same as the light described in science and experienced in our every day life, it is just  that it is experienced in a more direct (gnostic) manner, or to be more precise, in the manner that it experiences itself.

As Einsteins theory of relativity explains, if you were to travel at the speed of light then strange things would happen tp space and time, and you would experience yourself to be in all places and times at once. You would, in other words, be eternal. This is the experience of light from its own perspective. When the world was created and the first light came into being this the entirety of space and time were created and held in a  single moment (moment is an innapropriate word, but there is no other)