Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 214

Is the Degree of Receiving in Order to Bestow Higher Than the Degree of the Creator?

The Creator has no problem with bestowal. He bestows according to His nature. We, however, must be those who bestow in order to bestow, which is a rather strange combination of words. The created being is a desire to enjoy, and if together with the pleasure it feels, it intends to give pleasure to the Giver of that pleasure, to the Creator, then it is bestowing. This is the sum total of the nature and essence of the action. However, in practice, it always receives; it has no other possibility. We always use our desire to receive, our appetite, and the foods set before us in order to connect with the Host. We have no connection with the Host except through the foods and through his hunger. These are the means of connection.

We cannot speak about the Creator, who bestows according to His nature. Certainly, He makes no effort to bestow. Bestowal is His desire, and it is what He carries out. We do not speak about the upper force or about the degree of His separation from us. We cannot say what He is, only what we receive and feel from Him, whether they be good or bad things, shame or pleasures. We cannot imagine what the Creator is, what the desire to bestow is in itself, even if we were a created being on the highest degree. Although on such a degree we receive certain kinds of gifts from the Creator, hints that somehow make it possible to understand what the desire to bestow is.

What we understand, we understand within our vessels of reception, and then through the act of reception we can describe our understanding. We cannot understand beyond what our vessels allow. We can never step outside our vessels. Stepping outside the vessels means abstract light, which is something that has not been created. Nor do we perceive this abstract light. If we perceive abstract light, it is simply because we have reached a state in which we feel that the light is abstract, and even this takes place in our vessels of reception.

Therefore, we do not engage in what exists above the created being, because that is merely philosophy. No one has any experience of it, nor is it possible for the created being to attain it. The sole kind of attainment possible takes place when the Creator grants a kind of understanding that is above the vessels of the created being, on very high spiritual degrees. But Kabbalists do not even write about this. It has no significance.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 213
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 212
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 211

Filed under: Talks about the Steps of the Ladder | Add Comment →