Building the Soul: The Growth and Correction of the Spiritual Vessel

When the Human Desire Is Born

The Rabash speaks about building the vessel, the Kli. He explains that we enter spirituality with only a small deficiency, a small lack, need, or yearning. Until this deficiency appears, we do not yet speak of a "person" in the spiritual sense.

The spiritual person, Adam, begins with the birth of a new desire. The word "Adam" comes from "Adameh," meaning "I will resemble." Adam is one who wants to resemble the Upper One, to resemble the Creator.

Therefore, the beginning of the person is the beginning of a desire for the Creator, a yearning to approach Him, know Him, and become similar to Him.

The Corporeal Human and the Spiritual Human

In our world, we see human bodies that have existed and developed for thousands, hundreds of thousands, or perhaps even millions of years. We will not discuss the historical periods when human beings emerged from caves and gradually developed their way of life. These periods are not important for what we are studying.

Why are they not important?

Because during those times, people did not yet possess desires beyond the ordinary desire to exist, survive, and sustain themselves.

The spiritual development of humanity begins only when a desire beyond corporeal existence appears.

The First Awakening Toward Spirituality

About 5,700 years ago, according to the Hebrew calendar, the birth of Adam took place. At that time, a desire for spirituality began to be conceived within the corporeal human being, the person who lives and walks in this world.

At first, this desire was only a beginning. It was not yet clearly felt or understood.

Only a few individuals possessed this awakening. These individuals, and those who followed them, are called "Adam" because a desire to resemble the Creator had begun to develop within them.

This continued until Abraham. In Abraham, the desire toward Divinity, spirituality, and connection with the Creator was already felt more distinctly and consciously.

The Meaning of a Soul

Among the many people living in the world, only a few felt a desire for spirituality. The spiritual stories speak specifically about these individuals, meaning about the souls that clothed in corporeal bodies.

A soul is called "a part of God above." Therefore, a person in whom this part is revealed feels a desire for the Creator.

When this spiritual point is not yet awakened in a person, the person does not feel a desire for the Creator. According to the historical development described by the Kabbalists, there were initially only a few people in whom this yearning appeared.

Adam and his descendants were few until the time of Abraham.

Abraham and the Beginning of a Method

Beginning with Abraham, the desire for spirituality became more regulated, organized, and systematic.

Abraham discovered within himself that spirituality exists. He was given not only the desire to discover it, but also a method for doing so.

This method explained how to reveal spirituality, discover Divinity, and connect with the Creator.

Through this connection, a person can begin to perceive the whole of creation and rise to another level of existence, above time, death, concealment, and the limited reality that we currently experience as "this world."

Developing the Sixth Sense

From Abraham onward, people began to develop the desire for spirituality systematically. This desire is sometimes called the "sixth sense," an additional capacity through which spiritual reality can be perceived.

Abraham did not want merely to wait for spirituality to be revealed to him from above. He wanted to approach it actively.

The Creator therefore told him, "I will arrange it so that your descendants, your children, will enter Egypt."

Abraham was calmed by this answer. He understood that through entering Egypt, his descendants would acquire something necessary, beneficial, and sufficient for reaching the purpose of creation.

What Is Acquired in Egypt?

What do we acquire in Egypt?

We acquire deficiencies, vessels, needs, and a deep sensation of enslavement within the will to receive.

Everything that is felt in the bondage of Egypt is, in fact, necessary for spiritual development.

The recognition of evil, meaning the recognition of the egoistic nature that controls us, can bring a person toward the end of correction without error.

However, entering and leaving Egypt does not mean that a person must physically travel to Egypt. It refers to an inner process that takes place within the desire.

Egypt as an Inner State

When a person begins to study the method, the desires that arise within that person are called "descendants."

The Creator’s answer to Abraham can therefore be understood as follows:

"You will begin to study My method, and you will see how the desires arising within you bring you into a state called Egypt. Through this state, you will eventually come to redemption, meaning the revelation of spirituality."

A person begins with a very small spiritual deficiency.

Here, the phrase "a person is born" does not necessarily refer to physical birth. A person may be twenty, thirty, or forty years old when the desire for spirituality is born within him.

The birth of this desire is called the birth of the human within us. Everything else within us belongs to the animate level, meaning the ordinary instinctive desire to maintain and enjoy corporeal life.

