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The Structure of the Soul
The Sixth Sense
What does it mean to perceive the Creator in this life? Does it
mean that I will perceive Him through taste, audition or color - that is,
through the five senses? It is written: “Taste and feel how good the
Creator is” (Baal HaSulam, Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,
Item 3). What does it mean to taste and feel Him?
In our world we taste and feel everything through our five senses.
There are five sensory organs and, through them, we receive information
into ourselves. The eyes are for sight, the ears are for audition, the
nose for olfaction, the fingers for touch and the tongue for taste. That
is all.
Information enters into our internal computer, where it undergoes
processing and results in our receiving a certain image of the world. We
can say that there is a little projector inside of us. It projects an
image of the world onto a screen and this is what we sense.
This is how we perceive our world. Besides this, however, there exists
one more sensory organ called “Kli” (vessel) or “soul.” It
perceives in the same way as do our five natural senses.
Our sensory organs are constructed in such a way that their internal
vibrations coincide with the external vibrations, and we perceive the
external perception according to this common frequency.
Let us suppose that the visual waves have a specific frequency, the
sound waves have a specific frequency, the olfactory receptors are
reacting to a specific frequency, and the same for the touch and taste
receptors.
These frequencies, as well as my organs, are constructed in order to
match my inner perception, frequency or attribute to the external
parameters.
The same thing is true for the soul or Kli. If it equalizes its
attributes or inner frequency to the external frequency, it receives and
perceives that which is happening on the outside. That which it receives
enters a person’s “projector” and it depicts a specific image for him.
What is the difference? In our world, we were already born with
ready-made inner attributes. These inner attributes or vibrations are
predetermined in advance; therefore we automatically perceive ourselves
in this world and this perception enters us through our five sense organs.
This is not the case for our soul. With regard to our soul, we are not
simply born as automatic animals or robots. Rather, we have to attune
ourselves. We have to develop the frequency that corresponds to the
external frequency, and we have to develop it gradually. At first we
develop small frequencies; then bigger and bigger ones, and this
continues until infinity.
(That is, my attribute is the greatest or maximum frequency my soul is
able to reproduce. I am able to perceive the entire image to the
corresponding degree. Naturally, I cannot perceive an image greater than
my maximal attribute, or greater than my highest frequency.)
It is possible that there exists another realm I do not perceive, in
the same way I do not perceive another huge realm of the universe with
my five senses that dogs are able to perceive through their sense of
smell, or what eagles are able to see with their sense of sight, or
what dolphins can hear as well as other animals. I do not perceive
these realms of the universe.
It is exactly the same in the spiritual worlds: I do not perceive any
realm of the universe other than the one I can attune my sixth sense
or my sixth organ to.
My task it to attune it as much as I possibly can. In addition nature
compels me to do this.
Nature created me with five senses. It provided me with them for my
current existence. The sixth organ, however, is located within me in
the state of an “embryo” in order for me to develop it and to use it
correctly over the course of my life.
If I begin to tune or fix this sensory organ, this process is called: I
am beginning to perform spiritual work. Correspondingly, I already begin
to slightly and gradually perceive some vibrations.
I perceive them as a “plus-minus,” and these pluses-and-minuses or
vibrations gradually attune me from the outside in.
All changes that take place in the external space (as I perceive it)
influence me positively and negatively. They influence me in such a way
that, inside of myself, I discover immense abilities to change myself or
to attune myself to a greater perception.
Nature, or the Creator (this is the same thing) compels us to develop
this sense to the maximum. This is man’s task. When we maximally develop
it, this is called: “the end of correction” (“Gmar Tikkun”).
Being in this state means to perceive the external space called “the
Creator.”
Why “the Creator?“ – because He created precisely this realm of the
universe, and me as a sheer organ for perceiving it. So what is a human
being? Very simply, he or she is the one who perceives the Creator.
Nature, in its entirety, is the law of nature that exists within the
entire universe, and it is called “the Creator.” He compels man to fully
discover and grasp Him.
This is the meaning of “Taste and feel how good the Creator is!” That is:
fully reveal all your feelings in such a way that you will taste this
entire realm of the universe.
Why does this saying refer to taste? Taste is man’s most natural and most
primitive receptor. You can see that a child will immediately place
anything that comes his way into his mouth. Why? Because this is the
easiest and optimal way for him to directly familiarize himself with
every object. He does not yet understand what he sees, but immediately,
even without seeing it, he places it in his mouth. Knowing this
Kabbalists say: “Taste and feel!”
In addition to this, they are referring to work with the screen, because
our screen consists of Peh de-Rosh, or the inside of the mouth
of the spiritual Partzuf. Therefore it is said: “taste.” Another
reason is that the light that enters through Peh de-Rosh, or
that enters inside the Partzuf through this screen, is called
“Taamim” or “taste.”
Therefore: “taste” means to take something into yourself, meaning to
allow the Upper Light to pass through your sensor and to taste it to the
degree of your screen or the degree of your sixth organ’s attuning
towards perceiving the external manifestation. That is, it means to
receive the Light of the Creator into yourself. This is precisely what
the Creator is: He is the inner light that we attain and perceive.
The Structure of the Soul
Conditions for the Soul’s Development
A person in our world cannot exist without having some basic knowledge
about the structure of this world, how it affects him, and what the laws
of the inanimate, vegetative, animated, and human levels of nature are.
Undoubtedly, the more a person comprehends the world around him, the
easier and safer it is for him to exist in it.
No one would argue that if fate threw a modern urban person into a
desert, he, unfamiliar with desert conditions, would simply perish. That
is, in order to exist in any environment, it is necessary to know how
this environment functions, what its laws and attributes are, and what
is conducive, or harmful and dangerous to life.
Moreover, for the least painful existence in society, a person has to
know what lies in the heart of another, understand those who surround
him. Without this ability, he cannot be a full-fledged member of the
society.
If we placed a primitive man among us who did not know the laws of our
society, its problems, the thoughts of the surrounding people and their
relationships with each other, would he be able to exist?
Thus, a person who lacks these two kinds of knowledge – about nature and
about society – is unable to exist in our world.
Just as a person in our world cannot exist without knowledge of our
world, a person’s soul cannot exist in the spiritual world, having not
acquired certain knowledge of its laws and nature.
This knowledge must include understanding of the structure and
functioning of the spiritual worlds, Partzufim and
Sefirot, as well as their interactions called “Zivugim”
and their consequences and actions.
However, in order to gain knowledge of the spiritual world, one is
required to have a soul. Only then it becomes important to him to
understand the nature of the spiritual world, for this is what gives
one's soul the ability to exist in it.
What does it mean to have a soul?
The soul is a spiritual organ that is gradually born in a person who
exists in our world.
The birth of the soul signifies a gradual emergence of sensation of the
spiritual forces that affect him, new altruistic desires, and the
emergence of a minimal sensation of the Creator.
This way, along with the person’s physiological body that leads a
physiological life, emerges a spiritual body that lives in the spiritual
world.
Just as without knowing the laws of nature and society we would not be
able to physically exist in this world, our soul or spiritual body cannot
exist in the spiritual world without the comprehension of the nature of
the spiritual world.
And vice-versa: a person who does not posses the spiritual knowledge
will not acquire a soul. And it is because he would instantly harm it.
Therefore, the Upper governance limits his perception.
Only a person who is able to act spiritually being fully aware and
familiar with the functioning of the spiritual environment revealed to
him, will acquire the perception of the spiritual world.
Thus, a person who has not acquired spiritual knowledge will not acquire
a soul. And he who has acquired a soul develops in the spiritual world
like a newborn.
The soul’s development
Since everything in creation is structured according to a single
principle - the five stages of development - the birth of the spiritual
body (called the “soul”) in a person is equivalent to the birth of our
physiological body.
We differentiate three stages in the birth and development of our body,
and they are the consequence of the three stages of development that the
soul (our spiritual body or our egoistic desire to receive pleasure)
undergoes. The original or starting state is the absolutely egoistic
desire to receive pleasure, meaning the state when we want to receive
that which we perceive to be pleasure. In the final state, we alter the
objects of our pleasure.
The first stage – birth and emergence into the world. At
this stage, we lack knowledge and strength, and a person receives
everything necessary for his existence from his father and mother, and
he exists due to their strength and care.
