To my friend,
I received your letter and enjoyed what you wrote regarding what is explained in the introduction to the Sulam (Ladder commentary), and I will only fill in after you. I will present the above matter as a question: It is written in the writings of the ARI that there is a reality of worlds, and that Zivugim de Hakaa (pl. of Zivug de Hakaa) occur there, as well as Masachim (screens), Hitpashtut (expansion) and Histalkut (departure), Ohr Pnimi, and Ohr Makif. Does this relate to themselves, meaning that this Sefira wants this and another wants that? That is, do they have choice and feeling as do people in this world, or are they still, emotionless, like the world that we are in?
For example, the earth yields fruits and receives energy from the rain, the wind, and the sun. If it lacks some of the energy it must receive, it does not yield and does not impart or produce any products. Then people cannot enjoy it, and could even starve to death if the earth does not yield its produce.
But by man’s plowing, sowing, and harvesting and gathering, it behaves toward people in the same manner—if man serves the earth, the earth serves man.
At the same time, we know, and this is the accepted view, that the earth does not feel or has free choice. Rather, it simply follows the conditions it was given by nature, which the Creator has sealed and imprinted in it, and this is how it works best.
But we call this “still,” meaning that it does not move of its own accord because it has no desire. Likewise, the sun and all the hosts of heaven, all follow nature’s directives and have no choice of their own that you can say that they are expecting reward or punishment. Rather, all their actions result from nation, where however the Creator desires them to work, so they work.
This is also what we should understand concerning the upper worlds. Everything was created only to serve man, where by the help that he receives from our world, where we exist, he also receives help from the upper world in order to achieve the goal for which he was created, namely to be rewarded with Dvekut (adhesion) with the Creator and receive the tower filled with good things that the Creator has contemplated in his favor.
And when one is rewarded with that, it is considered that he has achieved the completeness of the thought of creation, as in, “The Creator desired to dwell in the lower ones,” and “Shechina (Divinity) in the lower ones—a high need,” since this is His will, and man in this world should strive only to do His will—to receive all the delight and pleasure because so is His will.
According to the famous rule, that there is no thought or perception in His essence at all, it follows that everything that appears to the souls on the degrees from world to world is only in the expanding light, meaning to the extent that the Creator wishes to be known—by revealing to them a measure of light from the upper world. This is considered that the upper light spreads to the lower ones, meaning that the lower ones attain Him to the extent that He wanted them to attain His greatness.
The measures of attainment change from time to time because it depends on the ability of the lower ones. Whether great or small—to that extent the light appears. Also, every measure of attainment has its own name because the Sefirot are called “covers.” The cover comes off and the Sefira (sin. for Sefirot) begins to illuminate according to man’s work.
Before the world was created there was no Tzimtzum (restriction). But for the lower ones to be able to receive, there had to be this concealment, and with every measure of work Lishma (for Her sake), the concealment comes off from the light shines accordingly. As the earth yields fruits in this world only after work, there is no disclosure of light without qualification on the part of the lower one.
And if you wish to say, “What are the Sefirot and degrees themselves?” We say that this is unattainable because our attainment is only with respect to His desire to do good to His creations. Therefore, one should attain only that which is related to man’s attainment, meaning a person’s impression from the upper light that appears through the Sefira to the creatures, but not the Sefira itself.
The multiplication of Sefirot is only according to the attainment of the lower ones, depending on their attainment, and each one has a special skill according to one’s labor. Besides that, everything is equal because there are no changes in spirituality. This is why we say about the Sefirot themselves that they are regarded as “there is no thought or perception in Him at all.”
They ascribed a name for each Sefira because all those who attained the light of the Creator through their work wanted all those who follow them to benefit from their discoveries, too. Therefore, they named each and every attainment, so they might understand the intentions and attainments they had attained. This would create a common language between them.
As we learned in the revealed, every innovation that one makes in the Torah, he can pass on to posterity. It is likewise in the upper world—we should accept the innovations that the previous ones had discovered, so they will be able to walk on the path of success and not be stopped midway because he thinks that the state he is in is already perfection. For this reason, we have no attainment in all those names and Partzufim in and of themselves, for it is all spirituality and Godliness, and it is written, “I the Lord did not change.” Instead, everything is with respect to the attaining individual.
This is similar to ten people standing and looking at an airplane flying from afar. To the onlookers, the plane seems like a tiny dot. But some of the people have binoculars that magnify the plane several times in size. However, each of them has a different binoculars—one has a binoculars that magnifies significantly, and for another, it magnifies less. It follows that one sees the plane as four meters long, another says it is three, and yet another says it is only two meters long. They are all reporting what they are actually seeing, but still there are differences between them. Yet, the differences make no change in the plane itself, for all the changes are only in the eyes of the perceivers.
It is likewise in spirituality. All the changes are only according to the measure of qualification of the lower ones. And by that we can understand what is written, that the soul is part of God above. It means that what the soul attains is Godliness, but it can only attain a part. Therefore, although it attains Godliness, because it depends on the qualification of the lower ones, it can only attain a part. However, the part that it attains makes causes no changes in Godliness, just as with the abovementioned plane.
This is why we say that the lower ones can attain only the expanding light, which is the part that the Creator wanted them to attain. For this reason, there is no difference between the expanding light and His essence, except in that one attains only the part that the Creator wanted him to attain, as with the example of the plane.
This will clarify the questions you have asked.
Your friend…