The Zohar: When man sinned with the Tree of Knowledge, he lost all his Light and was left with the lowest desire of all creatures (without a screen). He was emptied of Light and understood that he is the most despicable of all the creatures in the world (because the force of his desire was greater than his screen). Therefore he became the most cowardly of all the creatures.

All other creatures are stronger than man. This is really so. We don’t even realize how much weaker we are than other creatures, such as microbes, insects, birds, and animals, and how dependent we are on them for everything.

Our desire is the coarsest; it has the highest Aviut (thickness) and we don’t even have a screen to conceal it or protect ourselves from it. This is why the “human being” inside of us is so small and his desire is so weak that as soon as any animalistic desire emerges in us (such as the desire for money, fame, sex, or other pleasures), we immediately surrender to it, let it control us, and look for a way to satisfy it.

We do not have power over these desires; they can do anything with us. And that means that a man is weaker than all the other creatures – “a human being” in me is weaker than all my other inner desires.

The Zohar: And when a man sins, he is told that a mosquito is worthier than him. But if he did not sin and kept his screen, then he would have turned his desires into merits and would have attained the highest Light.

But when he sins, he loses the degree of the Light and is left with a huge, empty desire that turns into a defect. And then even a mosquito is worthier than him since it was created with a purer desire.

None of these animate desires inside me have free choice, and therefore we are not required to correct them. We have to correct only what belongs to the “human” level in us. Then all our other desires join the “human” level, which is the only level we should worry about.

We do have freedom of choice and a connection with the Creator on the level of the “human” desires. The other desires simply join and support the “human being” in us.

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