Partie 2 · Observation intérieure 1

Circles and straightness; containing ten chaptersChapter OneExplains the ten Sefirot of circles, and contains six matters:

1. The circles are regarded as GAR.
2. In the Sefirot of circles, the more external is more important. Conversely, in the Sefirot of straightness, the more internal is more important.
3. Two kinds of reception in the vessels: a. Through their internality, b. through their externality.
4. Phase four can be revealed only through the three phases that precede it and cause its revelation.
5. The four phases are like four layers in the walls of a vessel, one on top of the other. The abundance is received in the innermost layer.
6. The coarser the screen, the higher the level of reflected light that it raises. There are five levels.The circles are regarded as GAR.The ARI spoke very little of the ten Sefirot of circles, and even those few words seem filled with contradictions. However, it is impossible to elaborate on them because they are regarded as the first three Sefirot, in which we are forbidden to engage. Nevertheless, the little that the ARI did write should be explained elaborately, enough to accomplish the goal that the ARI had aspired for, meaning as much as is necessary to understand the interconnections in this wisdom.

In the ten Sefirot of circles, all that is outer is more important.At first, let us understand the matters in general. The ARI divides all of reality into two discernments: circles and straightness. This means that all the Partzufim in the five worlds, Adam Kadmon and ABYA, down to this world, contain ten Sefirot of circles and ten Sefirot of straightness. We saw that in the Sefirot of the circles, the more external is better, and the more internal is worse, since the top circle, the closest to Ein Sof, which surrounds and encircles all of reality, is the best among them, and it is called Keter. Within it there is a second circle, called Hochma, which is worse than Keter, down to the innermost sphere, which is this world, the worst of all the circles, which is darkness without light, and is full of filth. Thus, the more internal the circle is, the worse it is, and the more external the circle is, the better it is.

In the ten Sefirot of straightness, the more internal is more important.It is the opposite with the Sefirot of straightness, since in them, the more internal is better. That is because the first and innermost ten Sefirot of straightness are the ten Sefirot of the world of Adam Kadmon. They are called the line that expands from Ein Sof and is extended down to near this world, but does not touch it. Its externality is clothed by the ten Sefirot of straightness of the second world, called the “world of Atzilut,” whose merit is lower than the world of Adam Kadmon. The externality of the world of Atzilut is clothed by the ten Sefirot of straightness of the world of Beria, which is worse than the world of Atzilut, down to the ten Sefirot of straightness of the world of Assiya, the worst of all the worlds, and which clothes the externality of all the worlds. Thus, in the Sefirot of straightness, the more external than the other is worse, and the more internal than the other is better than the other, the opposite of the ten Sefirot of circles. Indeed, a great and profound concept is presented here in this oppositeness between the Sefirot of the circles and the Sefirot of the straightness, and we should understand it thoroughly.

Two kinds of reception in the vessel: A. through its internality, B. through its externality.You already know about the middle point in Ein Sof, where the restriction took place and the light departed from that point and became an empty space (Part One, Chapter One, Item 50). It explains that it is called the “the middle point” to indicate that it does not receive through its internality and Toch [interior], but only through its externality, from its surroundings. It receives the light without any limitation and measuring because one that receives from its externality does not place a limit on the light. As a result, we have two kinds of reception in the vessels: The first kind is receiving in its externality, and the second kind is receiving in its internality. Certainly, this does not refer to a place and an area by which to imagine externality and internality. Thus, we must thoroughly understand with which internality and externality we are engaging here.

The first three phases only cause the appearance of phase four, but they themselves cannot receive; they are like four layers in the wall of the vessel.You already know that the term “spiritual vessel” refers to the desire in the emanated being to receive its abundance from Ein Sof (Questions and Answers on the Meaning of Words, Part one, Item 25). You also know that this desire has four phases, one below the other. In other words, this vessel, meaning the above will to receive, is set in the emanated being and can perform its task only after it gradually passes through the above four phases. The first phase is a very faint desire; phase two is greater than phase one, etc., up to phase four, which is the full measure of the desire required to establish the completion of the vessel. The reason for this has already been explained above (Part One, Chapter One, Item 50). Since the form of this will to receive is absolutely opposite from the will to bestow included in the light of Ein Sof, it cannot appear all at once, but only gradually. It begins from the will to bestow included in the root, called Keter, and then to the coarser, which is a little different from it, which is phase one, and then to the coarser, called phase two, and so on until phase four, which is absolutely different from the form of the light, and which is specifically able to serve as a vessel in the emanated being.Conversely, the will to receive in the previous three phases is not disclosed enough to serve as a vessel for reception. Thus, only phase four is regarded as the vessel for reception of the emanated being, and for this reason, it is called the internality and the Toch of the emanated being. Phase three in the desire is regarded as outside phase four; phase two is outside phase three; and phase one is outside phase two; and the phase of Keter is outside them all. Like the wall of a corporeal vessel that is made of four layers one on top of the other, the abundance received in that vessel is certainly in the fourth, innermost layer. The three external layers that surround it are only there as support for the innermost fourth layer. Here, too, the light is received only in phase four, while the first three phases are exterior to it, and come only because it is impossible for phase four to appear at once, but only by cascading, as we have explained above.

Internality and coarseness are the same; externality and refinement are the same.Now the internality and externality that we must distinguish in every vessel have been thoroughly explained to you. Because there are necessarily four phases in every vessel, the last of which is called the Toch and the internality of that vessel, as it is the prime receiver in the vessel. The phases that precede it in order to reveal the final phase, are regarded as the externality of the vessel. The farther the degree is from the last phase, the more external it is considered to be. You should also know that phase one is more refined than phase two, and phase four is the coarsest. It turns out that internality and coarseness are one and the same, and the reason that phase four is regarded as the one that receives the abundance is only because she is the coarsest. Similarly, externality and refinement are one and the same, because her desire is faint and refined, and closer to the Emanator. For this reason, it is the most external, meaning the farthest from reception, which is Toch and internality.

Closeness to and remoteness from the Emanator are evaluated according to the measure of reception in the emanated being.This is what the ARI wrote about the Sefirot of the circles, that all that the more external is better and closer to the Emanator, since the root phase, called Keter, is the most refined, and closest in form to Ein Sof, meaning close to the Emanator. This is called that she is the most external, meaning the farthest from the Toch and the internality, namely reception. After her comes phase one, which is more internal than Keter, meaning closer than her to reception. Phase two is more internal than her, meaning closer to phase four, which is the phase of reception. Finally, phase four is the actual internality, meaning that the abundance is received in her. For this reason, her form is also the farthest from the Emanator.

In the ten Sefirot of straightness, the degree is measured according to the reflected light that rises from the coarseness in the screen. The greater the coarseness, the greater the reflected light.In the Sefirot of straightness, there is the matter of reflected light that rises from the coupling of the screen with the upper light (Part One, Questions and Answers on the Meaning of Words, the word “screen”). The amount of that reflected light is measured by the measure of coarseness in the screen that makes a coupling with the upper light. The coarsest screen, namely phase four, reveals a full measure of ten Sefirot, up to Keter. If the amount of coarseness in the screen is less by one phase, consisting only of phase three, it only reveals ten Sefirot that have the level of Hochma, and the Keter is missing. If it has only the coarseness of phase two, it reveals only ten Sefirot, where each has the level of Bina, lacking Keter, and lacking Hochma. If the screen has only the coarseness of phase one, it reveals ten Sefirot where each has only the level of Zeir Anpin. If the screen is refined and does not have even the coarseness of phase one, it does not reveal any level, but only the phase of Malchut. The reason for this will be explained below, in Part Three.