There is a big difference between the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) and the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet). During the Tzimtzum Aleph, we receive part of the Light into Sefirot Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut inside ourselves, and this is regarded as the Inner Light or NRNHY (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida), but we don’t receive part of the Light in the same Sefirot, Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut; this latter is called the Surrounding Light.

In line with these levels, all fulfillments can be divided into two parts: receiving and non-receiving. But I know what is located inside and what is outside since I have all these properties and have been studying them. I have established a connection with them, entered adhesion (Zivug de Haka’a).  And even the part that didn’t enter inside me, I also know; after all, I was trying to merge with it and rejected it.

I was given “two kilos of meat”, and I accepted only half a kilo, refusing the rest because I couldn’t receive more for the sake of bestowal. But I know what the remainder in 1.5 kg means and how it tastes. I remember how I was building an anti-egoistic screen for this fulfillment and how I pushed it away resisting receiving it. This is how we work in Tzimtzum Aleph.

At the same time, in Tzimtzum Bet, while we receive the Light of Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama, we don’t receive Chaya and Yechida and have no idea about what they are! I haven’t worked with the Lights Chaya and Yechida and don’t know what’s in them. This doesn’t exist “in me” for I simply pushed them away and didn’t have to decide what part I can and cannot receive.

Within me, there are vessels for these Lights, Chaya and Yechida, but they have no experience or idea about this Light; therefore, they seem totally alien to me. Hence, they are called “others” in relation to me. Only during Tzimtzum Bet do I feel the sensation of the “outside world.”

This means that in one case, I have a screen to receive one part of the Light and not the other. And in the second case, I don’t have a screen on this Light at all. When Malchut is in adhesion with Bina and can function as Bina, it is another Malchut, which is not just my desire. Connecting with Bina, Malchut receives special properties from it, the properties of bestowal that allow Malchut to taste and detect what is inside me and what is outside of me.

If, however, Malchut isn’t connected with Bina and therefore rejects the properties of Chaya and Yechida, it cannot taste what is inside them; it doesn’t have any connection, any equivalence of form, with what is outside.

That is why I see distant stars, the whole world around me, rocks, plants, animals, and even other people, but I don’t feel any of them as part of myself at all.
[24678]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/24/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The First And Second Restrictions
Where Is The Real Me?
Shifting From Illusion To True Perception

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson | Add Comment →