Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 207

What Is the Ladder of Degrees?

The ladder of degrees is the measure of equivalence between the created being and the Creator. What does it mean that a person is at degree 123? It means that 123 degrees separate the qualities of the Creator from the person’s qualities. What does it mean that a person is at the highest spiritual degree? This signifies that there is no difference between the qualities.

In spirituality, in the spiritual ladder, there are 125 degrees: five worlds, with five Partzufim in each world, and five Sefirot in each Partzuf. In practice, this can be divided into many more, but in Kabbalah it is divided according to need. In total, there are five worlds: Adam Kadmon (AK), Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. However, the worlds of BYA (Beria, Yetzira, Assiya) are divided more precisely into six thousand years, into six thousand degrees.

As we ascend the degrees, each and every degree in the ladder blocks a greater light that is above it. That is, if we exist as a soul at a certain degree, all the degrees above them conceal and diminish the light of Infinity in relation to them. When we want to ascend a degree, we must cancel the screen that conceals it and turn it into a receiving screen, essentially moving from concealment to revelation, from the concealed Torah to the revealed Torah.

For Kabbalists, this is understood differently. People generally think they study the revealed Torah and that Kabbalah is the concealed Torah. However, according to the Kabbalistic view, as the Vilna Gaon wrote, at each degree one moves from the concealed Torah, when the higher degree is hidden, to the revealed Torah, when it is revealed. This is how we come increasingly closer to revelation time and again.

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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.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 205

What Is the Difference Between the Various Vessels That Are Corrected?

A person has a soul. The soul exists in a place called the end of correction. There are 600,000 souls, which continually subdivide. A person’s individual soul is currently within their heart. The “heart” refers to all the animate or human desires in this world. The point in the heart is that desire that has been covered by the worlds in 125 coverings, and here a person feels it at the lowest level, as a yearning for spirituality. They do not know what spirituality is, because the final level (covering), called the “Machsom” (barrier), completely conceals everything above it.

What does it mean that a person ascends to the first spiritual degree? It means that we have removed one covering, shed one layer. Now we have only 124 coverings. Our desire becomes greater, and accordingly we receive a greater light. Below the barrier, we receive only a “thin candle” (Ner Dakik), whereas on the first spiritual degree we already receive the light of Nefesh. The difference between the degrees is immense. Then we ascend to an even higher degree, where we have only 123 coverings, we have removed another covering.

What does it mean to remove a covering? By means of the screen (Masach), the covering becomes a revelation. The force of resistance becomes transformed into a force of bestowal, and accordingly we receive the light of Ruach, and so on. This means that at each degree, we have a greater vessel, and accordingly a greater screen and a greater light.

And how do we ultimately achieve this? We do so by connecting more and more with the other souls until we reach the end of correction. We annul our self, our “I,” with respect to all the other souls, and become one with them without any separation. This is called uniting with the Creator.

Why with the Creator? It is because in the state where all individual souls are corrected and adhered into one soul, the inner light that fills this entire vessel is called “the Creator.”

Even when all are connected together, when the “I” becomes “Adam HaRishon,” we can never perceive what is outside. What is outside is Atzmuto (His Essence) and nothing is ever spoken about this. What is discussed is what fills the entire soul from within, and that is called “the Creator.”

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What Kind of Demand Should We Direct to the Creator?

To what extent should we be involved in our correction? Should we simply demand, “Give me the end of correction,” or turn to the Creator and say, “You did this and that to me, this isn’t right, and this doesn’t seem quite right to me,” and so on? Should we speak with Him meticulously about every single detail? Or perhaps even suggest improvements, like: “Here, change this for me, do this for me, adjust this for me,” and so on? Perhaps even more so, after we correct our “machine,” we check how it should work, recognize its perfect functions, and after examining it, say to the Creator: “Good, You did a good job.” Is this called the work of the Creator?

How should we relate to reality? Reality is what we feel. It consists of three things: me, Him—the Creator, the upper force that is initially concealed from me and later revealed—and my world—the relations between us through the world, the way He brings me all my surrounding and inner reality, through which I connect to Him.

From where will we know what we need? From where will we know the extent to which we should recognize, understand, investigate, demand, and ask? We will know this from the Kabbalists’ words, and later it will indeed be revealed to us. Baal HaSulam says that the state we must reach is precisely defined by the name, “adhesion” (“Dvekut“). In spirituality, adhesion is complete equivalence between me and Him. What is “complete equivalence between me and Him”? It is when I know all His qualities, His desires, His longings, and all His good and bad attitudes toward me, down to the deepest level. It means knowing them, their causes and their consequences, to know what He wants and how He wants it.

In Kabbalah, this is called the attainment of the first nine Sefirot. The first nine Sefirot are the Creator’s attitude toward Malchut. From this, we learn about ourselves. If the Creator wants something from me, He built qualities within me that can give an answer, a response, to what He expects from me. For example, if the Creator brings me pleasure in drinking a cup of tea, He wants me to enjoy the tea. Through the pleasure that I feel, He creates the vessel in me that will long for tea.

