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"Preface to the Book of Zohar" - Lesson 5

January 17, 2005
Lecturer: Michael Laitman, PhD

We have discussed the boundaries that the creature must assume in order to aim itself and to calibrate its tools of perception to perceive the spiritual reality. In corporeality, we are born with ready - made Kelim and by Reshimot, tutoring, and learning, we come to a state where we develop these Kelim and thus perceive reality as others do.

In spirituality, however, we do not have the measurement, the scale, or the standards by which we can aim ourselves to build the inner Kelim. We don't know exactly what to do with our desires, to which form and which intention we should prepare them so as to ultimately discover the attribute of bestowal, which is the Creator.

For this reason Kabbalists provide us with boundaries, definitions by which we can know what we should do with our Kelim and how. Without their work we would never be able to discover the spiritual picture, since we would not have the foreknowledge of which Kelim we should have for that, and what it is that we are meant to perceive and to see.

"18. As the four categories in the general ABYA were explained, so it is in each and every world, even in the smallest item of some world, both at the top of the world Atzilut, and at the bottom of the world Assiya."

The reality that we perceive is that we are inside the worlds, which are like a wrapping over us, and we are inside this sphere of the worlds.

This is so "because there is HB TM in it. You find that Sefirat Hochma is considered "a form", and Bina and TM are considered the "matter" in which the form clothes, meaning the first and second categories that the Zohar engages in.

"Yet, the Zohar does not engage in Sefirat Hochma when abstracted of Bina and TM, which is a form without matter. It is even more so with the essence, considered the Ein Sof in that item.

"Thus, we do engage in Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut, in every item, even in Atzilut (Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut, or BYA in Atzilut)." We engage in those and can rely on our perception in those Kelim.

"And we do not engage in Keter and Hochma of every item itself, even in (Keter Hochma of) Malchut of the end of Assiya (regardless of the degree, high or low), when abstracted (meaning when they are in themselves, when they do not expand to Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut), but only to the extent that they clothe Bina and TM." In that state we are permitted to engage in them because we have a real and certain perception.

"Now the first two categories have been thoroughly explained. All that the authors of the Zohar engage in is the matter, or form in matter(only that, and nothing more), which is the first boundary, as well as in BYA, or the luminescence of Atzilut in BYA, which is the second boundary."

BYA is called "Matter," and the luminescence of Atzilut in BYA is called "Form clothed in Matter." We are forbidden to move higher or lower than that because there we completely lose our solid ground. We don't know if we can or cannot measure, if we are imagining it or if it is correct etc. This is why we must not get into that.

"19. Now we shall elucidate the third boundary. The Zohar engages in the Sefirot in each and every world, being the Godliness that shines in that world, as well as in every item of the SVAS (Still, Vegetative, Animate and Speaking), being the creatures in that world. However, the primary focus of the Zohar pertains solely to the speaking in that world." In other words, there is higher than the speaking and there is lower than the speaking, but the Zohar says everything forms within the speaking and with relation to the speaking.

"I shall give you an example from the conducts of this world. It has been explained above (Introduction to the Book of Zohar, item 42), that the four kinds, Still, Vegetative, Animate and Speaking in each and every world, are the four parts of the will to receive, even in this world. Each contains its own four kinds of SVAS."

The still, vegetative, animate, and speaking are subdivided into their own still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. In every person we have the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking parts, both in one's corporeality as well as in one's spirituality. It is so because of the law that the general and the particular are equal, and thus everything is intermingled with everything else.

"You find, that a person in this world should nurture and be nourished by all four SVAS categories in this world."

This does not mean that one should eat still, vegetative, animate, and speaking, even though we do eat this way, meaning receive. When I say eating the speaking, I do not mean that we are cannibals, but that we receive nourishment from all the degrees of our surrounding reality.

Being in this world does not pertain to my animate, physiological body, but to my will. When the will is in order to receive, meaning in this world, it too is nourished by the four degrees, or four manners of absorption in it, meaning the four degrees of will in it. These belong to the same Havayah, but it is a projection of the Havayah to our substance.

It follows that we have Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA, Malchut, meaning five parts in our will to receive in this world too. I'm not speaking of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch, in my desires, but of my interior and how it is divided. I cannot perceive anything, in any desire or in any thought, in mind or heart, if it is not divided into five cells in me, and all five cells together render my attainment, understanding, and perception. This is how we were built back in the four phases of Ohr Yashar (lit. Direct Light).

