"God sleeps in the mineral..." - attributed to the Kabbalah

I work at a public library. A library customer has a document which attributes this sentence to the Kabbalah:

'God sleeps in the mineral, dreams in the vegetable, wakes in the animal, and becomes self-concious in man.'

She seeks a more specific citation. On the internet I have found something similar attributed to the Persion poet Rumi, and also to the Druids.

I'm hoping someone here mind point me to an online concordance of the Kabbalah, or to a website where I might 'search the full-text' of the Kabbalah.

Thanks for your attention. T Zimoski

There is no book called the Kabbalah. What you have is a reference to the 4 World theory that is expressible in many systems. Sufism is just one of them. Kabbalah has that system also as expressed in the 4 letters of the name of G*d that is not pronounced, the Tetragrammatron. Starting with the final hey as the Mineral and working up to the yud as the Man. Look at he work of Warren Kenton also know as Shimon ben Halevi. Look in the book called the 13 Petalled Rose by Adin Steinsaltz under the chapter called Worlds.

Tom

This indeed looks likes a quote from Rumi, 'God sleeps in the mineral, dreams in the vegetable, stirs in the animal, and awakens in the fusion of the completed Man/Woman' (one version).

I would guess any document attributing it specifically to Kabbalistic literature is incorrect. As you say, an Internet search will reveal that this phrase and many variants has been appropriated by everyone from the Druids to the Theosophists! In terms of Kabbalah, as pointed out by the previous post, Steven Turner, this *could* potentially be seen as a 'four-worlds' doctrine in terms of the Kabbalah. However, all the items listed, mineral, vegetable, animal and man, not only have overlaps (i.e. man is composed mainly of water and salt crystals, which are mineral, has the same qualities as other mammals, etc ...) but only can each be considered in terms of the four worlds, depending on which context you are applying. So, I don't think it is a useful or consistent mapping. Again, as pointed out, there is no 'concordance' of the Kabbalah, as the 'Kabbalah' may be viewed as an oral tradition, whose literature comprises of many works, including the Zohar, Torah, Bahir, etc. and many commentaries written thereafter.

Hope this assists, if you know which 'document' or book made this attribution to Kabbalah I'd be interested, as then I could strike it out of my reading list! LOL.

In the Great Work

Frater F.P. http://www.templum.com