Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam
Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman
lowercase italics: emphasized words
Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew
Question: How can one properly use his state?
When you say, “How can I properly use my state?” you can no longer use it properly because you already exist in this state; it is already assigned. The amount of egoism that comes through at the time, the Light that shines to you from Above, the environment that is found around you, and how you are with respect to this environment, your reserve of knowledge, the so called Derech Tora (the Path of Torah) you’ve acquired—all of this already exists. Therefore, in no specific state can we say, “Now I need to act in such and such way, or I need to do this and do that.” How will any new states emerge in you on the same level?
We must prepare each state beforehand from the state that preceded it. This is the only way. Otherwise, we will never manage any of our states. In other words, the way I am now is determined; I can’t do anything with this. I must now prepare myself for the next state. That is, right away, I need books, I need to study, I need the group. I need everything that organizes this whole covering around me. Generally, this is what we call Arvut. The importance of the goal is Arvut, mutual guarantee. This is when the friends make a commitment to each other that they will do everything in order to raise the importance of the goal in each person. And they work only for the future, for the next state, while everything is already determined in the present.
We are saying that right now a gene has been activated in me (M/N with data). M is Hitlabshut (dressing), and N is Aviut (thickness). These parameters are assigned. They arise in a person in accordance with his preparation. One is given no more than he is able to react properly to, but one can react to it properly only to the extent of his preparation.
As it turns out, a person can never do anything with himself in the present state. And he shouldn’t. All of our present states depend only on the previous ones. Did I treat myself, life, its realization properly in the past? In accordance with this, I determine my present state, or from today, tomorrow’s state.
Question: Is it good that you took up smoking because it then gave you an opportunity to conquer the desire or habit?
Yes. However, what should be done with a person who is completely righteous? He has nothing that needs to be conquered. Is this your question?
Question (cont’d): So, that means some property existed right from the beginning, which allowed the person to conquer it, and which nature gave to him?
It wasn’t given to me by nature. I think it was me. I found I cannot give a lesson that way and began to work on myself, asking: “What is more important to me: to cough at the lesson or to make it pleasant, proper, and appropriate?” As a consequence of my calculations, I found, with a positive coefficient, that the lesson is more important, much more important, than the pleasure of smoking. Therefore, I arrived at my decision.
You can say, “What outside powers did you draw in order to decide this?” I pondered over how important the lesson was. I did this on my own, without the friends (well, I also saw how much it bothered them). This affected me deeply. I found the powers that helped me heighten the importance of the lesson to a much greater extent than the pleasure from smoking. Where did I get these powers from? I received them from outside of me.
Question: Suppose I have a desire “x.” I receive this desire as small. I feel it, I try to resist, but it pushes me down. Is this what constitutes the battle with Klipat Noga?
The question is such: How can I find Klipat Noga (Noga shell) inside of me? How can I make it out if, in fact, I don’t see what’s before me as on the drawing, where we depict pure desires, absolutely impure, and in the middle, those that I checked, Klipat Noga. How do I make them out?
In general, if I think this way, I will never make them out. I am saying, simply theoretically, the following desires exist in us: positive, negative, and neutral, desires of zero, the so-called “middle part of Sefira Tifferet.” Sefira Tifferet has three parts: the upper one, the middle one and the lower one. The upper part of Sefira Tifferet with the Sefirot Keter, Hochma, Bina, Daat, Hesed, and Gevura are my pure desires. After Tifferet, there are also Sefirot Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut, and all of these are impure desires. And the middle part of Tifferet is Noga.
Never, in none of the degrees, can a person work out precisely his own Reshimo (such as “M/N”) in such a way that he sees, “Oh, now I have Reshimo M/N. for example. It has 613 desires. Which of them is situated on what level and in what combination with the others? Go ahead; quickly give me a print-out.”
How can we solve this problem practically? It is solved in a very simple manner: through the influence of the Upper Light. Again, we should never wait for the Upper Light to influence us to a greater extent than it currently does, knowing that it can only influence us in order to single out the good and bad properties in us and to tear them away from one another. Klipat Noga can never be singled out and corrected by the Upper Light. Only if I receive additional radiance from the group does this happen.
