Morning Lesson August 24, 2021, Transcription
Part 2:
Baal HaSulam, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, #6
Item 6 “These four above discernments are the ten….”
1. R. (02:29) This is how he describes to us the order of the worlds and also the upper world which is the world of Atzilut. Before the world of Atzilut we have the world of Ein Sof (infinity) which includes everything, there’s no distinction, and there’s simply the source of all of the worlds below it, but the world that exists below, the world of Ein Sof (infinity) is the world of Atzilut, the upper world. It is called Atzilut (emanation) from the word “Etzlo” (with him) that He emanated close to Him, and as the root for all that exists below it.
2. S. (03:23) He writes that the four Behinot (discernments) are in the collective and in each and every individual?
R. Yes, the individual and collective are equal, we have a law in spirituality that according to the general structure and the individual structure contain the same parts, and we can't see but the forces and the laws that operate within the collective and the individual but they are also equal.
S. Are we supposed to see this, are we supposed to discern these four discernments in every individual or in the whole?
R. Of course. The more we advance, the more we will identify them, detect them, come close to them, learn them, discover them inside of us.
3. S. (04:24) What is special about the world of Atzilut?
R. It is the first world from which point the created beings begin to exist, although the created beings in the world of Atzilut are still on the level of complete adhesion with the Creator.
4. S. (04:49) If we are talking about the path from below upwards, what is the meaning of one part in the ten being in the world of Atzilut?
R. Anyone who climbs to the world of Atzilut is included, incorporated in the Creator fully.
Item 7 (05:21) “This above-mentioned Behina Bet rules in the world….”
5. R. (06:55) Meaning in the world of Beria (creation), we can discern, distinguish between the light and the vessel, between the Creator and the Creator being. The created being is already displaying differences from the Creator and we can call this state the world of Beria (creation). As he writes that it is regarded, is separated from his self, and merits his own name Neshama (soul), separated from the Creator, as it was in adhesion in the world of Atzilut, and it comes to merit its own name Neshama (soul). That is why the world of Beria is the world of Neshamot, the souls, meaning desires to receive that are out of adhesion, out of complete total full adhesion but there is already a difference between them and the Creator. The difference is nevertheless not great, it is like the difference between Bina and Keter. Bina is entirely to bestow except it doesn't have the force to bestow and Keter has all the forces, all the power to bestow, but it can resemble it. So, on the one hand this vessel Adam, his soul, when it descends to Atzilut to Beria, it leaves this complete adhesion that it had in Atzilut but still did not separate completely from the Creator since it is in equivalence of form where it also wants to completely to bestow, bestow in order bestow as we learned, not to receive in order to bestow.
6. S. (09:20) The quality of giving develops only in Behina Bet (second phase)? Before that it didn’t exist?
R. Before the soul reaches the degree of Beria (creation), the degree of Bina, it doesn't actually have a desire to bestow that controls it, and when it comes from the world Beria to the world of Atzilut, then even her will to receive can work in order to bestow. We will learn about it, for now he's just giving us general definitions.
7. S. (10:17) Where does the desire to resemble the Creator come from?
R. From the Creator.
S. From Keter?
R. Where do all the desires come from?
S. This means it comes from Keter?
R. Yes, everything is included in the Keter.
S. And also, from the Keter comes the desire to do good to the creatures and also, that the created beings want to resemble the Creator?
R. Yes, both the will to bestow and the will to receive, everything is included in Keter and it expands and comes out, each desire on its own authority from the Keter down below. But the Keter includes everything.
8. S. (11:13) Neshama (soul) is something that comes after the system is ready, then it goes through the system and then acquires?
R. Neshama (soul) is a divine part from above, it’s the extent to which we can connect from below up, as we climb from this world upwards, meaning to leave the will to receive as much as possible, rise above it towards the will to bestow. Then we come to a state where we can use all of our desires to bestow, not to bestow in practice but just to want to bestow, that means that we are in the world of Beria. We lack the forces to bestow but we have the desire to bestow, and then we climb to the degree of Atzilut, which is to receive in order to bestow.
9. S. (12:28) What does it mean that the soul cascades? You’ve said that the soul rises from Beria to Atzilut, so what does it mean its cascading, it comes down?
R. The vessel the Creator created the will to receive as we learn about it from the four phases of direct light. Similarly, this vessel cascades down and comes to us through all the degrees until it reaches a state where it completely disconnects, detaches, from the Creator and then we can say that it exists in this world, we read about it. And then, our work is to rise, to climb back up from this world to Ein Sof (infinity) and that’s what we are starting to do right now.
