Four Worlds
Attainment of Matter and Its Form
In the world of Assiya we attain matter. Matter is the will to receive pleasure created by the Light and opposite to it. One can start attaining the Light that manifests in this desire in its opposition to it. Therefore, the attainment of opposition of something to the Light is perceived within us as matter. We attain matter in the state called the world of Assiya.
We do not know what the world of Assiya is. There are no places in the spiritual where you can enter: no rooms, halls, or territories belong to the world of Assiya. You cannot fly to another place called the world of Yetzira and to the next one called the world of Beria. Nothing like that exists.
The world of Assiya is the inner state of a person who attains the Upper World when he reaches a certain condition, i.e., when he acquires a minimal screen for the desires of the smallest Aviut (the smallest desires).
If he can annul these desires, stop using them for himself and only put the screen in front of him to receive nothing, then he is called Ubar (embryo). Like a fetus inside the mother’s womb, he takes no active part in anything; he becomes absolutely passive. This state is defined as the world of Assiya.
That which man attains in this state is called the attainment of matter (flesh grows on him), though he cannot yet understand what he should do with it.
A fetus inside the mother’s womb has no independence in of itself; and in accordance with the laws of nature in our world it neutralizes itself with regard to the mother. Hence, it is regarded as its integral part and can be sustained by it.
If this part in the mother’s organism existed independently, an immediate separation (poisoning, contagion) would take place. We all know what happens when a foreign body enters an organism. This leads to tissue seizure (as in graft rejection).
Here we deal with a completely foreign body. Yet it neutralizes itself to such an extent that it can be integral with the common body.
“The common body is called the Creator and man in this case is referred to as Ubar inside Him. It completely neutralizes his desires and at the cost of it can exist inside the Creator.”
This state, when a person is inside the Creator, but is absolutely passive (i.e., he does enormous work, but this work is aimed only at neutralizing itself) is called the world of Assiya. A world is the sensation of contact with the Creator.
Form of Matter is Attained in the World of Yetzira
When matter is completely attained, a form of matter begins to emerge. A form of matter is bestowal. In the world of Assiya a person totally neutralized himself. Now this process of annulment consists only in man’s receiving the Creator’s instructions; like a small child that wants to grow up. This means that he has to receive everything from the Creator. Yet what does he receive? He receives a form of matter. In other words, he learns acts of bestowal.
When a person starts activating his screens to follow exactly the Creator’s instructions (i.e., to bestow), this interaction with the Creator is called the world of Yetzira. The attainment that occurs is called the attainment of form because the outer form of the will to receive is bestowal. Here the desire to receive works in the form of bestowal.
“The means of sustaining the existence of matter and form in the worlds of Assiya and Yetzira is attained in the worlds of Beria and Atzilut.”
After acquiring all desires for the Creator in the state of Ubar in the world of Assiya and the form of these desires (screen) in the world of Yetzira, the person starts imitating the Creator’s actions and attains Him, while working with both matter and form.
“I will know You by Your deeds.” By imitating His actions, I begin to understand the Creator and His Thoughts. This is called to attain the means of sustaining the existence of matter and form. From the Creator’s direction this is the Purpose of creation.
Each of the worlds of ABYA is both giving and receiving with regards to the souls.
The state in which a person exists in the spiritual is called “his world” in the same way as our sensations in the present state are called “our world.” Each of man’s states in the worlds of ABYA (i.e., each of the worlds) is both giving and receiving with regards to the souls. I feel that I receive something from outside and at the same time I give something back too.
“Of all possible states Kabbalists research only matter and form of matter in the worlds of Assiya and Yetzira. This is because the world of Beria, being the commonality of these two worlds Assiya and Yetzira, is barely perceived by the mind.” In other words, it is already not considered a form cast in matter.
“The world of Assiya is a basis containing the material of a multitude of individual desires, each having its own form. This is easily grasped by the mind and develops it. The mind can research any individual desire and distinguish it from all the others. The purpose of its work is to attain the advantages of the light over darkness, in every detail of the existing reality.”
