Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 212

Chapter 20. Intention and Action

Kedusha (holiness) is called “in order to bestow,” meaning intention. The action itself is not important, except insofar as it testifies that the intention is indeed in order to bestow. Therefore, all Kedusha—from the barrier onward, up to the soul’s final correction—consists entirely of degrees of “in order to bestow,” intentions aimed at bestowal.

It depends on the particular desire to receive, on the receiving vessels, and on which actions can be joined to that intention. To the extent that we can increasingly attach our very selves to the intention to bestow, we ascend to higher and higher degrees.

Therefore, the intention is of utmost importance. The path begins and ends with it. All of spirituality is intention, and the desire upon which the intention rides determines our degree. There is a certain gradation in this. Our level is measured according to the coarseness (Aviut) of the desire and according to the coarseness of the screen (Masach) that we can place upon that desire.

If the intention to bestow is used with a desire to receive of Aviut Shoresh, Aleph, and Bet (root, first, and second degrees of coarseness), we do not receive in order to bestow, but only bestow in order to bestow. Why? This is because bestowal in order to bestow does not actually exist as an action that belongs to the created being; a created being is a vessel of reception. However, since the desire to receive in the degrees of Aviut Shoresh, Aleph, and Bet is still unfelt as receiving pleasure, the work with it is called the work of bestowing in order to bestow.

Only when the intention to bestow rides upon a desire to receive of Aviut Gimel and Dalet (third and fourth degrees of coarseness) is it called “receiving in order to bestow.” This is because in Aviut Gimel and Dalet there are already sensations of reception, pleasure, and shame. Then we begin to receive in order to bestow, and the feeling of being a receiver who bestows begins.

Therefore, every soul, every vessel, is divided into Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE) and AHP, and the work of each part is different:

The work of Galgalta ve Eynaim—the work of conception (Ibur), birth, and nursing (Yenika), up to the state of smallness (Katnut).

The work of AHP—work with the vessels of reception of Aviut Gimel and Dalet, the vessels of greatness (Gadlut), meaning that we begin to work with the AHP.

These are the two discernments in Kedusha. However, Kedusha is not measured according to desire, but according to intention. The minimal intention to bestow that we acquire immediately places us in the spiritual realm, in the spiritual world.

What does it mean to cross the barrier (Machsom)? It means acquiring an intention to bestow that is called “Lishma” (“for Her sake” or “for the sake of bestowal”).

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 211
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 210
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 209

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