S. (13:24) So this stage is only the creation of the worlds, the coming down is what’s done, it’s not what we're doing now?
R. We are now all the way down and we are learning about how to climb up. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we are learning about how the Creator created the will to receive and how He’s bringing it down to the level of this world.
10. S. (14:01) Yesterday we learned about the four phases of direct light and today too. We actually explain to us about the same four phases but it's a different place, so it’s synchronized somehow or not to relate to that?
R. There are four discernments, four phases, in the desire the Creator created, it's called the four phases of direct light. There is still no reaction from the desire. In those four phases of direct light, there appears Behina Dalet (fourth phase) that feels that it receives. And through the reception, it feels who it is receiving from, that it’s opposite from the one who is filling her. She cannot agree with the fact that she is receiving because it's the disparity of form, that's why it creates a restriction. From the restriction on, they begin to develop the worlds, a special system, in which the will to receive tries each time more and more, as much as possible, to maintain itself in equivalence of form with the upper light. But it is unable to do this because the upper light is pressuring it constantly. So, it turns out that the will to receive deteriorates and it discovers more and more that it is in reception, is not able to equalize itself with the desire to bestow of the Creator, and this creates for us the system of degrees called, the worlds, Partzufim, and Sefirot, until they come to the lowest state where the will to receive materializes in its final form, and we see it in this world.
S. (16:13) From here basically the development of the creative being begins?
R. From here the will to receive begins to develop again, but it begins to develop now according to its equivalence with the desire to bestow. There are many discernments in it that we will learn about.
12. S. (16:40) Beria (creation) resembles when Eve comes before Adam?
R. Not now. Let’s wait. Patiently and you will get everything. I can’t do it now.
Item 8 (17:17) “The above-mentioned Behina Gimel rules….” Twice
13. S. (19:18) What is the difference between the world of Yetzira (formation) and Beria (creation) in quality?
R. The difference is that in Beria (creation) we don't feel the will to receive only the desire to bestow. Consequently, only the light of Hassadim (mercy) is in control there, where in Yetzira (formation) the will to receive is in control to some extent, small extent. Therefore, there is a little bit of light of Hassadim (mercy) and there is still a little bit of the illumination of Hochma (wisdom) mixed with it as possible. That’s what he says, meaning a little bit of the will to receive that is in it. It’s as if where there is a will to receive, there cannot be anything spiritual there. But it is still considered spiritual because this measure of Aviut (coarseness) is insufficient to completely separate from his self, from the Creator, and merit the name ‘body’ which stands on its own right, meaning he’s still considered to belong to the soul. There, the ‘body’ means that there is no trace of the will to bestow in it.
14. S. (20:52) I understand the cascading of the world is building the desire to receive but in item eight in the world of formation it gets a little bit of coarseness, so what is causing the separation from Atzilut for Beria if not the desire to receive or is it?
R. In all of creation except for the Creator and all of the degrees you find the desire to receive, except the difference is how much the upper light works on the will to receive and neutralizes it, correcting it, adapting it to the will to bestow. But the desire to receive exists in all of the degrees and states with the exception of the Creator Himself. That is why also in the world of Atzilut you find the desire to receive but it is completely corrected in order to bestow. In Beria, it is less of a correction on the will to receive and that is why it's already in bestowing in order to bestow in the world Yetzira even less than that and Assiya even less. Then below this world of Assiya, the force of bestowing disappears completely meaning they are here in this world. Even in this world there are several degrees as you can see. We are in this world and there are other people that are completely in this world.
15. S. (23:03) Baal HaSulam compares the worlds with Atzmuto, how can you compare it with something that can't be attained?
R. The complete desire to bestow 100% is the Creator, so we check and measure relative to all of the degrees. We have no other way of doing this, how can you check, what will you compare it to and what will you take as a benchmark against which you can start to measure things. On the one hand you have a desire to bestow to the Creator and on the other hand you have the desire to receive at the creature. In between these two qualities you have all of creation.
16. S. (24:22) Regarding the terminology and Item 7 it says, the soul cascades into Beria achieving the vessel that exists there and then it says that it's separated from herself and merits her own name. In Item 8 it says the vessel remains spiritual meaning Neshama but it is not yet enough to completely distinguish from himself and to be called a body which stands in its own right. The moment they completely move to the will to receive, then it is called body and there's no more soul?
