As we there are

• da wir da sind: (German) as we exist, since we exist → the German transliterates into English as as we there are

• Dasein: (German) being, existence, especially in the metaphysical sense → this term was used in this technical sense by a number of German philosophers, most notably Ludwig Feuerbach and Martin Heidegger (Sein und Zeit, "Being and Time", 1927) → see Tea tea too oo

• As ... oo: this opening paragraph begins with A (alpha) and ends with a long O (omega), the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet → are we being told that in this chapter we are gong to trace the evolution of the world from beginning to end, from creation to annihilation? The whole chapter also ends in oo.

Commentary

Chapter II.2 follows Shem, Shaun and Issy studying upstairs in HCE's tavern, after having been called inside at the end of the previous chapter. The chapter depicts Shem teaching Shaun how to do Euclid Book I:1, structured as "a reproduction of a schoolboys' (and schoolgirls') old classbook complete with marginalia by the twins, who change sides at half time, and footnotes by the girl (who doesn't)". Once Shem (here called Dolph) has helped Shaun (here called Kev) to draw the Euclid diagram, Kev realises that Dolph has drawn a diagram of ALP's genitalia, and Kev strikes Dolph. After this Dolph forgives Kev and the children are given essay assignments on 52 famous men. The chapter ends with the children's Nightletter to HCE and ALP, in which they are apparently united in a desire to overcome their parents.

In the first part of the chapter, Joyce draws upon the Jewish mystical school of the Kabbalah, a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an eternal and mysterious Creator and the mortal and finite universe (His creation).

According to the Zohar, a foundational text for kabbalistic thought, the study of the Jewish Torah (the first five books of the Bible) can proceed along four levels of interpretation or exegesis. These four levels are called Pardes because their initial letters spell "PaRDeS" ("Orchard"):

• Peshat (lit. "simple"): the direct interpretations of meaning.
• Remez (lit. "hint[s]"): the allegoric meanings (through allusion).
• Derash (from Heb. darash: "inquire" or "seek"): midrashic (Rabbinic) meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses.
• Sod (lit. "secret" or "mystery"): the inner, esoteric (metaphysical) meanings, expressed in kabbalah.

All Creation unfolds from Divine reality. God is neither matter nor spirit, but the creator of both. The question of the Divine nature prompted Kabbalists to envision two aspects of God: (a) God Himself, who is ultimately unknowable, and (b) the revealed aspect of God that created the universe, preserves the universe, and interacts with mankind. Kabbalists speak of the first aspect of God as Ain Soph (אין סוף); this is translated as "the infinite", "endless", or "that which has no limits". In this view, nothing can be said about the essence of God. This aspect of God is impersonal. The second aspect of Divine emanations, however, is at least partially accessible to human thought. Kabbalists believe that these two aspects are not contradictory but, through the mechanism of progressive emanation, complement one another. The structure of these emanations has been characterized in various ways: Sefirot (Divine attributes) and Partzufim (Divine "faces"); Four Worlds of Creation in a Seder hishtalshelus (Descending Chain of realms), namely Azilut, Beriyah, Yitzirah, and Asiyah; the Biblical vision by Ezekiel of the Merkabah (Divine angelic "Chariot"). These alternatives are harmonized in subsequent Kabbalistic systemisation. The central metaphor of Ohr ("Light") is used to describe Divine emanations.

The Sefirot (סְפִירוֹת — singular Sefirah סְפִירָה) are the ten emanations and attributes of God with which He continually sustains the universe in existence. The word "sefirah" literally means "counting", but early Kabbalists presented a number of other etymological possibilities including: sefer (book), sippur (story), sappir (sapphire, brilliance, luminary), separ (boundary), and safra (scribe). The central metaphor of Man's soul is used to describe the Sephirot. This incorporates masculine and feminine aspects, after Genesis 1:27 ("God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them"). The description of Divine manifestation through the 10 Sephirot is a defining feature of Medieval Kabbalah, alongside their male and female aspects, and the concept of downward flow of Divine Light through the chain of Creation. The Sephirot correspond to the Four Worlds of this spiritual descent, Azilut, Beriyah, Yitzirah and Asiyah.

