People who study Kabbalah have two vessels: the heart and the point in the heart, and also two lights: the spark of this world (Ner Dakik) and the surrounding light of the upper world. Consequently we find ourselves in a rather complex inner state: the heart is constantly “expanding,” but only to the extent necessary for the development of the point in the heart.
Therefore, sometimes we feel that we have absolutely no interest in this world, that we want nothing from it. This is not because the heart is vanishing, but because the point in the heart is striving toward its own goal and suppresses all the desires of the heart. At other times, the opposite happens: the point in the heart seems to fade, while the heart reveals an intense, almost maddening craving for the pleasures of this world.
Furthermore, there are stages of development that do not depend on us, but on the structure of each person’s soul and on the overall structure of souls, which is determined by their proximity to the Machsom [barrier].
A person must go through a state known as recognition of evil. Are the desires in my heart good or bad? If they are bad, why? I feel pleasure in them, so why are they bad? They are bad because they are opposite to the desire of the point in the heart, and I strive toward it because there, perhaps, I will feel that I can experience greater pleasure.
We go through different states, rising, falling, and so on. Therefore, on the one hand, it seems to us that we should advance toward greater attainment of the Creator, toward the Machsom. On the other hand, we enter even greater darkness.
We should strive more earnestly toward spirituality, but at the same time we have many periods when we are drawn only toward corporeality. A person goes through these states over a long period of time until one eventually reaches the point where spirituality becomes the most important thing for them, and they see everything corporeal through spirituality.
This means that a person acts in this world only in order to attain spirituality. One lives, works, and does everything that is necessary, but only for this purpose. This goal draws them so strongly that it transforms their entire existence, but it does not annul their ordinary life.
Rav Baruch Ashlag (Rabash) writes that if a person uses everything that comes to him in order to connect with spirituality, with everything that comes to him through the actions of this world—then, eventually, this brings him to a state in which he strives toward spirituality with all his strength.
And since this world has already served him to build a strong desire for spirituality, he no longer needs it. Then he is granted entry into the spiritual world. At the same time, he remains in our world, but that fact no longer matters.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/26, Rabash, “Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?”
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Spirituality is the Unity of Three Factors
The Separation Between Body and Soul
Observe the Point in the Heart
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