2. The Striking of Thoughts upon Man

“Because of the striking of upper light, which strikes that curtain, lights sparkled from them and went through that Masach [screen]” (The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 3, Chapter 4, Item 6).

We can interpret that striking is the thoughts that strike a person, trouble him and tire him, and he has thoughts this way and that way. And all this is because he has a Masach.

If he keeps the Masach and agrees to walk on the path of the Creator, which is regarded as “mind,” as “scrutiny,” when he comprehends that it is good for him to accept faith above reason, it is considered that he causes an addition of light in the upper degree, for the joy comes specifically through the scrutiny.

We see that when two people love each other, when one of them has another friend who wants to join the other, too, the first one does not like it, and the first one sits and waits to see whom he will pick as a loyal friend, and he begins to compare one to the other. He begins to measure the importance and benefits he receives from the two of them, and thoughts begin to run about within him. This is called “striking with his views.”

In the end, he decides on the first one, that it is worth bonding with him. He scrutinizes only as a force above reason. This means that although he does not really feel the importance of the upper one, the scrutiny is through a Masach, called “an attempt,” regarded as “concealment.”

But when he overcomes the Masach and sustains it, meaning he does not cancel the Masach, this causes joy above, and then the upper one also gives him joy. That is, to the extent that he received the importance of the upper one above reason, that same measure of greatness of the upper one extends to him within reason, not less and not more.