Correspondingly, the spiritual birth (or entrance into the spiritual
world) occurs after a person has realized that egoism is evil, meaning
that he has rejected his own egoism and has acquired the initial desire
to give himself over to the will of the Upper, in order for Him to
correct and create a creature equivalent to Himself.
The realization of evil is the full understanding of the fact that you
lack any desires for the spiritual, or for that which is beyond the
bounds of the body’s benefit.
Once this realization has occurred, birth takes place. The Upper light
gives a person strength or the forces to completely reconstruct his
nature, to suppress it and not to use his own desires. That is, to create
a screen over them, or to accept the conditions of the First
Restriction.
This state is called “conception” and “birth of the spiritual
desire-Kli”: despite the fact that increasingly greater desires
are emerging in a person as a result of his revelation of immense
spiritual pleasures, nevertheless, the person prefers to remain in the
state of an embryo.
This corrected desire is called “the first small state” (Katnut
Alef).
A soul that has been acquired by an adult living in our world is called
“newborn.”
During the soul’s birth and at the beginning of his perception of it,
a person does not yet have any spiritual knowledge and he is not aware
of what is happening in the spiritual world. This is equivalent to the
way a newborn baby does not realize where he is. The reason for this is
that the person has only “Aviut Alef,” or the screen to
withstand only the tiniest part of his egoism.
On his own, he is unable to move or to perform any spiritual actions,
in the same way that a baby cannot perform any conscious physical actions.
After a person has been spiritually born and he is in this state, how can
he exist in the spiritual? Only on account of his parents - the same way
as in our world.
What does this mean? In spite of all of the interfering forces and
circumstances, a person should attach himself to a higher
Partzuf and, with all his efforts, try to avoid becoming
separated from it in spite of all the egoistic obstacles that tempt him
with their pleasures or reasonable deductions.
That is, a person receives various obstacles, thoughts and temptations
that oppose his spiritual advancement. He falls down many times (in
the spiritual sense), makes mistakes and falls into animal pleasures,
as if he is the weakest-willed person in the world.
The reason for this is that the Upper is showing him who he really is,
how insignificant and weak his spiritual desires are and how strong his
egoistic nature is.
If a person “glues” himself to the Upper Partzuf despite all
of this, then he grows, because he overcomes the obstacles that are
in his way.
The same aforementioned Upper force purposefully sends these obstacles
to him, and He does it in such a way that the lower does not feel the
purposefulness. The Upper sends the lower various obstacles to his
spiritual advancement in order for the lower to become convinced in
his own inability to do anything and to cry to Him for help.
When this happens the Upper helps him. He does not need abasement and
pleas. Simply, when the lower has realized his own weakness, he creates
within himself the condition for receiving help or light from the
Upper.
If a person does not realize that on his own he is unable to overcome
the conquering egoism, the urge for pleasures and the desire to
understand everything rather than to act in spite of knowledge -- this
means that he does not have a Kli or the ability to receive help.
This is equivalent to the condition necessary for a person to receive
knowledge from another person: a person is able to receive knowledge
from another person only if he is convinced that the other person knows
more than he does.
Therefore, the Upper needs to show the lower that he is nothing. This
necessity stems from the necessity to develop His newborn baby – the
soul -- from the egoistic desire.
However, when a person perceives his own total insignificance and
weakness, he wants to leave the spiritual path, because his inner voice
convinces him that he does not have the strength for it. And how can he
possibly attain such a high goal without strength?
Only the strength or force of the Upper Partzuf is able to help
a person remain in this state. That is, his “AVI” or “father
and mother,” meaning the strength/force of the parents who are above him.
This state - the baby’s growth under the influence of the Upper - is
called “Katnut Alef” or “the first small state.”
The second stage – growth and acquisition of the
necessary knowledge and reason that enable the person to avoid everything
harmful to the body by generally taking care of himself with his own
strength, as well as the father’s and mother’s strength.
What does “growth” mean in the spiritual? Does it mean to become fatter
or taller, as in our world? Yes: “fatter” with regard to the light
Hassadim means to increase one’s desire to bestow. “Taller”
with regard to the light Hochma means that a person acquires
an immense ability to receive light for the sake of the Creator.
A person acquires knowledge by receiving the light Hochma.
However, he is able to receive this light (Hochma) only when it
is clothed into the light Hassadim, meaning into the intention
“for the sake of the Creator” or the altruistic intentions.
This way, the light Hochma is able to enter into the altruistic
desires, and this is the light that gives us knowledge about how to
withstand the impure forces.
What does it mean when we say “impure forces?” We think that our desires
are given to us for our benefit, because having desires enables us to
receive and perceive pleasures.
Therefore, we think that all the things that “sparkle” and attract us
with their pleasures are good for us. And generally, we think that
“pleasure” and “good for us” are the same thing.
In reality, however, a person attains the realization (or awareness) of
evil when he understands that “egoistic pleasure” and “evil” are the
same thing.
In the worlds BYA, the spiritual impure forces tell a person
about the great spiritual pleasures he will receive if he follows his
desires (that is, the desires given to him by the impure forces as if
they were his own.)
If a person is able to realize or see the evil for himself in this, then
this realization already becomes a part of the next – higher -- state.
On every step of his spiritual path from the bottom up, a person must
go through all of the following stages: he must see that the Ego is
evil and, for this reason, he must gain the ability to withstand it; he
must admit his own weakness or inability to do anything independently;
and he must want to turn to the Upper for help.
A person is able to go through these stages only with the help of the
Upper light’s illumination or glow on him. The light that comes from the
Creator allows the person to perceive that egoism is evil, that he himself
is insignificant and that the Upper is the savior.
When a person goes through these states, he feels how his parents (or
the Upper Partzuf) watch over him and take care of him. They
safeguard him, provide him with everything necessary from all sides and
show him what is good and what is bad.
Gradually, the lower realizes that everything he perceives -- both good
and bad -- comes from his parents. He is now able to accomplish certain
things on his own, by remembering what his parents have taught him.
Gradually, as he acquires more spiritual strength and knowledge, he
grows even more.
Spiritual growth consists of at least two stages: whenever a person is
able to do something for the Creator, he must do it on his own. Whenever
he is unable to – he must ask the Upper for it.
On his current level, a person is able to do everything on his own.
However, in order to achieve a higher level he must ask the Creator for
everything. This is how he grows.
This stage - growing on account of the Upper and attaining the spiritual
nature - is called “Katnut Bet”, or “the second small
state.”
The third stage – Gadlut (the large state).
This is the adult state. The knowledge a person has acquired gives him
the strength to exist independently, and this is equivalent to an adult
in our world.
He depends on society and the people around him, but no longer on his
parents. He himself possesses the light Hochma, and he is able
to perform a Zivug, give birth, as well as raise and fill with
light another lower Partzuf – his son.
He now has his own experience and reason that allow him to exist
independently. In addition he is able to pass this experience on to
another person.
The spiritual object (a soul) goes through the same spiritual processes
as a person of this world does, or through processes that correspond to
the ones a person in our world goes through.
The difference is only the material: whether it is egoistic or altruistic.
However, it is precisely this difference that makes all spiritual events
completely incomprehensible to us. The reason for this is that we
completely lack any understanding of the altruistic nature.
Every person’s soul repeatedly incarnates or returns into this world
(or clothes into the body of this world). This reincarnation continues
until the soul has fully attained the entire Kabbalistic knowledge;
because without this knowledge, the soul cannot grow and receive
everything the Creator has designed to give it.
The reason the soul is obligated to attain the Science of Kabbalah is
not that the knowledge itself enlarges the soul. Rather, the soul must
attain this science because of the nature of the soul: without having
knowledge - Ohr Hochma (the light Hochma) – the soul
is not capable of achieving the level or height for which it was created
by the Creator.
Thus a person’s soul does not grow by acquiring knowledge. Rather a
person’s soul has an inner attribute that does not allow a person to
make himself grow with his own two hands before he has assimilated the
entire spiritual nature and acquired all the necessary spiritual
knowledge.
The soul’s growth completely depends on the degree of knowledge it
acquires.
If the soul could grow without receiving the Upper light or knowledge
of the Creator, then it would harm itself.
It would acquire increasingly greater desires without knowing how to
use them correctly. This is equivalent to a person in our world: if a
20-year-old person’s level of intellectual development still remains
on the level of a one-year-old child, then he can do horrible things.
This would be strength without reason, and it is dangerous for the
person and for the people around him.