"This is so because our food too consists of these four categories, which in turn, extend from the four SVAS categories in the human body (meaning the will to receive). These are A) wanting to receive according to what is necessary for one's sustenance, in order to exist; B) wanting more than is necessary for sustenance, craving luxuries (this kind of will to receive), but restricts solely to physical desires; C) (The third degree of the will to receive) wanting human cravings, such as respect and domination; D) wanting knowledge (which we already know, right?)."

The first is the necessary sustenance. This is "neither praised nor condemned" because this is for very existence, so it is not even considered having any independent desire. It is only to exist and does not evoke additional desire. The second is additional provision beyond the necessary, meaning more food, more sex, everything that concerns purely physical desires. The third is everything that belongs to human desires, meaning money, honor, and domination; and the fourth is knowledge. This is what we always learn about the evolution of the will to receive.

"These come to us in the four parts of the will to receive in us (generally referred to as "body"). Wanting the necessary sustenance is considered the Still of the will to receive. Wanting physical lusts (such as more than the necessary measure of food and sex) is considered the Vegetative of the will to receive, since they come only to increase and please one's Kli (lit. Vessel), which is the flesh of the body. Wanting human desires is considered the Animate in the will to receive, since they magnify one's spirit; and wanting knowledge is the Speaking in the will to receive."

We should add that in every person, all of these attributes are intermingled. People want all of them; they are not locked on a single desire or whim. Rather, in a certain blend, we have everything. In fact, this is what determines one's character, one's individual personality.

"20. You find that from lower things - the still, vegetative, and the animate - one receives the first category, being the necessary measure for one's sustenance, and the second category, the physical desires that exceed one's measure for sustenance." We use the lower things for provision of food and even sex, meaning bodily things, not human.

"However, in the third category, which is the human desires, such as power and respect (and domination), one receives and is nurtured from one's own species, one's equals. In the fourth category of nourishment, the knowledge, one receives and is nurtured by a higher category than one's own, meaning from the actual wisdom and intellect, which are spiritual."

When he says that they are spiritual, of course he doesn't mean that they already belong to spirituality, because one still receives them in order to receive. He calls them spiritual in the same sense that we say about people that they are spiritual, meaning aspiring for lofty things.

The still, vegetative, animate, and speaking exist in people in this world too. We have five cells in our tools of perception, and this is how we perceive and feel reality. Otherwise we would not sense it and perceive it.

Let us assume - God forbid - that there is a blind person in this world, or deaf, or that something else is wrong with his senses. While that might be in the physical senses, because they belong to the body, and can be restored through surgery etc. we still always have five degrees of perception in that person's desires, tools of perception. It cannot be that one of them is missing, that there is one too many, or that one of them is ill. After all, we are talking about desires, and in desire we always have five tools of perception, corresponding to the tip of the Yod, and the Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey.

This is important because we say that before us there is the Light of Ein Sof. We were born in a certain way, and the Creator imprinted, or carved some pattern of perception in us. We have acquired that mold despite ourselves; we were born this way and raised this way. Thus, we perceive the Light of Ein Sof within some kind of reality where I feel myself and the world around me in a specific, predetermined way.

But nothing is predetermined in spirituality. With respect to spirituality, I have to find my own forms of perception in Ein Sof. The Ein Sof is indeed infinite. It is amorphous and abstract. So what are the Kelim that I need to build that will finally provide me with an overall understanding of the Upper Force, the one that builds, creates, dominates, and controls. I need to know who is the General Law.

I build my own little private, particular rules toward Him, and then compare them to Him. By so doing I come to understand the General Law, the sensation of the Abstract Upper Light. I go from discrete forms to integral forms, to an overall perception of the Abstract Light.

I have no foreknowledge or example of what it is I am meant to perceive. I never know what the sensation and the perception of the Upper Degree are when I am in the lower, and this is why we must always restrict ourselves, so as not to exceed the clearly defined tools that perceive the truth.

Question: He writes that wisdom and intellect are spiritual; what is spiritual about wisdom and intellect?

Answer: I have said that wisdom and intellect are called "the spiritual in this world," it is simply how they are called. I can nourish myself from the still, vegetative, animate, and from the speaking. From the still, vegetative, and the animate, I nourish my body, my physical desires. From the speaking, I nourish myself with honor and domination, in the way I relate to my social environment, to people, and to humanity.

