Hello! While researching the tree of Sephirot, I came across the Path of the Flaming Sword, a supposed optimal way of navigating the tree.
I'm curious if anyone has any experience using it in their own practices? If so I'd love to learn more!
(I'm a novice so apologies in advance)
I've been sitting with this for a while, pretty much every path inward I research describe it as losing things instead of getting them. You don't really gain enlightenment; you get stripped down to whatever was already there underneath.
The story that stuck with me is the myth of Inanna's descent. She goes through seven gates, and at each one she has to give something up.
Her Shugurra Crown - Sovereignty defended past its use.
Her Lapis Rod - Judgement Turned outward.
Her Lapis Necklace - Voice weaponized.
Her Breast Stones - Closed Heart.
Her Gold Ring - Will accumulating instead of moving.
Her Breastplate "Come, man, come" - Creative force unconscious to itself.
Her Royal Robe - The last self, filling the void with sensation.
Until she shows up in the underworld with nothing left, not even her body. This reads more like a map In my opinion than anything else.
And you see the same shape everywhere. Taoism's whole "unlearning" thing until you're back to the uncarved block. Christian kenosis, emptying yourself out. Even regular ego-death experiences; almost nobody says "I gained something," it's mostly some version of identity falling apart.
So I'm curious what you all think. I know it could be answered simply, But is surrender actually the mechanism here, or just a metaphor people happen to reach for across cultures? And if it's really a stripping-away process, what's the thing still standing once everything you could lose is gone?