Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam
Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman
lowercase italics: emphasized words
Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew
We are continuing with the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” by Baal HaSulam in the book Kabbalah LeMatchil, page 23. We are in the section “ The Corporeal Terms and the Physical Names in Books of Kabbalah.”
We already said that we have a problem trying to express our sensations. What are we talking about? In all, we are talking about our emotions, sensations. We are made of a will to receive that is comprised of five senses in which we acquire impressions — we feel something. Our mind, our brain evolves next to the will to receive. It helps us understand what we feel and how we can improve our sensation. When we feel, we evolve in our vessels of reception, in our sensation. There are no words for sensations. What do we call something that is felt in the Kli?
In the Wisdom of Kabbalah, we name according to measurements. If you know, for example, what your Kli is, what kind of Kli you have right now; because it might be more, it might be less…
If you know your Kli, you can measure the filling, the Light in it. The Kli and the Light together are the name of that person or attained state. That is what we call in the Wisdom of Kabbalah. But in order to convey what Kabbalists attain and feel, from one to the other, they either use these names in the language of Kabbalah, or they have to give a name. But, where do they get names from? They take names from our world. This is called “the language of the branches.”
The Spiritual World, the Upper World, projects a replica of itself in this world, and so, the substance here is corporeal, but everything in this world, meaning every action, stems from spirituality. Since they come into our matter, we no longer feel them as spiritual actions. But the connection between them, their relations, and influences are actually spiritual. It just appears opposite to us, because the substance is opposite. Here it is corporeal and there it is spiritual.
And that confuses us. We cannot see the Spiritual World from this world, because the difference between this world and the Spiritual World, in every dimension, is like a “double opposite.” That is why we cannot say if that is black then there is white — no. It is like black and white, bitter and sweet, true and false, and a thousand opposites all put together, and how they interconnect. So the picture between spirituality and corporeality is completely inappropriate. But because there is a root above that operates on some branch below, we can then talk about the root according to the name of the branch.
In our world, we have the name of the branch, so we can attach it to the root, and name it this way. In spirituality, we have a dictionary which is actually built according to our dictionary. This language is called “the language of the branches” — a language built according to the branches in our world, where we use names of branches to name roots. That is how Kabbalists communicate, and that is how all the holy books are written. Books such as the Book of Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and many others are written like that; like history books or geography books, or like a human society where neighbors are fighting, as in Talmud and Shulchan Aruch — that you have to do things this way and that way. But behind this history, and everything written in these holy scriptures, we understand that the holy books are holy, because Kadosh, holy, means spiritual, and secular means corporeal.
Although the books seemingly talk about the travels of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the sons of Israel, or maybe the ox hitting the cow, neighbors fighting, the temple and all that; we understand them as holy scriptures. Meaning, behind the corporeal vocabulary stands a spiritual process that they want to explain to us, but they have no choice other than to explain it in corporeal words. So the vocabulary is taken from this world but the understanding should relate to the Spiritual World.
But who can imagine spiritual things? If I am in this world, and I understand these words in their corporeal meaning, how can I attach each word to something spiritual, in the Spiritual World? I cannot, because I do not know what it talks about. A horse. What is a horse in spirituality? I do not know. That is why Kabbalists obviously wrote this vocabulary for themselves.
But we use this language and these stories, from this world to the Spiritual World in order to take power from them, a force that corrects, “the Light that reforms,” and nothing more. We should not think that we can understand what happens in spirituality. It is a different nature, it is totally opposite. We should only want that force to come and correct us, and to the extent that it corrects us, we will begin to see, not the vocabulary, not the words, but what they are about. We will see behind the words — the objects, things, motion, and actions. Just like I read a book and I can imagine what happens in this world, so I have images and pictures from the story that I can imagine, because I know all the details and all the complexities found in the story — the emotions, the insights… everything. It is similar in the Spiritual World, if we were to see and feel it a bit. So Baal HaSulam talks about it, yes…
"The Corporeal Terms and the Physical Names in Books of Kabbalah."
