Eliyahu follows the ancient prophetic tradition and descends deep into a physically dark place, a cave. It is in such an isolated place that creates an environment of complete sensory deprivation that is most conducive for prophecy. The prophetic state was nothing magical. In order for the prophet to alter his consciousness he had to be in a place devoid of any distractions. Sometimes the playing of music and dancing was enough to enable the prophet to focus his attention within and enable him the opportunity to expand his mind. However, at a moment like this, Eliyahu did not seek to merely bring down the "Spirit" upon himself for the sake of passing on any prophetic message to either his students or to the nation. Now was a time for Eliyahu to delve into the deepest depths for the sake of himself. For this he goes into the realm of complete sensory deprivation. Here it is that he seeks what we can call, "the Voice within the Voice," or what we will call in the coming verses as the "still small voice."

At this place the Voice speaks and asks the simple question, "What do you want?" This is not a question asked by HaShem out of curiosity or even to discover the answer. Remember, we are dealing here with the Universal Mind of Existence; HaShem knows all and Is all. He knows Eliyahu's question, his thoughts, motivations and desires. As Creator, HaShem is the Source of all these. He has no need to ask this or any other question.

So, why then does HaShem ask a question that He obviously had no reason to ask? The answer to this is the same as why HaShem asked Adam in the Garden of Eden, where he was. Questions like these are not asked the person because of lack of knowledge on behalf of HaShem who asks the questions, but rather for the sake of the mortal listener. It is the listener who needs to hear the question and answers it for oneself, only in this way does revelation and insight come. One comes to seek an answer from HaShem and HaShem in turn asks the rhetorical question back to the questioner. In this contemplation comes one's answer; an answer not for G-d but rather for the person himself.

"And he said: 'I have been very jealous for HaShem, the Master of Armies; for the children of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and have murdered Your prophets with the sword and I, even I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." 1 Melakhim 19:10

Again, HaShem needs to be told about Eliyahu's behavior? No, of course not! But Eliyahu is not here rendering a review of his behavior, but rather he is exposing his deepest most passions and desires. He is pouring out to HaShem his feelings. He has performed his mission and he has accomplished his tasks. Up until now, he had his secret society to protect him, but now, for some unexplained reason, unlike in the past, now their protection did not avail him and he is exasperated that he had to run for his life. In Eliyahu's eyes, the fact that he had to run and come to this cave to enter this deep state of meditative communion was for him indicative that he had somehow failed HaShem and for some reason that Heaven had abandoned him. Eliyahu could not figure this out. Why after he had done everything right did everything turn out so very wrong? Why did he have to flee? He felt so isolated and alone. His desperate attempt to delving into the deepest levels of prophetic trance was for him to ascertain these answers. As such, his rendition of the facts is not based on rational analysis, but rather on his own personal emotional composure. By expressing his deepest feelings, Eliyahu accesses the deepest realms of prophetic revelation; heart to heart.

"And He said: 'Go forth, and stand upon the mount before HaShem. And, behold, HaShem passed by and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before HaShem; but HaShem was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but HaShem was not in the earthquake." 1 Melakhim 19:11

In this deep state of trance emanating out of Eliyahu's heart of hearts, the prophetic connection answers him by telling him that there is still further deeper levels into the recesses of the mind/soul that he/Eliyahu must delve into. These realms are not unknown to Eliyahu. To access these deepest levels of consciousness is the exact reason why Eliyahu came into the cave in the first place. This narrative comes to teach us that the first Voice Eliyahu heard was not the Voice within the Voice, but rather the Voice itself. In the language of later Kabbalah, Eliyahu sought to hear the metaphorical Voice of the Sefirotic Partzuf called Arikh Anpin (Long Face) corresponding to the highest sefirah Keter, whereas this first Voice was that of the Sefirotic Partzuf called Zeir Anpin (Short Face) corresponding to the sefirah Tiferet.

In order to accomplish this Eliyahu is told to stand upon the mountain before HaShem. But yet, as we see from the later verse, Eliyahu is still inside the cave. How can he stand on top of the mountain and still be inside the cave? The answer is that, as usual the Voice of prophecy speaks in metaphors, ones that are well known and understood within the mind of the prophet. The mountain top in question here is not the physical mountain, but rather an ascent in consciousness along the mental/spiritual path that takes one out of the realm of emotions and feelings corresponding to the Sefirotic Face of Zeir Anpin along the path towards pure mental awareness and revelation. In Kabbalistic literature this is called the ascent into the upper Garden of Eden, not to be confused with the Padres ascents made in later generations by the Talmudic Tana'im.

As Eliyahu ascends in his mind from one level of consciousness to the next, he naturally must travel through specific disturbing realms of thought, here referred to as the strong wind and the earthquake. The narrative is not here describing to us any physical event whatsoever as is normally understood. This entire episode of the storm wind, the earthquake and the fire spoken of in the next verse are all metaphors for the varying phases of consciousness that Eliyahu is experiencing as he makes the mental/spiritual ascent to the deepest, highest level of prophetic clarity, the one in which he will be able to commune with the Voice within the Voice, the revelation of the sefirah Keter and its corresponding Partzuf, the Face of Arikh Anpin.

The strong wind spoken of here is a passage of consciousness when the active intelligence confronts the raging storm of emotions that have the power to tear through even the strongest of mental disciplines here referred to as rocks. Winds, in Hebrew are called Ruhot, which also can be translated as spirits. The ruah level of soul (ruhot is the plural form) corresponds to the sefirot of the Partzuf Zeir Anpin and corresponds to the center sefirah Tiferet, which is the heart, the metaphorical seat of emotions. In order for the prophet to pass into the state of complete inner silence and balance, he must calm all emotional turmoil, conscious and unconscious. The procedure being described is referring to Eliyahu's battle within his own mind calming his own unconscious inner turmoil. Yet, the experience does not end here.

