Chapter 2. The Purpose of Kabbalah
Kabbalists assert that the purpose of Creation is to bring joy and pleasure to the created beings. The will to enjoy (the vessel or the soul) receives pleasure according to the intensity of its desire.
This is why all that was created in all the worlds is merely a changing desire to receive pleasure, and the Creator satisfies this desire. This will to receive pleasure is the substance of Creation, both spiritual and corporeal, including that which already exists and that which will manifest in the future.
Matter in its diverse manifestations (minerals, plants, human beings, colors, sounds, etc.) is simply differing amounts of the will to receive pleasure. The Light emanated by the Creator vitalizes and fulfills such matter. Originally, both the desire to enjoy – called a “vessel” – and the desire to bring enjoyment – called the “Light” – corresponded with each other in magnitude. That is, the vessel (the will to enjoy) received maximum pleasure.
However, as the desire diminished, both the vessel and the Light that filled it gradually contracted and kept moving away from the Creator until they reached the lowest level, where the will to enjoy finally materialized.
The only difference between the Upper World and ours lies in the fact that in our world the vessel (the will to receive pleasure) exists at its lowest level, called the “material body.”
Before its final materialization, the vessel evolves through four stages, divided into ten Sefirot (levels): Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. These Sefirot constitute filters inhibiting the Light that the Creator directs to the created beings. The task of these filters is to weaken the Light to such an extent that the creatures existing in our world will be able to perceive it.
Sefirat (singular for Sefirot) Keter is also called “the world Adam Kadmon”; Sefirat Hochma is called “the world Atzilut”; Sefirat Bina – “the world Beria”; the Sefirot Hesed to Yesod – “the world Yetzira”; and Sefirat Malchut – “the world Assiya.” The last level of the world, Assiya, constitutes our universe (see Drawing 1).
Kabbalah calls this level “Olam ha Zeh” (this world). It is perceived by those who exist in it, and the vessel, or the will to enjoy, is called “the body.” The Light, called “pleasure,” is perceived as the force of life.
Although the Light that fills the body is reduced so that we do not feel its source, by observing certain Creator-given rules described in Kabbalah, we purify ourselves from egoism and gradually ascend through all the worlds back to the Source.
As we attain higher spiritual levels, we receive larger portions of Light until we reach levels where we can receive all the Light (absolute, infinite delight) that was destined for us from the dawn of Creation.
Every soul is surrounded by spiritual Light. Although beginners in Kabbalah may not understand what they are studying in the authentic sources, their powerful desire to understand evokes the Upper Force that surrounds them, and the effects of this Upper Force purify and thus elevate them.
If not in this life, then in the next, every person will feel the need to study Kabbalah and to receive knowledge about the Creator.
The Light surrounds the human soul from the outside until one reaches a spiritual level where the Light begins to permeate it. The reception of the Light within depends only on one’s desire and readiness, and on the purity of one’s soul.
However, during one’s studies one utters the names of the Sefirot, the worlds, and the spiritual actions connected to one’s soul. Thus, the soul receives micro-doses of Light from the outside, a light that gradually purifies the soul and prepares it to receive spiritual energy and delight.