Therefore, what is advised? It is advised not to await mercy from nature, that is, when you will desire to be in the group, when Klipat Noga will show itself to you, then you will see and remember that you have it and something needs to be done about it. You have to (prepare yourself) now, beforehand.
You have these desires even now: pure desires, impure desires, and Noga. They exist in each of our states. Constantly new desires emerge in us as if along a spiral. Each of these desires (“M/N”) consists of these parts: the pure, the impure, and Noga. Therefore, there is no need for us to think: “Are these desires in me such or such?” We need to draw the Upper Light unto ourselves to the maximum, and it will separate us into two parts and single out the pure desires. We do this through books and studying. We need to study with the friends to the maximum in order to draw additional Light unto Noga. That’s it.
I’ll tell you what else can happen. In order to strengthen these two things, we need dissemination. However, this is the same thing as the friends. In other words, we need to draw even broader general Light unto ourselves. It is very minor, but it is broad; it has a very large spectrum and therefore the quality of its influence on me is very great. It pays to draw this Light. It pays to rouse the world toward Kabbalah, and to rouse it correctly. Presently, the world is roused in some way, only incorrectly. If we twist it slightly, we will have a great amount of strength to conquer any doubts. We won’t simply rise exponentially somehow; we will reach the root through a vertical line. All of us will.
Question: Does my previous state determine my preparation, or does it depend on the states of my friends?
What effect does all of this have? Every person descends, ascends, and, at the same time, something happens to all of us. This is a problem we cannot solve at the moment. We need to understand the picture of the common soul and to draw conclusions only proceeding from that. There is no other way.
Question: What is that part that is called “I” and is separated from the other parts of the soul?
Which part in me is the “I,” which says, “This is me”? The rest of my 613 desires are this and that. Who is “I”? “I” is the point in the heart. And who are the 613 desires created by the Creator? They are the heart. Am I not created by the Creator? No, I am not. The “I” within us is not created by the Creator. The “I” within us is a point of the Creator from Above, which fell into these 613 desires from the breaking of the vessels. That’s a good question. Who am I? Where am I speaking from, proceeding from what? I am speaking from the point in the heart.
Question: Are the commandments of the Torah our desires?
The commandments of the Torah are not our desires. The commandments of the Torah are what we call the correction of desires. What does the Torah command us? What does it offer us? It tells us: Barati Yetzer ha Ra (I have created the evil inclination). There are 613 desires in you, and there is also the point in the heart in you. Rouse your point in the heart in such a way that it would be directed toward the Creator. But how will it overcome the path to the Creator? Have it ask the Creator for the Upper Light, the Ohr Makif (the Surrounding Light), to come from up Above to correct these 613 desires. When these 613 desires begin to adjoin the point in the heart in the corrected form, it will begin to ascend.
In other words, what do I need these 613 desires for? I need them in order to overcome the entire path towards the Creator. How do I use these 613 desires? I use them always: in my smallest of states, in my middle state, and in the greatest state. There are only 613 desires in me. So, what’s the difference? The difference is in the intensity with which I use them.
Therefore, the 613 desires are essential for us. For this reason, on no account does the science of Kabbalah speak of destroying these 613 desires. On no account does it do that! We need to pick out the ones we cannot use yet, the ones which are called Klipa. The part that we will be able to use, the desires that will go upward to be used, are called Kedusha (sanctity). I need to connect not only the part that is clearly Kedusha to it, but also the part that isn’t clear, the Klipat Noga. Under the influence of a proper environment (it is mostly the proper environment), we will use it correctly and also direct it to the goal. .
Question: Isn’t the point in the heart, the inner body, called the clothing for Nefesh de Kedusha?
We call the point in the heart that point out of which the level of Nefesh then grows from. To the extent that we can connect the 613 desires to this point, Nefesh will emerge from it, followed by Ruach, then Neshama, and so on.
There are 125 steps. How does one step differ from another? There are ten Sefirot on the zero level. What do we mean by “ten Sefirot”? They are all 613 of our desires. How do the ten Sefirot on the zero level differ from the ten Sefirot on the first level, or on the second level? All of these ten Sefirot exist, meaning that all 613 desires exist on each level. So how do they differ? They differ according to the intensity, depth of their usage for the Creator's sake.
