Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam
Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman
lowercase italics: emphasized words
Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew
This is one of the introductions to the book of Zohar that Baal HaSulam (Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag) had written.
"1. The profoundness of the wisdom in the holy Book of Zohar is enclosed and caged behind a thousand locks, and our human tongue is too poor to provide us with sufficient, reliable expressions to interpret one thing in this book to its end. Also, the interpretation that I have made is but a ladder to help the examiner rise to the height of the matters, examine, and scrutinize the words of the book itself. Hence, I have found it necessary to prepare the reader, to give him a way and an inlet in reliable definitions, concerning how one should contemplate and study the book."
We have a simple problem: when we encounter something, we do not know how to perceive it, how to examine it. The problem is that our tool has to be designed correctly to perceive the reality, according to the properties of the object that we intend to examine, sense, and perceive.
Our work is in limiting the Kli (lit. tool, or vessel). By designing our Kli correctly, we immediately position ourselves to perceive it, and discover what we have before us. This is, in fact, our work.
Our desire is unlimited, amorphous, disoriented. Our ability to design our desire helps us formulate certain patterns in it, boundaries, sensitivity to various things, bestowal, reception, the ten Sefirot and their interconnections.
We build it from a raw desire, from nothing more than a desire to enjoy. When we instill the nine Sefirot into that desire to enjoy, we create a system, parts that relate to one another in that substance.
It is like building an engine from a piece of metal. Let's assume that we take a piece of metal out of the furnace. We use it to create all kinds of parts, connect them correctly, and we have an engine. This is what we have to do with ourselves; we have to create a Kli to perceive spirituality.
Thus, the primary work with the Kli is the limiting. We carve and shape as though sculpturing until we finally have a form, an image made of an abstract thing.
Similarly, we have to take our amorphous will to receive, and mold it into the shape of the Creator. Here Baal HaSulam teaches us how this is done.
All the books of Kabbalah write about the limitation in one way or another. In each manner of restriction, we perceive something called "the name of the Creator." It is a different manifestation of the Creator, the next degree, an appearance, or fulfillment.
Our entire wisdom lies in studying these shapes that we have to acquire. Baal HaSulam says in this respect, that books of Kabbalah such as the Zohar, are "caged behind a thousand locks." So what are the boundaries, that if we take them on ourselves, we will be aiming directly at the goal which we want to perceive, acquire the same form as what is before us, and be able to grasp it?
2. "At the outset, you must know that all that is said in The Book of Zohar, and even in its legends, is denominations of the ten Sefirot, called KHB (Keter, Hochma, Bina), HGT (Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet), NHYM (Netzah, Hod, Yesod, Malchut), and the combinations of their values."
The reason that we do not speak of more than ten Sefirot is that there is nothing more than ten Sefirot in reality. The difference between these ten Sefirot is in the depth by which they penetrate into our own substance, the will to receive.
We can compare it to a pattern immersed in wax, deeper and deeper and deeper. The pattern is always the same pattern, namely ten Sefirot; but because I immerse it deeper into the will to receive, into thicker and thicker matter, I end up with changes in the substance. It is an ever-changing impression, sensation in the matter, but it is a result of always immersing the same pattern.
We can see it when we examine ourselves too: We might look at the same thing even a thousand times, and suddenly begin to sense something deeper. All of a sudden, I am impressed with something that I have already seen before, but now it is different. I suddenly begin to know it more profoundly. This is the meaning of that same pattern of pattern of ten Sefirot now having permeated a deeper layer of coarseness, of thickness. In Hebrew this thickness is called Aviut.
Baal HaSulam says that the entire book speaks of nothing but the ten Sefirot"and the combinations of their values," meaning what is between them. This pattern of ten Sefirot is all that there is, and when this pattern is immersed in Aviut Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel, and Dalet (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 respectively), it builds all the worlds and everything..
"As the twenty-two letters in the spoken language, whose permutations suffice to reveal before us every object and every lore, so the concepts and permutations of values in the ten Sefirot suffice to disclose the entire wisdom in the book of Heaven."
What comes from above is called "the book of Heaven," and we can reveal it through our tools from below by means of the shapes and combinations of the Kelim (pl. for Kli). But how can this be done, if the heaven is something infinite, an abstract Light with nothing in it? How can I express this abstract, Godly, infinite thing, by means of limited Kelim, wants, and all kinds of permutations? Is it possible to switch from the discrete, the digital, to the analog, to the unlimited and unrestricted?