That is to say, man’s principal work is concentrated in matter. When we say that a person ascends to the world of Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, and then to the world of Infinity, we should not think that he loses contact with the previous worlds. He elevates them with himself; he rises together with them. So his past and all of his previous levels follow him.
Thus, if we say that a person is now in the world of Yetzira, this means that together with his world of Assiya and all of his previous lives and even with our world he ascended to the world of Yetzira and is working in it.
What is the meaning of “work with the world of Assiya in the world of Yetzira”? The person attains the world of Assiya more profoundly; not the way he was attaining it while being in it, but one level deeper.
When he was in the world of Assiya, he was attaining only its upper section. Now, when the person has risen to the world of Yetzira, he attains one level in it, and already two levels in the preceding world of Assiya. This is similar to the entry of the Light into the Kli.
We analyze Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin (ZA), and Malchut. When the Light enters into Keter, only Keter de Keter (Light of Nefesh) is attained. It then moves on to Keter in Hochma, whereas the next Light (Ruach) enters into Keter.
Let’s assume that I was in the world of Assiya and worked in it with the Aviut 0. After that, I delved more deeply into matter and descended to the world of Yetzira. Now I work with the Aviut 1. It turns out that in the world of Yetzira I now attain only the first level, and in the world of Assiya, where I had been previously, I attain two levels.
We should not forget about it. That is why it is said here that matter is mainly attained. That is to say, when we rise to the world of Infinity, we actually delve more deeply into matter.
Why do we penetrate into matter? Is our desire the most important thing? This is because from the attainment of our desire we get to know the Creator; we attain what fills this desire. We have no other Kli, no other opportunity to attain the Creator other than when He fills us.
The Creator completely filled the desire in the world of Infinity with the Light. Now we are attaining it. We return to this world of Infinity and penetrate into our desire until we reach its deepest layers. This means to return to the world of Infinity in one’s attainment.
After crossing the Machsom we enter into the world of Assiya and attain matter there. Subsequently, we continue delving into this world.
This can be described in an opposite way: delving one level deeper into the world of Assiya is called the world of Yetzira, two levels – the world of Beria, three levels – the world of Atzilut, four levels – the world of Adam Kadmon, and five levels – the world of Infinity.
We feel nothing that is not clothed in our matter, in our desire. We do not leave the world of Assiya because only in it we retain all our sensations. One might say that all the other worlds are simply the levels of the world of Assiya, at which we attain the Light (or the Creator) clothed in our matter.
Question: Does this mean that we speak only about the relative degrees of form being clothed in matter? Is the correlation between such degrees constant?
We can talk about the way the Light clothes into matter, how the Creator clothes into creation. The difference between the worlds is the difference between levels, but it is enormous. We cannot imagine how infinitesimal the attainment of the first level of matter in the world of Assiya is in comparison with the second, third, and fourth levels. This correlation is the same as between Lights, when we attain the Light of Ruach instead of the Light of Nefesh.
Nefesh is inanimate matter. We perceive it only as pure matter without the Light clothed in it. That is what one attains in the world of Assiya.
In the world of Yetzira we already attain how the Light starts filling and animating this matter. This resembles a plant that lives and dies, strives after the sun and sources of life, knows what to absorb and what to excrete, what is useful and what is harmful. It takes its own part in the universe, has its own attitude to the Creator. This is a totally different level of existence.
We attain desire together with the Light (Creator) that clothes into it, with the attitude of this desire (man, creation) toward the Creator. We attain the interaction between them, albeit at the vegetative level.
A plant has no freedom of will. It can neither change its environment, nor move around. It is strictly dependent on time and, being similar to the rest of its kind, it has no individuality of its own.
This is the distinction between the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels of attainment. There is a tremendous difference between our relations with the Creator that we attain in the worlds of Assiya and Yetzira! It is even greater in the world of Beria. The ability to act, move, and develop freely is attained there, when one starts procreating. In other words, there are actions already that lead to more corrected, better states. This is called procreation.
The “descendants” are the following actions for the sake of bestowal (in the same way as Galgalta gives birth to AB), when I really generate influence.
