In “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Baal HaSulam explains that the worlds ABYA are all very similar to one another: “Kabbalists have found that the form of the four worlds, named Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya, beginning with the first, highest world, called Atzilut, and ending in this corporeal, tangible world, called Assiya, is exactly the same... This means that everything that eventuates and occurs in the first world is found unchanged in the next world, below it, too. It is likewise in all the worlds that follow it, down to this tangible world.
“There is no difference between them, but only a different degree, perceived in the substance of the elements of reality in each world. The substance of the elements of reality in the first, Uppermost world, is purer [more giving], than in all the ones below it, and the substance of the elements of reality in the second world is coarser [more receiving] than in that of the first world, but purer than all that is of a lower degree.
“This continues similarly down to this world before us, whose substance of the elements in reality is coarser and darker than in all the worlds preceding it [most receiving, to the point of egoism]. However, the shapes and the elements of reality and all their occurrences come unchanged and equal in every world, both in quantity and quality.” [60]
Therefore, although Kabbalah speaks of desires, not of physical objects, because all worlds are practically identical, Kabbalists often use names of objects or processes from the physical world to explain spiritual states or processes that occur on the level of desires. Physical examples are much clearer and more tangible. The term Partzuf (face), which we discussed above is one such case. A “sassier” example would be Zivug de Hakaa (coupling by striking), which is a code name for describing the entire process of repelling light (striking) and then receiving (coupling) only the amount of light that can be received in order to bestow.
Accordingly, in his “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Ashlag explains that the name, “still,” was given to the world of Atzilut because it consists of the desire to receive in Stage One, which is completely passive. [61]
The corporeal equivalent of the world of Atzilut is minerals. All minerals strive (wish) to maintain their form. They have no desire to become anything other than what they already are; if you try to change them into something else, you will have to apply energy and manipulation on them because they will resist the change.
In Ashlag’s words, “Phase One of the will to receive, called ‘still,’ …is the initial manifestation of the will to receive in this corporeal world. … But no motion is apparent in its particular items. … And since there is only a small will to receive… its power over the particular items [minerals] is indistinguishable.” [62]
Beria received the name, “vegetative,” since it is the beginning of an independent desire. As might be expected, the material manifestation of this desire is plants. Plants grow, blossom, and shrivel, and each plant is a distinct entity, as opposed to the aggregate of molecules that forms minerals. Yet, plants have no free choice in their movements. When plants of a certain kind grow in close proximity, they will all behave in exactly the same way. For example, the head of a sunflower plant will always turn toward the sun (Image no. 1), and all wheat stalks turn yellow when harvest time approaches.
Image no. 1: the head of a sunflower plant will always turn toward the sun.
Yetzira was named, “animate,” and corresponds to Stage Three of the desire to receive. In Yetzira, Creation enjoys a substantial measure of “freedom and individuality …a unique life for each item,” writes Ashlag in the above-mentioned introduction. Yet, in Yetzira, he explains, “the desire still lacks the sensation of others, meaning there is no preparation to participate in others’ pains or joys.” [63]
Assiya was named “speaking” or “human,” as it reflects the complete and most complex form of the desire to receive. At the human level, and Ashlag explains that this is a fundamental difference between the speaking and the animate levels, the will to receive includes the sensation of others [64]: “The will to receive in the animate, which lacks the sensation of others, can only generate needs and desires to the extent that they are imprinted in that creature alone. But the human, who can feel others, too, becomes needy of everything that others have, and is thus filled with envy to acquire everything that others have.” For this reason, “when one has a hundred, he wishes to have two hundred, and so his needs forever multiply until he wishes to devour all that there is in the entire world.” [65]
To truly understand the difference between the human level of desires and all other levels, consider the following experiment: Offer a dog a new touch-screen smartphone instead of its favorite dog food and see which of them it chooses. Afterwards, replace the dog food with human food and leave in the smartphone. Then, try the same experiment with a person.