From recognizing the Creator, we actually begin to recognize ourselves, and begin to recognize the gap between ourselves and the Creator, and how much the Creator has influences to which we have corresponding deficiencies. Meanwhile, we learn how to make adjustments between the influences and the deficiencies. If we knew all the influences of the Creator and all our own deficiencies, we would see that the Creator’s influences come and are ready to fill all of our desires. For every pleasure, there is a corresponding vessel in us.

The first problem in this matter is that the vessels need to be updated to bestow, otherwise we will not receive pleasure in them. Another problem is that if we receive these pleasures directly, we are not similar to the Creator and do not reach adhesion. We can receive these pleasures in the will to receive, but then we do not enjoy the will to receive because the pleasure immediately extinguishes the desire and we remain empty.

However, if we acquire a screen, install a screen over our will to receive, we enjoy without limitation of quantity or time, and we also acquire something special, we become similar to the Creator, align ourselves with Him, and are in adhesion. The Creator and the person begin to resemble each other. In other words, we not only acquire pleasure from the Creator, but also acquire the Creator’s status, become like Him with all that this implies, which cannot be explained. There are secrets of the Torah and many other things in this.

From this, the correction of the screen lets us be at the level of the Creator, and not at the level of the created being. What is our part in all this work? This work is called “the work of the Creator” and not the work of any person, because as Kabbalists who attained the correct reception of these pleasures explain, all the actions on the vessels—scrutinies, corrections, fillings, and so on—can only be done by the lights. That is, the Creator, the upper light, is the one who can perform corrections and fillings on the vessels.

And what about the “I”? Baal HaSulam explains in “The Freedom” that out of all actions available to a person in this world and in the spiritual world, we have only one action of choice by which we determine our individuality; it is an action that we ourselves perform. What is it? It is our desire for the Creator to perform a certain action. That is, we need to recognize ourselves in our current state, how opposite we are to Him, how much we need correction, and ask Him to perform the action while we are present in it and as if know it in all its details. However, the action itself is performed by the light.

How is this expressed in this world? It is that we must desire it. We naturally desire, but it is said that this is not enough. We desire according to our ability in our current state, and we must desire a little more, want the Creator to correct us and fill us, and want to be in a slightly higher state. How can we be in a certain state and want to rise from it if this desire is not within us? We acquire this desire from the environment.

Since we are all included together as one soul in Ein Sof, in the end of correction, if we create some form of equivalence with the state of Ein Sof among the friends in this world, we create conditions that let us acquire qualities or an additional desire from others that exists there. What is the corrected upper world made of? It is made of each soul annulling itself, and all souls joining together, and their connection creates the infinite fulfillment within each and every soul. Each soul receives the fulfillments that exist in the other 599,999 souls (there are a total of 600,000 souls).

The act of equivalence in this world gives us an additional desire. Therefore, in “The Freedom,” Baal HaSulam writes that a person must seek and find a society with a better, greater, and stronger desire for spirituality, and acquire that desire through connection and the desire to connect with the friends who are in that society. The society gives us that upward push that obligates the Creator to perform the action of scrutiny, correction, and fulfillment.

Therefore it is impossible to do anything with regard to the Creator before we prepare the conditions called “society.” That is why Rabbi Shimon in The Book of Zohar and Baal HaSulam and other Kabbalists dealt so much with the matter of society.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 203

Where Do We Begin?

We begin with the question: “What is the meaning of our lives?” And the answer is: “Taste and see that the Creator is good.” Between the question and the answer lies the entire wisdom, how to get from one to the other.

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How Do We Reach Bestowal to the Creator?

We can reach bestowal to the Creator through the small society we build. We bestow to our friends, the friends bestow to us, and together we form a group. Just as, in the end of correction, our souls are connected on the spiritual level, so we try to connect here and truly rise to that state.

By doing so, we attract surrounding light (Ohr Makif) into this world, and in a sense compel the Creator to increase the illumination, either through our own attraction of the surrounding light or through the light coming from the Creator in another way.

However, only our yearning to reach the purpose of creation neutralizes the Creator’s seemingly negative attitude toward the world. Then, the Creator does not need to awaken the world to correction through suffering.

No amount of activity based solely on direct relations between people will help, that is, bestowal to others with no connection to Godliness. Any form of bestowal on the level where a person currently exists, if disconnected from the Creator, is ineffective. We need to engage in bestowal to others only with the intention of reaching bestowal to the Creator.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” must be connected solely to correction. In the article “The Last Generation,” Baal HaSulam explains that this is the reason for the collapse of systems like those in Russia. They took the ideal of bestowing to others and detached it from the Creator. The same occurred in kibbutzim and other cooperative societies. They separated the ideal from its spiritual root and purpose, turning bestowal into a value in and of itself. This led to those systems’ complete collapse.

In other words, bestowal to others, when disconnected from bestowal to the Creator and from the purpose of creation, is out of alignment with the true goal and ultimately leads to destruction. What is the end of correction? It is a state in which every thought, action, and breath is connected to the purpose of creation. Anything disconnected from this purpose has no true existence and is considered lifeless. However, when we reach a state where everything in our life is connected to the end of correction, nothing limits us, and we attain a form of eternal life. The wisdom of Kabbalah is the method of learning how to reach this state.

