Adam Kadmon
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In the religious writings of Kabbalah, Adam Ḳadmon is a phrase meaning "Primal Man". The oldest rabbinical source for the term "Adam ha-Ḳadmoni" is Num. R. x., where Adam is styled, not as usually, "Ha-Rishon" (the first), "Ha-Kadmoni" (the original).
It is said that Adam Ḳadmon had rays of light projecting from his eyes. In Lurianic Kabbalah, Adam Ḳadmon acquired an exalted status equivalent to Purusha in the Upanishads, denoting the Manifest Absolute itself. In this variant of mythopoetic cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis, the "Adam Soul" is described as the primeval soul that contained all human souls.
Adam Ḳadmon is comparable to the Anthropos of Gnosticism and Manichaeism. There is also a similar concept in Alevi and Sufic philosophy called Insan-i Kamil, the Perfect or Complete Man.
See also