This can never occur in the spiritual. A person acquires the ability to
perform spiritual actions only to the degree he is corrected, or to the
degree of spiritual knowledge he has received.
A person’s age is determined by the degree of his reception of spiritual
light. Therefore a person who has not developed spiritually lives and
dies physically without having begun to live spiritually.
There exist bodies that have not given birth to souls and that have not
achieved the creation of a spiritual Kli. Therefore our world
is full of two-legged bodies; but unfortunately there are very few souls
in them.
The amount of light that enters the soul determines the Partzuf’s
height.
It can exist in a laying-down position, as a newborn: his legs, arms,
torso and head are all located on the same level. The head does not have
any advantage over the legs: all the spiritual body parts or all desires
have only one minimal screen and, correspondingly, a minimal light.
Therefore, the head does not differ from the legs. It is equivalent to
a baby or a sleeping person, meaning that the mind is not manifested.
In Kabbalah, a horizontal position means that there is only Ohr
Hassadim (the light Hassadim) and there is no Ohr
Hochma (light Hochma), which enters the Partzuf
correspondingly to the screen. The initial stage of spiritual development
begins with the “lying–down” position, as a newborn baby.
The second stage is when he is already sitting, but the legs do not yet
have the strength to hold him up.
The extensions, or the ends of the desires to receive pleasure have not
yet been corrected; they do not yet have a screen and they cannot create
boundaries or restrictions on their own reception of big light.
In the spiritual state of “lying down,” all 10 Sefirot of a person’s soul
are evaluated as having a single light, or one minimal screen. A newborn
baby does not have knowledge and therefore he does not, and should not,
have the strength to move around.
Only the light Hochma gives the soul (Partzuf) spiritual
strength. Most of its development does not occur by receiving light from
its parents without its own efforts; but rather development takes place
as a result of the Partzuf’s own good deeds or actions.
“Good deeds” – means to receive light with the help of the screen,
in opposition to one’s own egoism. One’s ability to do this depends
on one’s attainment of Kabbalah. That is, the main factor of growth is
the function of good deeds, and they depend on the assimilation of
Kabbalah, or the reception of knowledge from the upper Partzuf.
Each soul’s knowledge allows it to attain all the other souls: beginning
with their initial state called “the soul of Adam” and ending with the
final correction of all the souls.
This is equivalent to the way a person attains the entire world: he
attains humanity’s nature, mentality, habits and everything around him.
Based on this knowledge, he safeguards himself from harm that may come
from nature and people around him, and he connects with and grows closer
to people who assist in his growth.
It should not be surprising that a single soul is able to attain all the
souls. The same thing applies to a person in our world: if he is wise,
he is able to attain the nature of all humanity by attaining himself
because every part of creation includes the elements of all its other
parts.
A person does not have a single attribute that other people do not also
have. Every person has all of humanity’s attributes, even if he has them
to the minimal degree.
Every person is slightly a murderer, slightly a rapist, a womanizer, a
scientist, a fool, a pious man, an atheist, etc. Everything is contained
in each person!
When a person works to spiritually perfect himself, he begins to perceive
all of these attributes in himself and, as he perceives each of them to
be egoistic, he gradually realizes their evil for himself.
When the perception of this evil reaches the maximum and unbearable
threshold, a person voluntarily rejects this attribute as one that is
harmful. This way, step by step, he corrects himself.
A person perceives another person’s attributes to be natural only if he
has discovered and felt them inside of himself. That is, if he has
become aware of their presence inside of himself.
How often do we see people who possess negative attributes, yet they do
not even suspect this fact and do not perceive it within themselves.
At the same time they cannot tolerate these attributes in other people.
With the help of studying Kabbalah, a person begins to attain who he
really is and therefore he gains the ability to tolerate others and to
forgive them, because he realizes that he possesses the same things as
they do.
Why does he become tolerant of others? Because he perceives that they
are not capable of getting rid of their negative attributes. He begins
to love others to the degree that he realizes his own insignificance,
because he sees himself in them.
Since all parts of creation consist of all the other parts (after all we
are separated only by egoistic intentions, while our souls comprise one
single spiritual body called “the soul of Adam”), when a person corrects
himself he corrects the whole world. This applies to each one of us.
Body and soul
Every body (in Kabbalah, a body does not refer to the physical body,
but rather a person’s desires) is full of impatience and anger, because
it undergoes phases of accumulating lack and hunger, which alternate
with phases of feeling pleasure. These mutually alternating states or
times bring about the body’s ability to perceive the smallest and
greatest pleasures, as well as the desires to receive those pleasures.
Descents – towards the light
Pleasure enters a person and becomes perceived by him only in the place
where he had previously perceived the desire to receive this pleasure.
Hunger is a necessary condition for the perception of pleasure.
Moreover, as soon as pleasure becomes constant, meaning it does not
change and alternate with the perception of hunger or arousal for it,
then it immediately ceases to be perceived as pleasure. Constant
alternation is necessary, or the shift between fulfillment and its
absence.
Coming from the state of pleasure, knowledge, and awareness, a person
perceives spiritual descent. It is precisely these oscillations of
states that cause a person to have the perception of hunger for pleasure.
Consequently, these alterations cause the next phase -- the reception of
pleasure or knowledge -- called “reception of the Torah.”
When light or pleasure leaves the Sefira or Kli, a
memory of it remains, meaning the desire for the pleasure that is no
longer there. It is precisely these Reshimo or memories of the
previous light that are the real Kli -- the desire to
receive the next light.
Therefore, the Reshimo from the light that exists is the
vessel-Kli.
-The light that enters the Partzuf is called Taamim
or taste.
-The light that leaves the Partzuf is called Nekudot
or disappearance.
-The memories of the taste are called Tagin, and they give
an additional perception of the previous pleasure.
-The memories of the Nekudot are called Otiyot or
letters. They are the Kelim/vessels for receiving the light
in the future, because it is precisely they that have the desire to
receive, since they do not perceive the light that fulfills but rather
the light that is leaving.
Therefore, the perception of the light that is leaving or loss is
impossible without a spiritual descent, and this is a necessary condition
for spiritual growth.
Thus, the fulfillment by the light-pleasure, the light’s exit, the
emergence of the Reshimo-memory; all of these are necessary
conditions or stages for the emergence of the aspiration for previous
pleasure.
When pleasure emerges for the first time, it becomes perceived as
unconscious pleasure. However, when it has already been perceived and
then it leaves, creating a desire for itself; by being desired in
advance, it becomes perceived completely differently.
The alteration of fulfillment and emptying has the effect of the light
“hitting” the Kli. At first it performs a Zivug,
meaning the light says to the Kli: “Accept me,” and the screen
answers: “I do not want to. I can accept it only for the sake of the
Creator” – and accepts it.
However, as soon as the screen accepts a portion of the light, the light
that remains outside hits it from the side: “Accept more.” The
Kli is unable to take more light for the sake of the Creator,
and it decides to become empty altogether.
However, then the light again “presses” and asks the empty Kli
to accept a small portion of light. In this way, light hits the screen
and creates new perceptions, new Kelim, or new possibilities
for future reception of the light.
Light creates the desire
The body undergoes various incarnations or circulations, or states of
hunger and fulfillment. However the law of nature is such that the states
of hunger cross out the states of fulfillment and pleasure.
The spiritual body constantly undergoes these circulations. This can be
compared to a pebble that acquires smoothness by being washed by the
ocean’s waves, as if it acquires the water’s softness as the water
externally transforms the rock and makes it resemble itself. This is
how the light performs work on the Kli and makes it suitable for
receiving the light. The light gives the Kli its own attributes.
However besides the fact that unpleasant sensations and memories
completely cross out the pleasant ones, leaving nothing of the latter
as if they never even existed, there is one more additional attribute
of egoism: it thinks that others have what it does not have, or that
others have more of what it has. The Kli acquires a feeling of
envy and the perception that another person’s state is better than
its own.
This comes from the fact that the soul itself is neutral and it is
located between two forces called “angels,” or between two systems –
pure and impure forces, or the good and evil origin.
They rub the soul between themselves, as if throwing it to each other
between the palms of the hands one after the other. This is how a person
feels during his spiritual development.
Sometimes he is thrown to his positive thoughts, actions and desires,
and then he suddenly falls under the influence of negative thoughts
and aspirations. And nothing can be done about any of this.
