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What Are the Three Bodies in Man?
36. What Are the Three Bodies in Man?
I heard on Adar 24, March 19, 1944, Jerusalem
Man is made of three bodies:
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the inner body, which is a clothing for the soul of Kedusha [holiness];
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the Klipa [shell] of Noga;
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the serpent’s skin.
In order to save one from the two bodies, so they do not interfere with the Kedusha, and in order for one to be able to use only the inner body, the advice for this is that there is a remedy—to think only about things that concern the inner body.
This means that one’s thought should always remain in the singular authority, meaning that “There is none else besides Him.” Rather, He does and will do all the deeds, and there is no creation in the world that can detach him from the Kedusha.
And because he does not think of those two bodies, they die, since they have no nourishment and nothing to sustain them, since the thoughts we think of them are their provision. This is the meaning of the verse, “In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread.” Prior to the sin of the tree of knowledge, vitality was not dependent on the bread. That is, there was no need to extend light and vitality, but it illuminated.
However, after the sin, when Adam HaRishon clung to the serpent’s body, life became tied to the bread, meaning to nourishment that must always draw anew. And if they are not given nourishment, they die. This became a big correction in order to be saved from those two bodies.
Thus, one must try with all one’s might not to think thoughts that concern them, and perhaps this is what our sages said, “thoughts of transgression are harder than a transgression,” since thoughts are their nourishment. In other words, they receive vitality from the thoughts one thinks for them.
Hence, one must think only of the inner body, for it is a clothing for the soul of Kedusha. That is, one should think thoughts that are after one’s skin. This means that after the body’s skin is called “outside one’s body,” meaning outside one’s own benefit, but only thoughts of benefiting others. This is called “outside one’s skin.”
This is so because after one’s skin, there is no grip for the Klipot [pl. of Klipa], for the Klipot grip only that which is within one’s skin, meaning that which belongs to one’s body, and not outside one’s body, called “outside one’s skin.” This means that they possess anything that is clothed in the body, and they cannot hold anything that is not clothed in the body.
When one persists with thoughts that are after one’s skin, he will be rewarded with what is written, “And after my skin they broke this, and from my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19, 26). “This” is the Shechina [Divinity], and she stands after one’s skin. “Broke” means that it has been corrected to be a pillar “after my skin.” At that time, one is awarded “and from my flesh shall I see God.”
It means that Kedusha comes and clothes the interior of the body specifically when one agrees to work outside one’s skin, meaning without any clothing. The wicked, however, who want to work precisely when there is clothing in the body, called within the skin, they will die without wisdom. This is because then they have no clothing and they are not awarded anything. However, it is specifically the righteous who are rewarded with clothing in the body.