II. Before there Was Time. 7. Down and Up the Ladder

In his "Introduction to The Book of Zohar" Baal HaSulam depicts three states that souls experience. The first state is the beginning of creation, which contains everything that will later evolve in the soul, like a seed contains the plant that will grow. The second state is the birth of the soul, somewhat like the seed’s stages of growth. The third state is when the soul realizes its potential to the fullest, reaches the level of the Creator, and bonds with Him. In the third state, the soul returns to the first state, but this time it is a conscious and mature act...

Curious about why we were created? Questions about the meaning of life and why we are here have been asked since the beginning of time, so join the rest of the world in your queries. But the answers may be more easily understood than you thought...

In his “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam depicts three states that souls experience. The first state is the beginning of creation, which contains everything that will later evolve in the soul, like a seed contains the plant that will grow. The second state is the birth of the soul, somewhat like the seed’s stages of growth. The third state is when the soul realizes its potential to the fullest, reaches the level of the Creator, and bonds with Him. In the third state, the soul returns to the first state, but this time it is a conscious and mature act...

The cycle of spiritual reality is like a ladder. This ladder is probably not available at your local hardware store, but you could ask. The Spiritual Light is at the top of the ladder. It is the starting point, the zero, or Root point, in Kabbalistic language. The starting point is Phase Zero, which we introduced in Chapter 5, but here we are referring to it as the beginning of the circle, hence the different name. Kabbalists often use different names to the same spiritual states, to emphasize a different function of the same spiritual entity or degree...

The Creator did not instill in us the wish to be like Him, however. In Phase 4, you decide that you will receive only if you understand why the Creator wants to give—until you understand what’s in it for Him...

At the bottom rung on the spiritual ladder, where you and I start, we are disconnected from the Creator. Here, the task is to refurbish our desire for spirituality and make it a working vehicle to drive us up the spiritual ladder once more. All souls started out at being one with the Creator. In a sense, then, you and I have been developing and refurbishing ourselves for many thousands of years. In the framework of Kabbalah, the last 6,000 years have been the culmination of this process. Now the process is nearing its end, a time when all of humanity is becoming spiritual. So let’s look at the process and see how Kabbalah shows a way to go about this spiritual process...

If you remember at the beginning of the chapter, we stated that the Root was the beginning, at the top of the ladder. Although it may seem like a contradiction, it’s important to remember it because it means that you and I contain the seeds of the Root within us—the seeds of the Creator, if you will. So the Root is both the beginning of the cycle of spirituality and our ultimate goal. Having “fallen,” you and I seek to regain the top, or correct ourselves. That requires climbing the spiritual ladder, from the earthly world back up to the Root. To understand how to return to your Root, you need to know your root and how you came down from there. How else could you know where to return if you hadn’t already been there in some way?..

Life shows us that we cannot survive without a sufficient number of people around, to serve and help provide for our needs. Humans are social beings, and society is like a machine where each individual in like a wheel, linked to other wheels. A single wheel cannot move by itself. However, it joins the motion of all the other wheels and helps the machine perform its purpose...

In the spiritual cycle, our souls started at being like the Creator. Then they climbed down the ladder, and now we must travel up it and become like Him again...