Firstly a person must try to investigate himself and understand what
forces are exerting an influence on him right now. Then based on this
understanding, the person should make a decision.
Spiritual ascent
A person who ascends the spiritual levels attains his own Kelim,
which have remained in him on every level of the chain of his soul’s
descent from the world of Infinity into our world; on
every level along which his soul descended into our world.
He ascends and begins to perceive new desires. According to them, he
begins to ask for help. However if he has not corrected the previous
Kli, the consequent one will not become revealed in him. He
will not perceive it and he will have nothing to ask for.
As we have already said, the Creator (or nature in our world) does not
give strength to a baby in order for him to avoid harming himself as a
result of the absence of reason.
A person’s spiritual ascent consists in him gathering all Kelim
within himself that have remained on upper levels. Then, as he ascends,
the person fills them (Kelim) with light and attaches them to
his soul. This is the complete soul, or Kelim that are filled
by the light.
Since everything is apprehended in comparison with its opposite, without
having apprehended the spiritual world we are not capable of
apprehending our world! Both of these worlds are nothing more than our
subjective states, and we apprehend them simultaneously.
We perceive only our own suffering, but never other persons’. We do not
see another person’s suffering because it is “inside.” However, we see
another person’s pleasures because they are “outside.” Therefore we
become filled with a feeling of envy.
This is envy of the light that has entered another person. However
thanks to the fact that the Creator has created the feeling of envy in
us, that same light has entered me as well and formed a
Kli-desire within me.
I want the same pleasure as the person whom I envy feels. I acquire
my own personal desire for that pleasure. Therefore as all of a
person’s other attributes (including the “worst” ones), the feeling
of envy is necessary for spiritual advancement.
Attainment in the material and spiritual
There is no difference between the body and soul. Their difference
is only the fact that the body is influenced by the surrounding nature,
and the inner body (soul) is influenced by its own nature. The soul,
however, changes only as a result and to the degree of its work, or
the degree of combining the material and spiritual within itself.
Everything that happens to our soul and body comes from that same
Source – the Creator, Who manifests himself through material or
spiritual nature.
People who do not perceive the spiritual and who perceive only our
world assert, “There is no Creator. Everything is nature.” Those who
receive a soul or the upper light feel differently: everything comes
from the Creator and, as it passes through the upper worlds, it
descends down to us.
A person receives pleasure either from the material nature, meaning
the final level of all of creation, or from the highest level.
Depending on what level a person receives from, he is called either
simply a person of our world, or a Kabbalist. This is because Kabbalah
is the science of receiving the upper light (from the verb
“Lekabel” – to receive).
The nature that surrounds us is attained even without the necessary
attainment of its laws, or the essence of what is taking place.
We can live in this world without understanding what is taking place
in nature, in society and in our world, without knowing the past and
the future and without knowing what is happening to us and above us,
as well as where humanity is going. Existence under the influence
of the surrounding universe is unconscious or animal existence. However
in the spiritual world it is impossible to understand one’s state
without having the understanding of its cause and consequence.
Spiritual attainment is ideal, meaning it is complete and perfect on
every one of its stages. Therefore a person is able to receive his
future state to the degree he attains the initial causes of spiritual
nature.
As a person ascends, first of all he attains the levels along which his
soul descended from up down. That is, he attains his own empty
Kli that is already located on a given level, since it has
remained there during the soul’s ascent from up down.
Now, however, as he ascends from down up, a person himself attains or
creates the Kli or desire. He corrects it, adds a screen to it
and fills it with light.
On every step of the ladder – from us until the Creator – there is an
empty vessel that awaits each person. As a person ascends, he fills it
with light. While doing this, he attains his past or the descent from
up down, together with his growth beginning with the moment of birth
until the level he has currently reached.
We have to reach the highest possible level, where the soul unifies
with all other souls in the world of Infinity, thus attaining our
Source – the Creator – and becoming filled with His light. In this way
the end and the beginning of our path meet.
Kabbalah – a practical knowledge
Kabbalah is not a theoretical science. It is the most practical
knowledge, because its object is the very person. That which a person
studies in Kabbalah he then perceives on himself rather than on some
removed object.
Therefore a Kabbalist undergoes within himself (or in his perceptions)
all the states of attaining his genuine egoism or his nature. That is,
he has to live and feel each of his own egoistic desires for pleasure.
In addition he has to feel each desire in himself to such a degree that
he will feel hate for it, and such a degree of hate that it will enable
him to completely reject this desire in the future.
Only in this case, a person gradually liberates himself of his egoistic
desire: for the animal pleasures, for wealth, for power and for
knowledge. He must feel that desires for these pleasures bring him pain
and loss and that they harm him. Only having perceived their evil, a
person willingly rejects them and becomes free.
However it is necessary to remember that everything was created only
for our spiritual advancement and for the purpose of attaining the
goal of creation. “The Creator created everything only for Himself, or
for the attainment of His own goal. In addition, He did not create
anything in vain.”
Concealment attracts
A person is created in such a way that he desires to know that which is
concealed, to be more precise, that which he perceives to exist but
that is concealed from him. The reason for this is that we do not
perceive in any way what is genuinely concealed.
If the Creator wants to attract a person to something, He slightly
reveals it. That is, he shows that there is something concealed here,
and this arouses a desire in a person to reveal it to himself. In
addition something that is half-concealed attracts us more than what
is revealed.
Interest in the half-concealed gives us strength to reveal it. When we
reveal it, again it becomes necessary to search for the half-concealed.
There is no satisfaction in the revealed.
The half-concealed consists simultaneously of the Kli – the
perception of lack – and pleasure. It consists of both the Kli
and the light, and therefore it gives a greater sensation of pleasure
than a Kli that is fully filled by pleasure, or when there is
no more lacking.
The full sensation of pleasure is not pleasure because there is no lack.
The Kli is wholly filled by pleasure and does not perceive desire.
In order to perceive pleasure there must be interruptions in the
perception. Only then we are able to understand the entire magnificence
of pleasure.
Why did Malchut of the world of Infinity create the first
restriction? After all, it was in the state of full union with the
Creator, in the state of seemingly complete perfection.
It performed this restriction because it did not have another way out:
if it constantly received the light, if it would have become wholly
filled by the light then it would have ceased to perceive it as pleasure.
Therefore it performed the first restriction and now it receives
everything for the sake of the Creator. At every moment it has an
opportunity to check its relationship to the Creator: “Am I able to do
something for the Creator right now?” A renewal constantly takes place
and pleasure is constantly perceived. The reason for this is that there
cannot be any limitation in bestowal or the desire to give to another.
Initially the Creator created this possibility of restricting the
reception of the light within Malchut, in order for creation
to be able to constantly receive pleasure.
Gmar Tikkun This is when a person has
completely corrected himself, and all possibilities to do something
“for the sake of the Creator” are within his complete control.
Gmar Tikkun is complete peace and complete rest, since there
is a complete opportunity to take pleasure in doing things for the
Creator. It is rest from egoism and pure altruistic pleasure. To give
to the Creator – this is not work, this is the very pleasure.
The action of the screen is rejecting the light. Does
our work consist in accepting light? No, this is not work. Work is
creation of the screen, rather than the Zivug we can then
perform for the sake of the Creator.
Work Everything that is done for the sake of the
Creator is not considered work. Work is actions against the impure
forces, Klipot or our egoistic desire. It is removing them
farther away from us.
Everything occurring under Parsa, inside of the worlds
BYA, is called “the weekdays”. There, on those levels, the
correction of desires takes place; then, their ascent into the world of
Atzilut.
Ascent does not occur mechanically. If a person has altered his desires
in correspondence to the attributes of the world of Atzilut,
this means that he has ascended to the world of Atzilut. The
world of Atzilut is located above Parsa. A person can
receive light for the sake of the Creator only while being in that world.
Saturday is the state of the world of Atzilut. While a person
is still unable to receive this light (meaning he is only correcting
his Kelim for now) he is located in the worlds BYA or
in the state called “work” or “the weekdays.”
Therefore the final state (Gmar Tikkun) is a state when you
already have all the screens and you are able to receive the endless
light-pleasure.
You gradually check yourself and all your actions – whether they are
taking place for the sake of the Creator. And you delight in the
infinitely renewing and endless pleasure. Here you constantly add to
previous Partzufim that remain. Therefore you perceive yourself
ascending.