The problem is, in fact, to express the endless, through a limited number of letters, twenty-seven letters and their combinations, with each letter designating and conveying a specific property. In the Torah (Pentateuch), for instance, all the letters are connected to each other; there are no spaces. It is we who split the Pentateuch into words and sentences, when in fact, it is merely a conglomeration of letters. So can we portray something infinite through this finite combination and say that we express what is in the Ein Sof (lit. Infinite) through Kelim? Baal HaSulam says it can be done. I don't know how, but this is what he says.
He says this: "As the twenty-two letters in the spoken language, whose permutations suffice to reveal before us every object and every lore, so the concepts and permutations of values in the ten Sefirot suffice to disclose the entire wisdom in the book of Heaven."
This is a marvel; how is this possible? It means that at the end of the day, the creature acquires all the forms it can, with its every permutation. It finally comes to a state where it becomes as abstract, infinite, and unlimited as the Creator; the Kli becomes exactly like the Light.
"However, there are three boundaries in it." In order for the Kli to adapt itself to the Light, in order to become as unlimited as the Maker, the Kli has to be processed and be made to operate under three limitations, three boundaries.
"...that one must be very prudent with" Why? "so as not to exceed them while studying the words of the book." What does "while studying" mean? Does it matter if I study this or that way? Studying means that when you execute what is written in the book, you must be prearranged to work under three boundaries.
"I shall first present them briefly, and then I shall elaborate on them."
3. "First boundary: Four categories exist in the learning conducts," spiritual learning, "called, Matter, Form in Matter, Abstract Form, and Essence."
How do we know this? When we discover the spiritual nature and delve in it, we begin to divide our perception of reality into four degrees of attainment: Matter, Form in Matter, Abstract Form, and Essence.
"It is the same in the ten Sefirot as I shall explain below." He does not say how the ten Sefirot are divided by these four degrees of Matter, Form in Matter, Abstract Form, and Essence. He simply says, "Know, that The Book of Zohar does not engage at all in the Essence" the last degree of attainment in Matter, Form in Matter, Abstract Form, and Essence "and the Abstract Form in the ten Sefirot," the one before last degree of attainment "but only in the Matter in them, or in the Form in them, while clothed in Matter."
It follows that the Zohar is a practical book. It leads one in a clear, practical manner, and slowly, thoroughly and systematically, leads one throughout the entire path of evolution. The book never leads one to states where one does not carry them out fully consciously and in full awareness.
We can compare it to, say, a physics textbook. It tells us to do things that we understand and that we are certain we can perform. The book tells us to do this and that, and come up with this and that result for this and that reason. In other words, it is literally a practical textbook.
If, among our actions, there is an option for us to do something without ever yielding a clear result, then we never will yield a clear result. This is valid throughout the way. It is not that in our current degree we can do something without a clear result, and in the next degrees we will. We never attain the abstract form and the essence.
Thus, although the Zohar distinguishes between the Abstract Form and Essence, and the Matter and Form in Matter, it does not speak of them at all. Not speaking of them at all (Baal HaSulam even says that there is not a single word about them in the Zohar) means that the Zohar does not deal with them, and not that there is not a single word.
What he wants to say is that it is like that physics textbook, where we declare that we are not working on this and that. In other words, there is a clear-cut borderline, and you must position yourself with respect to the book in this precise manner. You do what you can do with clear consciousness in your Kelim. This is how the book is built, and that's the first boundary.
"4. Second boundary: The comprehensive Godly reality concerning the creation of the souls and the conducts of their existence are discerned by us in three discernments:
A. Ein Sof (lit. Infinity);
B. The world Atzilut;
C. The Three worlds called Beria, Yetzira and Assiya.
Know that The Book of Zohar engages only the worlds BYA (Beria, Yetzira and Assiya). It touches on the worlds Ein Sof and Atzilut to the extent that the worlds BYA receive from them, but the Zohar does not engage in them at all as they are for themselves.
The worlds BYA are the exterior vessels of reception within which are the souls, the AHP. The soul of Adam ha Rishon occupies the entire length of the worlds BYA, so when Adam ha Rishon breaks, all the broken parts are found in worlds BYA, both the pure BYA and the impure BYA. These parts exist only within them. Our world is a part of the worlds BYA as well, it's lowest degree.
