Partie 1 · Observation intérieure 6

Chapter SixIt is impossible for the will to receive to appear in any essence, except in four phases, which are the four letters HaVaYaH.Let us elaborate a little on this matter, to fully understand the end that occurred in Malchut. First, we will explain what the Kabbalists have determined and is presented in The Zohar and the Tikkunim, that there is no light, great or small, in the upper worlds or in the lower worlds that is not arranged in the order of the four-letter name HaVaYaH.This goes hand in hand with the law presented in Tree of Life, that there is no light in the worlds that is not clothed in a vessel. I have already explained the difference between His self and the light that is expanded from Him, that it is only due to the desire to enjoy that is contained in His expanding light, being a disparity of form from His self, for He does not have this desire. This defines the expanding light by the name “emanated being” because due to this disparity of form, the light emerges from being the Emanator and becomes an emanated being. It is also explained that the desire to enjoy included in His light is also the measure of the greatness of the light. It is called the “place” of the light, meaning it receives its abundance according to its measure of will to receive and craving, not less and not more.It also explains that this matter of the will to receive is the very innovation that was generated in the creation of the worlds by way of making existence from absence. This is so because this form alone is not included in His self whatsoever, and the Creator has only now created it for the purpose of creation. This is the meaning of “and creates darkness,” since this form is the root of the darkness due to the disparity of form in it. For this reason, it is darker than the light that is expanded within her and because of her.Now you understand that any light that is expanded from Him instantly consists of two discernments: The first discernment is the expanding light itself, before the form of “desire to enjoy” is revealed in it. The second discernment is after the form of “desire to enjoy” is revealed in it, at which time it becomes coarser and somewhat darker due to the acquisition of disparity of form. Thus, the first discernment is the light, and the second discernment is the vessel. For this reason, any expanding light consists of four phases in the impression on the vessel. This is because the form of the will to receive, called “a vessel to the expanding light,” is not completed at once, but by way of operator and operated. There are two discernments in the operator, and two discernments in the operated. They are called “potential” and “actual” in the operator, and “potential” and “actual” in the operated, which make up four discernments.

The will to receive is set in the emanated being only through its awakening to receive of its own accord.Because the vessel is the root of the darkness, as it is opposite from the light, it must be activated slowly, gradually, by way of cause and consequence. This is the meaning of the verse: “The water conceived and gave birth to darkness” (Midrash Rabbah, Shemot, Chapter 22). The darkness is a result of the light itself and is operated by it, as in conception and birth, meaning potential and actual. This means that the will to receive is necessarily included in any expanding light. However, it is not regarded as a disparity of form before this desire is clearly set in the light. The will to receive that is included in the light by the Emanator is not enough for this. Rather, the emanated being itself must independently reveal the will to receive in him, in practice, meaning of his own accord. This means that he must extend abundance through his own will, more than the measure of the light of the expansion in him by the Emanator. After the emanated being is operated by its own accord by increasing the measure of its desire, the yearning and the will to receive become fixed in it, and the light can clothe this vessel permanently.It is true that the light of Ein Sof is seemingly expanded over all four phases, reaching the full measure of the desire by the emanated being itself, namely phase four, since it would not emerge from His self anyhow and acquire a name for itself, meaning Ein Sof. However, in His almightiness, the form did not change at all because of the will to receive, and no change is distinguished there between the light and the place of the light, which is the desire to enjoy; they are one and the same thing. It is written in Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer, “Before the world was created, there was He is one and His name One.”It is indeed difficult to understand this double reference “He” and “His name.” What has His name got to do there before the world was created? It should have said, “Before the world was created, He was one.” However, this refers to the light of Ein Sof, which precedes the restriction. Even though there is a place there and a will to receive the abundance from His self, it is still without change and distinction between the light and the “place.” “He is one” means the light of Ein Sof. “His name is One” means the desire to enjoy included there without any change at all. Understand what our sages implied, that “His name” is desire in Gematria, meaning the “desire to enjoy.”

All the worlds in the thought of creation, called “the light of Ein Sof,” and what contains the receivers there, is called “Malchut of Ein Sof.”It has already been explained regarding “The end of the work is in the preliminary thought,” that it is the thought of creation, which expanded from His self in order to delight His creations. We have learned that in Him, the thought and the light are one and the same thing. It therefore follows that the light of Ein Sof that expanded from His self contains the whole of reality before us through the end of the future correction, which is the end of the work. In Him, all the creations are already complete with all their perfection and joy that He wished to bestow upon them. This reality, which is complete sufficiently, is called “the light of Ein Sof,” and that which contains them is called Malchut of Ein Sof.