There is no ascent. You add a new state or a new Partzuf to your
previous state. At first you had one Partzuf – a small one.
Then, inside of it a middle one is born. Then a big one is born within
the previous one. A whole train of Partzufim stretches behind
you. You add to it, and this addition is infinite.
Complete rest. This state is called “Menuhat
Olamim” or eternal rest. This state is perceived within fully
corrected desires.
Within egoistic desires when everything is filled to the brim, emptiness
begins to be perceived – there is no happiness in life. The countries
with the greatest prevalence of suicides are specifically the ones
that have the highest level of life.
The more opportunities a person has, the easier he can receive what he
wants right away, and the faster he loses the pleasure from what he
receives.
This occurs because there is no concealment or inaccessibility.
Therefore the taste and the pleasure are lost. The Creator’s force is
expressed precisely in the fact that He throws us in the direction that
is opposite to Him. Then He gradually reveals Himself to us, and we
begin to yearn for Him.
From the person’s point of view, the main work is to discover the
Creator’s concealment, the perception of being removed from Him, the
perception of the necessity to find a person’s root and the perception
of the surrounding light. As soon as we achieve this, we reveal forces
within ourselves that pull us toward the Creator.
The revelation of the Creator’s actions is within their
concealment
If I want to “directly catch” the spiritual without performing specific
corrections of my attributes, I will not be able to do this. I must
perform corrections that correspond to the spiritual. I will be able to
perceive the spiritual to the degree of my equivalence to it.
The Creator does not conceal Himself from us. Rather His laws conceal
our egoism from Him.
As soon as we willingly undertake the prohibition of the first
restriction – “not to receive into egoistic desires” – the Creator
immediately becomes revealed to us. This can be compared to a dialogue
between two participants. One of them conceals himself when the other
wants to perceive Him directly.
As soon as the second one willingly accepts the First one’s concealment
by altering his attributes, the First one becomes revealed.
The Creator is not concealed from us. He compels us to change our
attributes to such a degree that will enable us to perceive Him. By
concealing Himself He shows us the paths to reveal Him.
When a person voluntarily or willingly accepts the laws of concealment –
the concealment of the spiritual from his egoism – immediately the
spiritual Kelim that form become filled with the Creator’s
light, His perception and revelation.
Bestowing Kelim can be built only by suppressing egoism, or
building a screen that rejects the light. We create a desire-Kli
within ourselves that is equivalent to the Creator.
There are two sides of the same concealment: when we conceal our egoistic
Kelim and when we conceal ourselves from receiving pleasure from
the Creator. However, in principle they are the same thing: egoism and
direct pleasure are two interconnected things.
The light and Kli are connected with each other. It is
impossible to perceive the light without desire. And when there is
desire, it is present because the person foresees a possible pleasure
in the future, or the light around him.
Within our perceptions either I perceive desire and I work against it,
or I perceive pleasure and I work against pleasure.
Our entire work in spite of knowledge, the material, all egoistic
obstacles, society’s laws and norms – all of this ultimately unifies
into work against ourselves.
To counterbalance this, we must have faith in the fact that all of our
obstacles and everything was created by the Creator; faith in the fact
that the Creator is concealed and that only in this state I am able to
reveal Him by transforming all “obstacles” into my aides.
As soon as the Creator shows that He is concealed, we begin to aspire
toward Him.
People around us do not yet perceive the Creator. They exist in an
unconscious state, because they have not yet reached their lowest point.
They are still located within the Creator as a fetus inside a mother,
and they act automatically, meaning only under the influence of nature
He created.
When a person begins to understand how much he is removed from the
Creator, this is the starting point from which his spiritual development
begins. Beginning with this state a person acquires the opportunity to
move towards the Creator.
The only thing we have to do is to slightly perceive the Creator, even
if this will not be done in an apparent way. This immediately gives us
immense strength or forces, because we are created with the desire to
feel pleasure. The Creator’s light is a huge Source of pleasure, and
we begin to yearn for it.
When we throw a rock up into the air, we do not feel the force of
gravity. It immediately slows down the rock’s movement and halts the
rock at the highest point of its flight. However, the force itself
manifests in a concealed form, or in the fact that it slows the movement
upwards.
In this way, the force of the Creator is manifested in our descent from
up down.
However, these forces become apparently manifested or expressed in the
person himself and in his movement from down up, when he perceives the
Creator and naturally aspires towards Him. This occurs in the same way
as the force of gravity does, when it has already halted the rock’s
movement upwards and the rock flies down under its pull.
The Creator built creation by way of descent from Him to us, by
concealing Himself more and more as a rock that was thrown upwards and
that moves farther and farther away from the earth.
Moreover it is more difficult for the Creator to conceal Himself and not
to give than to give, because it is against His desires and attributes
to do this. This is equivalent to the way parents in our world suffer
most when they are not able to give something to their child.
A rock flying upwards goes through its path until a specific point,
where it halts. This point is the place where our spiritual birth takes
place.
We begin to reveal who we are, where we are from, and who our spiritual
parents are (before this we were not aware of anything). Then an inner
force of attraction towards the Creator emerges in us. This attraction
emerges automatically.
What does the Creator do over the course of 6000 years? He conceals
Himself and shows us various degrees of his concealment. Spiritual
desires to reveal Him become born in us.
During the 7th millennium the Creator ends His concealment. As soon as
He does this, perfection arrives and we become a part of the Creator.
Attaining the spiritual
Any spiritual attainment consists of two necessary attributes: 1 – it
must never, not to any degree, be the product of one’s imagination.
Rather, it must be genuine. 2 – it should not cause even the slightest
doubt, in the same way a person’s own existence does not arouse any
doubts in him.
The very name “spiritual” refers to the fact that it is equivalent to the
spirit, something that is like the air around us: it is something that
exists, but is impossible to grasp and it does not have any concrete form.
Despite this everyone knows what air is, and no one doubts its existence,
because every person knows that his life depends on air.
A person immediately dies when there is lack of air. This is precisely
the reason why the presence of air is so apparent and above any doubts.
Now let us try to understand the spiritual based on the material. We are
able to do this because our inner awareness and mind are equivalent to
our inner body called the “animal soul”, which is life and the source of
the perception of its absence.
The inner part of the mind is called the “intelligent soul.” A person is
also able to perceive its lack inside of it.
The reason for perceiving presence and lacking simultaneously from the
same source is the following. Creation perceives itself to be an
independent creation only to the degree it feels absence within the
perception of life and the life force.
Creatures that lack the perception of their existence also lack the
perception of the intelligent soul and its inner part. Therefore they
perceive lack only to the degree necessary for their bodily existence.
Not more than this.
The degree of life in creation is always measured only to the degree
that one feels the perception of spiritual lack or the lack of spiritual
life.
After all, if creation did not feel lack, then it would not be able to
fulfill itself with everything necessary to support its existence and it
would perish.
A person’s spiritual health and spiritual growth completely depend on the
degree he perceives their lack. The same occurs with our animal body:
every person who is physically healthier feels a greater appetite and
therefore eats more, thus increasing his strength.
The need to attain the Creator
All fault or lack a person’s intelligent soul perceives can be summed
up as one reason or one desire: the desire to perceive the Creator,
or the perception of the lack of perceiving the Creator.
If a person acquires the desire to perceive the Creator, he thus removes
all clothing from his previous pleasures, such as status, power, wealth
etc., and he aspires only for the Creator.
A person’s desires become “doubled”: he desires both this world and the
future world. A person begins to act not for the sake of reward in the
future world after he leaves this or our world, in the way people who
believe in reward in this or the future world carry out the Commandments.
Rather he does it in order to perceive the Creator in this world and
during this life.
This desire emerges in him because in the very nature of the intelligent
soul the aspiration to apprehend one’s Creator was placed originally.
The presence of this desire in a person comes from perceiving himself
as one who exists. Therefore he always strives to attain or apprehend
that which is “above him.”
All of a person’s aspirations to apprehend himself and all that surrounds
him come from this inner desire that is concealed in him to apprehend
his Parent or his origin.
Although a person’s intelligent soul is constantly chasing after all
phenomenon that are concealed from it and desires to reveal everything
above and below it as well as what is within the hearts of others
around it, nevertheless all of these aspirations are partial in
comparison to the only genuine human aspiration – towards our Source.
We can also see this from the following example. If no one existed in the
world other than man, for example, if man was created alone, he would
not have any aspiration other than the aspiration to find his source.
