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All spiritual phenomena are related to Devekut (adhesion) with the qualities of the Upper Force. Dvekut means clothe into those qualities. Meaning, I have a desire – a desire is my essence and all there is to me – and this desire is in a form of reception. When I dress it into an opposite form, bestowal, in that form that I adhere to, I perceive spiritual phenomena.
Just imagine – whatever I have a desire for, it’s already fulfilled. I want a Coke – it’s in my hand. I want steak, I already have it. Whatever I want, instant fulfilment. And by receiving it, I give the Upper Force contentment. Thus, it is dependent on me: I’m in control. Except that within me emerges the sensation of Shame at the fact that I am actually the receiver here because the Upper Force does all this out of love for me; while I do all that I’m doing out of the enjoyment I feel in my Will to Receive, and it’s all coming to me from Him. Therefore, he’s the sublime one, the bestower; while I am the lowly one, the receiver.
Hi Richard,
With the 4 Phases of Direct Light, Kabbalists speak of the World of Eyn Sof. This establishes the blueprint that unfolds in all the worlds. It’s the same template but over different levels of Coarseness of Desire (aviut). For example, let’s say you have at the animate level a lion, and at the vegetative level a dandelion. If we understood nature we’d see that they are formed according to the same template but manifest according to which qualities are involved.
Does destiny hold more power than free will?
There’s no free will like we think of free will. That’s a complete illusion. Specifically thanks to this illusion there is free will, which is only with regard to choosing the authentic path of Kabbalah, including the recommended group method, etc.
So, you’re right that there was no real free will. That’s only within the path of Kabbalah. And the free will becomes something deeper than what I’ve mentioned. At each moment I have to realize the free will more deeply. It’s by constantly adhering to There Is None Else Besides Him, as in Shamati article 1. And then, to what extent do I respond back to the Upper Force as recommended by Kabbalists.
As to what comes before Kabbalah, it’s purpose, and it’s very important, is to show me what is not true. But before, I so much was immersed in falsehood, not intellectually but in all those desires of mine, that I could not advance in the truth, even if you would present it baldly before me. I hate the truth, truth disgusts the Will to Receive, because it means I have to totally rise above the Will to Receive, to a new evolutionary level. And that’s like death to the Will to Receive who is now as-if like some loser friend I used to hang out with but now I’m at Harvard med school and he has no real place with me now, so will he support me in that? But still, he did develop me at the stage I was at. He wasn’t worthless, even though he has fallen into irrelevance. However, in this case, he will later become extremely important, the center of my life. But not right now.
Certainly, and this data is later incorporated into the calculations made towards the Creator. Because we’ll have to learn to bestow on top of that enormous Will to Receive, which previously we saw that we were incapable of bestowing with.
125 degrees takes into account all 5 worlds – AK, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya – with 25 Partzufim per world. My teacher wrote:
We go through 125 degrees of attainment, from the beginning to the end. Each degree consists of 25 individual Partzufim or states (see Baal HaSulam’s “Beit Shaar HaKavanot”). It turns out that each of the 125 degrees, called a “Sefira,” includes 25 of its own forms, and each of those also includes 25 of its own sub-forms, and so on, until Infinity.
This is impossible to calculate. There is no specific number that can designate them. Only on a higher level, where there are no letters or numbers, can we comprehend all of this diversity, because we will have new qualities and a new mind. Then, the number of forms will turn into a higher quality and we will perceive it naturally and simply.
Therefore, an infinite number of Partzufim, Sefirot, worlds or degrees of spiritual attainment, only seems infinite to our current mind. However, for a spiritual mind, everything is reduced to a simple desire for bestowal and love, where we feel adhesion with the Creator as one whole “I, where we, the Light, and the Creator are One!”