I went ahead so that we can understand this a little better. So, understand why I explain it before we read it.
“Any reasonable person will understand when dealing with spiritual matters, much less godliness, we haven’t any words to or letter with which to contemplate. This is because our entire vocabulary is but combinations of the letters of our senses and imagination. Yet, how can they be of the systems of where there is neither imagination nor our senses.”
Meaning how is it possible that behind words of this world we will imagine, we will see parts or actions, things that are in the Spiritual World. It is impossible.
Question: If they are so spiritual, why do they have to write about the most corporeal things?
No, they are not writing about corporeality.
Question: But they use this language, and do not communicate in spirituality?
First of all, why don’t they communicate in spirituality? How do you know that they don’t? What does it mean, “to communicate”? How did you even come to that word? Is it like you calling someone? Of course, there are connections among all the parts of Adam haRishon. We are only fragmented souls of that same structure, and the connection exists. Just like there is a connection in this world, where we feel each other, more or less, and build communication systems. In the Spiritual World, we do not need artificial communication systems, like a telephone or anything like that. In the Spiritual World the connection is simple. It is according to equivalence of form. As much as one resembles the other in his corrected Kli, they are together, in the same place.
Say for example, me. Let us take everything in me: desires, thoughts, actions, everything in me. And let us take you; your desires, thoughts and actions. If, in a part of me and you we were identical — we want the same thing, we think about the same thing, we do the same thing. Toward what? When is that possible? When we have one goal, and we understand what that goal is. The goal is that our desires and thoughts and actions will be, to some extent, one. If that happens, and we have together obtained adhesion in the goal, reached the goal, even in say just twenty per cent of our desires and thoughts, in that part, we unite between us.
We are together, as one body, and with the goal. This is called “Israel and the Creator are one.” The goal is the Creator, and together with you, we have reached what we desired. We wanted to reach Him, so we connected together. For that, we need to communicate. We are simply found together the same intention, the same thought, the same action. Everything that happens in me happens in you. We do not even understand what this is. We do not grasp to what extent it becomes as one, and it has to be like this with all the souls, without exceptions, “as one man in one heart,” as it is written — in heart and mind.
So you say, how do Kabbalists communicate with one another? They do not need some exterior communication. They communicate with the same thoughts and desires that are corrected and in the Creator, where they reached equivalence of form with Him; there they are all one. It is like one body. My hand needs to understand what the mind thinks and what kind of order it gives it, and so on. Only a sick body can work in a way where the mind does one thing and the hand another. That is a corrupted body, with separated parts, like our souls are now separated from one another. But in a corrected body, every cell knows how the whole body should function, and what it should provide for it. Thus, there are no communication problems among Kabbalists. Besides this, in order to help each other reach, and be in this correct communication, they write to one another. They write from generation to generation, and have done so for many generations. Kabbalists also grow. When a child is born he is not a Kabbalist. He has a point in the heart, which he will develop. Who knows if he will be a Kabbalist or not? So Kabbalists need external books, they need some exterior means to help them reach the internal degree.
Question: Did the great Kabbalists over the generations, around the world, interpret the same thing?
If they feel the same thing they interpret the same thing.
Question: But is it the same interpretation for the same matter?
No, because the interpretations depend on the language. Some wrote in Arabic, some wrote in Yiddish, some wrote in German, in many languages.
Question: But is it the same interpretation?
They also conveyed it in a different way, because there is a difference in the souls. Some souls come from a general Light, the Surrounding Light, and some souls come from a particular Light, the Inner Light. Some souls have a different purpose, just like there are different parts in the body with different functions. If you examine the liver or the lungs, you might say they do not belong to the same body. Let us say someone comes who does not know physiology or anatomy, you will say, “look! There is this part and that part…”; he will not understand that they are from the same body. It is a completely different way of functioning. All the information, all the tests, everything is completely different. Only afterwards, we become smart enough to know that it has to be like that. They might even have to be contradicting or opposite, but they have to work in harmony with the right connection between them.
