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Ramchal

Agra

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Baal HaSulam / All the Worlds

244. All the Worlds

I heard on the 12th of Adar, February 17, 1943, Tel-Aviv

All the worlds in which we discern many degrees and covers are all from the perspective of the souls, who are the receivers from the worlds. According to this, we will understand the rule, “Everything that we do not attain, we do not know by name,” for a name indicates attainment. This means that all the names, the Sefirot, and the numbers, are all from the perspective of the receivers.

Therefore, we have three discernments:

1) Atzmuto [His Self], of which we do not speak at all because the place where we begin to speak is from the thought of creation, where we are included in potential, as in “The end of the act is in the preliminary thought.”

2) The thought of creation. We call this Ein Sof [infinity], and it is the connection between Atzmuto and the souls. We understand this connection as a desire to do good to His creations, and besides this connection of a desire to do good, we have no utterance. Therefore, there is no perception or attainment.

Because all the discernments in the world are only from the perspective of the souls, it follows that we have no attainment of the worlds in and of themselves. Therefore, they, too, are regarded as Atzmut and there is no attainment in them whatsoever. With regard to the souls, which receive from the worlds, the worlds are regarded as Ein Sof.

The reason is that this connection between the worlds and the souls is what the worlds impart upon the souls. This extends from His desire to do good to His creations, which is the correlation between Atzmuto and the created being, and this connection is called Ein Sof. That is, when we begin to speak of the upper light, it speaks of two discernments together, the attaining and the attained, meaning how the attaining is impressed by the attained

However, individually, they do not come under the name Ein Sof. Rather, the attained is called Atzmuto and the attaining is called “souls,” which is an initiated discernment that is a part of the whole with regard to the desire to receive called “existence from absence” that was imprinted in the souls. (And the Creator created such a reality that we would feel this way.)

It therefore follows that with regard to themselves, all the worlds are regarded as simple unity, and there is no change in Godliness, as in “I the Lord did not change.” In godliness, there are no Sefirot or Behinot [discernments], and even the finest words are absent in them, themselves, as everything is regarded as Atzmuto. Rather, all the Sefirot and discernments come with the person who attains the upper light, since the Creator wanted us to attain and understand the abundance as “His desire to do good to His creations,” and He has given us these senses.

This means that according to how our senses are impressed by the upper light, to that extent we receive many discernments. Our overall sense is called “will to receive,” and to the extent of the reception we discern many parts and details, ascents and descents, expansions and departures since the will to receive is already called a “creature” and an initiated discernment existence from absence.

For this reason, precisely from a place where the will to receive begins to be impressed, the utterance of the parts begins, to the extent of the impression. All this is already called a “correlation between the upper light and the will to receive,” and this is called “light and Kli [vessel].” Conversely, there is no utterance in the light without a Kli since light without someone who attains, called a Kli, is still regarded as Atzmuto, of which speaking is forbidden because He is unattainable, and where there is no attainment, how can we speak of something that we do not attain?

It follows that what we call “light and Kli” in spirituality, while they are only in potential, it is called Ein Sof prior to the Tzimtzum [restriction] of the world, which is regarded as the root, meaning that the potential will yield the actual. There are many worlds and discernments that begin from the Tzimtzum through the world of Assiya where everything is included in potential, and one who attains, attains them so in practice, for in the attaining, these many details are determined in actual fact.

From this we will understand why we say that the Creator will help us, or that the Creator will send us healing or salvation, or that the Creator has given us a gift; Lord, send me good business, and so forth. There are two discernments about this: 1) the Creator, 2) something that extends from him.

The first is regarded as Atzmuto, in which utterance is forbidden since we do not attain Him.

The second is the discernment that extends from Him. This is regarded as the expanding light which enters our Kelim, meaning our will to receive. This is regarded as Ein Sof, meaning the connection that the Creator has with the lower man, whom the Creator wants to delight. The desire to enjoy is regarded as the light that expands from Him, which finally comes to the will to receive, meaning that the will to receive receives the expanding light.

It follows that the expanding light is called Ein Sof, and that expanding light comes to the lower one through many covers by which the lower ones can receive them. This means that all the discernments and the changes were made specifically in the receiver to the extent that he is impressed by the salvation, and all the many names and discernments in the world are according to the impressions of the lower ones. At that time, many discernments are made in potential, from which the lower one will be impressed in practice.

In other words, the attaining and the attained come together, for without one who attains there is no form to the attained, for with regard to whom will he acquire the form, with regard to the one who attains? After all, He does not exist in the world, and with regard to the attained Himself and what form they acquire, this is unattainable. Therefore, if we have no attainment in His Self and we cannot depict any senses there, then how can we say that the attained will acquire some form in and of himself if we have no attainment whatsoever in Atzmuto? Thus, we have nothing to speak of but our own senses to the extent that we are impressed by the expanding light.

This is similar to looking at a table. Then, according to our senses, we feel that it is a hard object, through our sense of touch. Also, we can determine length and width, etc., and it is all according to our senses.

However, this does not necessarily mean that the table will appear in the shapes we see to the eyes of someone who has different senses, meaning in the eyes of an angel. Certainly, when he looks at the table, he does not have these forms in the table. Rather, he sees according to his senses. Therefore, we cannot say or determine any form about the table from the perspective of the angel because we do not know the senses of the angel.

It follows that as we have no attainment in Him, we cannot say which form the worlds have from His perspective. We attain in the world only what is attained through our senses and sensations. And this was the will of the Creator, that we will attain in this way in the upper worlds, and this is what it means that there are no changes in the light, but all the changes are in the Kelim, meaning in our senses for everything is measured according to our senses and imagination.

It therefore follows that if many people look at one spiritual thing, each one still attains differently, according to each and every one's imagination and senses. Likewise, in a single person, the spiritual thing will change him according to his states.

Therefore, he himself feels a different form each time, and it is all because the light is simple and formless, and all the shapes are from the perspective of the receivers.