It is similar to a child who has everything that a grow-up does, however, the intensity with which he uses it, is low. That's why we say that he is small. There is nothing else.
When Light shines on us from Above on some degree and prepares us for the next degree, it shines upon all 613 of our desires and illuminates them deeper. Therefore, every next degree is for greater bestowal, for more corrected Klipot, for Klipat Noga, as well as the rest of the desires, the pure desires.
Question: Baal HaSulam tells in the article not to think about Klipat Noga and to direct our thoughts in a certain way. What instructions is he giving us when he speaks about that?
No, he says that our entire work is for the purpose of connecting the Klipat Noga to the pure desires, the Galgalta ve Eynaim. He does not say that we shouldn’t pay attention to them. It is possible that he expresses himself figuratively somewhere so that we won’t pay attention to Gimel (three) Klipot, the impure Klipot. But keeping from paying attention to them means neutralizing them.
It is impossible not to pay attention to them. They are your desires, which exist in you. You can only avoid paying attention to them in the case that you do something in order not to pay attention to them. How else? In other words, if they emerge in you, you need to work on them, and neutralize them; if they don’t emerge, that’s it—you’ve neutralized them.
Afterwards, there will be a stage called the “rising of the dead.” Right now, you don’t work with these desires; you simply push them away from you, saying “It’s impossible for me to do anything with them.” But then there will be the “resurrection of the dead” desires, the so-called “bodies.” And then there is already the Gmar Tikkun, the complete correction.
Question: There are desires which I cannot determine as good or bad. If I use them a little, they are good, if a lot, they are bad. What should I do with them?
The question doesn’t exist for us, what should I do with desires? I am not their master. Stop thinking that you can do something with your desires. Even if you suppress them, you don’t correct them that way.
Please understand! The fact of the matter is the following. A certain Reshimo opens up in me and there are 613 desires in this Reshimo. What can I do? I can begin to suppress these 613 desires in me, meaning to push them down. These 613 desires arise in me. They are called my heart, and are in what is called the “human” in me today. Of course, this is a human being of our world, egoistic and small.
What desires do I have? They are the bodily desires, then wealth, honor, power and knowledge. If I take these desires and begin to destroy them, meaning that if I take the desire for knowledge, as the highest, then honor, power, wealth, and then the bodily desires, I'll bring myself to a state when I am not even human. Below the human level, there is the animal level, then the vegetative, followed by the inanimate.
Therefore, if I decrease my desires on my own (a desire arises in me, and no, I will kill it, I don’t want it to be in me), that means that I lower myself from this level to a lower level, which is absolutely, categorically forbidden. You make yourself not a human being but lower than a human being. For this reason, we never do this in our state. Out of all the systems that exist, ours is the only one that does not engage in lowering the desires.
Now, at this Congress, we feel that everyone is so kindhearted, everything is so great, we think “if only everyone would love each other, let’s make it so everyone would love each other!” This is what people talk about. And what will they achieve this way? Nothing. They won’t achieve anything. Why not? They won’t achieve anything because what is it that they want? They want to lower their desires: “Let’s not use honor, power, the aspiration for honor, power, wealth; we don’t need anything.”
Knowledge refers to the using of the head of another, his greatest potential intellectual capabilities, to know what is in the head of another for egoistic use. The power over the brain or the thoughts of people is called “knowledge.” If we take it away, or lower everything, there will be nothing left of the human being. Therefore, under no circumstances do we do this.
We perform a special type of correction even on those desires that we are incapable of correcting. That is, the Upper Light comes to them, illuminates them, and brings them to the side. What do we mean by “bringing them to the side”? It enables us to tear away from them, and we don’t use them. We don’t use them to a certain degree, since they arise in us once again on the next degree, but this time to a greater extent, and so on.
If you say the Creator is beyond your nature, then by lowering your nature, you are lowering the Creator. If I say I have 100 kilograms of desire, then where is the Creator? The Creator is higher than that, so 101 kilograms. Therefore, (by suppressing desires) you are lowering the spiritual standard.
On the contrary, one should use all of his desires. All the egoistic desires that are present in a person, absolutely everything—the bodily desires, wealth, honor, power, knowledge—everything egoistic that is present in a person is all essential for him now. The only thing one should be concerned about is the Upper Light to come and allow him to see how to put in action all of these desires. That’s it. The Light will determine this, not the person.