So every Kabbalist comes from a different place in the collective body of Adam HaRishon. Of course, on the one hand, they know how to compliment the general, but when they write, they write from the particular to the general. So it depends on how they express it. There are many things here. You take books of Kabbalists; first of all, thank G - d we have a history of several thousand years. Of course, they convey it in a different way. Look at The Zohar, for example. Greek and Aramaic words; they were accepted spoken languages at the time, so they were used a lot. And what happened afterwards in Kabbalah, in the Middle Ages for example, or in how it is written today? Can you compare what Rav Cook wrote, like in a philosophy course in University, seemingly so superficial, with what Rambam wrote, or what Moses wrote? He actually wrote a story. What did he write? A novel — in all. Can you compare it with the writings of the Ari — the way he writes, the way he expresses himself, so mathematical and precise? This goes here, this goes there, this way, that way… Even when he does not use the language of Kabbalah, in a technical language, rather when he speaks a little differently; even there it is still a distinct language. The Zohar is picturesque: people are going, sitting, and talking; the sun, the moon, all kinds of figures and forms that you can imagine. Of course it is very different. The character of each of them is also different.
Question: But they all aim at the same thing?
They feel the same thing, but they each feel that thing differently. You and I are in the same world, we see the same things outside of us. We see the same things, right? Can we compare how we differ in sensation, in perception? Each person is unique. That is why all the books… there are some more similar or dissimilar. But, there are some that are very different. How can you compare The Book of Zohar and the books of the Ari? (The Ari being the reincarnation of Rabbi Shimon.) How can you see a connection between them? Okay, well, the Ari and Baal HaSulam have a very similar language.
“Even if we take the subtlest word that can be used in this context, meaning the word “Upper Light,” or even “Simple Light,” it is still borrowed and lent from the light of the sun, or a candle, or a light of contentment one feels upon resolving some great doubt, or new invention. How can we use them in context of the spiritual and Godly? They offer the examiner nothing more than falsehood and deceit.”
It is as if the beginner does not have a choice. What do you want from him? If you write Light, he will imagine actual light. If you write Kli, vessel, he will imagine a cup, a pitcher, or whatever. Or maybe a key, it is also a Kli ( Kli in Hebrew also means “instrument”). How can we understand the spiritual through this corporeal vocabulary? What do they intend?
“It is particularly so where one needs to find some ratio in these words to help one in the negotiation customary in the research of the wisdom. Here one must be very strict and accurate using definitive descriptions for the eyes of the observers.
Should the wise fail with but a single unsuccessful word, he is certain to confuse and mislead the readers. They will not understand at all what he is saying there, before it, after it, and everything connected to that word. This is known to anyone who examines books of wisdom.”
Meaning, Baal HaSulam says it is even worse. If you err in the correct understanding of just a few words, then you are so confused that you are better off not starting. So, how can I begin reading something or listening to something or understanding something? Of course, I come from this world with all my baggage, my great vocabulary, by which I understand the world. Now I am told “no, no! Leave your vocabulary. Throw away this word.” How can I do that? My words are connected to everything I am used to this world, by association. No — if you connect to these words now when you study Kabbalah, what you connected to them will confuse you and nothing will come out of it. So, what is the solution?
“Thus, one should wonder how is it possible for Kabbalists to use false words in order to explain the interconnections of this wisdom?”
Meaning, Kabbalists do not have a choice. They cannot use a different vocabulary. How do you call a phenomenon in spirituality when it is only emotional? What are you going to do say “ah, oh, oo?” What can you invent, what kind of code can you invent?
“Also, it is known that there is no definition through a false name, for the lie has no legs and no stance.”
Meaning, that if I begin to attach names, numbers or whatever to spiritual phenomenon, this is called “an unfounded basis,” it is false. The vocabulary, the word, has to stem from the essence of the thing I want to point to using that word.