What are the “Partzufim Galgalta and AB”? What does “giving birth to something” mean? This means to express the property of bestowal within you. “Galgalta gives birth to AB,” it singles out its desire that is completely devoted to bestowal upon the Creator.
That is the difference between the worlds of Assiya and Yetzira. But again, where is this attained? We reveal it in the world of Assiya, i.e., in the same matter, yet we attain a more profound relationship between matter and the source.
Question: Does the world of Assiya always constitute a certain degree of annulment with regard to the Creator? Does this annulment increase?
You are right. I sort of roll them up and take them with me. I rise together with them. If I am in the world of Beria, then I elevate all the levels starting with our world with me to the world of Beria. Thus, I have Keter de Beria, Hochma de Yetzira, and Bina de Assiya in the world of Beria. If I rise to the world of Beria, my zero layer is in the world of Beria, my first layer is the world of Yetzira that rose to Beria, my second layer is the world of Assiya that first rose to Yetzira and then to Beria. That is to say, I attain three layers of matter, three levels: Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama.
There is a question: “What happens to my work in the worlds of Yetzira and Assiya if I am in the world of Beria?” I continue working in them, but on a more profound level in the world of Beria. The style of my work remains the same as before, when I was in those worlds. I cannot work in any other way.
In other words, my worlds of Yetzira and Assiya are the same as they were before; they just express much more than previously. Yet, in their quality they still remain the same worlds with regard to me.
This will continue until I return to the world of Infinity, where the last Zivug de Haka’a called “Rav Pa’alim u-Mekabtziel” takes place. All the levels become eliminated and combine into one common Kli. Prior to that state, every one of us continues pulling after him all the levels. Everyone consists of all these levels and all of them penetrate deep into matter.
Question: Besides pulling these previous levels with us, don’t we reveal bigger egoism as we enter into Beria in addition to that which we brought from the previous level?
Naturally, the ascent means working with bigger egoism. That is exactly what the article says. As I rise to the world of Beria, I work one level lower in the world of Yetzira, i.e., with bigger egoism. In the world of Assiya I naturally work two levels below. In other words, everything coincides with the diagram on which we draw how the Lights enter into the Kelim.
Four Forms: Point, Line, Plane and 3D Figure
What do we call form? Form is the property of bestowal, which matter (desire to receive) can assume. Matter can assume these four aforementioned forms. In reality forms do not exist. Form implies our designation of various properties, kinds, and styles of bestowal.
There exist four forms: a point, a line, a plane, and 3D figure which results from the combination of the previous forms. These four forms include all the forms in this and the Upper worlds. The details of all the worlds are the same.
All forms found in our world, in the worlds Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon (AK), and even in the world of Infinity are the same. All worlds are parallel to one another.
The world of Infinity, AK, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya, and our world – one under another, with Infinity on top, our world at bottom, and five worlds between them - all seven of them are absolutely equal and parallel in their details. They differ only in the extent of their concealment with regard to the person who attains them. All the details are present at every level, but they may be simply unattainable for us. This depends on how they manifest with regard to us.
For example, I am in our world now. This means that the details of all the spiritual worlds are inscrutable for me. Or I may be in the world of Infinity prior to the moment, before it started spreading from up to down; the details in it were unattainable too. There was only the sensation of existence and nothing else; meaning all the details were not yet manifested.
In this respect our world is similar to the world of Infinity: both of them lack details. In all the other worlds the details, their quantity, quality, interrelations, and connections between them are manifested to a greater or lesser extent.
It does not matter what the extent of their manifestation is. The important thing is that absolutely everything in all the worlds is detailed and parallel. All the worlds are parallel to one another.
Therefore, if something happens in our world, it descends from the world of Infinity down to our world. If in our world a person has the desire that can “touch” the Creator, rise to Him, it passes through all the worlds and certainly reaches the world of Infinity. All the worlds are activated parallel to one another.
