The Yamim Nora'im, the Days of Awe are our opportunity to confront the negative energy that has built up in each of us as a result of our wrongful actions committed during the past year. The machzor contains prayers of introspection and self-examination that are designed to allow us to work toward cleansing our souls. Throughout the year our negative actions in life in the material world (known as the Tree of Knowledge) take out souls further from the Tree of Life, that which is beyond the material world and exists outside of spacetime. On Rosh Hashahah, when Adam, representing the totality of souls, was created it made this day the seed of all human existence.
(נ) שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה' אֱלֹקֵֽינוּ ה' אֶחָד:
(50) Hear, Yisrael: Adonoy is our God, Adonoy is One.
Zohar 2:133b (Soncino Press)
At the time when Israel is proclaiming the unity-the mystery contained in the Shema-with a perfect intention, a light comes forth from the hidden supernal world, which divides into seventy lights, and those seventy lights into the seventy luminous branches of the Tree of Life. Then the Tree and all the other trees of the Garden of Eden emit sweet odors and praise their Lord, for at that time the Matrona prepares Herself to enter under the shade of the canopy, there to unite herself with her Spouse; and all the supernal potencies unite in one longing and one will to be united in perfect union, without any separation soever. Then the Spouse makes ready likewise to enter the Canopy in order to unite Himself with the Matrona. Therefore we proclaim loudly: “Hear, O Israel; prepare thyself, for thy Husband has come to receive thee.” And also we say: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one”, which signifies that the two are united as one, in a perfect and glorious union,without any flaw of separation to mar it. As soon as the Israelites say, “The Lord is One”, to arouse the six aspects, these six unite each with each and ascend in one ardor of love and desire. The symbol of this is the letter Vav (because its numerical value is six) when it stands alone without being joined to any other letter.Then the Matrona makes herself ready with joy, and adorns herself with delight, and Her attendants accompany Her, and in hushed silence She encounters her Spouse; and Her handmaids proclaim, “Blessed be the Name of the Glory of His Kingdom for ever and ever.”
(יד) וּבְכֵן יִתְקַדֵּשׁ שִׁמְךָ ה' אֱלֹקֵינוּ:
And so may Your Name be sanctified...
This "u'v'chen" appears mainly in Sephardic and Kabbalistic machzorim and not in Ashkenazic customs.
(טו) וּבְכֵן תֵּן פַּחְדְּךָ ה' אֱלֹקֵינוּ...
And so, grant Your Awe [Fear]...
(טז) וּבְכֵן תֵּן כָּבוֹד ה' לְעַמֶּךָ...
And so, grant honor, Adonai, to your people...
(יז) וּבְכֵן צַדִּיקִים יִרְאוּ וְיִשְׂמָחוּ...
And then the righteous will see and rejoice...
(ב) עָלֵֽינוּ לְשַׁבֵּֽחַ
(ג) לַאֲדוֹן הַכֹּל
(2) It is our obligation to praise
(3) the Master of all,
(א) אַתָּה זוֹכֵר
(ב) מַעֲשֵׂה עוֹלָם
(1) You remember
(2) the dealings of [men in] today’s world,
(א) אַתָּה נִגְלֵֽיתָ בַּעֲנַן כְּבוֹדֶֽךָ
(ב) עַל עַם קָדְשֶׁךָ
(1) You were revealed in Your cloud of glory
(2) to Your holy people
(ב) אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ חָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ:
Our Father our King we have sinned before you...
The use of "avinu" and "malkeinu" together presents a paradox. Our "parent" is close by yet "our sovereign" is distant. The juxtaposition of these words teaches us that God is both immanent and transcendent. We can pray to and maintain a relation with God while also understanding that God is "ein sof", beyond our comprehension.