Never should a person treat his Kli as if he creates it himself: “We’ll blend together twenty percent from here and a couple of percent from there, add this and that, and we’ll get a person.” It won’t work. This is incorrect. You won’t take anything away, you won’t add anything together, and you will arrive at the same preset box without any form from the outside—only matter.
Question: On one hand, we are talking about not using desires that we can correct, and on the other, love is when I begin to feel the desire of my neighbor as my own. What do I do first: restrict an improper desire or try to feel the desire of my neighbor?
What do I do: restrict a desire or rouse love? You can do neither of these things. Have you ever loved? [The student shrugs his shoulders] No, you haven’t. Well… [Laughter]
You suddenly begin to experience a sensation of interest toward another person. You feel like a complete idiot meanwhile. You are unable to control your feelings. You are just interested in that person and that’s it. Why? There is no answer to this question. Some spark, which attracts you, begins to shine in him. That’s it. You are locked in on it. That’s it; there’s nothing to be done.
Can you control this? Well, in our world, let’s suppose that you can. But in reality, you cannot. You couldn’t have suspected that this would happen, and you can’t do anything with the fact that it is here.
Question (cont'd): Are the desires that I perform a restriction on my own desires, or are they my friends’ desires, if I try to realize my friends’ desires as my own?
You did not perform a restriction on any desires. You cannot perform a restriction on a desire. Think about it, “Now I will restrict myself!” When does a Tzimtzum (restriction) occur? It occurs under the influence of the Light! The Kli merely decides, as a consequence that “I am getting rid of this.” But how can you take a desire and create, do, or change something about it, as if you are the Creator? With what force can you change a desire? A desire is a vector of direction and intensity. If it is created by the Creator, how can you change it on your own?
Question: You are saying that desires come to us through the Reshimot, and it is all programmed, and we need to overcome them with a higher desire to be like the Creator. Where do we get the desire to be like the Creator? In theory, it should also be a Reshimo. But then it turns out to be Schizophrenia of some sort: two Reshimo occurring. What system of choice is there here, freedom to choose one or the other?
This is called a split personality, rather than Schizophrenia.
Question (cont’d): So, it turns out that we don’t have any freedom at all?
Why no freedom?
Question (cont’d) :It is all Reshimot. We constantly have desires…
But didn’t I tell you where the freedom is? Freedom is in the middle part of Tifferet, in KlipatNoga. One minute, let’s think logically. There is the Creator. The Creator created 613 desires. In order to make these 613 desires similar to Him, He also placed a sensation of Himself, His own point, into these 613 desires. These 613 desires exist beforehand. You can say that they are already in the first phase of the expansion of the Light.
What does the Creator add? If He would not add anything, everything would come to a halt there. What does He add? He adds a sensation of Himself. Meanwhile, the second phase arises. The second stage does not have to do with fulfillment, the Light that fulfills it; it already sees the foundation, the root of the Light in it. This root is higher than it, and therefore it desires to bestow. However, in actuality, it is more egoistic than the first stage. In phase zero, the Aviut was Shoresh (zero). In the first phase (Hochma), the Aviut was 1, and in the second phase (Bina), 2, so Bina is more egoistic than Hochma. Why then did Bina desire to bestow? It is due to the fact that it uses the property of reception for the sake of bestowal; it desires to do this. That’s it.
You are asking, “How can I begin to do something with my desires?” You have 613 desires, plus the point in the heart. Identify yourself not with these 613 desires but with the point in the heart that pulls you somewhere, you don’t know where. You will see how you will be able to draw the Upper Light to yourself. What do you draw it to? With the point in the heart you ask the Creator (this is called MAN), “I want correction.” Correction of what? Correction of these 613 desires.
Question (cont'd): So, it is also like a Reshimo in us?
Of course, it is a Reshimo. Aren’t you yourself saying that it is a split personality? We studied that there was one big Kli. This Kli had ten Sefirot. A great Light came and broke the Kli. By so doing, it brought its own properties into the Kli. That’s what happened.