After the trained prophet is able to confront and control his emotional state even at its source deep with the unconscious, he must still confront other aspects of disturbance, these are the thoughts and projections from both the conscious and unconscious mind. Although they are detached from emotion, they nevertheless are strong in their distractive powers. Even when the mind is able to calm the waves of emotions, still, many are the thoughts in the human mind, some are very powerful, powerful enough to veer the prophet's mind off its course to HaShem and on to whatever other thing. If this were allowed to happen, the prophet could end up becoming so lost in thought that literally he could end up dead. This procedure is psychologically very dangerous and can only be practiced safely by those well trained to do so. These powerful distracting thoughts are here called an earthquake, for when experiencing their disturbing effect they can unnerve a person similar to the experience of an actual physical earthquake. Yet, in order to experience HaShem in His full revelation in Arikh Anpin (Keter) these levels of the mind must be peeled away and left behind.

"And after the earthquake a fire; but HaShem was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice." 1 Melakhim 19:12

Once the mind is able to focus itself after overcoming the turbulence of raging emotions and powerful distracting thoughts, only then does the metaphorical fire appear. This is no flame as we understand it. The flame is also a state of experience within the mind. This time, once the mind is able to focus on HaShem after having survived the metaphorical earthquake, now from deep within the inner-most recesses of the mind shoot out thoughts and even deeper feelings that have the ability to melt and burn even the strongest of disciplined minds. The fire spoken of here are thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere and pierce the settled mind causing it to feel all kinds of pain, such as expressions of unworthiness, fear, and panic. These too must be overcome for HaShem is not found in any of these. The storm wind, earthquake and fire are three levels of individual human consciousness that separate us from having an awareness of true spiritual reality.

Once those mental forces that disturb clarity have been overcome there sets in a reality of clear vision that I cannot find words to properly describe. In this state of complete inner equilibrium, one experiences the reality that the entire universe and all existence is nothing more than a veil over one's eyes that blocks the simplest and most true reality. This reality is summed up in the words, "Ayn Ohd M'livado" (there is nothing other than Him). In this state one becomes aware that there is only the Presence of G-d and nothing else. Although one is still aware of one's own existence, it is as if, one's individuality has also become part of this greater Whole. In this state every piece of every puzzle fits into place and everything in creation finally is seen to make sense.

The still small Voice is not heard audibly. It is not heard with the physical ears. The "hearing" here is the hearing within the Beriatic mind of complete detached thought. This is the "hearing" at the level of the Neshama (higher consciousness) soul. This is experienced as a type of metaphorical echo. I said above that this is hard to explain but I will try to give an example. Picture yourself standing in front of someone who is talking to you. You are focused on the person and the conversation. Then along comes someone from behind you and, in a whisper, says something very important. The nature of the importance of what was said behind you distracts your attention. But, at the moment when it was said, you were paying attention elsewhere, so you are not completely sure that you heard what you think you heard. You immediately turn around for clarification; did I really just hear this whisper; what somebody really just there? You turn around and find no one. Yet, the important words that you heard, yet did not really hear seem to be etched in your mind. Although you were not paying attention at the moment they were spoken, you still "heard" them even though you did not pay attention to hearing them spoken. Hearing the still small Voice can be compared to this type of experience. While I could proceed to attempt to describe this experience, like I said above, this is rather difficult and words cannot properly be used to describe an experience that is beyond the limitation of words to describe.

"And when Eliyahu heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice to him, and said: What do you want here, Eliyahu?" 1 Melakhim 19:13

To further focus his mind on this so very different reality, Eliyahu is said to cover his face with his mantle. This too is metaphorical language known to those who practice the prophetic path. This covering of the face is the creation of a division in the mind that maintains the awareness and individuality of the prophet's mind so that it is not completely absorbed into the Oneness of HaShem. Eliyahu came all this way for a purpose. If he were to be completely absorbed into HaShem at this moment, both he and his question would cease to exist. The Voice asks him why he is there, in this prophetic place, not necessarily in that physical place deep inside the bowels of a dark cave. In order for there to be an Eliyahu to answer the question, Eliyahu's identity must be preserved so that a dialogue may ensue between himself and the Voice, for at this stage of prophecy there are no other realities in the entire universe.

The text says that Eliyahu then went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. This too is metaphorical language to describe his mental/prophetic state and has nothing to do with his physical movements. In the state of complete unity the Voice came to him, but in such a state Eliyahu could not answer for he was at that very dangerous prophetic precipice at which his own individuality was on the verge of absorbing into the greater Whole. His mind/soul thus took a "small step" backwards reinforcing his identity of self. This state is referred to here as the "entrance to the cave." With his own psyche and identity now intact the Voice can be heard and answered. Thus the text states that the Voice spoke to Eliyahu again. In reality, the Voice did not speak twice; rather it was the same Voice, but now in a more stable mental form, Eliyahu could not only "hear" it, which he did before, now he could also respond, which he could not do before. He could not respond before simply because there was not enough of his individuality left to distinguish between the Voice and the one who is "hearing" it.

These mental states of expanded consciousness that occur during the prophetic and later Merkava experiences are not easily describable in words. Not for naught did our Sages in Tractate Hagigah say that Ma'aseh Merkava can only be taught one on one and then only to one who has some semblance of personal insight and the ability to perceive and understand on his own. Our Sages were called the "benei Nviim" the children of the prophets. There were those among them who knew this path well. If not for them none of us today could ever walk it. There is so much more than can be said, but like the Mishnah says, such teachings may not be made public.

To be continued...