A human being is built of the will to receive and is essentially nothing more than a sensing cell; all intellect, knowledge, and decisions stem from what he feels.

Therefore, one can bring oneself closer to the goal only by means of ascents and descents. That is, drawing closer to the Creator happens through descents, through distancing oneself from Him.

A person is distanced from spirituality, pushed back, and shown how opposite he is to the goal; his own evil is revealed to him. We call this the recognition of evil. A person sees that he cannot do anything on his own, and is unfit for holiness. From all these sensations, a state eventually matures within him where he realizes that he has no choice, he must go above his own reason.

How does he reach such a state? Only after numerous falls, one following another, similar to the example in the Study of the Ten Sefirot of the man who strives to reach the King’s palace with all his strength while guards and sentries push him back, bar his way, and he tumbles down the mountain on which the Creator’s palace stands.

But each time that he is thrown down, he nevertheless rises and returns. He is pushed back even more forcefully, and he rises again and moves forward with patience and persistence. Ultimately through all these clashes and periods of distancing from spirituality, he builds a real desire to attain the goal within himself.

His passionate striving toward the goal is what subsequently triggers a sense of rejection. It always works this way—through opposites. From being rejected, he develops an understanding of the importance of the goal. Each thing gives birth to its opposite.

Therefore, if he does not have deep, sharp, crushing falls that bring disappointment and despair, he would not be able to truly value the goal. On the other hand, if he does not apply enough effort to come to it, even when it seems to him that just a bit more and he will attain the goal, only to fall again and again, he will not find out how far in fact he is from it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/26, Rabash, “And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre”

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