The Desire Is Both Small and Opposite to Spirituality

When the desire for spirituality is first born, it is very small. In addition, it is opposite to spirituality.

Two developments are therefore required.

First, the desire must become as great, deep, and comprehensive as spirituality itself.

Second, it must acquire the same intention as spirituality, the intention to bestow.

In spirituality, the desire is used in a particular way. Our initial desire is small and egoistic. It is directed toward receiving for ourselves.

This small egoistic desire must first grow into a great egoistic desire. Afterward, its intention must be transformed from receiving for oneself into bestowal.

This corrected use of desire is called spirituality. It is opposite to the egoistic use of desire that characterizes this world.

Why Correction Cannot Be Given Immediately

Suppose a person advances a little and acquires a slightly greater will to receive. The ego grows, and the person wants to absorb, possess, or enjoy more of the world.

What would happen if this increased desire were immediately corrected with an intention to bestow?

The person would feel a certain measure of perfection and would be satisfied with it.

Spirituality is perfection. Therefore, even if a person’s desire grows only slightly, perhaps by ten percent or even twice its previous size, it is still insignificant compared with the full measure of spirituality.

Yet if this small desire were immediately given the intention to bestow, the person would feel eternity, perfection, and spirituality according to that limited desire. As a result, he would no longer want to advance.

That small fulfillment would block his further development.

Therefore, it is impossible to give the desire correction and fulfillment immediately. Even when a person advances slightly and the egoistic desire becomes greater, correction and fulfillment cannot yet be given completely. Otherwise, the person would stop at that degree.

The Need to Descend into Egypt

Instead, a person must descend into Egypt and remain there for "four hundred years."

Four hundred represents a complete degree, corresponding to the four phases of the will to receive.

It indicates the development of the vessel until it reaches its full opposition to Bina.

In the language of spiritual degrees, units are associated with Malchut, tens with Zeir Anpin, and hundreds with Bina.

Four Hundred as a Complete Vessel

The number four hundred expresses the full measure of the vessel.

This is connected with the inversion of Lights and Vessels. According to the Lights, units are in Bina, tens are in Zeir Anpin, and hundreds are in Malchut.

In Malchut, the letters are Kuf, Resh, Shin, and Tav, reaching the value of four hundred. This is called a complete vessel.

Therefore, the Creator told Abraham, "You will go down to Egypt and be in Egypt for four hundred years."

Baal HaSulam writes that Israel were not in Egypt for the people offour hundred years, but for a total of two hundred and ten years.

Because the full measure of the vessel was not completed in Egypt, further exiles were required. The vessel remained incomplete because they left Egypt before the full period had been realized.

The reasons and inner meaning of this process must be studied separately.

First Build the Vessel

The essential principle is that we must first acquire a very great vessel, one whose height, size, capacity, and volume correspond to spirituality.

Only afterward can this vessel be corrected and filled with the revelation of Divinity, spirituality, eternity, and perfection.

The Creator fills this corrected vessel.

This is called the Dweller being present within the Shechina, or the Shechina being present within the souls.

When the vessel is fully corrected and filled, the state is called the end of correction.

Why Spiritual Progress Feels Like Becoming Worse

When we study and begin to advance, we acquire a greater vessel. Our desires, deficiencies, and inner demands become stronger.

As a result, we see ourselves each time as worse, coarser, thicker, and more egoistic.

We feel the opposite of what we expected.

Our goal is to reveal spirituality, but instead we discover how egoistic our qualities are and how opposite we are to spirituality.

This confuses us because we forget that the first stage of the work is to acquire the vessel.

In our feeling, the more we discover that we are opposite to spirituality, the more distant from spirituality we seem to become. The gap appears to grow.

Even when a person repeatedly explains to himself that this revelation is part of the path, it is difficult to accept that feeling worse can actually be progress.

The Feeling of Distance

The sensation that we are opposite to spirituality dominates us.

While studying, we draw the Surrounding Light. This is the Light that reaches us from the state of our soul at the end of correction, where the soul already exists in its complete form.

In our current sensation, however, we experience only the state called "this world."

Through study, the Light from the corrected state shines toward our present condition. As a result, we begin to measure ourselves in relation to that Light.