When correcting ourselves, joining ourselves to the structure of Adam ha Rishon, erecting the structure of Adam ha Rishon, we rise to Atzilut along with the worlds BYA, as well as with this structure of Adam ha Rishon, which we have erected from our desire.
It follows, that one's (spiritual) Partzuf cannot be outside the three worlds BYA. It is always within them, ascending and descending along with them. This is why he says that we always speak of our environment, either the souls, or of what is present as the surroundings of the souls.
The surroundings of the souls are the worlds Beria, Yetzira, Assiya, above them the world Atzilut, and the worlds AK and Ein Sof above those. But we speak of these worlds, Atzilut, AK, and Ein Sof, only to the extent that they are connected to the worlds Beria, Yetzira, Assiya.
Yet, what does it mean "only to the extent that they are connected?" Do they exist regardless, even if not for the worlds BYA? Of course, they exist for BYA, But we are not speaking of how they are built for themselves, or of some actions within them. We are only speaking of direct, practical actions, connected to the worlds BYA and the soul. The soul, in turn, receives from them the matter and the form in matter, and not the abstract form and the essence.
This second boundary stems from the first boundary.
"5. Third boundary: There are three aspects in each of the worlds, BYA.
A. "Ten Sefirot, which are the Godliness that shine in that world.
B. "The Neshamot (pl. for Neshama), Ruchot (pl. for Ruach), and Nefashot (pl. for Nefesh) of people." It is what we call NRN; NRN of the righteous, NRN of Adam.
C. "The rest of reality in it," in the worlds, those who occupy the worlds, "called Malaachim (lit. angels), Levushim (lit. clothes), and Heichalot (lit. palaces), whose elements are innumerable."
"You should know," meaning take into account, limit, and aim yourself in such a way, "that while the Zohar elucidates extensively about the details in each world," meaning even t hough the Zohar does speak of the constituents in each world, " you should still know that the essence of the words of the Zohar are always focused on the Neshamot (lit. Souls) of the people in that world. It explains other discernments only in order to know the measure that the Neshamot receive from them. The Zohar does not engage in that which is not connected to the reception of the Neshamot in even a single word.
We have said that the worlds Atzilut, AK, and Ein Sof are outside the worlds BYA. We have also said that they are spoken of only concerning the worlds BYA. Now, however, we are speaking of what is within the worlds BYA, the various kinds of inhabitants that occupy the worlds.
If everything is only with respect to the souls, then what does it mean that it "does not engage in that which is not connected to the reception of the Neshamot"? It means that it is not directly connected, and that it does not fall within the boundaries of matter and form in matter.
If it is not directly connected, the questions arise, "What does it mean that it is not for the Neshamot? Is there anything that is not for the Neshamot? Do the worlds exist in and of themselves?" Everything was created for one purpose only; there are no other purposes in even the smallest iota in Creation.
Thus, you must be educated in every thing that is brought in the Book of Zohar, only with respect to the reception of the soul.
In other words: we are speaking of the worlds only with regard to the souls, and of the worlds above them, only with respect to the worlds BYA, where the souls are found. As to other things found in the worlds BYA, they only pertain to the souls found in the worlds BYA. In the end, everything is directed toward the Neshamot, which perform the actions and receive from the worlds and those who fill the worlds besides the Neshamot, the Malaachim, the Heichalot, and everything these worlds receive from the worlds above them. This is how everything accumulates and aims at the soul that attains either matter, or form in matter, and nothing more.
Thus, there are discernments that we do not speak of because we do not perceive them clearly. The Zohar does not speak of them, or state if they will become clearer later on. It does tell us that if we want to perceive reality correctly, it can be perceived within these boundaries.
So, why do we need these additional discernments, the abstract form and the essence? Moreover, why is it that we do perceive the abstract form and the essence? If Kabbalists had not perceived them, they wouldn't have told us about them. How would they know if not "By Your acts we know You?" It turns out that we do perceive them, but not in a way that we can say that they are definitively within our attainment.
I would put it this way: Of course there are other explanations, but by studying meticulously about matter and form in matter, within the right boundaries, it teaches us about the abstract form and essence. It teaches us without studying them and aiming for them directly. We study them by studying the matter and the form in matter while carefully avoiding studying what we find here that belongs to the abstract form and essence. In other words, we negatively attain the abstract form and essence, as oppose to positively.