But I do not receive views and knowledge from people by means of research, understanding, and discovering. I rather receive it from a higher degree than the human, a degree called spiritual. It is spirituality in this world, knowledge, research of nature, things I acquire in my vessels that operate in order to receive, but they nevertheless relate to the revelation of the Creator to the creatures. This is why it is considered "the spirituality of this world."

"21. You will find it similar in the elements of the Upper, Spiritual Worlds (just as we now learned about this world). It is so because the worlds are imprinted from one another from above downward."

We can imagine the worlds as being one below the other, or as spheres within spheres, or as platforms that stand one below the other. By this we are actually saying that everything that exists in the upper sphere passes in some diminution to the lower, inner sphere. We could also say that everything that exists on the upper platform is transmitted to the lower platform, but diminutively. Now we must understand what we mean by diminution, meaning in what way it is diminished.

"Thus, all the SVAS elements in the world Beria leave their imprint in the world Yetzira (all the elements), and the SVAS of Yetzira are (all) imprinted in the SVAS of Assiya. Lastly, the SVAS of Assiya are (all) imprinted in the SVAS of this world."

Thus, even in this world, in our egoistic desire, here too we find the exact same elements, the same preparations, but in the substance of this world, in our will to receive in order to receive. Every thing and every element in the Upper World is projected, copied to this world, not missing a thing.

"It has been explained above in the Introduction to the Book of Zohar, item 42, that the still in the spiritual worlds are called Heichalot (lit. Palaces), the vegetative (in the spiritual worlds) is called Levushim (lit. Clothes or Dresses), the animate (in the spiritual world) are named Mala'achim (lit. Angels), and the speaking (in the spiritual world) is considered the Neshamot (lit. Souls) of Adam in that world. Also, the Ten Sefirot in each world are the Godliness.

"The human souls are the center in each world, which is nourished by the spiritual reality in that world, as the corporeal speaking (in our world, man) feeds on the entire corporeal reality in this world."

We have already said that the still, vegetative, and animate, receive into their bodies for their fulfillment, the speaking is fulfilled by the level of speaking in it, and the spiritual part in us, the knowledge, is fulfilled by the uppermost part in it.

"Thus, the first category, which is the will to receive one's necessary sustenance (in the human body), is received from the luminescence of the Heichalot and Levushim there."

When I speak of the human body in this case, I am referring to the spiritual body of man, meaning this is already in order to bestow. If one has a body in this world, and then raises them (meaning one's desires) to the level of the spiritual world, it means that that person's desires have acquired intentions to bestow. Now we are faced with the question, "What nourishes those desires?"

"...the first category, which is the will to receive one's necessary sustenance, is received from the luminescence of the Heichalot and Levushim there." The second category, being the animate luxuries that increase one's body (increase one's desires more and more, exceeding the necessary. These are physical luxuries), is received from the category of the Mala'achim there (see Zohar Tikkunim, Tikun 69, p. 105, row 32). These are spiritual illuminations that exceed one's necessary measure for existence."

Here one is already considered vegetative, as opposed to the still. When one receives for mere sustenance, it is called "still," when one does not need more than that, and hence does not change. When we receive more than for mere sustenance, it causes us to begin to grow, "in order to magnify the spiritual Kelim whose soul clothes in."

"Thus, one receives the first category and the second category - in one's will to receive - from lower categories than one's own, which are the Heichalot, the Levushim, and the Mala'achim there (in whatever degree he's in)." We have Heichalot, Levushim, Mala'achim and finally man in every degree and in every world, just like we have still, vegetative, animate, and speaking in this world.

"...which are (the Heichalot, Levushim, and Mala'achim) lower than human Neshamot." In other words, here one still receives for one's own body, so to speak, the mundane necessities and bodily luxuries, i.e. food and sex.

"The third category, which is human desires - which we have said are for power and honor that one receives from the environment, from one's equals. These are desires "that increase one's spirit (the human in us), is received in this world by one's own species."

How is that implemented in spirituality? "It follows that one receives (in the spiritual worlds) from one's own species too, meaning from all the Neshamot in that world, by which one increases the luminescence of Ruach of one's Neshama (singular for Neshamot)." Here he is speaking of what increases one's spirit, one's soul. This pertains to human desires in this world, and correspondingly, those of the soul in the spiritual world.