We do not feel the Surrounding Light directly. Instead, we feel the difference, distance, or gap between our current qualities and its qualities.

The more egoistic we discover ourselves to be, the more distant we feel from the Surrounding Light.

This sensation can dominate a person so strongly that the person falls into despair and asks, "Why is such a path necessary?"

The Purpose Is Unlimited Fulfillment

The answer is connected to the purpose of creation.

The purpose of creation is not simply for a person to become altruistic or to act in order to bestow. The Creator does not need our altruism for His own sake.

From His perspective, we could seemingly remain egoists.

The problem is that an egoistic vessel cannot receive very much.

The Creator’s purpose is to give, and to give endlessly. However, endless giving is impossible when the vessel remains egoistic.

As soon as an egoistic vessel receives pleasure, it becomes satisfied, blocked, and no longer wants more.

When the vessel stops wanting, it also stops growing.

A Kli That Can Grow Without Limit

The vessel must therefore be built so that it can grow continuously, without limitation.

This is called "Ein Sof" - no end - no limitation is placed on the vessel.

It must be capable of receiving more and more pleasure, knowledge, eternity, wholeness, life, and attainment. This is called the light of 'Hochma in Kabbalah.

This is possible only when the vessel continuously acquires additional deficiencies.

A deficiency is not merely an emptiness. It is a desire, need, longing, or capacity for receiving fulfillment.

For the vessel to grow without limit, it must acquire deficiencies from outside itself.

Acquiring the Desires of Others

How can a person acquire deficiencies from outside?

By thinking about another person, I begin to acquire that person’s vessels.

If I feel that something causes another person pain, I want that person to be relieved of the pain.

A new desire is then created within me.

Previously, I did not want anything in relation to that person. Now I want the person to feel good.

By developing this concern, I join the other person’s vessels to my own.

My vessel grows, and I become capable of receiving more abundance in order to pass it to the other.

In this way, I receive in the process of giving, and the vessel continues to expand.

Why the Intention to Bestow Is Necessary

The solution called "in order to bestow" emerges from the Creator’s desire to do good to His creatures.

If the Creator did not desire to give unlimited goodness to the creatures, there would be no need for the nature of bestowal.

But because He wants to do good to His creatures infinitely and without boundaries, the vessel must acquire the intention to bestow.

This intention enables the vessel to acquire more and more deficiencies and therefore to receive more and more fulfillment without becoming blocked.

A Great Desire Is Not Enough

There is an additional problem.

Through study, we expand our vessels and increase our deficiencies. However, there are desires for countless things in the world.

How can we develop a desire for the most perfect goal without becoming trapped in side paths?

A person can spend years pursuing different goals, only to discover that none of them is the true goal. Then the person chooses another direction, searches again, enters another dead end, and once more discovers that it is not the right path.

In this way, a person can become absorbed in temporary pursuits until life is exhausted.

Therefore, it is not enough to have a great deficiency. We also need a particular and precisely directed deficiency.

We must know what we are yearning for.

Determining the Right Direction

How can we establish the correct direction from the beginning of the path?

How can we avoid unnecessary side paths, save time, and accelerate our development?

We must look at the end of the action.

At the end of the process stands our vessel, the soul. It is very great, corrected with the intention to bestow, and filled with the Upper Light.

This Light gives all goodness, pleasure, attainment, perfection, eternity, and wholeness.

In general, this Light is called the Creator.

Keeping the Final State Before Us

How can we direct ourselves precisely from our current state toward the final state?

Wherever I am and whatever state I am in, I must imagine myself as directed toward the final corrected state.

This means that I recognize my present deficiency and ask for it to become great, corrected, and filled with the Creator.

I direct my present deficiency toward the form it will possess at the end of correction.

By doing this, I avoid turning toward goals that are unrelated to the final corrected state.

Directing Every Action Toward Correction

When we study, we draw the Surrounding Light. This Light builds within us the deficiencies, vessels, and foundations needed for advancement.

Therefore, during study and during all our activities, including dissemination and social life, we must think about how to direct our desire correctly.

From the beginning, we should aim not to lose the way.

I direct myself toward acquiring the great desire, reaching the end of correction, and entering unity with the Creator.

When the final state remains before a person as the direction of every action, the person advances quickly and precisely.