This is because in principle all these worlds manifest only with regard to us. In reality they do not exist because Malchut of the world of Infinity completes the entire creation. The levels of attainment of Infinity called worlds exist only to let us gradually enter into the world of Infinity. They are called our world, Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, AK, and then the world of Infinity.
In fact, nothing of this exists. These are our inner levels intended to let us understand, attain, and feel the only state in which we actually exist, the world of Infinity. All the other worlds are the portions of the world of Infinity. By gradually accepting and adapting them we begin to grasp this Infinity.
Question: Is Infinity also attained from the matter of the world of Assiya?
Whatever we attain, we attain in matter. The world of Assiya is our matter and we attain it. All the rest that we attain afterwards constitutes the forms that clothe this matter in the increasingly growing similarity to the Creator.
Question: How is our final state reached?
The Final state is reached when all the worlds superimposed on one another ascend to the world of Infinity. They rise and overlap so that only Lev HaEven remains. The Light that corrects Lev HaEven comes and everything merges. Only Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey filled with the Light remains.
The worlds disappear because a “world”, Olam (a derivative of the word Alamah - concealment) is a particular degree of attainment of Infinity.
This world is the material imprinted by the descended Upper Worlds. While working in this world we attain everything in material form, and there is no way we can grasp anything beyond it.
We attain the Creator in the name HaVaYaH. This name includes every variety of form existing in the world, where it happens that
1. The letter Yud is a point;
2. The letter Hey is a plane;
3. The letter Vav is line;
4. The letter Hey is a 3D figure.
We simultaneously attain Him in all these forms and not just in the first, second or the third. What does the attainment of a point, a letter, a plane, a line or a figure mean? We attain our personal attributes and qualities which can become similar to the Creator. First, I become similar to Him as a point (black point). This happens when I completely annul myself like a fetus inside the mother’s womb.
In reality, the fetus in the mother’s womb is similar to the soul in the world of Infinity. We exist in a completely corrected state of fulfillment, but we feel just a point in which we are attached to this womb, inside the world of Infinity. Therefore, we perceive the surrounding reality as the world of Assiya or a point.
Then a line follows, when we build our relations (along three lines already), when we learn to assume form.
Next comes a plane, when the relations between the Creator and creation become similar to animate states (Chai).
Finally, comes a 3D figure, when we start growing in our intentions and reach the Creator’s level.
The last letter Hey is a revelation of the first Hey, but in a more material form possessing place, whereas the three preceding forms possess no place at all.
What does the expression “possess no place at all” mean? This means that they are dissimilar to the Creator’s forms. The three preceding forms still have no volume; they are not filled with the desire to receive that would work for the sake of bestowal.
Only the last letter Hey works for bestowal, i.e., it receives for the sake of the Creator.
The tip of the letter Yud can also be attained; hence, this name is the source of all the existing names. Every name is the Creator’s manifestation in creation, meaning creation’s reception and bestowal, when it receives in order to give. The Creator’s essence (the Atzmuto) is absolutely unattainable (when it exists beyond me); we apprehend the influence that comes to us from the Creator.
To express it more precisely, we attain our similarity to His influence.
In this way, every measuring device measures not what affects it, but its own reaction. It counterbalances this influence and measures the extent of its own resistance, the force that should be applied to balance the external influence. We take this applied force (both quantitatively and qualitatively) for the force that affects us.
That is why it is said: “Mi Ma’asecha Yikarnucha,” I will know the Creator by His deeds. Otherwise, I will not be able to know Him. I can do it only by performing the actions that balance me with Him, make me similar to Him. Only to this extent can I speak about Him. In other words, I speak not about Him, but only about myself who is similar to Him.
Hence, when we speak about the Him, we do not mean the Atzmuto, the Creator as He is. Our words are based on the fact that we took upon ourselves some laws and rules and became similar to Him. I define the Creator in accordance with the way I appear in my similarity to Him. In fact, this is not the Creator’s image; this is the image of the person who became similar to the Creator.
The Creator’s essence is utterly inconceivable. We attain only the influence that comes to us from Him. Hence, the entire creation constitutes the Creator’s names. Man researches and unites the received name with its root (Creator) in the intention for the sake of bestowal. Thus, a name is what he receives while researching and attaining the Giver.
