Four Worlds

The Four Worlds (Hebrew: עולמות Olamot/Olamos, singular: Olam עולם), sometimes counted with a prior stage to make Five Worlds, are the comprehensive categories of spiritual realms in Kabbalah in the descending chain of Existence.

The concept of "Worlds" denotes the emanation of creative lifeforce from the Ein Sof Divine Infinite, through progressive, innumerable tzimtzumim (concealments/veilings/condensations). As such, God is described as the "Most Hidden of All Hidden", and Olam is etymologically related to, and sometimes spelled as, עלם (Noun: העלם Helem meaning "concealment"). While these dimmings form innumerable differentiated spiritual levels, each a particular World/Realm, nonetheless, through the mediation of the sephirot (Divine attributes), five Comprehensive Worlds emerge. "Higher" realms metaphorically denote greater revelation of the Divine Ohr light, in more open proximity to their source, "Lower" realms are capable of receiving only lesser creative flow. The Worlds are garments of the Ein Sof, and Hasidic thought interprets their reality as only apparent to Creation, while "from above" the Divine Infinite fills all equally.

As particular sephirot dominate in each realm, so the primordial fifth World, Adam Kadmon, is often excluded for its transcendence, and the four subsequent Worlds are usually referred to. Their names are read out from Isaiah 43:7, "Every one that is called by My name and for My glory (Atzilus "Emanation/Close"), I have created (Beriah "Creation"), I have formed (Yetzirah "Formation"), even I have made (Asiyah "Action"). Below Asiyah, the lowest spiritual World, is Asiyah-Gashmi ("Physical Asiyah"), our Physical Universe, which enclothes its last two sephirot emanations (Yesod and Malchut). Collectively, the Four Worlds are also referred to as ABiYA, after their initial letters. As well as the functional role each World has in the process of Creation, they also embody dimensions of consciousness within human experience.