For Your Pleasure Only
In Chapter 7, we explained that the worlds, from top to bottom, are Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. We also said that each world is made of five interior elements called Partzufim. Now let’s talk about how they’re made and how they work.
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On Course
Don’t let all the names in Kabbalah confuse you; they refer to either bestowal or reception. Creator, Light, Giver, Thought of Creation, Phase Zero, Root, Root Phase, Bina, and others describe the desire to bestow. Creature, Kli, receivers, Phase One, and Malchut are some examples of the desire to receive. There are so many names because of the subtle differences in each. But in the end, they all refer to bestowal or reception.
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Once Phase 4, called Malchut, experienced the bread of shame, its oppositeness from the Creator, it set up a condition before Him: “If you want me to enjoy, give me the ability to do it for your pleasure, not for mine, because I don’t enjoy being an egoist.” So the Creator gave her a Masach, the screen, to resist the entrance of the Light. Then she said to Him: “Thanks, now give me the ability to decide what to receive and what not to receive. I know that I can’t receive anything and still be thinking of your pleasure, so let’s start with little bits and pieces of Light.” He gave her this ability as well.
Malchut began to receive the Light in five primary categories. Just like the visible Light is made of three basic colors—red, green, and blue—Spiritual Light is made of five basic Lights — Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida. Nefesh is the smallest Light, and Yechida is the greatest.
Once Malchut receives the ability to split the Light into five sections, she begins to receive each of them, but only as long as she can do that while thinking of the Creator. Each time she receives a different Light of the five, she builds a special Partzuf to receive it. Thus, she completes her ability to sense the Creator at a certain degree by exploring the five Lights as much as she can without thinking of herself. And because there are five such Lights, each spiritual world contains five Partzufim.
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On Course
Kabbalah ascribes each element in spirituality a gender tag; an element can’t be neutral, but it can “switch” between genders. In general, anything that gives is considered male and anything that receives is considered female. Also, each entity contains male and female elements within it, and uses them according to need. So although everything has its basic gender, it can function as its opposite sex when the need arises.
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Now you also understand why each such phase is called Olam (world), meaning concealment. This is the level to which Malchut can bare to enjoy the Creator’s pleasure without thinking of herself. Naturally, the higher the world, the greater is Malchut’s ability to enjoy the Creator’s Light. This is also the great reward that comes with reaching the world of Ein Sof (No End)—there are no limitations on reception of the Creator’s pleasures.
The Construction Workers
The spiritual worlds have what could be called a teaching mechanism built into them. They can teach you how to direct your desire to give back to the Creator. Although they run on “auto-pilot” meaning they unfold as a necessary cause and effect process, the guiding principle in each of them is “I will not receive unless it’s for the Creator.” When a person enters the spiritual worlds, this is what the spiritual worlds teach him or her: how to think more of the Creator and less of him or herself.
In that sense, the relationship between the worlds and the creature is like a group of construction workers teaching a rookie what to do. They teach each task by demonstrating it. Bit by bit, creatures (we) can begin to “fix up their desires” and transform their reception from the Creator into an act of giving.
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Kabbalearn
Upper Worlds and lower worlds do not relate to positions or places but to the value of desires. Higher desires are simply more altruistic than lower desires, which are more egoistic.
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