Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 164

What Does It Mean to Prepare the Sensation?

According to the correction of the vessels, the Creator fills a person, dresses within them, and that is what the person feels. The preparation for this is the preparation of the sensations, the vessels.

A person who is hard of hearing buys a hearing aid. A nearsighted person buys glasses. Someone whose sense of taste is dull eats strongly flavored foods. A tired person drinks a cup of coffee to wake up a bit. If someone wants to heighten their sensitivity or stir their emotions, they might listen to special music. Various preparations are made in order to sharpen the senses.

Sometimes we see someone crying and it makes us laugh. At other times, someone tells us something ordinary and it brings us to tears. Everything depends on the person’s preparation.

We are in the most exalted state, that of final correction. However, due to our dull senses, we feel only a tiny fraction of it, and even in that tiny portion, we feel everything as the opposite of the final correction and curse our lives. The entire work of correction is the correction of our senses. This is “recognition of evil.” However, again the question arises: How can we know this if “the good” is concealed?

Baal HaSulam gives a parable about a wealthy man who locked his son in a dark basement with nothing but the food that was lowered down to him. The son cursed his father and saw him as a cruel torturer.. When he was finally taken outside and shown that there is another life beyond, his mental state worsened. He did not understand what was happening. He felt like the most miserable person in the world. These are exactly the kinds of states we go through.

Over time, we gradually learn from our state. What does “learn” mean? After his heart has been broken for twenty years, they bring light into the basement, and then he discovers all the treasures his father left there for him. He begins to understand that everything was done for his sake. And why was he in sorrow for twenty years? It was because he could not have digested all his wealth, in less time than that. Now he can. The vessel must be suited to the light, to the revelation.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 163
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 162
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 161

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