Q: What is the correction, and who must be corrected?
A: The desire to enjoy that was created by the Creator is called a “creature,” or the “substance” of creation. However, this desire cannot be fulfilled in its primary form, because as soon as one is filled with pleasure, the joy vanishes. The intent of the Creator from the start was to make the desire complete. However, this only happens when the intent resembles the Creator’s attribute of bestowal by one’s free choice. Because this attribute is not limited in its use by emotions, man can attain perfection and eternity.
Man, the objective of creation, is obliged to transform the will for self-enjoyment into the will to please the Creator. When one acquires this intent, the desire to enjoy becomes equal to the Creator’s desire to give. In conclusion, the creature brings self to perfection by the correct use of its only attribute – the reception of pleasure.
Changing the intent of one’s desire involves several phases:
-
Avoiding using desire in its original form.
-
Isolating from one’s desire to enjoy only those desires worthy, in quantity and quality, to be used to please the Creator.
-
Spiritually coupling with, and discovering, the Creator. (Possible only through the isolation of the desire, with a corrected aim).
The first two corrections are called “circumcision,” and, like all other corrections, are not performed by the creature but by the Creator, meaning a higher spiritual degree than his current one. The creature never has the strength to perform a self-correction. Man’s goal is simply to arrive at the desire to be corrected – to send out a prayer, a plea for correction – and the Upper Degree (the Creator) will perform it.