The reason for this is that the aspiration to attain the Creator is the
result of a special kind of perception of the absence of the Only One
Who Brings Life.
All other desires lead to the complete clarification of this genuine
desire, which is concealed from the person himself despite the fact
that it is his most important desire.
Even if man was created as the only creation, he would continue to
aspire toward perceiving the Creator and he would simply not have other
desires.
Our body demands the satisfaction of our animal desires, but society
gives us our human desires.
Unconscious work
To the degree a person begins to perceive Ohr Makif or the Creator that
surrounds Him, he begins to aspire towards Him.
By perceiving Ohr Makif (surrounding light), a person begins to
perceive that he is the creation. All events in our world take place
with only one goal – to bring man to the state of perceiving the Creator.
This is the reason for everything that happens, both as a whole or what
happens to all nations, as well as in particular or to each one of us.
However this becomes revealed to the degree of a person’s correction,
and it becomes revealed to no one except himself.
For example, drivers of public transportation carry out difficult work
for the sake of society because they want to help everything with all
their strength, in order for everyone to feel good and for everyone to
be able to travel to any place they want to, in order for every passenger,
in his turn, to bestow to others after he has arrived to the place of
his destination. That is, to bestow to others from the bottom of his
heart and to serve others with his entire desire.
The whole world is busy only with this: to bestow and to do good for
each other.
However as long as a person is not capable of understanding and
perceiving the entire goodness of this kind of work, he is being
deceived from above: the Creator shows him that he can earn many
egoistic pleasures in exchange for his service for the good of others.
The person takes this bait, deceiving himself that he is working for
money, status, power or animal pleasures. This way the whole world is
unconsciously working for the Creator.
The whole world – are unwilling righteous men
Unconsciously, the whole world is carrying out spiritual actions.
However, in order to perceive and to see them – it is necessary to
agree with them. Otherwise if a person who is not yet corrected sees
his genuine actions, he will not be able to continue doing them.
Therefore only to the degree of our correction, the genuine picture of
the world becomes revealed to each one of us called “the spiritual
world and the Creator Who governs everything!”
The size of the spiritual vessel-Kli is determined by the size
of its desire to unify with the Creator.
The size of the egoistic Kli is determined by a person’s
desire for pleasure: the size of aspiration and the kind of pleasure
towards which he has a desire (see “Introduction to the Book of
Zohar”).
The bigger a person is, the greater his egoistic desires are. Animals
and bugs have small desires. Big people have big desires.
People who are developing spiritually have even greater desires, but
already in an abstract form. These are not desires for pleasures clothed
into an image of our world (power or money). Rather it is the desire to
perceive the Creator.
A person does not have to correct any previous attributes in himself.
He does not have to go into himself, think about what he should correct,
how bad he is and therefore so far away from the Creator.
All of this will gradually come to him on its own to the degree of his
need for correction. A person should transfer all his thoughts to the
Creator. He should think about himself maximum half an hour a day, as
Baal HaSulam writes.
A person is located where his thoughts are. Therefore by thinking about
the Creator, a person thus separates from his nature.
The remainder of the time he should think about the Creator’s creation
and His ways. In this case, he will develop the need to perceive the
Creator within himself to an even greater degree.
To the degree a person is able to replace the aspiration to think about
himself with the aspiration to think about the Creator, he becomes
corrected.
This state is called “Ibur” or conception. In this state a
person wants to think only about his upper level; he is unified with it
and crosses himself out completely. His intrauterine development and
spiritual birth begin.
How to see the Creator?
How can we see the Creator? How can we imagine something that is not
our nature and that cannot be perceived inside of our organs of
perception? After all our imagination is the product of our
consciousness, and our consciousness is limited by the boundaries of
our nature.
We are created according to a specific standard, and we cannot conceive
of anything outside of its boundaries. If the Creator is invisible and
imperceptible within our egoistic senses, how can we nevertheless attain
Him? How can we conceive of Him?
Moreover even when we correct our nature to its opposite or altruistic
nature, where is the assurance in the fact that we are attaining the
Creator in our new altruistic perceptions?
What does it mean to attain the Creator or Light? What does it mean to
perceive Light?
We perceive only our reactions to it. Is this the perception of the
Creator? While doing this we simultaneously perceive ourselves; we
reveal ourselves; and through ourselves, we reveal something that
supposedly influences us from the outside.
Within our perceptions we are exactly equivalent to our measuring
instruments, which do not register the external process itself, but
rather its influence on the instrument.
Moreover: this is not even the influence on the instrument, but the
instrument’s reaction to the external influence. There can be various
influences, but if they cause the same reaction, there is no way we can
differentiate one influence from another.
Why should we attain the Creator?
This is a purely philosophical question: what is the boundary of
attainment? Naturally, we cannot even think that there exists a material
incarnation of the Creator. This is the greatest prohibition in our
teaching: to imagine the Creator in the images of our world.
The Creator is bodiless, He does not have any volume and he is outside
of the bounds of time, space and our perceptions.
Therefore, to worship any concrete forces is to worship idols, meaning
partial forces of the Creator.
In this case, a person places a certain inanimate spiritual force as the
basis of creation or as his creator, or a robot called “angel” in
Kabbalah. This is a messenger or an automatic executive.
But if the Creator is everything, then why can I not worship something
He created? After all, this is He or His force.
The difference between the genuine relation to the Creator and the
creation of material or spiritual idols is built precisely on the
difference between altruism and egoism.
Since light comes from the very Creator, therefore the strongest and
most genuine of a person’s desires is the desire to attain Him. The light
creates the desire to receive and it increases to the degree of our
closeness to the Creator.
There can never emerge a desire for something that does not exist in
nature in any form. If a desire emerges, this means that there exists
an object capable of fulfilling this desire. Therefore the light builds a
Kli for itself, or the desire to take pleasure in it.
We have already said that on all levels of our development, the goal -
attaining the Creator – is clothed into various forms: at first it
comprises the animal desires, then it is the aspiration for power and
rank, and then – aspiration for knowledge and finally – aspirations
for the Creator’s perception.
Only these last desires are called “spiritual.” Aspirations for power,
rank and knowledge are called “human,” and the bodily desires relate to
our animal level. In this regard a person does not differ from an
animal.
All of these desires are levels of aspiration for the Creator, because
their gradual development brings all humanity to the desire to unify
with the Creator.
Change of aspirations
A person constantly changes his definition of truth and falseness:
- yesterday he studied science. He thought of becoming a great
scientist and saw the truth in this. Today he is disillusioned in
science, since he has seen the falseness in it;
- now he wants to have a lot of money, the truth of life lies in it
for him. However afterwards this truth transforms into
falseness;
- tomorrow he will want to attain the Creator.
Thus, on every specific level, the following level negates the previous
one. This takes place until a person is able to accept altruism as the
truth.
Only when a person can say with full assurance that the entire spiritual
is the genuine truth, this moment becomes the moment of his spiritual
conception.
A person’s entire inner development consists in his ability to feel where
truth is and where falseness is. From the acuteness of this perception we
are able to choose who we consider to be the Creator at the given moment.
The Creator is our truth at every moment.
Falseness does not have the right to exist. A person is unable to behave
in opposition to his definition of truth. Therefore, “Kabbalah has been
given to man in order to develop his feeling of determining truth and
falseness, or the perception of evil,” said Baal HaSulam.
This kind of development occurs according to the law of negation. The
previous level dies when I feel that it is false for me.
It is impossible to take the next step and to liberate yourself from
the past without negating it, or without realizing that it is completely
evil for you.
When a person has not yet felt his past opinions, tastes, in short -
desires - as the desires that bring evil, then they are still meaningful
to him and he cannot part with them yet. He will part with them only
when he begins to negate or hate them.
Rejection of the previous attribute as evil or falseness is the reason
for parting with it.
Attaining the truth
You can see on yourself that, having begun to study Kabbalah, you are
no longer able to take any other science-like philosophy seriously.
This is because the science of Kabbalah develops the finest perception
of the analysis of truth in a person.
In order for a person to be able constantly to advance along the
levels, he must perceive the level he is currently on (or his current
inner state) as well as the higher level. That is, he must receive a
perception from both the inner and the surrounding lights.