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How Is the Correction of Bestowal Carried Out in This World?

When we discuss bestowal, we do not mean that we should go and help in a hospital or in some remote place where there are unfortunate people. In this world, we should not bestow simply because the Creator made it flawed and filled it with suffering. This is an incorrect way to relate to reality. Instead, this world should be viewed as a means through which we develop our relationship with the Creator.

If we help others improve their lives, we act like social workers. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is not the spiritual goal that we ultimately need to reach. The Creator intentionally arranged things this way, deliberately creating difficulties, and we are meant to use them in order to reach Him. Only through our yearning for the Creator does true correction come to human suffering.

At times, it might seem as if our good deeds toward others can bring them benefit, but in truth, ultimately it does not help; it might even worsen their state. Attempts to externally fix another person’s life do not lead to real correction. The same applies to punishments. Placing someone in prison often results in their becoming more sophisticated in wrongdoing instead of becoming corrected. Likewise, simply providing material support, such as filling someone’s refrigerator or wallet, does not truly improve the life of the recipient of that support, nor does it bring them lasting happiness. Even winning the lottery, which many dream of, does not bring real fulfillment.

In other words, the correction of bestowal is not merely about our outward attitude toward others. Instead, it is about correcting our relationship with the Creator. Only this can truly benefit others, because the Creator influences everything in reality. Everything descends from Him. Therefore, if we want to change the state of this world, we must change what comes to us from the Creator.

This can only be done when we bestow to the Creator. To the extent that we bestow goodness toward Him, the need for the world to appear in a negative form diminishes.

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What Does the Upper One Give Us?

The upper one gives everything. It gives the vessels, the lights, and the forces needed for us to build a screen (Masach) so that the lights can enter the vessels corrected by that screen.

What is required from us is only to discern, feel, ask, and desire these things. In other words, we do not perform the action itself. Instead, like a small child, we only need to understand, demand, taste, and discern, which is to carry out the inner work of scrutiny and prayer.

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How Can We Be in This World as If in the State of the End of Correction?

We are given a special state from above, something like a glimpse of the next world. It is one degree higher than the one we are currently in, and thus it is already considered a kind of “next world” for us. We receive this tiny illumination from the end of correction.

Then, after this illumination disappears, we make an effort to preserve it, not through the upper one (since the upper one has concealed itself and the illumination is gone), but through our own strength. We aspire to hold on to that illumination, to reach it again, so that it will exist within our own vessels through our own efforts.

If we succeed in doing this, it is considered that we have attained the next degree.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 190

How Can We Imagine What Bestowal Is?

When we are in a group, we are told that love of friends leads to love of the Creator and that bestowal to the friends leads to bestowal to the Creator. Why? It is because we try to establish the same conduct among ourselves as if we were truly among the souls at the end of correction. From that higher world, where all souls are included and connected together, we draw surrounding light (Ohr Makif).

If we try to establish that same law, that same state, in this world, through bodies, through an idea, through an attitude, through connection, and the common goal of advancing together, even in a small group, we effectively create a resemblance of the state in which the souls exist at the end of correction, on the spiritual level within that group. To the extent that we make this effort, we draw the surrounding light, which comes and corrects the vessels.

Therefore, the connection between friends in a group directly affects their spiritual progress. Through this reflection we create in this world, we gradually begin to feel what spiritual connection is. Of course, we can never truly know the higher form in advance. If we are on a certain level, how can they perceive the level above it? Even in ordinary life, within our current state, the next state is always unknown and is revealed suddenly as something new.

So how can we yearn for something above us? The higher level (the upper Partzuf) shows us a small example of bestowal as it exists on a higher degree. It does so in two stages.

In the first stage, the higher level shows us a bit of the light within it, the pleasure it contains. Then, we desire it, long for it, and feel uplifted. Kabbalists call this an “ascent,” although it is not a true ascent, as we do not actually rise. Instead, the higher level gives us a little vitality from a higher degree. This illumination is light at the higher level, but only a faint glow for us, since we cannot receive more in our current vessels.

In the second stage, after illuminating us, the higher level gives us a descent. It lets us feel our own vessels. What are these vessels? They are vessels of bestowal through which we feel darkness. In other words, we feel ourselves calculating, “How is it possible to give without thinking of our own benefit at all?”

Thus, through these two impressions from the higher level, we experience two extremes: what the light is (even if only partially perceived) and what the vessel of bestowal is. Then, we see how much we love the light and how much we resist the vessel. From these two poles, through study, effort, and persistent work, we gradually reach the higher level.

When we attain it and realize that state, an even higher level again reveals both the fulfillment and the vessel within it. These two states once more give us a sense of the extremes within the higher level, and again we strive to attain them, step by step, ascending further.

Therefore, our path is built from ascents and descents:

1. Ascents—the sense of fulfillment that exists in the higher level.
2. Descents—the sense of vessels (the nature of bestowal) of the higher level.

The effort between them is our constant desire to acquire these qualities, whether more or less, until we fully attain them.

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