"The fourth category of the desire (to receive, in this world), meaning for knowledge, is received there - in spirituality - from the Sefirot in that world. From them one receives (the Behina Dalet in a person) HBD to one's soul."

As we have said that one receives spirituality in this world, knowledge, and revelation of Godliness, so it is here in the spiritual world. One receives the desire for spiritual knowledge, the Behina Dalet, from the HBD, higher Kelim than himself. This is because the Kelim of HBD belong to the Rosh (lit. head), and the person himself is called Adam, ZON, MA (in Gimatria), which are Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod, Malchut. Thus, one receives in the Zat, the knowledge, or the attainments from Gar, from HBD.

"It follows that in every single world where one's soul is present, it should grow and be completed through all the elements in that world (the entire Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey in that world, vis-a-vis all one's Kelim)."

Even the most primitive person in the world, with desires for mere sustenance, still has desires for food, sex, and family beyond the bare minimum, and also for honor, power, money, and even for some knowledge. Similarly, a person who exists in spirituality must receive the fulfillment in all the degrees before him, the Heichalot, the Levushim, the Mala'achim, and the Neshamot, as well as the HBD of the degree one is in. The Heichalot are the still, Levushim are the vegetative, Mala'achim-animate, and Neshamot-people, the speaking. Spirituality, or Godliness, is called the HBD in that degree. This is how one perceives in spirituality, corresponding to the perception in the will to receive in order to receive called "this world."

"This is the third limitation we have mentioned.

"One must know that all the words of the Zohar, in every item of the Upper Worlds that are dealt with, the Sefirot, the Neshamot, and the Mala'achim, the Levushim and the Heichalot (by Sefirot he means the HBD in that degree), though it engages in them as they are for themselves, the examiner must nevertheless know that they are spoken primarily with respect to the measure by which the human soul there receives from them and is nourished by them. Thus, all their words concentrate on the needs of the soul. If you learn everything according to this line, you will understand, and your path will be successful."

If you do not follow that, you will be confused and misunderstand what is written in the books of the Kabbalists. At the end of the day, the ones who perceive these matters are the souls of people. Even if they receive from the Levushim, the Heichalot, the Mala'achim, and the Neshamot, and also from the HBD (the Sefirot), who-in the end-is the receiver? It is the soul that receives, and in all of its five Kelim.

This is why only by concentrating on going through one's soul one must understand that the sensed and observed reality is observed in one's own Kelim. I will say even more than that: It is not that we see reality, but we see how the Upper Light expands from HBD and permeates our Kelim, and the reaction occurs within our Kelim. It is a projection of the Upper Light and our own attributes. With our attributes we mold reality in such a way that it seemingly consists of Levushim, Heichalot, Mala'achim, Neshamot, and HBD.

Our interior properties "cast their shadow" on the abstract Light and render both the picture of the corporeal world, as well as the spiritual world. We must not forget that at the end of the day, it is we who shape reality from within. Therefore, the way we feel and see the Creator depends solely on our own attributes, our own Kelim. It depends on how we position Him before us, as it written, "By Your acts we know You," it is all from within.

22. "After all that we have yet to explain all these corporeal appellations explained in The Book of Zohar concerning the ten Sefirot. Such as that are up and down, ascent and descent, contraction and expansion, smallness and greatness, separation and mating, and numbers and the like, which the lower ones induce through their good or evil actions in the ten Sefirot."

We seemingly have ten Sefirot of Light, because without the ten Sefirot we cannot perceive the Light, it is the highest perception in us, and when we perceive, it we begin to see that there are all sorts of changes in it. All sorts of profiles appear-though of course it is only in our eyes-such as ups and downs, expansion and contraction etc. So the question is how does it happen in spirituality?

"These words are seemingly perplexing. Can it be that Godliness would operate itself and would undergo such changes because of the lower ones?" In other words, does the Creator, or the Upper Light, change because we change in relation to it? "You might say that the words do not refer to the Godliness itself, which clothes and shines in the Sefirot, but only to the Kelim of the Sefirot.

"These in turn, are not Godliness. They were rather renewed with the creation of the souls in order to conceal or reveal the measure of attainment in the proper ration and measure for the souls, to bring them to the desired end of correction."