Precisely the differentiation of these two lights creates the
understanding of truth and falseness in a person. It is not the case
that the previous level is falseness. Rather, relative to the current
state the previous state is no longer suitable. This is comparable to
an adult’s perception of the world compared to a child’s perception of
the world.
These are simply different levels of development and upbringing, but
we cannot say that a child’s world is false.
This way, Malchut of the upper level becomes Keter of
the lower.
Malchut is creation when it is on the upper level, but it
becomes the creator of the lower level. Where does it acquire these
attributes? After all it has only the desire to receive. From where
does the attribute of bestowal emerge in it?
Here we may be able to understand that within egoism there also lays an
authentically altruistic attribute of the Creator.
Therefore a person has the ability to determine what is truth and what
is falseness. He can perceive the Creator and perceive himself in order
to understand the huge contrast that exists between Malchut and
Keter.
The most important thing in a person, during his entire path from down
up, is to perceive within himself the ability to correctly evaluate
truth and falseness on every stage. That is, to be able to negate what
he has gone through, what is false, and rather to aspire towards the
Supreme truth.
Although it seems to us that this depends on the mind, in reality this
depends exclusively on the Creator.
The perception of truth and falseness is a purely sensory perception
and it depends on the acuteness of the inner attainment of truth. It is
only given from above.
The ability to apprehend the Creator comes only from the
Creator
A person may have been created possessing the worst attributes and
qualities. Suddenly, from above he receives the opportunity to reanalyze
his views of truth and evil, and from this moment on he begins to move
forward, as he already possesses the genuine perceptions.
The Creator brings a person to Himself by giving him the necessary
feeling.
During every moment of his advancement, a person must remember that the
Creator Himself is giving him the opportunity to apprehend the Creator.
The Creator gives this to him by way of various surrounding influences.
That which a person’s inner voice tells him – if the person hears it
and knows how to listen to it – is the main and most important thing
in his work on himself. He should never listen to others, but only to
himself.
In order to enter the spiritual world (in his perceptions), a person
needs to go through many states, because the Creator reveals the
entrance into the spiritual world to the person. However, He does this
only when the person has a genuine prayer or plea.
In order to achieve the genuine desire for the spiritual state within
his heart, which is called “prayer,” a person must go through a specific
path.
In the beginning, he receives an immense desire for the spiritual and
all of his thoughts are only about this. This happens to him because
the Creator attracts the person to Him and sends His light, and the
person unconsciously runs towards it because the light suppresses all
other desires to such a degree that no desires other than the spiritual
desires remain in him. This is the first stage of all the people who
are searching.
After this occurs the stage of searching for how to carry out the desire
given by the Creator. The person looks for lessons and books, and if he
was meant to do it according to his predestination in the soul’s
incarnation, he gradually comes to Kabbalah and begins to study it.
As a result of studying and interacting in the group, jealousy and shame
become revealed in him. These are positive attributes because they
increase his desire and add strength.
Over the course of his studies, the person evokes surrounding light on
himself (see “Introduction to TES,” Item 155), which (in
contrast to himself) causes the realization of egoism as evil within
him, or as the obstacle to achieving the most important thing. To the
degree of this realization, hate for egoism emerges.
The realization of egoism as evil
From above, a person is periodically thrown into greater egoistic
desires and he unwillingly carries them out, since egoism is
controlling him at this time.
However, after completing these egoistic actions, a person is then
given the realization of their baseness. He is punished so painfully
by people around him, his friends, family, society, as well as moral
and material losses, that he overflows with hatred for the egoism that
is causing him unbearable suffering.
The gradual influence of the surrounding light brings a person to the
perception of his own insignificance and spiritual weakness.
He works and interacts with the whole world, but meanwhile he becomes
internally convinced that he will not achieve the desired goal on his
own, and the need for the Creator’s help develops in him.
It is unusually difficult for egoism to agree with this, and therefore
only circumstances bring a person to a dead-end, from which he begins
to beg the Creator for help.
A correctly organized group greatly assists each of its members in their
spiritual progress.
In the Kabbalistic group a person is forbidden to talk to others about
his states. People study the material together and they discuss and
study everything that is not related to each person’s personal states.
It is forbidden to impose your own desires and opinions onto others:
today you feel good – you have a good evaluation of the spiritual and
tomorrow you feel bad – you have a low evaluation of the spiritual.
There are many states of this sort.
By talking about his states a person causes twofold harm: he harms
himself by revealing what is in his heart and therefore giving others
the ability to influence this. At the same time he harms his friend
because he imposes his own opinion onto him, and thus deprives him of
his freedom of will to analyze truth and falseness.
Therefore a person was created alone and he always remains alone: even
though we know that the soul broke into 600,000 partial souls,
nevertheless, each soul has its role in this world and it must go
through its own correction. Of course, it mutually interacts with and
influences the other souls, but only to correct its own part by way of
the inner interaction.
In our world, on the other hand, interaction takes place on the physical
level. By serving others materially or physically, a person advances
spiritually.
The only thing that is not forbidden is to confer with the teacher and
ask his advice. In principle, however, work and study consist in being
in contact with the Creator.
A person should lower his head only before the Creator and fear only
Him. The Creator’s point above, or the person’s embryo of a spiritual
Kli – is this individual point. The group and Teacher are
necessary only in order to achieve the union with the Creator.
Our mind is a purely auxiliary apparatus, intended to strengthen the
acuteness of our differentiation between truth and falseness, or in
order to see where there is Klipa and where there is the seed.
You can talk to the most intelligent of people who know the entire
Torah by heart, but who are not able to separate spiritual truth from
falseness because in order to do this a person must have the point in
the heart or a special spiritual perception that has been given from
the upper world.
Only a person who possesses it is able to determine where spiritual
truth is with his inner sensation.
Faith (bestowal) and reason
The inner attribute (the person’s desires) does not have any relation
to mind.
Mind does not interfere with spiritual attainment. A person may analyze
everything with his mind at first, and then, after this kind of
analysis, he may tell himself that he will not behave the way common
sense tells him to, but rather he will behave according to his faith
in what the books and the Teacher have told him.
If, having checked everything, a person follows faith above reason, he
advances and ascends higher. He receives a greater perception of the
spiritual, a bigger point in the heart, and, consequently, a bigger
mind.
If he decides to go above reason even further, then he advances again.
Reason is built on pure egoism; it knows and sees everything only
within the limits of our world.
Our mind, which is built on pure egoism, only reveals seemingly greater
and greater positive aspects of egoism and assures us and proves to us
why we should listen to it.
The Creator, on the other hand, gives his part or a part of His light
from above, with correspondence to what the person is trying to correct
within himself.
Having tried all possible means of battling himself, a person then
perceives himself to be in a totally hopeless state, or that he has no
hope of achieving entrance into the spiritual world on his own. Only
then does he submit to the necessity of turning to the Creator for help:
finally, powerless, he throws his hands up and gives up because he is
not capable of doing anything against his reason. He hands himself over
to the Creator, as in a field of battle, in order for the Creator to
fight with his egoism and in order for the Creator to nullify his “I.”
This level is called “Ubar” or fetus.
During the process of studying and reading books, a person constantly
systematizes: he relates everything to one source – the Creator.
Or to two sources – the Creator and creation, which are two opposite
forces.
Or to three sources – the Creator, egoism, and the person between them
who perceives the two opposite forces, the altruistic and egoistic, the
person between them being neutral.
We should try to constantly systematize all our perceptions. However,
all misleading or confusing states a person goes through – both feelings
and intellectual states – are necessary states of apprehending yourself.
Joy is the achievement of the goal
The only necessity during all of this is to be in constant joy. If a
person physically forces himself to be in joy, he accelerates the
process. What does it mean that a person is in joy?
This means that right now he is joyful about the fact that he is
advancing spiritually and he justifies the Creator’s ways even if he
does not realize their goal.
On the other hand, if he is crying during all of this, which happens
to many beginners, by doing this he reproaches the Creator in his heart
for His creation and for what the Creator is doing to him.
With all his heart and his entire feeling, he curses the Creator for
what He is giving to him. That is, the spiritual path onto which the
Creator is leading him against his desire.
Therefore, in spite of a person’s sensations, it is necessary to have
a purely mechanical aspiration to be joyful. Egoism does not want to
perceive any spiritual motions – or movements toward the annihilation
of egoism – and it does not allow us to be joyful.
If a person feels bad, this means he is revealing egoism’s genuine
relation to the Creator’s attainment. This means a person has already
begun to perceive the truth. He must be thankful that this perception
has become revealed to him.
