Working above reason and below reason, following the path of faith and the path of reason, these things are not very easy to understand. This is because a person who is still preparing to cross the Machsom and begin the true work, the work of the Creator, does not yet perceive these concepts clearly enough.

A person does not yet have a sense of the bestower, the higher degree, and therefore, does not clearly distinguish between the concepts of faith and reason. He does not understand that reason means receiving in the mind and heart, receiving into one’s Kelim (vessels), whereas faith means the presence of the upper one in the vessel. Moreover, faith can exist only above reason, and only when it stems from love and awe.

However, during the period of preparation, there are sometimes cases when this distinction—above, within, and below reason—manifests itself as branch and root. Then we begin to understand that spiritual definitions are somewhat different from corporeal concepts.

For example, we do not understand why the action performed by Adam HaRishon (the first man) is called a “sin.” Before learning about this, we thought that he had the opportunity to avoid it and act differently. We assumed that it had been committed intentionally, and only because of that it was called a sin.

But as we study the sources, we understand that everything had been prepared in advance, and that if he had not done it, there would have been no possibility of achieving the necessary correction.

In other words, the action itself had been predetermined in the thought of creation even before Adam HaRishon was born. If so, how can we say that he sinned? When we say that Adam HaRishon sinned, we do not quite understand what we are talking about.

Baal HaSulam and Rabash explained that a “sin,” when a person supposedly sins, is not actually a sin, and the person is not to blame for having performed that action. Rather, things are arranged for him from above in such a way because he is meant to be brought down to a certain degree from which he must begin his correction.

Thus, what appears to us to be a sin is not a sin but a punishment, not because the person has previously done something wrong. When you are brought down to a certain degree, we call it a punishment, whereas in spirituality it is called a sin.

We learn that every time a person ascends, acquires a higher degree, and reaches the completion of his current degree, he receives the next degree in darkness. “The day is Yours, and Yours also the night.” In other words, he begins to fall once again, receives an additional measure of the desire to receive, and begins to overcome it and work from within the darkness.

We do not understand that a bad state—when I am distant from holiness, do not want spirituality, feel despair and weakness, and no longer sense a connection with spirituality—is not a sin or a punishment. On the contrary, it is a reward. This is because a person is being given new Kelim, new desires that he can withstand and thereby attain a new degree.

Sin, punishment, and reward are very unstable concepts that do not correspond to the meanings we are accustomed to in this world.
Because Adam HaRishon fell into self-love, a “sin” occurred, which in Kabbalah is called a punishment. And the punishment itself is his going through various difficult states in which he suffers and makes tremendous efforts.

But this is no longer a punishment; it is his correction. In other words, we evaluate these states according to how they feel to us rather than in relation to the goal. That is why it seems to us that the terrible state a person finds himself in comes as a punishment. But in reality, these are corrections.

Therefore, when we begin to experience these states, we must approach them from a spiritual perspective, in terms of the goal. If we transfer all these concepts from the realm of our animalistic perceptions into the realm of spiritual concepts connected with the goal, considering how things appear in relation to the Creator, we will see that they take on an entirely different picture and look completely different from how they appear in our world.

Each definition shifts from its place and exchanges places with another concept. Then, instead of punishment, we see reward; instead of reward, we see preliminary preparation that does not depend on the person at all; instead of sin, we see the beginning of a new, predetermined state, and so on.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/26, Rabash, “When a Person Knows What Is Fear of the Creator”

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