Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 206

If the Concept of Punishment Does Not Exist, Why Does the Torah Speak About Punishments?

All the books of the Torah are called “holy books” because they all deal with the spiritual world. Spirituality exists from the level of the screen and above, and we do not feel it. Something separate and distinct is called “holy,” “sacred.” All the holy books describe only the spiritual world. The Torah does not speak about this world. It does not instruct us on how to be good to others, but how to be good to the Creator. Our yearning to resemble the Creator corrects our nature, and then naturally we also become better in this world.

How does the Torah describe ascents? Our ascents take place along two lines: the right line and the left line. From the right line come the qualities of the Creator, the first nine Sefirot, the forces of bestowal, and from the left line comes the will to receive. A person stands in the middle and corrects oneself. Therefore, the Torah presents two things, what will happen if you do not act and what will happen if you do act. Reading the Torah, especially the books of the Prophets, often gives the impression of calamity, and we feel rebuked. But in fact, what is being conveyed is a description of what happens at each and every degree. If you act one way, one outcome follows, and if you act another way, a different outcome follows. This is how the structure of the spiritual degrees is explained. There is no intention to rebuke as one would scold a child.

These stories describe, in a narrative language, conditions in the higher degrees. Therefore, all these books are meant only for those who are in the upper world, because in our world there is nothing to “do” in that sense. What a person does here is a result of what takes place above. For example, the Torah speaks about the ruin of the Temple. Even in the simple interpretation, it is explained that the ruin occurred because we fell from a spiritual degree, and then enemies entered. We ourselves caused this situation by descending from a higher spiritual level. Seventy years before the ruin, it was already foretold. Why? It is because based on the spiritual level of the people, it was possible to foresee what would happen, just as today we can observe the deterioration of human society and feel unable to stop it; some even predict the collapse of countries or of humanity itself.

In other words, everything depends on the inner state, which is reflected and expressed in physical form. The Torah speaks about these inner states. It does not describe what a person should do with their hands and feet, or physical objects. Our world is a world of consequences. If we perform corrections in the spiritual degrees, everything in this world will accordingly be arranged.

This world must rise to the final degree. We must reach the state of the end of correction, not only with the point in the heart, but with the entire heart, with all of our desires. In other words, we are required to elevate even our most corporeal desires to the highest level. Kabbalists say that a person must reach the state of the end of correction while still living in this world.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 205
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 204
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 203

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