If, however, instead of this he cries and complains, he is located
inside of his egoism instead of exalting the spiritual point that has
become revealed in him, or being happy about the egoistic suffering of
his inner enemy.
A person is located in the place where his thoughts are.
If he always looks at his egoism, which does not contain anything, and
he suffers from egoism’s concerns, if he is not able to separate himself
from egoism, then he halts and does not fan the spark the Creator has
given him.
“There are many thoughts within a person’s heart, but the Creator will
save us from all of them…” – this was uttered by sages who were wise
due to experiencing spiritual ascent. A person is not capable of
understanding himself.
When a person is on a specific level or in a specific state, he is never
capable of realizing what it is, or of objectively evaluating it and
making a sound decision, because he is under the influence of that level.
Only in spite of his egoistic perceptions, if a person overcomes the
pull of his body and pays no attention to its influence, he advances
with faith in what the Teacher and books are telling him; only having
passed that level and ascended to the following, he discovers that he
was correct not to listen to his egoism.
Moreover, he must immediately realize that it was the Creator who helped
him ascend from that state and helped him decide that he needs to go
only along the path of faith above reason’s assertions – and he must
thank Him for this.
The point in the heart
Initially, a person is absolutely egoistic. If the Creator places a
spiritual point in his heart “Nekuda she balev,” then thanks to
this part of the Creator or this point in the heart the Creator has
given to the person, specifically within this point the person begins
to perceive various unearthly movements.
This point is the embryo of the future spiritual organ of the person’s
perception, the spiritual Partzuf, or his spiritual body that
grows from a point into a full vessel under the influence of the
person’s efforts.
Without this point within him a person is unable to even hear about
anything spiritual because it is opposite to him.
With correspondence to this spiritual point that has emerged in him, a
person begins to aspire towards other objects and therefore completely
alters his friends, connections and hobbies. This occurs to such a
degree that he does not even find anything to talk about with people
who are close to him because all his aspirations are towards something
they lack.
In our world, in our generation, in our time, we have become fit for the
Creator to place this point into many people, and therefore they are
searching for the spiritual.
Why is this point called a part of the Creator from above? It is really
the embryo of the future spiritual vessel. This is the Creator’s way of
showing that the person must reach it.
A person is a purely egoistic creation, and the Creator shows him a
tiny “piece” of altruism. A person must correct egoism into altruism
according to the example that was given by the Creator.
He must use altruism together with egoistic desires. That is, he must
add altruistic intentions to egoistic desires, or connect these two
attributes within himself until the Creator’s attribute really becomes
the person’s attribute.
Glossary of Terms
10 Sefirot – 10 properties of the soul
125 levels – from the lowest to the highest level of the
worlds (5 worlds x 5 Partzufim x 5 Sefirot)
1995 – the year that marks the beginning of the time
when egoism within the souls that descend into our world demands
correction
5 levels of desire – creation begot by the Creator
consists of 5 levels of the desire to feel pleasure
620 levels – the degrees of correction of the soul’s
desires
6000 years – The period of correction of souls on
Earth starting with Adam. The levels of the worlds BYA (Beria,
Yetzira, Assiya).
600,000 souls – fragments of the only creation, the
general soul called “Adam”.
7000 years – the level of the world of Atzilut
8000 years – the level of the Partzuf SAG
9000 years – the level of the Partzuf AB
10,000 years – the level of the Partzuf Galgalta
ABYA – 4 stages of direct light, the name of the Creator
Avraam – the attribute of Hesed
Adam – the general creation, the collective soul
Adam Kadmon, AK – the first world, overall
Providence
AHP – the will to receive in creation, the soul
Animal soul – the life-giving or animating life force
in the biological body
Ari – the founder of the Lurian School of Kabbalah,
the modern method of attaining the Upper world (16th century).
Assiya – the lowest world that includes our world
Attribute of bestowal – the intention “for the sake of
the Creator”
Atzilut – the world of governance and correction
Atzmuto – the unattainable essence of the Creator
Baal HaSulam – the author of the modern method of
correction
Babylonian Talmud – description of spiritual laws
using earthly language
Beria – the world of the attribute of bestowal
Bina – the attribute of bestowal in creation
Breaking, Shevira – loss of the intention “for
the sake of the Creator”
BYA – Beria, Yetzira, Assiya (the
worlds surrounding the human soul)
Creation – the desire to feel pleasure
Creator – the desire to please creation
Egoism – the intention to feel pleasure for one’s own sake
Eve – the receiving part of the soul, Hava
Faith – the attribute acquired by perceiving the Creator
Faith inside of knowledge – faith on the level that is
no greater than a person’s knowledge
Faith above reason – faith in spite of a person’s knowledge
Faith below reason – faith without knowledge, fanaticism
First restriction – ceasing to feel pleasure for one’s
own sake
Freedom of will – the only force of motion towards the
Creator
Gevura – the force of overcoming egoism
Gematria – The numerical value of properties
of corrected desire.
GE – the desires to bestow
Haya – light in the desire of the 4th level
Hesed – the source of the light
Hassadim in the Partzuf
Hochma – the source of the light Hochma
in the Partzuf
Hod – Malchut in the Partzuf
Idol worship – to relate to what is happening as
something that does not come from the Creator
Inanimate, vegetative, animal, human – the four levels
of desire
Inner light, Ohr Pnimi, OP – light that fills
the soul
Intention (Kavana) – the attuning on a desire
Introduction to the Talmud of the Ten Sefirot –
Baal HaSulam’s article
Israel – one who aspires toward the Creator
Kabbalah – the method for attaining adhesion with the
Creator
Kabbalist – the person who practically realizes the
method of Kabbalah on himself
Kli – creation’s desire to feel pleasure
Klipa (pl. Klipot) - the intention
to feel pleasure for one’s own sake
Knowledge – attainment of the causes and effects of what
is perceived
Keter – creation’s desire to give pleasure
Language of branches – the use of words of our world to
describe the upper
Malchut – creation’s desire to receive pleasure
or light
MAN – the plea for correction
Masach – anti-egoistic force
Moshe – the attribute of Bina in a
Partzuf
NaRaNHaY (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Ehida)
- the five lights in creation
Nations of the world – uncorrected desires to receive
Nefesh – the minimal light or light of stage
“zero”
Netzach – ZA in Partzuf
Neshama – light in the second level
Our world – perception without the screen
Outside the Land of Israel – below the attributes of
Bina
Partzuf – desires that are distributed
according to the size of the screen
Pleasure – perception of light
Reflected light, OH, Ohr Hozer – the intention
to please the Creator
Rashbi – rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, the author of “The
Book of Zohar”
Ruach – the light of the first level
Screen – the intention to please the Creator
Secrets of the Torah – light that is attainable after
the full correction
Sixth organ of perception – the soul, the desire to
feel pleasure from the Creator’s light
Soul – the desire to take pleasure in union with the
Creator
Spiritual – the attribute of bestowal
Spiritual gene (Reshimo) – an unrealized state
of bestowal
Spiritual world – that which is perceived within the
desire to bestow
Spiritual ascent – the growth of the attributes of bestowal
Surrounding light, OM, Ohr Makif – light that
wants to enter into creation
Talmud of the Ten Sefirot (TES) – the main
textbook of Kabbalah students
Tastes of the Torah – Ohr Pnimi, the inner light of the
soul
The Book of Life (Etz Haim) – the main
Kabbalistic textbook
The Book of Zohar (The Book of Splendor) – collection
of upper wisdom or knowledge
The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzira) – the
first Kabbalistic book
The end of correction – the correction of all of Adam’s
desires
The reincarnation of life (Gilgul) – successive
corrections of the soul
The Land of Israel – the level of Bina (Israel)
attained by Malchut (Earth)
The second restriction – the prohibition to use will to
receive
The Upper world – that which is perceived within the
desire to bestow
The Upper light – the pleasure of bestowal
The World of Infinity – boundless reception of light
Tifferet – the attribute of bestowal in creation
Torah – the general upper light that corrects and fulfills
Torah (the Pentateuch) – the account of correction
using everyday language
Vessel – desire
World – creation’s perception of its state
Yesod – the place of adhesion between creation
and the Creator
Yehida – the greatest light in creation
Yetzira – the world of angels
ZA (Zeir Anpin) – the small state of creation
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