It can be described roughly like this: if I provide a million observations describing what a certain pencil is not, I will eventually depict that pencil, through negation. It is very similar to the way we sculpture. We have to carve off everything that does not belong to the desired shape, until we are left with what we do need. This is just one of several explanations why and how Kabbalists acquire knowledge about the abstract form and essence.
"These three boundaries are most severe, and if the reader does not know how to be prudent with them, and takes matters out of context, he or she will immediately be confused in the matter." By "reader" Baal HaSulam refers to the perceiver, the researcher, who arranges his or her Kli to perceive according to these three boundaries,
But if one is confused, couldn't one look back, see one's mistake and correct it? No. In spirituality, confusion means that we do not see when we are confused. We do not see that we are erring. In spirituality, confusion means that we immerse deeper into concealment without seeing that we are confused, and it is in that state that people write such books and do such things that, God forbid.
We see that confusion in spirituality is a very big problem. If, in this world, I clearly know what I need to receive, and what I am about to build, then I see that I have done something wrong, or someone else can let me know that I did something wrong.
There is no such thing in spirituality. There, when I am confused, I decline from my previous degree into greater concealment, the Light grows dimmer, and I become totally unable to discern where I am, why I am where I am, or even the fact that I am confused. Eventually, it becomes concealment within concealment, where I think that I am still researching correctly. I begin to research the abstract form and essence, seemingly philosophizing, and I believe that I am engaged in practical Kabbalistic research. For that reason he says that it is very, very dangerous.
That poses a question: How can one be certain that one will advance correctly within all these boundaries without failing? After all, no one wants to harm himself, much less inflict the kind of damage where who knows when and if I will be told of the confusion? In that case, perhaps it is best not to get into this research in the first place? Perhaps it is better to not know anything at all, if I only end up losing? We will learn how Kabbalists advance toward it and how they perceive these boundaries correctly.
"For this reason I have found it necessary to trouble and expand the understanding of these three limitations as much as I can."
He uses prudent words like, "as much as I can," but we don't see him being humble in other places, do we? He is not just being poetic here; this is a Kabbalist we're speaking of here, who speaks straight to the point. When he says, "as much as I can," he wants to say that he follows and observes the same boundaries as we do, and that he too is very cautious. No one promises him anything, unless he is careful with what he should be. This is what he means by, "as much as I can."
"...in such a way that they will be understood by everyone." In other words, that they will follow in his footsteps and keep these boundaries.
He does not tell us if this is the reason that the Book of Zohar was hidden, and that this is why it was said that it is dangerous to study it.
Also, it seems that what he is saying pertains to someone who's already attained. Otherwise, how do I know about abstract or concrete forms, dressed, or undressed forms, matter and essence? These are, as he says, four "learning conducts." This pertains to levels of understanding, perception, education, and attainment. Of course this is not for beginners. He must have written it for those who are already advancing in attainment of Upper Degrees, and it is in those degrees that they must be careful.
What about us? We don't know, we don't feel that, and don't understand any of that. We open the Zohar and read some stories there, telling about asses, people, or about some plant, a bird, or some landscape. They write about some people walking along and talking on the way. these things don't mean a lot to us. Where in these words do we find Matter, Abstract Form, boundaries and limitations? We don't feel that these are ten Sefirot. In other words, this must be referring to advanced people.
"6. You already know that the ten Sefirot are called Hochma, Bina, Tifferet, Malchut, and their root, called Keter."
"...In general, they consist of all four worlds ABYA. This is because the world Atzilut is Sefirat ( Sefira of) Hochma; the world Beria is Sefirat Bina; the world Yetzira is Sefirat Tifferet; and the world Assiya is Sefirat Malchut. In particular, not only does each and every world has ten Sefirot HBTM, but even the smallest element in each world also has these ten Sefirot HBTM."
"7. The Zohar compared these ten Sefirot, HBTM, to four colors:" Meaning, it is not enough that we have ten Sefirot, worlds, Partzufim, etc. and now he brings in colors? What for? It must be that there are some things that can be expressed particularly through names of colors. I can, for example, take a black pencil and say that it comes in a certain box, in a certain shape, but until I say that it is black, there will always be some information missing.
In other words, why do we have so many appellations in spirituality? You would think that ten Sefirot should have been enough to express everything. But they are not.