R. The soul is the will to receive that has the intention to bestow whereby, that it resembles the Creator to some extent, and this extent that he acquires through the upper light, in order to bestow, this extent determines the level of the soul on the ladder of degrees from this world all the way up to Ein Sof, but the name of the soul is one because it comes in order to bestow and the force to bestow, the desire to receive begins to receive when it rises from this world through the world Assiya and Yetzirah to Beria. Then you can say it is in the degree Neshama, bestowing. The world of Beria is below Atzilut called Beria from the word Bar, meaning outside the degree of Atzilut, because Atzilut is entirely like the Creator its bestowal, receive in order to bestow, bestowing in order to bestow, everything. Whereas the vessel that has the will to receive and all of the screens in the world of Beria, receives the lights from above that are enough. From it to just be above the will to receive and not to use the desire in reception in order to bestow. This is only in the world of Atzilut when he gets the power to do this when it goes to the world Beria it receives the desire to bestow in order to bestow. There are other degrees there but we will talk about it.
17. S. (28:08) Is there a clear limit between the worlds like the membrane between the cells?
R. Of course because it speaks of the desire and the correction of the desire.
Item 9 (28:33) “Behina Dalet rules in the world of Assiya, ….” Twice
18. S. (29:53) In this world the term doesn't mean the spiritual world so there's no force of bestowal?
R. If you say this world are you talking about the body or the soul? If you are speaking of the spiritual force being bestowing, then it does not exist in the level of this world. If you are speaking about the body in this world and then you see the body that is us.
S. This world we can say it is kind of?
R. It is a degree from where we begin to move.
S. Like an illusion?
R. Yes, that is why it is called an imaginary world and later we will be able to detect it better, to acquire certain discernments. We begin to emerge from this world and to define this world. Wait and see.
Item 10 (31;05)” Thus, you find that this Nefesh, the light of life….” Twice
19. R. (33:43) Rav reads: Here we find that this Nefesh, the light of life that is dressed in the body still in Ein Sof, Infinity, extends from His very self Atzmuto, existence from existence. As it traverses the four worlds ABYA it becomes increasingly distant as it comes down from Ein Sof, this means descending from the four worlds, that it loses its value, its intensity, its power. Who and what is it? It is the vessel with the light in it and as it descends more and more it loses its intensity, it's value and power until it comes into a designated vessel called Guf, body, not our body, it is just called that way. This is considered that the Kli completed its desirable form, that the will to receive has appeared in its true form. Even if the light in it, in this vessel has diminished, that its origin becomes undetectable, means where is it coming from this light? Still through the engagement of Torah and Mitzvot, which is what we are trying to do in order to give contentment to the Maker, the Creator. Then this vessel becomes purified as one purifies his vessel called Guf until it becomes worthy of receiving the great abundance, in the full measure included in the thought of creation as when He created it. This is why Rabbi Hanannia Ben Akashia, the Creator wishes to cleanse Israel hence, he gave them plentiful Torah and Commandments, meaning through this action called Mitzvot, commandments, actions of bestowal, they will be able to purify and cleanse their vessels, the will to receive, so although it will continue to grow it will grow with the intention to bestow.
20. S. (36:30) Why is it written that the light diminishes?
R. The light doesn't change but the vessel does, so the light that shines through the vessel we say, it changes and diminishes and it all depends on the vessels.
S. What is the meaning of man cleansing the body, what does this mean?
R. That he corrects his will to receive so instead of receiving he will become a bestower, this is the meaning of making the will to receive pure and closer to the light.
21. S. (37:52) It says we find the light Nefesh is a light of life that we clothe in the body, that comes directly from his Essence. Where does it come from? In the beginning there was only light of mercy and Hochma?
R. All the lights emanate from the Creator and they are all included in the One upper force, the lights of Ein Sof, infinity. All the lights of NRNHY in all of the worlds, they come from the light of infinity. The vessel, the will to receive, according to the equivalence with the upper light makes itself a vessel for the revelation of the light and then, the light can appear from its Infinite Source and appears in the vessel according to the equivalence of form with the vessel, and we see that the light is revealed in this way.
S. Can we say that light Nefesh according to its name, the light of life is more important, is there a grading between the lights?
R. I don't want to get confused together with you, don't be smart, read what is written and try not to turn it into some philosophy. Just wait a little bit.
22. S. (39:43) It says that in the fourth phase the light is motionless, as if the light is dead. How do we understand this if this is called the light Nefesh or the light of life?
