Obtaining Light
Q: How does the Upper Light reach us?
A: The Light that comes to us is so dim, we cannot perceive it. We can only recognize it within the objects we are attracted to, because it is dressed in them. That way, we can receive the Light and enjoy it for our own purposes, but only to that extent, and only at that degree of power.
In order to feel that Light at least as much as those who are in a state of clinical death, we must detach ourselves from our desire to take pleasure. That is exactly what happens to them, and that is why they feel the Upper Light openly.
But even if we completely detach ourselves from our bodies and take on another form, we will feel the Upper One, eternal and perfect, to a lesser degree than we can feel Him in this body in this world. This is because we are in this world and in this body, and can detach from it and rise with our souls to the Highest Degree.
We are able to receive the Light by using a system called, “three lines.” The “left line” is the accumulation of all of our desires to please ourselves. The “right line” is the attributes of the Creator. It is clear that a person does not begin by feeling them immediately.
When we study the books of Kabbalah that are written in a special system, we attract a “Surrounding Light.” We will be able to feel that Light inside us later on and receive it in the form of pleasure.
However, until we are ready, that Light remains around us, concealed, and waits for us to be ready to receive it. Kabbalists are people who receive that Light openly. Their writing leaves the contact they have with the Light within the text.
Therefore, when we study from a book written by a genuine Kabbalist and in the right system, we can draw in a more effective illumination of surrounding Light, which cleanses the soul and prepares us to receive the Light.
Then, we can be filled with the Upper Light and feel ourselves whole and eternal. But the correction under the influence of the Surrounding Light is done gradually, and in portions.
To the extent that we absorb the attributes of the Light, we correct ourselves, our left line, and become able to receive the Light. Those portions of correction are called the “degrees/rungs of the ladder,” the spiritual ladder, which raise a person from the sensation of our world, the sensation of ourselves, to the sensation of the next, the sensation of the Creator.
The middle line is the best possible combination between man’s receiving nature and the forces of the Upper Light. It coordinates between them in such a way that a person will self-correct to resemble the Light as much as possible, while still maintaining one’s independence.