Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 205

What Is the Difference Between the Various Vessels That Are Corrected?

A person has a soul. The soul exists in a place called the end of correction. There are 600,000 souls, which continually subdivide. A person’s individual soul is currently within their heart. The “heart” refers to all the animate or human desires in this world. The point in the heart is that desire that has been covered by the worlds in 125 coverings, and here a person feels it at the lowest level, as a yearning for spirituality. They do not know what spirituality is, because the final level (covering), called the “Machsom” (barrier), completely conceals everything above it.

What does it mean that a person ascends to the first spiritual degree? It means that we have removed one covering, shed one layer. Now we have only 124 coverings. Our desire becomes greater, and accordingly we receive a greater light. Below the barrier, we receive only a “thin candle” (Ner Dakik), whereas on the first spiritual degree we already receive the light of Nefesh. The difference between the degrees is immense. Then we ascend to an even higher degree, where we have only 123 coverings, we have removed another covering.

What does it mean to remove a covering? By means of the screen (Masach), the covering becomes a revelation. The force of resistance becomes transformed into a force of bestowal, and accordingly we receive the light of Ruach, and so on. This means that at each degree, we have a greater vessel, and accordingly a greater screen and a greater light.

And how do we ultimately achieve this? We do so by connecting more and more with the other souls until we reach the end of correction. We annul our self, our “I,” with respect to all the other souls, and become one with them without any separation. This is called uniting with the Creator.

Why with the Creator? It is because in the state where all individual souls are corrected and adhered into one soul, the inner light that fills this entire vessel is called “the Creator.”

Even when all are connected together, when the “I” becomes “Adam HaRishon,” we can never perceive what is outside. What is outside is Atzmuto (His Essence) and nothing is ever spoken about this. What is discussed is what fills the entire soul from within, and that is called “the Creator.”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 204
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 203
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 202

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