R. You are right, the light doesn't actually move as there is no motion in the light. Motion, movement means that there is a desire to do something in the right, to perform something, a change from how things were and to where they are, but there is no movement in the light, it is only a will to bestow in all directions, to all places, to all desires. This is why we say the other light is in complete rest, as it has nothing more than one desire: to bestow to everyone as much as possible. All of the changes are in the vessels, hence, we need to change our vessels and through that we will discover changes in the lights. Everything depends only on the vessels so what we are learning about is called the wisdom of Kabbalah, the wisdom of reception. How do we change the reception of the light by changing the vessels?
23. S. (41:41) Yesterday I heard that the transition between the discernment is not a diminishing of light, so what is the difference between traversing between the different phases and the worlds?
R. I can't say as there are differences, big and small. Here we learn that the differences between the worlds are substantial differences, there are fourth phase, third and second phases. It is the same way between the degrees of Sefirot in the Partzuf, we will learn about this, but each world has 10 Partzufim and inside each of the Partzufim there are 10 Sefirot. Everything is graded and divided on the basis of 10, so you have more substantial divisions or less substantial ones.
S. In the Bechinot there is no such thing, there is no diminishing of light from 1 to 4?
R. Bechinah means discernment. If you are speaking about the four phases of direct light, we only have general discernments there. Later regarding each state or everything that you are talking about, you can say that is Bechinah from the root of a certain discernment, where you discern something special about it, this is why the word Bechina, discernment you can ascribe to anything.
24. S. (43:41) What does it mean that the light is so small that you don't feel its origin?
R. Just like us, do I know where I got my light of Life, the light of attainment, the light of feelings, what am I feeling right now and where is it coming from? That means that we cannot detect the source but gradually we begin to locate it through the 10, from the Creator.
25. S. (44:33) You talked about the relation between the light and the desire to receive that determines its place in the worlds; Is it the same regarding the Sefirot, that every Sefira is actually the relation between the light and the will to receive?
R. Correct, both Sefirot and the worlds differ between them according to the level of the desire, the screen, the lights and even the character of the desire that wishes to resemble the Creator.
26. S. (45:20) In the world of Assiya, the fourth phase rules, so my question is what is the difference between the Behina Dalet of the four phases of the Or Yashar/direct light and the Behina Dalet of the world of Assiya? It says that it stands on its own right.
R. Dalet Behinot of Ohr Yashar / four discernments of the direct light, is the revelation of the will to receive that the Creator has created, It emanates through the influence of the light; Outside of these four discernments that come out directly, with the light, from the Creator and all the rest come out after the restriction, and they come out and revealed by the created being, who is restricting his will to receive and adding screen and reflected light and wishes to adapt itself as much as possible to the upper light. When he cannot adapt himself to the upper, something happens there, either a form of shattering or the other things that we will learn about. But for the time being we can see that from the Creator we get discernments of Root, 1 2 3 4, five discernments in total. These five discernments later, after the Restriction in the decision to resemble the Creator, the desire that exists in the fourth discernment discovers itself as existing in five worlds and trying to resemble the Creator It elicits five Worlds / concealments, where he tries to conceal his will to receive and tries to be in bestowal as much as possible. From these five discernments of direct light, we get five worlds, AK ABYA, and our world is the last degree in the world Assiya.
S. Can I ask about existence from existence?
R. What about it?
S. What is the term existence from existence and existence from absence?
R. Existence from existence comes from the Creator and existence from absence comes from the created being. Because the created being did not exist before and he is now being formed and existence from existence refers to the Creator, who is always there.
27. S. (48:37) How is it possible that Malchut rises to Bina when on the way it goes through ZA, if the world of Yetzira and ZA are the light of Hasadim, mercy and the illumination of Hochma; the created being has no ability to receive in order to bestow yet?
R. No we will learn about it, the question is correct, that is being asked a lot and we will scrutinize it.
28. S. (49:14) In item 10 you explained that the body is not our body, but it is written twice body, is there a difference between these two bodies?
R. Even 10 times if it is written we're not speaking of the animate in the wisdom of Kabbalah, you understand? Our world is called the imaginary world because we imagine it inside the will to receive in order to receive, and in the wisdom of Kabbalah everything is speaking of bestowal. We are not speaking about our bodies and what is happening in our bodies, for that you can go see a doctor or a vet or whatever you want.
