The HOPE
Paradise (The Garden of Eden)
This site is about: Paradise, The Garden of Eden, God, prophecy, redemption, revelation, the Bible, Torah, Kabbalah, Judaism, Israel, inter-faith dialog, The Middle East, world peace, the Holy Land, Zionism
- Longing to return to the Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden, or Paradise, a place of incredible beauty and harmony, is a central and common myth of humankind. This myth is the inspiration for a "demo paradise" that will be a recreational, educational and therapeutical facility located in Israel. (This is based on the work of Yitzhak Hayut-Man, Cyber-architect.)
- The generic pattern contains the four main components described briefly below, and ancillary residential accommodation for people who stay for 2-14 days (not treated here).
- 1. The Garden
- The Garden within or with aspect to a place of natural beauty and containing valid representations of the fabulous Trees of Eden.
- The word "paradise" derives from the Persian word for a lush garden, a word which also begot the Hebrew word Pardes which in modern Hebrew means "orchard" and in Jewish mysticism means the inner place that the ecstatic seers strive to enter, probably (Ezrahi, 1997) the inner sanctum of the Heavenly Temple. The Garden of Eden with its Trees and angels is thus associated with the various visions of the earthly and heavenly paradise. A spectacular variety of fauna and flora is thus advisable, and a botanical garden would be a good "backdrop" for the demo paradise (note also "The Findhorn Garden" story). Our original understanding is that the Biblical passage "the tree of life also in the midst of the garden" means not a separate, visible object standing in the middle, but that the pattern of the Tree of Life is enfolded within the pattern of the whole garden, is partially reflected from each item and surrounds everything in the garden.
- 2. The Pavilions
- The Pavilions containing special imaging facilities and responsive environments.
- The original, Persian, image of the Paradise/Pardes is captured in the Book of Esther, where the king's celebrations are taking place in "the court of the garden of the king's pavilion". Therefore the preferred architecture of structures in the garden is as pavilions. Our suggested ideal/prototypical arrangement is for a complex of ten pavilions arrayed in the pattern of the Kaballistic "Tree of Life". In that pattern, the pavilions on the Right side represent qualities of Grace (Hesed) and expansion, and may use dome and inflatable structures. The pavilions on the Left side represent Judgment (Din) and contraction, and may use cubical and rationalistic structures. The pavilions of the Middle Path represent Compassion (Rahamim, related to Rehem - womb) and reconciliation of opposites, and may integrate these architectural elements, such as done in the Geodesic Dome, in the Dome of the Rock and Hagia Sophia, and in Gothic architecture. The pavilions will be identified with the various aspects of the holistic pattern of Man modeled upon the Kabbalistic "Tree of Life" (the Sefirot). Each pavilion will contain spaces dedicated to all ten Sefirot, Thus the progression among the pavilions and entering each of them for specific activities/exercises can reproduce the various Kabbalistic narratives of integration and healing (Tikkun) and produce great many different programs.
- 3. The VR/Holographic "Heavenly Pavilions"
- The VR/Holographic "Heavenly Pavilions" will be used to show the unseen, conceptual "spiritual" or "ethereal" entities having transactions and congresses.
- These will be developed as Yoru-Shalem (Holistic Vision) demonstration facilities, where light shows with laser beams demonstrate the inter meshing of the concrete activities in the earthly garden and show it upon the air above it. In particular a "Yoru-Shalem (Holistic Vision) Dome" pavilion, inspired by the Dome of the Rock, will train people in Self-and-Other Exploration. (Various means and scripts for producing 3D projected light figures are discussed in Hayut-Ma'n, 1966).
- 4. The "Paradistudy" program
- The "Paradistudy" program will be an interactive expert system that will define itineraries among the activities in the pavilions as custom-made personal "Healing Journeys" for different types of people.
- One will move in a balancing progression along the 22 paths between the ten pavilions. While an individual itinerary can be recorded and displayed like the movement of a ball in a pinball machine, people's movements will be aggregated in the Yoru-Shalem program and facilities and their light-representations will be seen above the garden, participating within the great angelic dance of rectification.
- With these principles, several specific proposals are being prepared. The original one emphasizes the meaning of Pardes in both Jewish mysticism and in modern Zionist settlement, commemorating the first Jewish Citrus plantation (now in the center of the city of Tel Aviv) of the Fellman family where new Kabbalah ideas on paradise were developed.
The Generic pattern and components for the "demo paradise":
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- A partial realisation for a potential seaside site in Northern Israel, large enough for a health spa, hotel and gardens - and some of the archetypical Ten Pavilions discussed above.