“Indeed, here you need to have prior knowledge of the Law of Root and Branch by which the worlds relate to one another.”
Meaning, we have a law of connection between the worlds. Each world is built, as I wrote here the Upper World and the lower world, both are actually a complete replica in their every detail in this world. Yes, the trees, the oceans, the nights, people, distances, time, space and motion. Only, there is a difference between here and there. Human beings there differ from here. Everything we may do and build in this world is also there. Even more so, everything we see, think, feel, build, and perform — all of this is not actually us building, performing, and feeling. We are only discovering the Spiritual World, getting a little closer to it, and it then seems like we are discovering, building, and performing new things. That shows how everything in our world is from the Spiritual World, because between the Upper World and this world there is only concealment. When I discover the Upper World a little more, and more, and more — even now while I am still not conscious of it — meaning, there is no difference between the worlds. The Upper World and my world is actually my own inner sensation. If I feel the same thing in my egoistic Kelim, this is called “my world,” “this world.”
If I gradually replace my Kelim with a different perception, an altruistic one, this is called “approaching and entering the Spiritual World.” But before me is the same thing — it is only my perception that gradually changes. Thus I have 613 desires. Those are the same desires. But in each of them a sensation changes a little more, and a little more, and a little more. That is why we should only imagine how, in every desire, in every thought, what would we feel if we were more spiritual? Now we can understand from this why Kabbalists invented this specific language, and presented it to us, so that through these words, through our vocabulary from where we are now, and discovering some world — I just have to push it, to yearn to be in spirituality more, and interpret all the terms in a more spiritual manner. That is it. So, with this same vocabulary I enter into what was previously concealed and is now being revealed: with that same vocabulary. Then there is no difference. I read some nice literature as opposed to The Book of Zohar. One was written by someone who was in this world, and one was written by someone who advanced and ascended into the Upper World. But, with all of the 613 desires and his entire soul, he felt a higher degree. That is all. That is why the language of branches, if I only attempt to interpret each word in its correct, spiritual form, it is as if it draws me into spirituality. It, in itself, is like an engine toward spirituality.
That is why Baal HaSulam writes in “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot” that we must interpret each and every word in its spiritual form, because if you make an effort, and this is by force, you have to constantly maintain concentration. What this means in spirituality — it is as if it is an intellectual effort, it is not emotional. On the contrary, it goes against your emotions. But, by forcing yourself to imagine spirituality, instead of corporeality that you naturally feel when reading, you insert yourself, you push yourself into spirituality by force. So now we can understand the benefit that this language gives us. It is not “why did they not invent something else?” It gives you 613 rails by which you rise from corporeality to spirituality, and you just have to interpret it more in spiritual terms — the meaning of the words and the actions that are explained there.
Now, take the Torah. Stop reading it like a child, or like children who have grown old, and start interpreting it more spiritually. You will then see how it gradually becomes detached from this world and enters a different reality, with the same words. And the fact that we still do not feel what happens behind these words makes no difference. It actually gives you room for work. I do not feel it, but I have to force myself to imagine what it is, and then I am drawn to it. You force yourself into a higher degree. These are good exercises, I recommend them.
“ Well, the law of roots and branches by which the worlds relate to one another. Kabbalists have found that the form of the four worlds named Atzilut, Bina, Yetzira, Assiya begins with the first and highest world called Atzilut. Then beginning in this corporeal world, called Assiya is vastly the same in every item and event. It means that everything that eventuates and occurs in the first world is found unchanged in the second world, below it, too. It is likewise in all the worlds that follow it down to this tangible world. There is no difference between them. Merely a different degree perceived in a substance of which worlds, reality, the substance of the first upper most world is coarser then the world of the first, but purer than that of the lower degree. It continues similarly down to this world before us whose substance of the items of reality is coarser and darker than all the world proceeding it. However, the shapes and the items of reality of all the occurrences come unchanged and equal in every world. It’s purer than the substance of the lower ones and the substance of the item of the reality of the second world is coarser than the world of the first, but purer than that of the lower degree. It continues similarly down to this world before us whose substance of the items of reality is coarser and darker in all the worlds precedingit. However, the shapes and the items of reality of all the occurrences come unchanged and equal in every world both in quantity and equality.”
