Sometimes
Spirituality
Is
Called
“a
Soul”
Article
No.
13,
1984
We
must
understand
why
spirituality
is
sometimes
called
“a
soul”
[Heb:
Neshama],
as
it
is
written,
“Body
and
soul,”
and
sometimes
spirituality
is
called
“soul”
[Heb:
Nefesh],
as
in,
“And
you
shall
love
the
Lord
your
God
with
all
your
heart
and
with
all
your
soul.”
Usually,
when
speaking
of
spirituality,
we
speak
of
its
highest
discernment,
which
is
Neshama,
so
that
one
will
know
that
a
high
degree
has
been
made
ready
for
him,
which
is
Neshama,
to
evoke
in
his
heart
the
desire
to
achieve
it
and
to
think
what
is
the
reason
that
he
has
not
achieved
it
yet.
Then
he
will
come
to
know
that
all
we
need
in
order
to
attain
spirituality
is
equivalence
of
form.
The
body
is
born
with
a
nature
of
self-love,
which
is
disparity
of
form
from
the
Creator,
whom
we
attain
as
only
giving.
Thus,
one
should
cleanse
one’s
body
and
come
to
equivalence
of
form
so
he,
too,
will
want
to
do
things
that
are
only
to
bestow.
By
that,
he
will
be
able
to
reach
this
high
degree
called
Neshama.
This
is
why
we
always
speak
in
terms
of
body
and
Neshama
[soul].
But
when
referring
to
the
order
of
the
work,
following
the
degree
of
the
body
comes
the
degree
of
Nefesh.
This
is
why
the
writing
says,
“And
you
shall
love
the
Lord
your
God
with
all
your
heart
and
with
all
your
soul
[Heb:
Nefesh],”
for
this
is
the
next
degree
after
the
body.
This
is
why
it
says,
“With
all
your
heart,”
and
subsequently,
“With
all
your
soul.”
In
other
words,
one
must
be
willing
to
give
everything
he
has
to
the
Creator.
But
afterwards,
if
he
obtains
a
higher
degree,
meaning
Ruach
[spirit],
and
then
Neshama,
he
should
still
be
willing
to
give
everything
to
the
Creator.
But
the
text
begins
with
the
first
degree
that
comes
after
the
body.
All
that
a
man
has,
he
must
give
to
the
Creator.
This
means
that
he
does
not
do
anything
for
his
own
benefit.
Rather,
everything
is
for
the
sake
of
the
Creator.
This
is
considered
that
all
his
deeds
are
only
to
bestow,
while
he
is
completely
inconsequential.
Rather,
everything
is
for
the
sake
of
the
Creator.
Now
you
can
understand
what
is
written
in
The
Zohar
(Teruma
[Contribution],
p
219,
Item
479
in
the
Sulam
Commentary),
“‘With
all
your
soul.’
He
asks,
‘It
should
have
said,
‘In
your
soul,’
what
is
‘With
all
your
soul?’
Why
does
it
say,
‘With’?’
He
replies
that
it
comes
to
include
Nefesh,
Ruach,
Neshama.
This
is
‘With
all
your
soul,’
where
‘all’
means
what
this
Nefesh
grips.”
From
this,
we
see
that
The
Zohar
interprets
the
“all”
that
the
Torah
adds
to
us
as
coming
to
tell
us
that
Nefesh
and
Ruach
are
included
in
the
Neshama.
However,
it
deliberately
begins
with
Nefesh,
since
after
the
body
comes
the
Nefesh.
But
when
we
speak
of
spirituality
in
general,
we
refer
to
spirituality
as
Neshama,
as
it
is
written,
“And
he
blew
into
his
nostrils
the
Neshama
[“soul”
or
“breath”]
of
life.”
To
obtain
the
degree
of
NRN
[Nefesh-Ruach-Neshama],
we
must
go
by
a
path
of
bestowal
and
try
to
come
out
of
self-love.
This
is
called
“the
path
of
truth,”
meaning
that
by
so
doing,
we
will
achieve
the
quality
of
truth
that
exists
in
His
Providence,
who
behaves
toward
us
with
the
quality
of
benevolence.
This
is
called
“The
Creator’s
seal
is
truth.”
This
means
that
the
objective
of
the
work
of
the
Creator,
meaning
His
work
in
creating
the
worlds—which
is
to
do
good
to
His
creations—is
that
man
must
reach
the
Creator’s
quality
of
truth.
Man
will
know
that
he
has
reached
his
completeness
after
he
has
attained
the
guidance
of
the
Creator
as
benevolent,
whether
he
has
abundance.
But
also,
he
should
see
that
others
have
abundance,
too,
meaning
see
that
everyone
has
complete
abundance.
This
is
presented
in
“Introduction
to
the
Study
of
the
Ten
Sefirot”
(Item
150),
“The
fourth
discernment
of
love,
which
is
unconditional
love,
is
eternal.
This
is
so
because
after
he
has
judged
the
whole
world
favorably,
the
love
is
eternal
and
absolute.
