Kelim are the building blocks of the soul. The desires are the building materials, the bricks and the wood; our intentions are our tools, our screwdrivers, drills, and hammers.
But as with building a house, we need to read the blueprint before we can begin the work. Unfortunately, the Creator, or Architect of the blueprint is reluctant to give it to us. Instead, he wants us to study and execute the Master Plan of our souls independently. Only in this way can we ever really understand His Thought and become like Him.
To learn who He is, we must attentively watch what He does and come to understand Him through His actions. Kabbalists phrase it very succinctly: “By Your actions, we know You.”
Our desires, the souls’ raw materials, already exist. He gave them to us, and we just have to learn how to use them correctly and place the right intentions on them. Then, our souls will be corrected.
But as we have said before, the right intentions are altruistic intentions. In other words, we need to want our desires to be used to benefit others, not ourselves. By doing so, we will actually be benefiting ourselves, since we are all parts of the soul of Adam ha Rishon. Whether we like it or not, harming others comes back to us like a boomerang returns to its thrower, and just as forcefully.
Let’s recap for a moment. A corrected Kli is a desire used with altruistic intentions. And conversely, a corrupted Kli is a desire used with egoistic intentions. By using a Kli altruistically, we use a desire in the same way the Creator does, and thus equalize with Him, at least concerning that specific desire. This is how we study His Thought.
Our only problem is to change the intentions with which we use our desires. But for that to happen we must see at least one other way of using them. We need an example of what other intentions look or feel like so we can decide whether we want them or not. When we see no other way of using our desires, we’re trapped in the ones we already have. In that state, how can we find other intentions? Is this a trap or are we missing something? The next section will answer that.