We said that the Kli was built by the Upper Light, consists of five parts — Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel and Dalet. Therefore, in order to unload all of the Light from the Kli, and set up that Kli so that it will entirely detach from the Light, we have five degrees of descent from the state of Ein Sof, where the Kli is filled entirely with Light. These five degrees are called “worlds” — AK, Atzilut, Bina, Yetzira, Assiya, and here is this world. Each world is in fact a diminution of the Light, and an emptying of the Kli.
Let us say here the Kli is smaller than in Ein Sof. In Ein Sof we have five parts. Here in AK we have the same Kli, here we have four parts…three...two...one…and here we have zero, which is the point. That is how the Kli diminishes with the Light in it, and reaches the state of this world. However, every detail that exists in the Kli remains.
All the details are in there, but the force changes. Meaning here, the Kli in Ein Sof has 613 desires, and here too it has 613 desires. A Kli cannot have less than that… in every place. Our point too contains 613 desires, but only as a point. It is just like a seed, where you have all the elements of the mature person that will evolve from it; all these elements. All you need is an addition of force, filling, “meat” — an addition of force, and nothing more. Regarding this additional force, here the Creator caused a diminution — that came from above — and we have to, from below upward, by ourselves, desire to grow and acquire the force for that. This is done through the MAN, through the request from below upward; yes. “Give me the force for correction, for fulfillment!”… and then it happens.
Of course, we do not have the forces, but the demand has to be on our part. That is what we learned before, from above downward, and from below upward. This comes from above, from above downward, and we have to rise from below upward through our choice and desire. Then, from this single point of desire, which we cannot yet speak about in detail; we do not feel its great 613 desires. We feel some desire for spirituality. We want something to happen, we cannot even express it. From that evolves a Kli, which is called “spiritual,” a soul. Right now all we have is a point, and what we imagine of ourselves; that we exist in our body and spirit — it is animalistic body and spirit, like what animals have, and not more.
“ It continues similarly down to this world before us, whose substance of the items of reality is coarser and darker than all the worlds preceding it. However, the shapes and the items of reality and all their occurrences come unchanged and equal in every world, both in quantity and quality.”
The difference is that in Ein Sof and all the worlds — AK, Atzilut, Bina, Yetzira, Assiya — there, it is spiritual substance. What is the spiritual substance? It is bestowal, from above downward. Only our substance is reception, is opposite. That is why each and every world in spirituality is similar to the other, not only in detail, but also in the essence. It is just that one is more and one is less. The difference between all the worlds above this world and between this world is in the substance. Only the details remain the same details. We feel this world is filled with things, and all sorts of actions, all corresponding to spirituality. There is nothing in this world that does not come from above. But we cannot picture how it happens above if we compare it to this world.
“ They compared it to the conduct of a seal and its imprint. All the shapes found in the seal are transferred perfectly in every detail and intricacy to the imprinted object. So it is with the worlds where each lower world is an imprint of the world above it. Hence, all the forms found in the higher world, are meticulously copied, in both quantity and quality, to the lower world.
Thus there is not an item of reality, or an occurrence of reality that you will not find its likeness in the world above it, as identical as two drops in a pond, and they are called “Root and Branch”. That means that that item found in the lower world is deemed a branch of its pattern, found in the higher world, being the root of the lower item, as this is where that item in the lower world was imprinted and made to be.
That was the intention of our sages when they said, “You haven’t a blade of grass below that has not a fortune and a guard above that strike it and commands it to grow”. It follows that the root, called “fortune”, compels it to grow and robe its attribute in quantity and quality, as with the seal and the imprint. This is the law of Root and Branch in every item of reality in every single world, relating to the world above it.”
