Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 249

How Does the Creator Bring About the States We Go Through?

It is written that the light shakes the vessel. This is the only way. The more or less it shines, the more the vessel rises or falls. There is no other force besides the light that can influence the vessel. But the light influences the vessel and its parts selectively, according to the vessel’s ability to advance. The light itself is a simple, abstract light that shines upon the vessel like a simple flashlight, but it creates a special system between itself and the vessel called the “worlds.”

The light that passes through the worlds and shines upon the vessel acquires a special form that illuminates precisely the part of the vessel that is supposed to become active at that moment. The light shines with exactly the intensity and in exactly the manner required for a particular organ to act now, to correct itself, and to feel something. In other words, the worlds that stand between the light and the vessel adapt the light precisely to each individual vessel according to its nature. Then each vessel receives exactly what it needs and responds and becomes corrected accordingly.

Therefore, it is said in Kabbalah that the worlds are a system of control, a system of governance, a system of providence. What are the worlds for? The worlds are built in accordance with the vessels, only in an opposite form. That is, they understand the deficiencies in the vessels, and they exist in the worlds in a positive form. When we study the world of Atzilut, not technical studies, as Baal HaSulam writes, but when we truly begin to see how the world of Atzilut prepares its influence for the souls, with what wisdom it knows exactly how and for what purpose to prepare its influence in each and every soul, the picture is truly magnificent.

In Kabbalah, we simply learn that the worlds were created as a copy. There was the shattering of the world of Nekudim, and from that shattering the worlds were formed. Therefore, we begin counting the worlds from the world of Atzilut onward, whereas the world of Adam Kadmon, the world of Keter, is the light that shines from Ein Sof (Infinity). Ein Sof is completely abstract light. That light is divided in the world of Adam Kadmon into five original lights, according to the five parts that exist in the original vessel, the four phases of direct light. Afterward, the world of Atzilut, which arose from the remnants of the shattering, channels the lights to the souls that exist in the worlds of BYA and arranges them so that they influence each and every part, in every soul, exactly according to the order of corrections that each soul requires.

Therefore, we study primarily the world of Atzilut because it explains everything that happens, and through it we can learn about the souls. The world of Atzilut is in complete correspondence with what should exist in the soul. Therefore, we do not study souls directly. We study only ourselves. “From Your actions we know You.” The study of the world of Atzilut is, in fact, the study of the souls, one corresponding to the other. The study of the world of Atzilut is fascinating and awe-inspiring. Through it we understand what change each individual detail undergoes when the light descends upon it, what it is about to correct, what within the soul is awakened, how it responds both consciously and unconsciously, and how the created being begins to awaken and come into existence from a state in which it was not yet a created being at all. It is a wondrous picture, truly a marvel.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 248

Why Is It Said That We Should Ask for the Revelation of the Creator, and That Through This the Recognition of Evil Will Come?

It is constantly said that we should ask for the revelation of the Creator, for the importance of the Creator, for the greatness of the Lord, and that from this the recognition of evil will come. But when we are immersed in evil, we cannot ask from within it for the greatness and importance of the Creator. We are incapable of doing so because we are immersed in evil. We can emerge from this evil if we look at it from the outside and recognize it as evil in relation to the Creator. The more we emerge from the evil, the more we can recognize how opposite that evil is to the Creator. How do we emerge from the evil? By bringing our “I” closer to the Creator while our body remains where it is.

We begin to see how far we are from the Creator when we rise above the body toward the Creator, from the point of the “I,” the point of awareness. It is as though a certain point emerges from within us, from our body and from this pain, a point called “the point of our awareness,” and it draws closer to the Creator. As it draws closer to the Creator, it can already observe the body and see how far it is from the Creator, according to the extent that it feels the body’s distance from Him. It cannot measure how far away the Creator is. It can only measure how far the body is from the place from which that point emerged.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 247

Why Is It Said That We Should Ask for the Revelation of the Creator, and That Through This the Recognition of Evil Will Come?

It is constantly said that we should ask for the revelation of the Creator, for the importance of the Creator, for the greatness of the Lord, and that from this the recognition of evil will come. But when we are immersed in evil, we cannot ask from within it for the greatness and importance of the Creator. We are incapable of doing so because we are immersed in evil. We can emerge from this evil if we look at it from the outside and recognize it as evil in relation to the Creator. The more we emerge from the evil, the more we can recognize how opposite that evil is to the Creator. How do we emerge from the evil? By bringing our “I” closer to the Creator while our body remains where it is.