There
cannot
be
covering
and
hiding
in
the
world
because
there,
it
is
a
place
of
complete
disclosure
of
the
face,
as
it
is
written,
‘Your
Teacher
will
no
longer
hide
Himself,
but
your
eyes
will
see
your
Teacher,’
since
he
already
knows
all
of
the
Creator’s
dealings
with
all
the
people
in
the
form
of
true
Providence
that
appears
from
His
name,
‘The
Good
Who
Does
Good
to
the
good
and
to
the
bad.’”
It
therefore
follows
that
if
one
reaches
complete
perfection,
he
attains
his
true
state.
However,
there
are
preliminary
degrees
before
that,
as
it
is
written
in
“Introduction
to
the
Study
of
the
Ten
Sefirot,”
that
the
first
discernment
is
repentance
from
fear.
It
is
written
about
it
(Item
63),
“The
first
degree
of
attainment
of
the
disclosure
of
the
face,
meaning
attainment
and
sensation
of
the
Providence
of
reward
and
punishment
in
a
way
that
He
who
knows
all
mysteries
will
testify
that
he
will
not
turn
back
to
folly,
is
called
‘repentance
from
fear.’
At
that
time,
his
sins
become
mistakes
for
him,
and
he
is
called
‘incomplete
righteous’
or
‘medium.’”
However,
according
to
the
above,
there
is
another
sign
that
one
is
walking
on
the
path
of
truth—the
state
of
negation.
In
other
words,
even
though
he
sees
that
now
he
is
in
a
worse
state,
that
is,
before
he
began
to
walk
on
the
path
of
truth
he
felt
closer
to
Kedusha
[holiness],
whereas
now
that
he’s
begun
to
walk
on
this
path
he
feels
more
remote.
But
according
to
the
known
rule,
“Holiness
is
increased,
not
decreased,”
there
rises
the
question,
“Why
now
that
he
is
walking
on
the
path
of
truth
does
he
feel
that
he
is
regressing
instead
of
progressing,
as
it
should
be
if
he
is
walking
on
the
path
of
truth?
At
the
very
least,
he
should
not
decline
from
his
previous
state.”
The
answer
is
that
there
must
be
absence
before
there
is
presence.
This
means
that
first
there
must
be
a
Kli
[vessel],
which
is
called
“a
lack,”
and
then
there
will
be
room
to
fill
the
lack.
Therefore,
first,
one
must
go
forward
and
bring
himself
closer
to
the
truth
each
time.
In
other
words,
each
time
he
goes
forward,
he
sees
his
situation:
that
he
is
immersed
in
self-love.
And
each
time
he
should
see
more
clearly
that
self-love
is
bad
because
self-love
is
what
hinders
us
from
reaching
the
delight
and
pleasure
that
the
Creator
has
prepared
for
us,
as
this
is
what
separates
us
from
the
Creator.
Accordingly,
we
can
understand
that
what
a
person
thinks—that
he
is
regressing
now
that
he
has
begun
on
the
path
of
truth—he
must
know
that
this
is
not
so.
Rather,
he
is
advancing
toward
the
truth.
Previously,
when
his
work
was
not
based
on
bestowal
and
faith,
he
was
far
from
seeing
the
truth.
But
now
he
must
come
to
feel
the
evil
within
him,
as
it
is
written,
“There
shall
be
no
strange
god
within
you.”
Our
sages
said,
“Who
is
the
strange
God
in
a
man’s
body?
It
is
the
evil
inclination.”
In
other
words,
within
a
person,
the
will
to
receive
is
his
very
evil.
And
then
when
he
has
achieved
the
recognition
of
evil,
he
can
say
that
he
is
going
to
correct
it.
It
turns
out
that
prior
to
attaining
his
evil
to
an
extent
where
he
couldn’t
tolerate
it
any
longer,
there
was
nothing
to
correct.
Thus,
he
has
indeed
gone
a
long
way
forward
in
the
truth,
to
see
his
real
situation.
And
when
a
person
sees
the
evil
in
himself
to
an
extent
that
he
cannot
tolerate
it,
he
begins
to
seek
advice
for
how
to
come
out
of
it.
But
the
only
advice
for
a
man
of
Israel
is
to
turn
to
the
Creator,
so
He
will
open
his
eyes
and
his
heart
and
fill
it
with
sublime
abundance,
as
our
sages
said,
“He
who
comes
to
be
purified
is
aided.”
Then,
when
he
receives
help
from
the
Creator,
all
the
lacks
will
be
filled
with
the
light
of
the
Creator,
and
he
begins
to
rise
on
the
degrees
of
holiness
because
the
need
has
already
been
prepared
within
him
by
coming
to
see
his
true
state.
Hence,
now
there
is
room
to
receive
his
completeness.
And
then
a
person
begins
to
see
how
each
day,
according
to
his
work,
he
rises
ever
upwards.
However,
we
must
always
awaken
what
the
heart
forgets,
what
is
needed
for
the
correction
of
the
heart—Love
of
friends—whose
purpose
is
to
achieve
love
of
others.
This
is
not
a
pleasant
thing
for
the
heart,
which
is
called
“self-love.”
Hence,
when
there
is
a
gathering
of
friends,
we
must
remember
to
bring
up
the
question,
meaning
each
one
should
ask
himself
how
much
we
have
advanced
in
love
of
others,
and
how
much
we
have
done
to
promote
us
in
that
matter.