We attain the Creator only to the extent of similarity. I know nothing about the Light and I am not acquainted with its properties. I have no idea if it exists or not.
Something influences me. How can I possibly know what it is? Only by balancing this influence within me in accordance with my feelings and my sensitivity can I (based on my properties) say what exists beyond me.
Let’s suppose that some force is affecting me. To neutralize its influence on me, I need to apply an inner effort of 10 kg. In this case, I feel myself in the state of equilibrium, as if the external force ceases to exist. I measure my effort of 10 kg and say: “10 kg press on me from outside.”
However, I do not know what these 10 kg are and how they affect me. Based on the form of efforts that I applied to balance this influence, I say: “The 10 kg that influence me are the force of pressure” because I applied this force from inside in the form which I call pressure.
I do not know what actually exists on the outside. That is to say, I know neither what form this external influence has, nor its magnitude. Possibly, my sensitivity makes me feel balanced if I resist the 10 kg force. Yet, 100.000 kg may press on me while I only feel 10 kg.
Similarly, we do not feel atmospheric pressure. 765 mm of mercury press on every square centimeter of our body. This is enormous pressure. Unless our organism balanced it from inside, we would simply be flattened.
In our world everything is also based only on the laws of equilibrium. This is the only existing law, even if we do not speak about matter (which has to be balanced simply in order to exist) or the biological body (which automatically balances itself), but about feelings. We want equilibrium, the state of immobility, when nothing presses on us, when there are no desires, when all our desires are fulfilled.
This balance depends on our sensitivity. If there were a device inside me that would increase my threshold of sensitivity, I would feel the ability to balance myself more and more. This means to ascend the levels of the worlds in order to balance oneself on the maximal fourth level of the Aviut. That is all.
The world of Assiya is the same world of Infinity; only we feel it in the coarsest form. Our world is simply opposite to the world of Infinity and it is difficult to discern any details in it.
What is the world of Assiya? It is the world of Infinity when I feel only as Domem (inanimate). And what is the world of Yetzira? It is when I feel the world of Infinity already as Tzomeach (vegetative).
What is an upper world? I am the same and so is the world of Infinity; I just increase my sensitivity. Yet I still feel everything based on my five sense organs because I was created this way. I will always see the picture which my senses draw within me.
We are confined within our desire and we do not know what influences us. However, the way our desire reacts from within to the external influence is what creates the picture of our world.
Question: As we ascend, do we perceive the world as increasingly less composite?
As we ascend, we perceive the world as increasingly more composite, complex, with a greater number of details and more intricate connections between them. Yet all this complexity finally turns into simplicity because it exists within you. On the contrary, you begin to understand how this entire system works. Hence, with regard to you it becomes simple.
You are sitting at the lesson now. Dozens of questions come to your head, but you cannot tie them together. The picture of the universe is utterly incoherent. You cannot delve into every object and see connection between them. You cannot understand anything and combine it all into a whole picture.
You bombard me with many questions. Do I know the answers to these questions? My picture is simply more coherent than yours. I look at it and pull out of it the piece about which you are asking, which you miss. I have not thought about your question, about this passage before, but I can always reveal it. When I do not need this picture, it becomes simple for me. I take it for granted; it is my nature.
As a person ascends and attains the spiritual, the number of details and connections grows enormously. The Upper Worlds are infinitely more complex and vast than our world. Our world is utterly insignificant in its simplicity, concealment, and dullness as compared to them.
However, together with an endless number of details and connections you attain simplicity. You grasp the concept and the general system that works smoothly and simply in spite of its infinite volume, complexity and a multitude of details.
So do not be scared by it; on the contrary, complexity and simplicity are attained simultaneously. As a result, a person grasps a much simpler picture of the world than that which he sees today.
In our world today we cannot put things together. We have no idea about the correct cause-and-effect connections. They abound in details, all of which are known as causes and consequences.
Question: How do we attain worlds?
