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PRIN ACŢIUNILE TALE TE CUNOAŞTEM
4.01 Baal HaSulam,
“The Meaning of Conception and Birth”
Our entire development in creation is but emulation of it. All the flavors and beauty of colors that we innovate and devise are but emulation of the tasteful colors that we find in flowers. And so is a carpenter; from where does he know about making a four-legged table, if not by emulating the work of the Creator, who has made creations that stand on four legs? Or, from where would he know about combining two pieces of wood if not by emulating the organs of the body, which are joined together, so he went and built in the wood accordingly?
People observe and study the reality set before us in perfect reason and beauty. Afterward, when they understand it, they emulate it and do likewise. Subsequently, that example becomes a basis for another example, until man has created a handsome world full of inventions.
By looking at creation, planes were built with wings like birds. A radio was built to receive sound waves like the ears. In short, all of our successes are presented before us in creation and in reality as is, and all we need is to emulate it, and do.
4.02 Baal HaSulam,
“Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Items 6-7
But in the Creator, there is no thought or perception whatsoever, and we cannot utter or say any- thing with regard to Him. But since we know You by Your actions, we should discern that He is a desire to bestow, since He created everything in order to delight His creatures and bestow His abundance upon us.
Thus, the souls are in oppositeness of form from Him, since He is all bestowal and has no will to receive anything, while the souls were imprinted with a will to receive for themselves. And we have already said that there is no greater oppositeness of form than this.
It follows that had the souls remained with the will to receive, they would forever remain sepa- rated from Him.
Now you will understand what is written (The Tree of Life, Branch 1), that the reason for the creation of the worlds was that He must be complete in all His actions and powers, and if He did not carry out His actions and powers in practice, He would seemingly not be considered whole. This seems perplexing, for how can incomplete actions emerge from a complete operator, to the extent that they would need correction?
From what has been explained, you can see that the essence of creation is only the will to receive. On one hand, it is very deficient since it is opposite in form from the Emanator, which is separation from Him, but on the other hand, this is the entire innovation and the existence from absence that He created, by which to receive from Him what He planned to delight them and bestow upon them.
Yet, had they remained separated from the Emanator, He would seemingly be incomplete, for in the end, complete operations must stem from the complete Operator.
For this reason, He restricted His light and created the worlds restriction after restriction down to this world, and clothed the soul in a worldly body. And through the practice of Torah and Mitzvot, the soul obtains the perfection it lacked prior to creation—the equivalence of form with Him. Thus, it will be fit to receive all the abundance and pleasure included in the thought of creation, and will also be in complete Dvekut [adhesion] with Him, in equivalence of form.
4.03 Baal HaSulam,
“The Meaning of Conception and Birth”
All the flavor and contentment of the Creator who wanted to enjoy His work, meaning to fashion cre- ations that can add, delight, and create like Him, but has no wish whatsoever to cook our food which is on the stove for us without our awareness, since we can do this by ourselves.
This is similar to a teacher and a student where the whole intention of the teacher is to give the student the strength to be like him, and to teach other students, like him. Likewise, the Creator is pleased when His creations create and innovate like Him. Yet, our whole power to innovate and develop is not real innovation. Rather, it is a type of emulation. And the more the emulation matches the work of nature, to that extent is our level of development measured.
From this we know that we have the power to correct ourselves, the existence of reality, like nature’s pleasant example of reality. The proof of this is that had the Creator not worked His full Providence in that discernment, too, for “Is the Lord’s hand short?” Rather, it is necessary that in this place, which is our own correction, we are able to correct ourselves.
4.04 Baal HaSulam,
“A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
How right our sages were when they interpreted the verse, “and to adhere to Him,” as Dvekut with His qualities—”As He is merciful, so you are merciful; as He is compassionate, so you are compassionate.” They did not deflect the text from the literal meaning. Quite the contrary, they interpreted the text precisely according to its literal meaning, since spiritual Dvekut can only be depicted as equivalence of form. Hence, by equalizing our form with the form of His qualities, we become attached to Him. This is why they said, “as He is merciful.” In other words, all His actions are to bestow and benefit others, and not at all for His own benefit, since He has no deficiencies that require complementing. And also, He has no one from whom to receive. Similarly, all your actions will be to bestow and to benefit others. Thus, you will equalize your form with the form of the qualities of the Creator, and this is spiritual Dvekut.
