395. The Quality of “Still” and the Quality of “Vegetative”
March 1979
It is known that there is the quality of “general” and the quality of “particular.” The general public in Israel are called “still.” This is regarded as a “beast,” which is the quality of Nefesh, from the word Nefisha [stillness/rest], which has only general movement, and each species has its own unique quality for everyone.
Conversely, the quality of “vegetative” has its own personal movement. This is called “man,” “for man is a tree of the field.” In the vegetative, there is always renewal, which constantly grows.
In the “still,” it is not apparent how it grows. This is called “general movement,” where in general there is growth in the “still.” Hence, the general public are always generally fine.
Conversely, in the individual, those who belong to the quality “man is a tree of the field,” there must always be renewals, meaning growth. They constantly grow because this is the manner of the manifestation of the upper abundance, as in “The Son of David [Messiah] does not come before all the souls in the body have been consumed” (Yevamot 62a).
Hence, there is no renewal of light that does not extend from Ein Sof [infinity/no end], since in this manner the abundance expands one at a time. For this reason, when one constantly renews his work, he is always in a state of “walking.” If he remains in his degree, he is brought down from above, and then he becomes “descending.”
This is so in order for him to need to ascend once more to a new degree, since each time he rises back up, it does not mean that he ascends to his previous degree, but it is always a new state. It follows that either he ascends or descends, but “standing” does not pertain to the quality of man.
Conversely, people who belong to the quality of “still of Kedusha [holiness],” are regarded as “standing,” meaning they do not need to fall from their degree. Rather, they are in the quality of “still,” having only collective motion and not individual motion as in the vegetative.