Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, “Table of Questions and Answers for the Meaning of the Words”: Question 27. Maatzil (the Creator). Any cause is regarded as the Maatzil of the effected degree. The title Maatzil contains both the Hamshacha (drawing) of the Ohr (Light) and the Kli (vessel) that receives the Ohr.

It’s clear for us that the upper degree is called the Creator with respect to the lower one that it has created. But why is it added here that the concept of “the Creator” includes not only the received Light, but also the vessel receiving this Light, meaning my vessel, desire?

I receive the Light and sense my reality inside my desire. Inside this reality, I feel the upper degree. In other words, the sensation in me is divided in two parts: myself and the upper one. And all this is called the Creator.

That is, everything is attained only inside man’s sensations, and I call a special part inside myself the Creator. Therefore, it is said: “From Your actions we will know You!”

We can talk about the Creator (Bo-reh or “come and see” in Hebrew) only to the measure of our own corrections. I call the Creator that part within myself that I correct to bestowal, to the properties that are not inherent in my nature from birth.

That is why the soul can be merely a point, a drop, or can grow bigger and bigger, but it is always part of the upper one. I sense the upper root, the Creator, inside the part in me that is corrected to bestowal and called the soul. The Creator is already in me, not in the heavens, but we are talking about the property of bestowal that is above me, above my nature. Although I have obtained it and am now working with it, I nonetheless attribute it to the upper one.

That is why the Creator is always within a human being, and not somewhere in the sky. The same applies to the upper degree: Only those who attain it and are in contact with it can talk about it. That is, the upper degree is also in me, only I consider it higher degree for me.

In my perception, there are always such degrees which I have already acquired and practically work with, as if they belong to me, and the one that is still higher and shines for me “from afar.” That is, it is in me, but in such a form that I cannot use it for the time being. Everything is perceived and sensed only within a person who attains.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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“Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.” (Mark Twain, Following the Equator).

Question: Is shame a kind of a sin on the spiritual path?

Answer: Shame is a wonderful quality. Shame is what separates man from animal. There are no other differences. Only shame creates a difference, meaning that it lifts man above the animate level.It is written that all people are like animals. The difference only appears when I start feeling shame. This is a sign of a Human originating within me.

Everyone is a thief in our world, but the majority is afraid to steal. We call this fear shame. We are afraid of being seen, of being caught, exposed, beaten, incarcerated, and so on. Briefly speaking, fear keeps us from stealing. The same way a cat, after getting kicked a few times, looks at sour cream from a respectable distance. It already accepted the fact that there is nothing it can do about it.

But there is another kind of shame: without a reason, without a consequence for oneself. Do whatever your heart desires, the entire world is at your service, like in a dream, when you walk down empty streets and all the doors open before you. Stores, cars, everything is yours, everything is allowed. Enjoy. But you refuse.

Why do you refuse? I do not want this because I want to grow up by using the power of shame as intended.

This shame comes from the perception of the Giver. It is impossible to attain bestowal without perceiving the Giver. And this is why you cannot perform a single act for the sake of bestowal, you are unable to correct a single of the 613 desires of your soul without the wisdom of Kabbalah, the method of the revelation of the Creator. You will not be able to do anything on your own, without the Light that will give you this quality. And this is no longer corporeal but spiritual shame.

On the other hand, when it comes to animals who do not feel shame, it is also possible to evoke fear of punishment. Then how are we with our “shame” different from them? In reality, we do not feel shame in our world—we fear.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/11, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Item 8: This matter is like a rich man who took a man from the market and fed him and gave him gold and silver and all desirables every day. And each day he showered him with more gifts than the day before. Finally, the rich man asked, “Do tell me, have all your wishes been fulfilled?” And he replied, “Not all of my wishes have been fulfilled, for how good and how pleasant it would be if all those possessions and precious things came to me through my own work, as they have come to you, and I would not be receiving the charity of your hand.” Then the rich man told him: “In this case, there has never been born a person who could fulfill your wishes.”

The Creator intentionally created the creature so that it feels discomfort and as a result, cannot receive any fulfillment in its desire. This discomfort is meant to encourage the creature to become corrected to such an extent that it would not calm down until it bestows upon the Creator as much as the Creator bestows upon it. The creature cannot just receive any more because in that way it seems to neglect the Giver, His love and bestowal.

The love of the Giver is absolute: His bestowal is perfect and devoid of any intention to cause shame in the creature. We feel that shame is coming from us, out of the receiving desire. In our sensation, we do not attribute this desire to the Creator, and thus we do not “blame” the shame that awakens in this desire on the Creator.

“Wait! But there is none else besides Him. The Creator governs everything.”