So what actually happens here, and who actually changes? Is it I who change, is it the Creator, or do both of us change? We discussed it when we discussed the Newtonian perception, which argues that the world exists in and of itself objectively. I could be dead or alive, perceiving or not perceiving it; the world would exist in its objective form regardless. This is the classical perception.

Afterwards they began to see that what we refer to as "the world," is not really as it appears to us. It is something in-between us. Through tools that we had built, we began to see the world through other animals' senses. We saw how they perceive the world, and discovered that the world is not exactly as we say it is, but that it depends on the perceiver. We perceive the world differently, according to our different senses and properties. In other words, the world exists, but in appearances according to my senses.

After that came the notion that the world is relative, that it all depends on changes between me and what happens on the outside. They began to think that there is something in-between my senses and properties and what is outside of me, and that this is how the world is built.

The latest approach-and the closest to the wisdom of Kabbalah-says that there is no form to the world at all. Instead, it is we who bring the pictures into the world, we introduce them, and there are endless possibilities to the world. However, saying that there are endless forms is also incorrect; there are none. It is rather completely abstract and can never take on any form.

If we say that there are thousands of forms to it and that there is interaction between us, then we say that there are forms outside of me. But really, there are no forms whatsoever outside of me. There is the Upper Light, which takes on no form and no change, even if I change with respect to it, and perceive something of it. By that, I do not induce any changes in the Upper Light, I only perceive my partial similarity to it, my internal matching to the Upper Light. I perceive the measure of my similarity to it.

Let's take a simple example: The closer and more similar I make myself to the Upper Light, the more it appears to me as white in shade, a softer color, or a better and more pleasant feeling, etc., depending on the discernments. Conversely, the less similar I am to the Upper Light, the darker I feel the color of the Light. It feels less pleasant, harder, heavier, and far instead of near, etc.. When he speaks of contraction or expansion, ups or downs, light or heavy, hot or cold, whether referring to spirituality or to corporeality, it is all measured according to my inner similarity to the abstract light. This is what depicts my picture of reality in its every profile and observation.

"It resembles the parable about the four-color glazes of the mirror (see item 7), dyed in white, red, green and black."

Outside the mirror, the Light is colorless, abstract. As the Light travels through the colored glazes, it is colored in white, red, green, or black. In other words, the Upper Light itself is like Keter. If it travels through Hochma, it is colored white, if through Bina (after Hochma) it is colored red, when it travels through Zeir Anpin it is colored green, and when through Malchut, it is colored black.

"It also resembles the white in the book, and the substance of the letters in the book.

"All that is possible in the three worlds BYA, where the Kelim of the Sefirot are renewed and are not Godliness. However, it is not at all correct to comprehend this rule with respect to the world Atzilut, where the Kelim of the ten Sefirot are complete Godliness, one with the Godly Light in them.

"It is written about that in the Tikkunim (corrections to the Zohar): 'He, His Life, and His Self, are one.'" It is a state where the Kli and the Light become so close to one another that we cannot discern between the Kelim and the Lights. The Kelim in the world Atzilut are completely white, because Atzilut corresponds to Hochma. So even if all its Kelim, and even Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut, are also at the level of the overall white in Atzilut, they are all in a state of "He, His Life, and His Self, are one."

"'He,' pertains to the essence of the Sefirot, which is the Ein Sof. 'His Life' pertains to the Light that shines in the Sefirot, called Light of Haya (lit. Life). This is so because the entire world Atzilut is considered Hochma (lit. Wisdom), and the Light of Hochma is called the Light of Haya. This is why it is called 'Life.' 'His Self' pertains to the Kelim of the Sefirot (which are also similar, close to the light, with respect to the equivalence of form)."

"Thus, everything is complete Godliness and unity (both Lights and vessels). How then is it possible to perceive these changes there, which the lower ones induce (with all their discernments, is there is no contrast there, no difference between the Lights and the Kelim)?"

"At the same time we must see that if everything is Godliness in that world ( Atzilut), and nothing of the renewed creatures is to be found there, where then do we discern there the three above discernments in the Tikkunim of the Zohar," where they say that there are "He, His Life, and His Self?" They mean that there is still Upper Light there, clothed in Sefirot, in Nesha
mot, and in Kelim. "After all, it is utter unity!" In other words, how can we speak of the world Atzilut, and say that this is where the creature exists?

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