We begin to see how far we are from the Creator when we rise above the body toward the Creator, from the point of the “I,” the point of awareness. It is as though a certain point emerges from within us, from our body and from this pain, a point called “the point of our awareness,” and it draws closer to the Creator. As it draws closer to the Creator, it can already observe the body and see how far it is from the Creator, according to the extent that it feels the body’s distance from Him. It cannot measure how far away the Creator is. It can only measure how far the body is from the place from which that point emerged.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 246

What Is the Difference Between Feeling Evil and Recognizing Evil?

It has already been mentioned here how to escape evil, from a bad feeling to a good feeling. We should ask the Creator not to give us evil, but the recognition of evil. What is the difference between the two? They are completely different. In one case, we feel that the Creator is striking us for no reason, and we feel bad due to that. In the other case, we understand intellectually, through reason and understanding, that these blows are not directed at us, because we already identify with a different point. Instead, they are directed at those qualities within us that are opposite to the Creator’s qualities.

When we feel bad because of the blows we have received, we are like a child who has experienced something unpleasant, for example, we did not receive a piece of candy (a blow is not necessarily a physical blow), and we identify with that feeling of evil. We are inside the evil. In Kabbalah, it is said that if we feel evil, we should escape that feeling. We should emerge from that evil and observe it from the outside, from a distant point, which is called “performing a restriction.” That is, the “I” that feels and the “evil” that is felt are two separate and opposing things. And from whom do we receive the evil? From the Creator.

In other words, we place our “I” outside both the Creator and the body that feels evil, and this is called “recognition of evil.” Otherwise, we do not recognize the evil, we merely feel it. Kabbalists emphasize strongly that this is called “recognition of evil,” not the feeling of evil. Also, when we look at that evil from the outside, we already understand why we feel that way, for what purpose it came to us, and what we must do with it. Then the recognition of evil truly brings us to correction. Therefore, when we are in the recognition of evil, we seemingly ask to recognize it even more deeply in order to receive the strength to emerge from it and to ask for corrections. We do not ask to feel more evil. We ask to recognize more of the evil.

It is possible that evil brings with it a pleasant sensation. A person who enjoys smoking, for example, continues to smoke and enjoy it, yet at the same time would like to develop a hatred for smoking. How does one come to recognize the evil in smoking, which gives him pleasure? Gradually, he begins to feel that smoking is bad for him. He coughs, and his health deteriorates. He gains a deeper and deeper view on how harmful it is, until smoking becomes so bad that he fears it, becomes fed up with it, and is ready to escape from it. The recognition of evil is not the feeling of evil. They are two completely different things.

“The feeling of evil” is what an animal feels. “The recognition of evil” is already spiritual work performed by a human being. We begin to discern that something is evil and understand in relation to what it is evil, in relation to advancement, to drawing closer to the Creator. It is not for nothing that we feel the blow but do not know who is giving it to us. We realize that through this blow, the Creator shows us the quality that prevents us from connecting with Him and adhering to Him. It is not evil because we feel pain, but because the quality in which we feel the pain distances us from the Creator. The recognition of evil is the recognition of our distance from the Creator, not the sensation of suffering in a particular bodily organ.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 245

How Can We Imagine the Image of the Creator and His Qualities?

There is no need to imagine the image of the Creator. What is the image of the Creator? A white beard? Large eyes? How can we imagine qualities such as eternity? Is eternity long? Tall? Large? We have no image of the Creator within us. In our work, no image is formed. The search for the point of connection with the Creator is a search for a kind of inner point with which we gradually begin to feel a desire to connect. But what that point is and what it looks like cannot be explained, for it is indeed a point in which no dimension is yet felt that would make it possible to say what it is. We want to connect with that point, which we image to be the Creator within us.

Later, when that point expands, we will feel ten Sefirot within it, and it will become our vessel. The soul is a part of the Creator from above. Therefore, we will feel the Creator in that expanded point, and we will feel the point itself as our attitude toward the Creator. We can picture it as a sphere: the sphere itself is our attitude toward that which fills it. What fills the sphere is the Creator, and the walls of the sphere are our attitude toward the Creator.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 244

Should This Practice Become a Habit?

It will not become a habit, but rather something like a habit, with a habitual foundation. The habit is formed on a previous degree, and each time an opportunity is given to establish the point of connection with the Creator on a higher degree, where habit does not exist.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 243

What Does It Mean to Build an Inner and Outer System?

An inner system and an outer system need to be built so that our highest thought will be that we are connected with the Creator in every action, thought, and desire within us. How is this done? Through a thought, a desire, an action, or an activity on any level whatsoever.