Now, in the ten Sefirot, there is Malchut plus Bina. And what you are calling a “split personality” which is present in us, is Pitzul (splitting). The point (in the heart) is the property of Bina, and the 613 desires are the properties of Malchut. We call out to Bina: “I want to be equal to the Creator!” And if I want it, in accordance with that, I receive the Light that Reforms from the Creator. It doesn’t influence the point (since there is no reason to influence the point); it influences the 613 desires.
If I can connect 613 desires to the point in the heart, even partially, say by taking a tenth of these 613 desires, 63 of them (it is impossible to do, but I am speaking about the intensity, because there are 613 desires in the big as well as the small Kli) then by adding them to the point in the heart, I already have the next level, which can be SAG, for example. Then, one more level, and one more. By correcting these 613 desires, by adding them to the point in the heart, I ascend upward.
How do I correct the 613 desires? I do so through the influence of the Light. Where does a person get 613 desires? One has them because he is a person. Animals don’t have them. These desires arise from the connection of the properties of Bina and Malchut.
Question: What does it mean that we first restrict the desire and then scrutinize it?
I don’t know what you’re talking about at all. Who did this ever? That means that I have some panel or a table, where my various desires appear? 613 desires? You can go crazy this way. Here, I have 613 desires before me. Can you imagine? And I want all of them. This is no longer a split personality! And I should also be thinking about what to do with each of them. What should we do about this?
We don’t do anything about it. We just don’t act that way. We are incapable of feeling these desires or digesting them in any way at all and deciding that we are consciously working with them somehow. That is not our level. Our level of beginning to work with the desires is when we don’t want anything at all except to merge with the Creator, to be above them all, in the property of bestowal. I take them all and wish only to bestow; it is a type of movement: only bestowal.
If I begin to work with absolutely everything that begins to happen to me, all the degrees of Aviut, I begin a period of Ubar (embryo). When the period of embryo ends, the next period, that of maturing, the period of Yenika (feeding) begins, and so on.
I am never responsible for my desires, which desires I can do something with and which ones I cannot. In the small states (Katnut), I only use the desires to draw closer to the Creator. When I finish using them in such a manner, I begin to use them differently: Yenika, then Mochin, and then I attain a big state (Gadlut).
When special big states arise, when I work with the desires and the screens, to the measure that I have a serious screen (meaning, a screen for reception as well as bestowal), I begin to analyze each of my states and treat them in a specific manner. Then my actions can be called commandments because I determine my 613 desires precisely, their purpose of existing in me currently, and the purpose for which they should be in me. That’s it.
Question: What’s the difference between suppressing a desire and restricting a desire?
There is no such concept as Dikuy ha Ratzon (suppressing of desire) in Kabbalah. I don’t even know how to clearly define it from the point of view of Kabbalah. We define Tzimtzum very simply. Baal HaSulam defined it, and therefore we have a very clear definition: Tzimtzum, the restriction of a desire, means that one does not wish to use it, in spite of the fact that the desire is very great.
Question: Are there corrections performed with the aid of the Surrounding Light and some other types of correction performed with the aid of the Light of Hochma and AB SAG?
Because the Ohr of AB SAG, which comes to any uncorrected Kli, comes from Hochma and Bina, it gives a clear sensation to the Kli of what Hochma is and what Bina is on its desires. The Ohr AB SAG cannot come to the Kli unless the Kli is prepared for its reception. What does it mean that Ohr comes? Ohr is expressed in the Kli; it is felt in the Kli.
When can it be felt? It can only be felt when the Kli is ready to feel it; it then feels it according to its similarity to it. The Light cannot come when the Kli is not ready to accept it at that moment; it doesn’t want this Light, and so the Light stands there and tries to break in. There is no such thing because everything in nature is static. If we say, “The Light enters the Kli,” it means that the Light appears in the Kli gradually because the Kli changes its properties. This gradual altering of the properties of the Kli is felt in it as the arrival of Light.
Let’s say that I am in a bad mood as I have a headache, etc. I take a pill and it begins to work. In an hour, the world is good, there is so much light, and everything is just splendid. Before this, an hour ago, I didn’t want to live. Does this depend on the world or on my inner state? It depends exclusively on my state. Therefore, the Kli reveals the Light to the extent that the Light can be properly perceived by the Kli.
