Extract from a lecture on the number eleven I gave at an SRIA College in Melbourne in October 1992:
[...] Using the Tree of Life, evil can be described as that which prevents us from walking the path of return - the path which leads to Kether. Any hindrance to that goal can thus be described as evil.
If we take No 11 to refer to Da'at, and evil to refer to this hindrance, then: 'No 11 is called the evil number' can be understood to mean that Knowledge may hinder one on the path of return. How? the Abyss is ever present for the unwary. Da'at is forever the tempting trap.
To partake of knowledge, one risks madness if one assumes that one can or one already has reached God - reached the Elohim - crossed the Abyss - without Da'at being sufficiently formed such that it will not crumble under our feet. Da'at must be sufficiently formed to enable the crossing, and our focus ever upwards to prevent the trappings.
Yet, how are we to make sure that this bridge will hold? Furthermore, if Da'at really is not a sephirah, as the Sepher Yezirah clearly states, how can Da'at be used as a bridge?
Here lies a sacred mystery - for Da'at is created anew by each full emanation, by each created being, each potential Adept, by each of us.
Da'at is not a sephirah, an emanation, of the Divine, it is an emanation of the creation, of us.
To live is to partake of the Tree of Life. To live is to be an emanation of the Divine. Yet to live, to be, and hence have a questing mind, one cannot but also taste of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and hence generate the swirlings which may, in time, become Da'at.
[...]
To cross the Abyss is to die.
'Death is the gate of life; fear not to enter therein, for in dust are sown the seeds of immortality'
[...]
After Eve and Adam had partaken of the tree of knowledge 'The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and live forever' God drove Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden, 'and he placed at the East of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life' [Genesis]
Although Adam and Eve were cast out, the way of the Tree of Life was kept by the flaming sword, and guarded at the east by the Cherubim. We are not told that they are forbidden to re-enter!
No - with No 11, with knowledge - with Da'at - the Cherubim will let pass those who escape the confines of Da'at, who escape the trappings of the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
As long as one follows the way which the flaming sword keeps, one may reach, put forth one's hand, and partake, of the Tree of Life - of Life eternal.
[...]
Number eleven is called the Evil number. It is an omen of defeat or death
It is evil, for knowledge may lead away from truth. It is evil, for those who have partaken of the tree of knowledge need to be weariless, as the path is fraught with perils. Hence, it portends either defeat, if one succumbs to the perils, or death - the gate of life.