True, but the question of ownership arises here. If I think of myself as existing, then I ascribe the receiving desire and the shame in it to myself. If I do not think of myself as existing, I can ascribe the desire and shame to the Creator. There are no other options; I cannot feel my existence and at the same time attribute it to the Creator: “He did it!” Do I have the point of my own existence? If I don’t, we have nobody to talk about. If I do, then precisely I desire and feel shame.

Thus, shame is the lever, the device that enables us to achieve correction. What is it? Shame is the difference between the receiver and the Giver, felt in the receiver. In other words, we have to reach this shame yet.

Thus, in the chapter “Inner Reflection,” The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, Baal HaSulam cites Rabbi Elazar who said that shame was prepared only for the high souls. They attain the Creator, His attitude towards us, and hence achieve shame. The more we advance in the revelation of the Creator, the more we feel shame that becomes the tool for correction.

We cannot correct anything without shame. It is useless to reproach a cat who has eaten sour cream. Only a human can blush and feel ashamed because he has this root, but the animate level can’t. Accordingly, on the human level, it all depends on how much I understand and consider myself a thief, the one who receives for the sake of reception, regardless of the Master, the Giver.

There are some subtleties: If I want to perform bestowal, I need to sense the Giver, to feel how much He wants to give me. I cannot have shame without this, meaning a sense of how much I should give Him in return. Then, there is no similarity between us, and I will not know how to behave and what He wants from me in reality.

In other words, without revealing the Creator, the creature cannot perform a single commandment, a single action of bestowal. If I do not have the image of the Giver in front of me, I have nothing to compare myself to.

I am like the poor man from Baal HaSulam’s example, and the rich man stands in front of me. He loves me, he gives me everything and is ready to do anything for me, even to become poor by making me rich. But I have to sense him, to feel his attitude and opposite to it, myself and my attitude. I have to understand that I am unable to return his love.

The problem here is not in fulfillment or in what he gives me. Otherwise, it would be enough just to stop accepting his gifts. Moreover, even if I wanted to repay him, what can I give to the owner of infinite treasures? What can I give to the Creator?

Thus, shame is the reason why the creature acquires the vessels of bestowal, the intention to bestow.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/11, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: During the first expansion of the Light (Keter) the vessel does not yet exist. So what does the Light dress itself into?

Answer: Of course, this is not yet called a vessel. That is why it is referred to as the phases of the expansion of the Direct Light and not the phases of the vessel. You can also call it the stages of the development of the vessel, but undoubtedly, until the fourth stage there is no vessel which could be called an independent creature.

It’s only after the fourth phase, expanding from Above downward, performs the Restriction and reaches this world, that it can be said that the vessel completes its development. It is only here, in this world, where the creature will desire to return back to its root, that it can be considered independent and possessing the point of free will, which it can enlarge from a point to the scale of the world of infinity.

According to the sensation of this point of free will and to the extent of its development, it is called the creature, while a simple desire to enjoy is not called the creature. It is the created being only from the side of the Creator, the Host. The real creature stands opposite to the Creator and possesses its own will.

That is why the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature are not considered to be the creature. They exist instinctively under the complete control of the Light, without any independence. In this same form, not independently, a lot of people still exist now, obeying the orders of their nature.

Choice begins where the creature feels shame due to its lack of equivalence with the Creator, which pushes it to develop itself. This state is called the creature.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, “Histaklut Pnimit (Inner Reflection),” Item 36: The will to receive is the substance of the essence. … We name the first form in the essence by the name “the first substance in the essence” since we have no attainment or perception whatsoever in any substance.

There are five types of sensations: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. To feel an object as a material one is to touch it. Only by touching it can I be sure that it exists and is material.

The most reliable reality is that which can be touched and taken into the hands. I name something as substance if it reveals itself to me by touch, but in reality, this is not substance. It is simply that I have five organs of perception, and the influence of the Light on my sense of touch creates the illusion of substance in me. If I had no body with nerve receptors on my skin and if I could not perceive the reality I am in through them, I could not feel the material world which I sense today.

What is smell? The influence of the Light on my smell receptors gives me the perception of smell, and the influence on the taste receptors gives me the perception of taste. The same is true for sight and hearing. All of my sensations come through the nerve endings which are located either behind the ear drum or inside the eye.

So, all that we have are the five organs of perception. In the end, they draw for us all of reality: our body and the entire world in front of us. I perceive substance through my sense of touch, while the rest of my senses—smell, taste, hearing, and sight—draw the additional qualities of the alleged “reality” that I and the surrounding world are part of.

The Light draws this entire picture for me. In reality, there is nothing except simple desire, which is being influenced by the Light, giving birth to all of these forms. That is why it seems to me that we all exist as physical bodies.

This is why Baal HaSulam says that “the will to receive is the first form in the essence,” and that we define the first form as “substance” because we have no attainment of the essence. So, there exist matter, form clothed in matter, abstract form, and the essence. Matter is the will to enjoy perceived by us through the organs of touch which are being helped by our other organs of perception.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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