AIN
AIN means "there is not".
It is not itself one of the sephirot. It lies above and beyond what can
be objectively known. It denotes negation, and is a statement that God is
not anything that can be perceived. At best, we only see small parts of God's infinite nature. This is learned from the
Torah when God tells Moses that he will only be able to see his "backside",
and from Genesis Rabbah where Rav Huna says that "whatever things you
see are but parts of the ways of the Holy One, blessed be he." Some
like to draw a distinction between Ain (there is not), Ain Sof (infinite
space), and Ain Sof Or (infinite light). We may think of this distinction
as follows. If we attain that state which is beyond the subject/object dichotomy,
then we are in an absolute state of Ain. There is no "I", there
are no objects, and hence there is nothing left to transcend. It is an absolute
state. At the instant that this oneness bifurcates into duality, we suddenly
become a subject observing a vast sea of nothingness, infinite space, Ain
Sof. As the light of consciousness fills this space, we descend to the level
of infinite light, Ain Sof Or. Next, we enter the world of distinctions
and divisions which is the realm of the sephirot and the Tree of Life. Within
this world of separation, the Ain, which is no object, is nevertheless objectified,
and it becomes the sephirah Keter. However, when we fully understand Keter,
we see that there really "Ain't nothin' to it".