Altogether 11 sephirot are named. However Keter and Daat are unconscious and conscious dimensions of one principle, conserving 10 forces. The names of the Sephirot in descending order are:

• Keter (supernal crown, representing above-conscious will)
• Chochmah (The highest potential of thought)
• Binah (the understanding of the potential)
• Daat (intellect of knowledge)
• Chesed (sometimes referred to as Gedolah-greatness) (loving-kindness)
• Gevurah (sometimes referred to as Din-justice or Pachad-fear) (severity/strength)
• Rachamim also known as Tiphereth (Mercy)
• Netzach (victory/eternity)
• Hod (glory/splendour)
• Yesod (foundation)
• Malkuth (kingdom)

Kabbalists believe the Tree of Life to be a diagrammatic representation of the process by which the Universe came into being. On the Tree of Life, the beginning of the Universe is placed at a space above the first Sephirah, named Keter ("crown"). It is not always pictured in reproductions of the Tree of Life, but is referred to universally as Ain Soph Aur (Endless Light). It symbolises that point beyond which our comprehension of the origins of Being cannot go; it is considered to be an infinite nothingness out of which was created the Universe. Kabbalists also do not envision time and space as pre-existing, and place them at the next three stages on the Tree of Life. First is Keter, which is thought of as the product of the contraction of Ain Soph Aur into a singularity of infinite energy or limitless light. In the Kabbalah, it is the primordial energy out of which all things are created. The next stage is Chokmah, or Wisdom, which is considered to be a stage at which the infinitely hot and contracted singularity expanded forth into space and time. It is often thought of as pure dynamic energy of an infinite intensity forever propelled forth at a speed faster than light. It is considered to be the primordial masculine energy. Next comes Binah, or Understanding, which is thought of as the primordial feminine energy, the Supernal Mother of the Universe which receives the energy of Chokmah, cooling and nourishing it into the multitudinous forms present throughout the whole cosmos. It is also seen as the beginning of Time itself.

Numbers are very important to Kabbalists, and the Hebrew letters of the alphabet also have a numerical value for the Kabbalists. Each stage of the emanation of the Universe on the Tree of Life is numbered meaningfully from one, or the Sephirah of Keter to ten, or the Sephirah of Malkuth. The nature of each number is thought to express the nature of its Sephirah.

The first three Sephiroth, called the Supernal Sephiroth, are considered to be the primordial energies of the Universe. The next stages of evolution on the Tree of Life are considered to exist beyond a space on the tree, called the Abyss, between the Supernals and the other Sephiroth, because their levels of being are so distinct from each other that they appear to exist in two totally different realities. The Supernal Sephiroth exist on a plane of divine energy. This is why another correspondence for Binah is the idea of suffering, because the Supernal Maternal energy gives birth to a world that is inherently excluded from that Divine Union. After Binah, the Universe gets down to the business of building the materials it will need to fulfill its evolution, and creating new combinations of those materials until it is so dense that, by the stage of Malkuth, the initial pure limitless energy has solidified into the physical Universe. Since its energies are the basis of all Creation, the Tree of Life can potentially be applied to any area of life, especially the inner world of Man, from the subconscious all the way to what Kabbalists call the higher self.

But the Tree of Life does not only speak of the origins of the physical Universe out of the unimaginable, but also of Man's place in the Universe. Since Man is invested with Mind, consciousness in the Kabbalah is thought of as the fruit of the physical world, through whom the original infinite energy can experience and express itself as a finite entity. After the energy of Creation has condensed into matter, it is thought to reverse its course back up the Tree until it is once again united with its true nature. Thus, the kabbalist seeks to know himself and the Universe as an expression of God, and to make the journey of Return by stages charted by the Sephiroth, until he has come to the realisation he sought.

The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is traditionally portrayed as having three columns, as has Chapter II.2 of FW.