(ג) כָּל נִדְרֵי. וֶאֱסָרֵי. וּשְׁבוּעֵי. וַחֲרָמֵי. וְקוֹנָמֵי. וְקִנּוּסֵי. וְכִנּוּיֵי. דְּאִנְדַּרְנָא. וּדְאִשְׁתַּבַּעְנָא. וּדְאַחֲרִימְנָא. וּדְאָסַרְנָא עַל נַפְשָׁתָנָא: מִיּוֹם כִּפּוּרִים זֶה. עַד יוֹם כִּפּוּרִים הַבָּא עָלֵינוּ לְטוֹבָה. בְּכֻלְּהוֹן אִיחֲרַטְנָא בְהוֹן. כֻּלְּהוֹן יְהוֹן שָׁרָן. שְׁבִיקִין. שְׁבִיתִין. בְּטֵלִין וּמְבֻטָּלִין. לָא שְׁרִירִין וְלָא קַיָּמִין: נִדְרָנָא לָא נִדְרֵי. וֶאֱסָרָנָא לָא אֱסָרֵי. וּשְׁבוּעָתָנָא לָא שְׁבוּעוֹת: ג"פ
All vows, obligations, oaths, and anathemas, whether called 'ḳonam,' 'ḳonas,' or by any other name, which we may vow, or swear, or pledge, or whereby we may be bound, from this Day of Atonement until the next (whose happy coming we await), we do repent. May they be deemed absolved, forgiven, annulled, and void, and made of no effect; they shall not bind us nor have power over us. The vows shall not be reckoned vows; the obligations shall not be obligatory; nor the oaths be oaths."
MISHNA: The halakhot of the dissolution of vows fly in the air and have nothing to support them.
The Sages understood that the disolution of vows had no real legal basis in the Torah. Tikkunei Zohar (3:255a) suggests that by reciting Kol Nidrei we are concerned about the very survival of the people of Israel along with their deliverance. It is the vow of God that God made in anger to punish Israel for their many rebellions in the wilderness that we are seeking to nullify.
קָם רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן סַלִּיק יָדוֹי לְגַבֵּי עֵלָּא וְשַׁבַּח לְמָארֵי עַלְמָא וְאָמַר, רִבּוֹן עַלְמָא עֲבִיד בְּגִין שְׁכִינְתָּא דְּאִיהִי בְּגָלוּתָא. וְאִם אִיהִי בְּאוֹמָאָה הָא אַבָּא וְאִמָּא דְּאִנּוּן חָכְמָה וּבִינָה. יָכְלִין לְמַעְבַּד הַתָּרָה ...
וְאִם הוּא נֵדֶר מִסִּטְרָא דְּאַבָּא וְאִמָּא וְלָא בָעֵי, אֲנָא סַלִּיק לְגַבֵּי הַהוּא דְאִתְּמַר בֵּהּ כִּי יִפָּלֵא מִמְּךָ דָבָר, דְּאִתְּמַר בֵּהּ בְּמוּפְלָא מִמָּךְ אַל תִּדְרוֹשׁ דְּיִפְטוֹר נֶדֶר...
מוֹשִׁיעוֹ וַדַּאי הַהוּא דִמְקוֹרָא דְּמִקְוֶה בִּידֵהּ. אָמֵן:
Rabbi Shimon stood up, raised his hands upward, and praised the Lord of the universe saying: Master of the universe, act for the sake of the Shechinah [the Divine Presence], which is in exile. And if it is under an oath [to remain in exile] then Abba [Chochmah] and Imma [Binah], can effect dispensation. ...
However, if there is a vow from the side of Abba and Imma so that it cannot [be nullified by the sefirot below it], then I will come up to that [sefirah] - regarding which it is said: "If a thing be hidden from you" [Deut. 17:8] and regarding which it is said: "Onto what is hidden from you do not investigae [Chaggigah 13a - referring here to Keter, the highest sefirah] - to effect dispensation of the vow...
Its Savior is surely the one who has the wellspring of hope in their hands.
This passage is from the Tikkunei Zohar and printed on page 3:255a of the Zohar
We have trespassed [against God and man, and we are devastated by our guilt]; We have betrayed [God and man, we have been ungrateful for the good done to us]; We have stolen; We have slandered. We have caused others to sin; We have caused others to commit sins for which they are called רְשָׁעִים, wicked; We have sinned with malicious intent; We have forcibly taken others' possessions even though we paid for them; We have added falsehood upon falsehood; We have joined with evil individuals or groups; We have given harmful advice; We have deceived; we have mocked; We have rebelled against God and His Torah; We have caused God to be angry with us; We have turned away from God's Torah; We have sinned deliberately; We have been negligent in our performance of the commandments; We have caused our friends grief; We have been stiff-necked, refusing to admit that our suffering is caused by our own sins. We have committed sins for which we are called רָשָׁע, [raising a hand to hit someone]. We have committed sins which are the result of moral corruption; We have committed sins which the Torah refers to as abominations; We have gone astray; We have led others astray.
Aryeh Kaplan: The World of Prayer, volume 2 - The Kabbalists explain the alphabetical arrangement as implying that this is a confession of all the sins that one could have committed against the world and the Torah, for both of these are based upon the 22 letters of the alphabet.