Ayn and Yesh is a concept in Kabbalah that describes the Primordial consciousness in cosmology, where Ayn ("Is Not") is the nothingness and Yesh ("What Is") is awareness.[1]
In Kabbalah, The Great Rule is that for everything above, there is it's equal and opposite counterpart below it. "In the beginning" there is Ayn, and from Ayn comes Yesh, so that from "Nothing" (Ayn) came "Awareness" (Yesh). Thus, the first manifestation of Ayn into time and space is Primordial Man, as Adam Kadmon. The Primordial Ayn becomes the Unconscious of Adam Kadmon. Adam Kadmon becomes its Body. He is the expression of the "Will of Ayn", as the "Crown of creation". Adam Kadmon is the first emanation by way of the sefirah Keter (Crown).[2]
Ayn is also the soul of G-d and Yesh is His body, His creation. Within Adam Kadmon exists all Yesh. The Creator, which is the Ayn, manifests within Adam Kadmon. Without movement, Consciousness remains dormant, asleep unto itself. "The beginning" is when the Sleeper has awaken. In accordance with the Great Rule, humans who exist "below" are asleep and must awaken, just as G-d, the Primordial Ayn "above" had been asleep and has awaken to become Yesh. As it is above, so must it be below.[3]
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- Rabbi Ariel (1993). The Ten Sefirot