Worlds constitute the world of Infinity which we attain to the extent of our similarity to it. There are 125 levels of similarity to the world of Infinity. They can be divided into hundreds, thousands, and millions. We go through all our states, every one of which is a greater or lesser degree of similarity to the world of Infinity that can assume various forms and styles.
Yet how can we attune ourselves to some likeness to the world of Infinity if we do not know what it is? A group serves this purpose. A group should constitute a certain degree of similarity to the world of Infinity. The relations in the group, my inclusion in it, the group’s inclusion in me, the ideal, the goal and the method of work should be attuned so as to provide me with a model of the spiritual level, i.e., with similarity to the world of Infinity.
If I fulfill everything that the group presents to me as a model, try to include myself in it and merge with it, then I become to a certain extent similar to the world of Infinity. This is the only opportunity we can create for ourselves in this world in order to start growing similar to the world of Infinity. There is no other way.
I cannot imagine anything in any other way. However, imagination is insufficient for me; I also need to create a precise form that I will assume in order to attain similarity to the world of Infinity.
A group constitutes the matrix which I have to fill with my desires. I have to alter and recast each and every one of my innate egoistical desires so as to squeeze them into this form. When I fit into it, I will attain a certain extent of similarity to the world of Infinity.
The group provides me with this form. It shows me what relations I should have with my friends, how I should influence them, how they should influence me, and how I should relate to them in each of my desires, etc. By assuming this form I already become similar to the world of Infinity. Remote as it may be, it is already similarity. Subsequently, we act while fitting this form to us. Hence, there is nothing but matter in the world of Assiya and form in the world of Yetzira, the rest being that which creates them.
Question: How can I balance the Creator’s pressure on me? Can I press on my desires the way the Creator does it? Can I do it instead of Him?
Press on the Creator as He presses on you. He presses on you with His desire for bestowal and you press on Him with your desire for bestowal. This is all that is necessary for balancing.
What do we know about the Creator? Only what Kabbalists tell us. They call Him “Tov ve Metiv,” (Good One Who Does Good), i.e., He bestows and by this He presses on us. We perceive this pressure of bestowal as negative because our egoistical state is opposite to His.
Start pressing on Him with your bestowal as He presses on you and you will reach the state of equilibrium. This state is called Zivug de Haka’a; when, by pushing Him away, you balance yourself with Him, unite and merge with Him by means of a stroke (balancing). This is what the Masach in Peh de Rosh does. It balances the inner and outer pressure. Everything is based only on this.
Our desire cannot measure anything else. It is completely unimportant for it what kind of pressure comes from outside. It does not matter if this is the pressure of 1 kg of air, water or some mechanical, electrical or electromagnetic force. It presses on me and I have to balance it!
We do not know how the Light presses on us from outside, and we do not need to know that. We just assume the form of similarity to the Creator, and that is sufficient. By becoming similar to Him in form, we begin to think and understand like Him; we rise above all matter and form and reach His Mind, Head, and Plan, we include ourselves in Him.
At the same time, we attain the level that is higher than the one on which He created us. We do not acquire matter and the form assumed by matter; we ascend higher – to the Thought of creation. That is the state to which the Creator wants to bring us.
The person is named according to his attainment of the Creator’s manifestation (His name). Those who are in the dark and cannot see the Creator’s abundance do not have a name. (This is said about us). The researcher discovers that a name is a result of the goodness that emanates from the Creator. By this, he raises the spark that the Creator caused to descend upon him.
Thus, in accordance with completeness of the analysis and the measure of attainment, the person grasps the greatness of the “Name” and merges with it in his thoughts and complete realization. This occurs through the raising of MAN and the descent of MAD, through continuous rises and falls. The person’s comprehension gradually grows until he ultimately becomes the Creator’s partner in His initial act. In similarity to the Creator, the person creates the worlds and fills them as the giver and the receiver.
In other words, everything stems from the actions directed to the attainment of similarity to the Creator.
Question: How much can we now feel the inclusion of the Upper Worlds in us?
We need to understand that all that happens to us today is the Creator’s direct influence that descends to us through all the worlds from the world of Infinity.