What is Spiritual?
Q: How do you discern between corporeal and spiritual?
A: Spiritual is that which is above our world. That which is absolutely not “for me,” but only “for the Creator,” when the outcome of the act is not related in any way to the one who performs it, even indirectly.
The soul is linked with the Creator, senses it and is filled by it, at least in the smallest amount. It is anything that is out of and above time, space and motion, that is not in any way linked with the sensation of the animate body, but is felt in some inner space in man’s senses – intended for the Creator only – and revealed only when man is in control of the “spiritual” bearer.
Q: I read that the spiritual is the “nature of the giver,” which is outside our world. Why can we not say that the spiritual is a part of our world?
A: How could the spiritual be a component of our world? The spiritual is “in it,” but it does not appear in it directly, but rather by “clothing.”
Our world is a state where the will to receive enjoys only a very small Light called “minute Light,” and we can enjoy it even when the aim of the desire is “for me.”
The Creator does this purposely. We can enjoy that tiny Light, although we have not yet acquired a spiritual intent to give to the Creator, and do not have a screen.
The will to enjoy that is found within us is the smallest of the created desires. It is separated from all other desires of the soul, so that we may practice on it: once “for me” and once “for the Creator,” and finally attain admittance to the spiritual world.
Rabbi Baruch Ashlag compared it to how children were taught to write in the old days: pen and paper were too expensive, so the child would be given a piece of chalk and board to write on, so that they would not waste precious paper, until they learned to write correctly.
Q: Is there a spiritual evil, such as shells or the evil inclination?
A: The shells and the evil inclination are impure forces that are above our world. They do not exist in a normal person and appear only when a genuine desire for the Creator begins to emerge in man. In order to intensify that desire, negative forces are incited. By resisting them, man grows and intensifies his desire for the Creator. They were created specifically for that – to interrupt and produce doubts.
Although the shells and the evil inclination do not exist in our world, we still do not call them “spiritual.” They exist inside a person and not outside him and serve as a means and aid on his path to the Creator – a “help against him.”