How can we maintain this all the time? It is very difficult but possible only after the Creator illuminates it for us. However, we can aspire to remain in it constantly, and this is called giving the measure of exertion required by the Creator in order to open our eyes so that we may see Him. How can these exercises be practiced as frequently as possible? How can we return to the connection the very moment it disappears, without wasting time? For this purpose, both inner and outer preparation are necessary.

Inner preparation is constant reflection on this, to the extent that we are capable. Inner preparation is a kind of internal exercise. Outer preparation is to ensure that there are various signs around us that remind us whenever the connection has been severed. Every few minutes, there should be some kind of “gong,” something that awakens and shakes us, reminding us of this. The problem is that we are built in such a way that if we hear a gong every few minutes, we begin to ignore it and eventually no longer hear it. We forget what that gong was supposed to remind us of.

It is exactly like reading an article impatiently, wanting to move on. The reason for reading the article is forgotten. We need to constantly create signs for ourselves, seek supports (which is called giving the measure of exertion), that will return us to the point of connection with the Creator through some external sign.

Inner and outer practice enable us to reach the required measure of exertion. Through these repeated entries into the connection with the Creator, through returning again and again to that point, in all kinds of thoughts, actions, and desires, in all kinds of ways, we continually press on that point. On page 70 of the book Pri Hacham—Letters, this is called desiring the same woman, in the same place, at the same time, until time itself brings the person Kedusha (holiness). That is, until it is opened to him and he enters spirituality.

The message that Baal HaSulam conveys there is that we should revolve around this point all day and all night. He writes there that a person desires connection with the Creator the way a lustful man desires only that love, and is blind to everything else. All of Baal HaSulam’s examples are taken from physical, animalistic life because they teach us from the plane on which we currently exist.

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What Can We Do to Prefer the Connection with the Creator at All Times?

We need to constantly understand that, apart from the connection with the Creator, everything else—good and bad feelings, good and bad events, everything that happens—is intended to strengthen our connection with Him. At the higher degree, we need to remain constantly aware and at the very heart of the search for a connection with the Creator, holding on to that point. We must know that everything happening is intended to add more to that connection with Him. In order to maintain this, we must build both an inner and an outer system.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 241

Can the Connection with the Creator Be Strengthened Without Suffering? How Can We Be Connected with Him Only Through Goodness?

It seems that through suffering, we at least remember the Creator. It is worth understanding that our suffering is sent to us by the Creator, and through it we feel the Creator. The suffering is intended for this purpose, but it is not the goal. The goal is not to feel the Creator through suffering, but to feel the Creator through adhesion, through closeness.

The Creator reminds us of Himself through what is called the “path of suffering.” Through suffering, He reminds us how much we need Him. However, what happens after we realize we need Him? If we tell ourselves that it is worthwhile to suffer so as not to forget the Creator, it is the Klipot that are telling us this, leaving us in suffering. The situation can be described as the Creator reminding us of Himself through suffering. This is His tool, i.e., the Creator has placed a thorn in us, and we remember Him. But what do we think? Do we think that the Creator does us harm, and we remain with that thought? Is that the kind of connection we should remain in?

We are now in the system of the Klipa, which, through this connection and through our agreement to remain in suffering, draws nourishment from us and grows stronger. For what is a Klipa? It is the evil that we feel as coming from the Creator, and this is precisely the opposite of what we should feel. So how can we convince ourselves, while we are under the domain of the Klipot, to feel goodness and delight from the Creator? How can we reject the connection with the Creator through evil and instead be with Him in equivalence, in adhesion and connection, through a common joy?

Pain cannot be shared. Even the Klipa states, “Just as the Shechina is in sorrow, so am I in sorrow,” as though it aspires to elevate us even higher along the left line. Therefore, we must seek a connection that corresponds to the Creator’s qualities, because according to such qualities, it is impossible for us to remain in evil.

Then we seek how to bring pleasure to the Creator. Our suffering gives no pleasure to the Creator, and we try to rid ourselves of that feeling of sorrow. However, in the next moment, the Klipa once again throws us into sorrow, and we forget the joy. From one moment to the next, everything is erased, and this is called a “slingshot,” when we are tossed from side to side.

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Does Suffering Return Our Thoughts to the Creator?

Indeed it does, and that is why the Creator gives suffering. Otherwise, we would simply drift about in our own worlds and forget everything and everyone. The Creator uses suffering as a tool to awaken us.

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