The source of the upper Light created a point of desire “from nothing,” began to develop it with His pressure, until it reached the state called the world of infinity. In this state the point is no longer a point but a sphere filled with the light that created it, and it performs a restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph), and expels the light from itself. We are under this restriction.

The condition of the first restriction is very simple: above there is light, pleasure, perfection, eternity— everything, and below there is desire, darkness, emptiness—nothing! And between them lies the boundary of the first restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph), a condition that can never be revoked. If the desire (Kli) is not similar to the light, this gap remains between them.

That is, you will not feel anything except what you feel now. And this is called an unconscious spiritual state or “this world.” This is the smallest measure of life that we are today, below any awareness, in darkness, as if in an imagined reality and in the deepest sleep that could possibly exist.

Once I saw a science fiction film about how people were placed into some capsules with a special liquid to be sent into space over distances of thousands of light years. And they slept, each in his capsule, until they arrived at another planet and began to awaken there. It is in a similar state that we find ourselves in now, asleep, cut off from true reality!

The condition by which I can receive the light is the intention for the sake of bestowal. The desire to be filled, to enjoy, does not change, only the “for what,” the “why,” the “meaning” changes.

If I want to receive the light, the fulfillment, for myself with the intention for myself, egoistically, against the condition of Tzimtzum Aleph, this is called receiving “from above downward.”

If I want to receive the light (in both cases I only receive, since within me there is only the desire to receive, and only the intention, the condition of reception, changes), but with the intention to bring pleasure to the one who gives to me, then this is called receiving “from below upward.”

Only in such a case will the light, the revelation of the upper world, fill me. It is not clear to us how one can receive the upper light from below upward; what is meant is that you return pleasure to the giver. This condition opens the path for the light! Fulfill this condition and the entire world of infinity is yours!
[7324]
From the Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/09, The Book of Zohar

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