Question: In our world, there are many terms, artificial or abstract. Is there also an Upper root to them? For example, there is some scientist who lives inside his science, and these concepts — for him they are more tangible than these things. Can he also see behind these terms the Spiritual World, and their roots?
I do not know what scientist you are talking about. If this scientist acquires the sixth sense, develops a soul from his point, so that his point will expand, and in it will be an empty space that is ready to acquire spiritual filling, then behind the matter, he will see spirituality. If he does not have this Kli, how can he see the spirituality behind the matter? The substance ends in the substance. That is what scientists today see as the end of science. It is not the end. There is more to discover. But they seemingly see that the advanced things are concealed, and are imperceptible to us, to our abilities. Meaning, regardless of all the auxiliary tools that we will build, all these tools, like microscopes and telescopes, only add to our senses and expand their range. They expand them, but they cannot change the essence of our perception. That is why a scientist will not see behind matter.
Question: He writes about fortune, those kinds of things?
No. Fortune is an Upper force that descends from Arich Anpin of Atzilut. Mazal, fortune,
is from the word Nozel, a drip, where drops of Ohr Hochma (the Light of Wisdom) drip down from above in squirts, and not a stream, so that these drops will awaken the lower ones; will arouse them to spirituality. That is why it is called Mazal, fortune, from the word Nozel,
a drip. It is not the kind of fortune we think of in our world, yes, whether I am lucky or unlucky. Lucky fortune is when a blow comes from above, because it comes in drips — a little good, a little bad, in some way or another, and you will understand that it draws you to that same source in Arich Anpin of Atzilut, which is the root of all the fortunes, of every awakening. A real fortune is the awakening to spirituality that is sent to a person from above, if he perceives it correctly. This is called “being lucky,” “being fortunate.” Otherwise he is not. Good luck, bad luck, from above, as they say… There is nothing more than an awakening for progress from above.
Question: Regarding the corporeal names; how much can the internality of the name be damaged if we speak of it in a more abstract, simpler manner?
How can it help our dissemination?
Question: Can it harm or help?
No, why would it harm? Everything you explain about the truth, adds. On the contrary, if we can explain to ourselves and others that all the holy books do not speak of what happens on earth — how you should pay the owner of an ox or a donkey, or how to do some actions in corporeality... Rather, as Iben Ezra says in his commentary on the Torah, that it all comes only in order to correct the heart. As written, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice” — that is its purpose, and not for anything else; not how to deal with this world. We can never deal with this world. To deal with it means rising above this world to spirituality. That is why there is a descent from above downward, so that we rise back up to Ein Sof. And if we explain that this is how we should read the books, as an aid, and to attempt to understand them in a more sublime manner than this world, then of course it would help.
Question: Does a Kabbalist, like Baal HaSulam, who writes articles, and puts them in a paper stand, meaning he writes for everyone; Does he at some point stop using the language of branches?
How can that be? I do not understand. What else would he use?
Question: A language people can understand, for example, the article “The Revelation of Godliness”?
No, no, no. If I explain about some phenomenon of humanity, of society, or we who are below the barrier, then our language is used as it is used. I use the spoken language regarding the place I am intending — this world. If I say we have to organize a society, and to study this way, and do that, and so on, then we are talking about this world. If I am talking about spirituality, Sefirot, Partzufim, Olamot (worlds), and so on — there I have a problem. I have a difficulty explaining these concepts to you. So then, behind each word, there must be an explanation, that you should not think that it is “so and so,” rather that it is “such and such” To interpret every sentence according to its spiritual meaning is very difficult. But every time we try to do that; that, in fact, is our work — because you raise your picture from corporeality to spirituality. It is very important. Read the last part of “Introduction to the Talmud Eser Sefirot” — the last item; 155 and onwards.
