A boy who recognized the meaning of חשמל (Ezekiel 1:4) was consumed by fire,[4] and the perils connected with the unauthorized discussion of these subjects are often described.
In no case, then, is the entire cosmogony included in the term "Ma'aseh Bereshit," but only its more mystic aspects, nor can all the passages of the Talmud and the Midrash dealing with these problems be considered as parts of the doctrine.
The views which are found scattered throughout the Talmud, and especially in Genesis Rabbah 1-12, are generally aggadic in character; indeed the question arises whether anything more than mere allusions may be expected therein regarding Ma'aseh Bereshit, in so far as it is esoteric in content.
Some information seems to be given, though only by intimation, in the story of the four scholars that entered paradise (that is, penetrated the mysteries of the secret doctrine), of whom only R. Akiva remained uninjured.
Here again, one must distinguish aggadic and devotional from mystic and philosophical thought, and must not teach views such as that the world was created out of "tohu" and "bohu" and "hoshekh," or that air, wind, and storm were the primal elements, as component parts of the doctrine of Creation.
Similarly, the cosmogonic conceptions of the Apocrypha and of geonic mysticism must not be considered as indications of the secret teachings of the Ma'aseh Bereshit.
It is declared that this chapter of Ezekiel may be studied even by young pupils, because a boy can seldom recognize the doctrines implied in it.
The Ma'aseh Merkavah, therefore, dealt with esoteric teachings concerning the visible manifestations of God, and hence with angelology and demonology, though not to the same degree as in Talmudic literature.
The belief in the appearance of God is indicated also in the popular idea that all who inquire into the mysteries of the Ma'aseh Merkavah without being duly authorized will die a sudden death.
This esoteric tendency must have led often to pessimistic and nihilistic views, as is shown by the accounts of Elisha ben Abuyah[11] and the Mishnaic passage, "He who speaks of the things which are before, behind, above, and below, it were better he had never been born.
"[12] According to a tradition handed down by Jose b. Judah, a tanna of the second half of the second century,[13] Yochanan ben Zakkai was the founder of the secret doctrine.
The very fact that there are so many Talmudic and midrashic parallels to the conceptions of the geonic period leads to the conclusion that they contain only a limited amount of original material from the ancient esoteric teachings.
In contrast, Theosophic Kabbalah ("Received Tradition") interpreted their mythic, dynamic psychological drama of God's Persona attributes, and their mutual influence by Man, as the meaning of these secret doctrines of the Torah.