***
Let’s say a few words about altruism. To be specific, altruism is the only attribute of nature because it is the Creator’s attribute: the attribute of bestowal. Maybe “altruism” sounds cliché. You can call it the Creator’s property, the property of bestowal, which existed initially, before the emergence of the creature’s material, desire, the desire to enjoy—anything that we can possibly relate to creation. Based on this, all live things exist. So much so that had the sparks of altruism not been placed into the material, the desire to enjoy that was created later, and had it not desired to give, then it would have no right to exist at all. We see that when the first phase is beginning to sense the Creator it immediately wants to be similar to Him.
This altruism or bestowal rouses a so-called force of life in the creature. Egoism cannot live because it desires to consume within, and hence it must receive something from an outside source. The process of reception, fulfillment is called the life of the egoistic Kli. If it parts with something or merely stops receiving, this is like death for the egoistic Kli.
However, life is actually experienced in the desire to bestow, rather than the desire to receive. Therefore it is said, Rashaim Be Chai'em Nikraim Metim, which means that the wicked are deemed as dead even during their lifetimes, because they do not feel the property of bestowal, and this property is called life.
Then where will we ever obtain this property? How can we receive it? This will happen only in the case that the creature independently makes itself similar to the Creator.
Let's see how all of this is built. Malchut is created in the world of Infinity. How is Malchut created? It is created by the property of Bina. The property of bestowal exists at the zero phase, the root (Keter), then follows the property of Hochma (to receive), the first phase, and the property of Bina (to bestow), the second phase. Bina is equal to Hochma. To the extent that Bina senses that the Creator desires to give to it, it desires to give to the Creator. Then, it draws this property of bestowal to the Creator and makes itself supposedly similar to Him (the totality of the second and the first properties, the third phase). As a result, it gives rise to the next great property, Malchut (the fourth phase).
Where does Malchut get such an enormous desire? How is it different from the first desire? It is different in that Malchut has the first, second, and third desires; three desires exist in Malchut. Hence, all of them form the fourth desire, and this desire is the greatest and is therefore called the creature.
What made the creature become a creature (the fourth phase) and separate from the Creator (the first phase)? The first phase receives and the fourth phase receives. What is the difference between them? The difference between them is that the properties of Bina turned into reception. Why did Malchut become the fourth phase of Aviut instead of being the first phase of Aviut? It is because it gained the properties of bestowal. That’s it. Had there not been these properties of bestowal, it would be like the first phase.
In other words, Malchut becomes more egoistic due to the fact that it receives. This is a paradox. Because of this, it can rise to the Creator’s level. Then, when it breaks, these diffusions of altruistic egoism in it come out.
In other words, why do we need Bina in Malchut? We need it in order to feel another and be able to use him. To be able to use another due to being able to feel him is something that only a human being can do. This is, in fact, the property of Malchut. Due to this property, it performs a Tzimtzum, and so on. That is, all the egoistic desires in Malchut are the result of altruism, the property of Bina.
We see this even in our world. For instance, in the state of breakage, the Jewish people are the most egoistic. This is known, commonly known, and it really is the case. Kol ha Gadol Mi Chavero Etzro Gadol Mimeno (Everyone who is greater than his friend, his evil is greater than him), with an opposite sign. The one, who is greatly wicked, by correcting oneself, will become greatly righteous.
Therefore, the properties of altruism are not created in us directly. First, we buy them into our own egoism and work with them. The egoism grows like yeast in bread, where the bread begins to swell. This yeast is in fact the property of Bina, the feeling of outsiders, others, thinking “what do they feel?” I desire this, and the growth of the desire begins from this point.
In general, this property of Bina is present within every one of us (and the greater the egoism, the more so). Thanks to this property, we exist, we live. Only today, this property speaks to us in the opposite manner: “I live due to the fact that I use others, I am greater than others and more noble than others, they respect me, and I feed from them.” However, if I was alone, I wouldn’t need anything in life. All my achievements in life are only so that others will appreciate me.
Why such a low estimate of myself with respect to others? This is because Bina compels me to feel the others, to feel their opinion of me, and so forth. Therefore, the properties of altruism are within us, and in great quantities. The entire descent from Above, from the World of Infinity to our world, is generally made up of purely altruistic moves. We only need to perform a correction of it afterwards.