Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 74

Where Do We Have Free Choice, and Where Do We Lack It?

RABASH writes about where we have free choice in his article, “The Association of the Quality of Judgment with Mercy”: “The main work is the choice, meaning ‘choose life,’ so there will be Dvekut [adhesion], which is Lishma [for Her sake]. By this, one is rewarded with Dvekut with the Life of Lives.” Among all the actions we perform in life, just one action is given for free choice.

If we conduct a scientific examination on ourselves, we find that in all of our body’s biological and physiological processes, including the complexity of our brain (of which only around two percent is utilized), nothing operates voluntarily. Everything functions automatically. Even the brain, thought processes, and apparent decisions operate like a computer preprogrammed with data, operating based on initial parameters and our inherent nature.

We discover that we are no different from any other creature and act solely according to nature’s laws with no ability to choose or introduce new parameters. There is no source from which to draw this input, nothing external to teach it. Everything that enters our “computer” is already predetermined.

Therefore, we have no free choice. Baal HaSulam explains in “The Freedom” that in life, we have only one action of free choice: “And you shall choose life.” There is no need to focus on any other action, he emphasizes, as other actions unfold automatically, whether we want them to or not. If we focus on this single point of choice, we succeed in building our true self.

RABASH continues, “When there is open Providence, there is no room for choice.” There is no person in such a state. What is open Providence? The whole of reality and all created beings operate according to an inner plan and programming, making it as if the person is nonexistent.

“For this reason, the upper one raised the Malchut, which is the quality of judgment, to the Eynaim [eyes].” This is because under open Providence, there is no choice, and the purpose is for us to be independent, to establish something of our own. Why? It is because, through our independence, we will feel who we are and we will know what we are. By acting from our own self, we can rise on our own to the level of the Creator, for “to adhere to Him” means to reach that same level, absolute identification, and to adhere as equals with the Creator.

“This created a concealment, meaning that it seemed to the lower one that there was a drawback in the upper one.” The concealment of the upper one is designed to give us free choice. How is free choice given to us? We are sent a feeling, a thought, that the upper one, the spiritual world, is nonexistent, and that we merely live in this world like animals, with no one watching over us. This concealment is given specifically to those who want to advance, to those whom they want to elevate, to turn into human beings and grant them free choice.

The beginning of this concealment is what we feel in our current state. How? Anyone who wishes to attain something of the unknown already experiences some concealment. The AHP of the upper one (the lower part of the upper degree) begins to act on us, drawing and enticing us to seek it through the concealment.

“There was no Gadlut [greatness/adulthood] in the upper one.” It is what we feel. If we feel this way, we fall into despair. The study ceases to attract us and the path becomes unclear. This means we have already entered the process.

“Subsequently, the qualities of the upper one are placed within the lower one, meaning they are deficient. It follows that these Kelim [vessels] have equivalence with the lower one, namely that as there is no vitality to the lower one, so there is no vitality in the upper qualities.” The lower one perceives that even in the upper one there is no vitality. Why? It is because the upper one deliberately strips itself of light, showing the lower one that it has nothing.

“In other words, he feels no taste in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] for they are lifeless.” This is why it is said that studying Kabbalah is dangerous. Even for people who observe Torah and Mitzvot and do all that is required, when they are in a state of descent, everything appears tasteless and meaningless, to such an extent that they begin to belittle even these practices.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 73
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 72
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 71

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