29. S. (50:15) The question is about the definition of the world, can we say that there exists the freedom of choice?
R. Yes in all of these spiritual Worlds the creature can exist only according to the degree of its freedom of choice.
30. S. (50:48) A correct and complete action of bestowing contentment to the Creator, raises us to the world of Atzilut, do we rise one world at a time?
R. Were climbing one world at a time, from our world to the world of Ein Sof, infinity.
31. S. (51:01) He described here the cascading according to the degrees in the world and then he writes that in order to realize the plan of creation we get Torah and Commandments as means. What is the system that suddenly appears?
R. Good question, from above down we now have a cascading down, a descending of lights and vessels and they construct the degrees and accordingly these degrees, each and every degree is a will to receive with the restriction and the screen, and the light that can exist inside this will to receive according to its equivalence with that vessel means, according to the degree of the screen. Then it’s called the descent of the degrees from above down to this world when the soul, the will to receive inside a person, inside of man when a man wishes to attain spirituality, godliness, when a person yearns for it then according to his yearning, he awakens the upper light that influences him and accordingly, his will to receive changes. The changes that a person acquirers through the changing of his desire, his intentions, evokes certain lights and these lights make it to a person, they are called Torah from the Hebrew word Ohr, light; and the actions that we do in order to invite these lights when we wish to reach in order to bestow, connection, something above the level of our desire, these actions are called Mitzvot, commandments. This is why the attainment of the Creator, the correction of creation, all of it happens through Torah and Mitzvot.
The upper light that works on a man is called Torah, and the person who needs to make a correct use of his will to receive to adapt to the Creator you say, that he is performing a Mitzvah, commandment, from the Hebrew word Tzivuy, command what the Creator expects us to do in order to reach adhesion with Him. This is why everything we are doing, whatever we are doing we are using Torah and Commandments. We have a preparation for it, it is called ‘I have created the evil inclination’ the Creator created the will to receive and shattered it, in the shattering of Adam HaRishon. Now we have these broken vessels and from within these broken vessels we need to assemble them correctly, so we are working on the broken vessels in order to connect above them as much as possible and we turn to the lights to correct us and the light that fills us: The light that correct us called the correction of creation and the light that fills us, that takes us up the steps, the degrees, is called the light of the purpose of creation, and here in this way we advance and make progress. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah the work in Torah and Commandments is called correction of the will to receive in order to bestow. We are not talking about actions with your hands and feet, the way there are people who claim that this is how you perform Torah and Commandments, rather the true correction is in correcting the desire and receiving inside of the desire of the upper light, the revelation of the Creator.
S. It is as if in the same space of these broken vessels, the representative of the upper world comes?
R. No, it is a system that comes this way and we activate it. That is the connection of Torah and Mitzvot, it is the ladder that connects us to the upper source, with the Creator. When we raise our requests, our deficiencies, our exertions upwards, then in return we receive light to help us from above down, that’s it. There are lights that correct small desires and big desires and they fill them accordingly. Everything exists in the light of Ein Sof, that divides into TARYAG / 613 lights of Torah: these lights are there to correct the corresponding will to receive and this is what we are made of, 613 broken desires, and through these 613 lights we need to correct the 613 broken desires, until they will all be in order to bestow.
32. S. (58:18) The soul receives Nefesh in Assiya?
R. When we rise to the world of Assiya we require the correction on the discernment of root, and we receive the light that fills the corrected vessel on the level Nefesh, then we climb to the world Yetzira and receive the correction on the level of discernment Aleph of the will to receive, which is filled with the light called Ruach and we attain what is in the world of Yetzira. Then we receive the light and we can correct ourselves on the level of Bina, Bhina Bet, in the will to receive. Then the light that we receive in the vessels in order to bestow is called Neshama, then we correct it on the 4th discernment of the will to receive and we get the upper light in the discernment of Hochma, the world of Atzilut. There are additional discernments but for now for the time being is this how we can explain it.
Item 11 twice (01:00:17) “Now you can understand the real difference ….”
33. S. (01:03:17) Can we say that all of the desires that we feel are as a result of the complete disconnection between them and the light?
R. Of course, and the more we approach the light, the more we enter good results and the farther away we are the worse the results we get. We are in the initial state, our pre developmental stage and now we are entering the state of spiritual development, all of us and the world, this is called the last generation. This is why we will have to tie ourselves to this development and see how resembling this development we get the good life, and if not, the opposite, it gives us a bad life and we will talk about the rest in the next lesson.