- Ideally, a rich Sea-Land-Inter-Play (SLIP) Garden would be designed there, where humans, both isolated and socially-oriented, would frolic with dolphins, and women will come to give birth in that aquatic medium. Thus a Marine Maternity Ward, an underwater restaurant-night-club-gaming complex and a wet-matrix of individual cells with Immersion Tanks and other such facilities for a host of "rebirthing" technics. Starting there, the progression through the pavilions and special rooms, with media for special sensations, will unfold.
- The relevant mythical themes:
- This particular site would entertain the themes:
- 1) the sea as the primeval chaos and the womb;
- 2) A Garden as a token of paradise, and with it;
- 3) The Trees of Knowledge and of Life.
- "The Hero's Journey" and the "Return to Paradise" as well as the "Return to Zion" can be enacted there, individually and collectively. The neighboring city of Akko and the Crusader relics in the area elicit enactment of the Crusader saga. The nearby Bahai gardens afford another view of a quasi-paradisical garden.
- For such settings, appropriate scenarios can be developed, so people could choose which role-playing drama they want to become involved with. Such dramas may give means for extending the individual healing process into a group and community healing experience.
- Sample Theme:
- From over the sea come the Over-Comers, such as the Philistines, Crusaders and Zionist Settlers, who strive towards their Mid-Oriental Paradise, capped with The Dome of the Rock.
- The Dome of Yoru-Shalem Pavilion, in this resort, will resemble a reconstructed model of the Templar's Templo Domini of Jerusalem, with our version of the Rites of the Great Mother Binah - The Rites of Under-Standing. Meanwhile the native people of the land seek to regain their own paradise, and the ensuing conflicts have to be refined and resolved within this resort with its whole garden of delights. Each time one fails, (s)he turns to the sea to reemerge, reborn, to resort again to the Quest for the mid Oriental Paradise.
An example - A Sea-side Paradisical Park:
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- Our thesis is simple:
- Since it's possible to create anything in VR, let's build a cyberspace paradise to act as prototype for re-creating paradise on earth. This will act both as individualised service and multi-user gaming site. We could use the descriptions of "the Heavenly Paradise" in the Kabbalah, particularly in the Zohar, for designing a working model of PIS on the Internet. The pattern called Ilan haSefirot ("The Tree of Accounts"), and often Etz haHayim ("The Tree of Life") can serve both the layout of the pavilions in the Internet site and a set of icons of cyber-angels and play-figures. We also abstract from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem icons for the representation of the souls and their paradisical journeys.
- On-screen display:
- The PIS Diagram and the Icons of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Death. The entry point for a new game is The Kabbalah Pavilion, where the newcomer is examined to assess his/her individual traits and needs. The player makes his/her pledge and a customised healing-journey is prepared for him/her and (s)he is assigned An Angel of Peace and Healing to carry her through that journey. Upon approaching The Tree of Life, one has to pass "the cherubs and flaming sword that cuts either which way". One's charge - The Player's Soul - gets abducted into one of its many gyres, to find herself floating in the space of one of the other nine pavilions in the Heavenly Paradise, and then journeying onwards to The Dome of Yoru-Shalem. The Yoru-Shalem Dome gives the Heavenly Lights of The 32 Paths of Wisdom. Upon the Foundation Rock of the Heavenly Shrine, grows The Tree of Light (isomorphic with the High-Or Ltd's X-Mas InteligenTreesm) to display the interactions of The Model 12 Tribes of Israel.
- There is also a composite picture made from the lights of the different pilgrim-players. While each player has his/her own score to add to, they also become cognizant of the larger picture which they are a part. They can train to harmonise and refine that larger picture to delight the entire population of cyberspace and the Heavenly Observer.
Paradisical Internet Sites (PIS)
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- A major goal of the HOPE is to promote joint-ventures for ideas like the Paradisical Theme Park. The HOPE is an ancronim for High-Or Partnership Enterprises.
- High-Or Inc. is a company devoted to developing new technologies for personal, corporate, and community transformation.
Contact us at thehope@actcom.co.il and at the address below:
High-Or Inc.POB 8115, Jerusalem 91080 Israel 
Tel (972) 2 627-1633, Fax (972) 2 627-7980
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Promotion and Development:
- Ezrahi, O. (1997): Shnayim Kruvim (Two Cherubs), in Ezrahi, O. and Hayut-Ma'n Y.I.: vehaHadash Yitkadesh "Sacralizing the New", Jerusalem, High-Or Ltd, (in Hebrew).
- Hayut-Ma'n, Y.I. (1996): "Social and Psychological Applications of Lasers and
Holograms", technical report to Optomedic Medical Technologies. Includes appendix on "Science and Technology Expositions in France 1996".
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References:
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