There is a discernment of “mind” and a discernment of “heart” in the above-mentioned equiv- alence of form. The engagement in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow contentment upon one’s Maker is equivalence of form in the mind. This is because the Creator does not think of Himself—whether He exists or whether He watches over His creations, and other such doubts. Similarly, one who wishes to achieve equivalence of form must not think of these things, as well, when it is clear to him that the Creator does not think of them, since there is no greater disparity of form than that. Hence, anyone who thinks of such matters is certainly separated from Him and will never achieve equivalence of form.
This is what our sages said, “Let all your actions be for the sake of the Creator,” that is, Dvekut with the Creator. Do not do anything that does not yield this goal of Dvekut. This means that all your actions will be to bestow and to benefit your fellow person. At that time, you will achieve equivalence of form with the Creator—as all His actions are to bestow and to benefit others, so you, all your actions will be only to bestow and to benefit others. This is the complete Dvekut.
4.05 RABASH,
Letter No. 76
“If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to do them.” The holy Zohar asks, “Since he already said, ‘walk’ and ‘keep,’ why also ‘do’?” It replies, “One who does the Mitzvot [commandments] of the Torah and walks in His ways, it is as though he has made Him above. The Creator said, ‘as though he had made Me.’ This is the meaning of ‘to do them,’ as though you have made Me” (Behukotai, Item 18).
We should understand what it means that one who walks in the way of the Creator makes the Creator. How can one think such a thing?
It is known that “The whole earth is full of His glory.” This is what every person should believe, as it is written, “I fill the heaven and the earth.” However, the Creator has made a concealment so that we cannot see Him so as to have room for choice, and then there is room for faith—to believe that the Creator “fills all the worlds and encompasses all the worlds.” And after a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot and keeps the commandment of choice, the Creator reveals Himself to him, and then he sees that the Creator is the ruler of the world.
Thus, at that time a person makes the king who will rule over him. That is, a person feels that the Creator is the ruler of the world, and this is regarded as a person making the Creator king over him. As long as one has not come to such a feeling, the Creator’s kingship is concealed. This is why we say, “On that day, the Lord will be one and His name, ‘One.’” That is, the glory of His kingship will appear over us.
This is the whole correction we must do in this world, and by that we extend abundance in the world, for all the bestowals from above are drawn by engaging in Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to extend His kingship on us.
4.06 RABASH,
Article No. 645, “By Your Actions, We Know You”
The known rule, “By Your actions, we know You.” It was interpreted that through the actions, we know His thoughts. Since the righteous of the world were rewarded with all the delight and pleasure, by this act they concluded that such was His intention: It is to do good to His creations.
It therefore follows that everything we say is only from the place where there is a connection between the Creator and the created beings, where the act is already apparent in the created beings, as in the verse, “You have made them all with wisdom.” That is, we are speaking only from the perspective of actions, as it is written in the Poem of Unification, “By Your actions, we know You.” However, we have no utterance or a word to speak of the Creator without His created beings, as was said, “There is no thought or perception of Him whatsoever.”
Accordingly, why should we not ask why we say that Creation does not add anything to Him, so why did He create it if it does not add anything, since this question is asking whether the Creator had a need for Creation before He created it? It follows that we want to speak of Him prior to creation, meaning before there was a connection between the Creator and the created beings, and we said above that prior to this connection, “there is no thought or perception whatsoever.”
However, we see that this was His intention. The proof of this is that He gives us abundance when we are ready to receive the King’s gift, and there will not be any flaw in the gift, meaning when the bread of shame is not felt in the gift, namely when man’s intention is only for the sake of the Creator. At that time, when one receives from the Giver, it is also with the above-mentioned aim, meaning that he wants to receive the King’s gift because he feels that this is His will, and not for the sake of self-benefit, and then he is rewarded with receiving all the delight and pleasure.
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