The whole idea is: With what does a person identify himself? Is it with the desire to receive or with what he finds above the desire to receive? This is the difference between the right and left lines. Either I am within the desires or I control them; I am above them, become a “clarifier,” like an expert in this area.

I can be immersed within the desire to receive and can be above the desire to receive in order to use it in an even better way, and this is called Klipa. If I just want to enjoy and even want to swallow the whole world, this is still not Klipa, for these desires don’t come from myself. Rather, they come from Above, whereas a Klipa is a unique part of desire, a unique relationship with the desire to receive, where I myself want to open, expand, and strengthen it.

So it follows that hatred toward someone is just egoism,which is natural for the desire to receive. It isn’t anything unique in itself and was simply given to me by the Creator. However, it is already another matter when I want to develop my own initiative, to perfect this egoistic drive. This is Klipa. I want to use the Creator so that He will help me to get out from the desire to receive which is the substance of creation, something more than what was revealed from the start. So, I turn with a request, raise MAN for my desire to receive, and say, “Give me even more to enjoy,” and this is called “idolatry.”

Klipa is true egoism placed opposite Kedusha, bestowal. These are two systems that were created and stand facing each other.

If I am found on the side of Klipa; I work within the desire to receive in order to get the maximum possible use of it, to exploit the entire world to the end and even the Creator. I rise above my nature and want to use it “in order to receive,” and I see my spiritual work in this. I exploit all of nature in order to fulfill myself.

The opposite is purification of a desire, which I transform into bestowal, and accordingly, I control it altruistically.
[127863]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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