Question: Scientists discover things. Do they reach those discoveries because they exert themselves, even if it is after twenty years? Is it because exertion is connected to spirituality that they reach those discoveries — only because of their exertion?
We learned in the article “The Freedom,” that no one in this world has a single thought or action that is free, unless it is aimed toward returning to the root of the soul; to the world of Ein Sof, to the place where one exists and is rooted. Other than that direction, and working toward that, nobody has freedom of choice or freedom of movement. So, all scientists, or anyone, are only performing commands that awaken in them from their genes, their Reshimot, and their environment, which compels them to act, and which is also guided from above. In our world there is nothing that awakens by itself. So what are scientists discovering? They have to discover this world in a way that they will awaken to spirituality, and they will discover things to this extent. They discovered the atom bomb, and they discovered good things. It is all according to what is needed in order to awaken humanity to advance toward spirituality, to reach it, and nothing more. And it comes from above. Nobody has the ability to determine anything. The only independent choice, the only independent movement of a person is in reaching the root of the soul, in the pre-paved way, from above downward. When we descended, it was from above downward, and now we have to rise in the same path, from below upward. That is all. We should not imagine anyone as having any freedom of action, and of course, no scientist who seemingly discovers things. It appears because humanity, either in a good or bad way, must now be prompted toward that same goal.
Note: There is a question from the Karma TV station.
So read it.
Question: Can there be a state where an individual’s soul is completely altruistic, and still take care of its body?
Of course. First of all, this is a Mitzva, a commandment. In this world there are people who have a drive to ruin their bodies. Do Kabbalists want to ruin their bodies? No, on the contrary. The connection of the corrected soul — through its body, with all the other bodies, whose souls are not corrected; the people who are in this world, and the Kabbalist that exists in this world in a physical body and at the same time in the Spiritual World with its soul — is a priceless invention. Priceless. In spirituality there is a connection only between the souls, and only as much as they are equal in form with the Creator. It is as we described it here, remember? You and I, if we have parts in us where we are like the Creator, then in those parts we are connected one to another. In this world, we are all completely detached. That is why we need a body, meaning an additional system to have contact with one another.
Otherwise just imagine if on an egoistic level here, we would be completely just with our souls. What would that be like? We would be completely detached, without any possibility or hope of ever connecting and building a Kli — and reaching spirituality. That is why we have a special Klipa, that is the corporeality called Guf (body). It is not a body [Rav points to his physical body]. What we see is not a body. Rather, it is the desire that appears to us in this way, and through it we can connect to one another. We can communicate and we can bond with each other. We can do even more than bonding; we can work in the body like in the soul. We can connect, we can have children, we can communicate and help each other, or kill each other, it does not matter. But we can have contact. We are interdependent. We have such a place, a state from which we can begin our spiritual journey, freely. I live in my body. If I want spirituality, I have it. If I do not want it, I do not have it.
It is a standby state, right before the spiritual journey. So if a Kabbalist lives both in spirituality and in this world, and through the body he can connect to us, then he can bring us his Torah, his teachings, his method, his means… all of his guidance. Otherwise, how would we communicate with him? He is there, and I am here, so how? I can begin through the body, through verbal expression, through the books he writes, because I do not have a choice. He probably can do with me whatever he wants, but the path from below upward has to be preceded by my desire. So in order to have a desire, the Creator awakens the point in me. But other than the point, it is all up to me. So then I need external help, from outside of me, someone who will come and help me out with my Kelim, my situation. And that is the work of Kabbalists who are in this world.
As it says, the Creator planted them in every generation. With their help we reach correction. Without Baal HaSulam, what would you do today? Would you bow to a tree, or maybe wear red strings? What else? Without these books? Of course, the connection through this world is a great invention. We do not know the force and the importance of this world. In the Spiritual World it all advances by spiritual rules, it is no problem. It is intentionally, from this world, when we go through the double concealment and single concealment, that we create our Kelim.