Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 168

Chapter 17. Slander

In this world, at our level, we are in concealment with respect to the next level, which is already beyond the barrier (Machsom). It should be understood that at every level, the lower one is in concealment with respect to the upper one. The concealment is intended to let the lower one acquire vessels of bestowal. If there were no concealment, and we saw the enlightened and complete state in which everything is known and revealed, we would certainly have no way of detaching from the will to receive. It would be like thinking about something very attractive, detaching from it, and then thinking about that same thing only in order to bestow. How could that be possible?

Therefore, the pleasure in Kedusha (holiness) is concealed, but holiness itself is not concealed, and we can feel it. The moment we give up on the pleasure for ourselves that exists in Kedusha, we immediately see Kedusha and feel it. In other words, Kedusha itself, spirituality, is not concealed; only the direct pleasure that can be received from it in the vessels of reception is concealed. This is all that is under restriction (Tzimtzum). This is because when we correct ourselves and wish to not use the vessels of reception, we immediately discover spirituality, and we realize that it was not concealed even beforehand. Instead, since the vessels were aimed at receiving for ourselves, it appeared concealed.

This means that within us there are, as it were, two channels. We can perceive spirituality through one, and the disturbance exists only in the second channel because we want to draw spirituality for the sake of receiving. However, if we wish to perceive spirituality not for ourselves, but in order to work with it as it itself deserves, in equivalence of form with it, then it becomes possible to see it and to work with it. Accordingly, we learn that the vessels of reception conceal spirituality from us.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 167
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