Some things are easier to explain by means other than the ten Sefirot. If I had to talk about a certain property, and wanted to express it in the language of Sefirot I would have to say something like this: There was a Partzuf; it purified, and in this purification, its Reshimot went from degrees three and four. From there elicited certain Taamim, and certain Tagin, which in turn connected to certain Otiot, and. In short, I would have to say a thousand words to depict a single word, like "black."
So when I say the word "black," those who are already in the spiritual reality understand what property I am referring to. If I were to speak of it in terms of Sefirot, I would be speaking about the origin of that property, its original location, and the reasons for it. I could speak of it this way, but I could also speak of it differently, using its name, its upshot.
For example, when we say Partzuf AB, what exactly do we mean? Partzuf AB is ten Sefirot, a certain kind of Havayah with this and that filling in Gimatria and certain specific properties etc. etc. But perhaps I don't need all that. I can simply say AB and everyone knows what I meant.
If you want to elicit from AB something that you need for your present research, you can go ahead and do it. AB has got numerous unique properties, such as Ohr Malchut in Kli de Yesod, things that are typical of it. You can take what you want from there, but by stating the name of the Partzuf, it is as if I have finished my job, I pointed you directly to it.
This is why when we add colors here, and later on all kinds of ways to name these properties, we must understand that it works for the reader, it does not induce confusion. It gives one a simpler and more direct way to perceive the spiritual reality. Otherwise, we would have to write a great many lines for every little element.
It is something like the way a machine-language is written in computers: You might be able to express a certain function of the computer in a few words, but for the computer to do it you will need many lines or even pages of commands. This is somewhat like the use of colors here. The use of colors is like a high - level programming language, and the Sefirot are like a low - level, or machine programming language. Actually, we have such examples in the archive, where Baal HaSulam calculates an eighth of one Sefira with a quarter of another Sefira. It's very difficult to express such things in words.
"The Zohar compared these ten Sefirot, HBTM, to four colors:
White for Sefirat Hochma;
Red for Sefirat Bina;
Green for Sefirat Tifferet;
Black for Sefirat Malchut.
It is similar to a mirror that has four panes painted in the four above colors. The light in it is one, but it is colored when traveling through the panes. Though the light in it is one, it is nevertheless colored and becomes four kinds of light: white light; red light; green light; or black light."
The light travels through four colors, or four colored panes. It is white after the first, red after the next, then it is green, and finally black. The question is, does it happen because it changes from color to color, or is it always colorless between the Sefirot, between the panes? For example, does it become black after the three preceding colors, turning black when traveling through the last pane, or is it abstract between the Sefirot, between the panes, and it is still abstract before the last pane, colorless, but is dyed black when passing through the last pane, and not as a result of traveling through the preceding panes?
"Thus, the Light in all the Sefirot is complete Godliness and simple unity from the top of Atzilut to the bottom of Assiya." Meaning, within the Sefira it is Godliness and simple unity, colorless.
"The division into ten Sefirot HB TM is because of the Kelim (lit. Vessels) called HB TM. Each Kli (singular for Kelim) is like a fine partition that the Godly Light travels through to the receivers." In other words, past all these panes there is the receiver, who distinguishes all those colors.
"For this reason it is considered that each Kli makes the Light a different color. The Kli of Hochma in the world Atzilut transmits white Light, meaning colorless, because the Kli of Atzilut is like the Light itself, and the Godly Light is not induced into any change when traveling through it.
This is the meaning of what is written in the Zohar about the world Atzilut, "He, His Life, and His Essence, are one." Hence, the Light of Atzilut is considered white.
But when the Light travels to the receivers through the Kelim of the worlds Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya, it is made different and dimmer because of them. Such is the example of the red Light for Bina, which is Beria, the green Light, like the light of the sun, for Tifferet, which is the world Yetzira, and the black Light for Sefirat Malchut, which is the world Assiya."
Thus, we have a total of four Sefirot. Each Sefira passes to its receiver a different property of the Upper Light. It follows, that the Upper Light clothes the Kli and is then transferred to the receivers. This is so because when the receiver receives, it must adapt itself to the Light. And the adapter between the receiver and the Light, is the world, which is the exterior adapter with respect to the soul.
As the soul is corrected and improved, this adapter gradually disappears. We find, that if the soul takes upon itself all the corrections, boundaries and limitations, this world will disappear. We will find that instead of black, green, red, or white, we will have an Abstract Upper Light.