A Hidden World that Exists Above Our Own

The Wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us that the whole of reality is a single system where we can learn how to connect to the Creator, to become like Him.

To allow us to perform the entire process, the Creator created a communication system between Him and us. Through it He leads us from above, and through it we can ask from below and receive His assistance.

This system is divided into several parts:

1. Its top is the world of Ein Sof [Infinity], where the Creator’s power is out in the open.

2. Below it is the world of Adam Kadmon [Primordial Man], where the Creator divides His bestowal into five types, according the level of our egos.

3. Below Adam Kadmon is the world of Atzilut [Emanation], which is a system of guidance and governance that divides into five parts: Keter [crown], Hochma [Wisdom], Bina [Understanding], Zeir Anpin [Small Face], and Malchut [Kingship]. They are also called Atik [Ancient], Arich Anpin [Long Face], Aba and Ima [Father and Mother], Dechar [male] and Nukva [female].

• The Zohar refers to Atik and Arich Anpin as the “hidden head” or Atzilut.

• Aba and Ima are those from whom all the lights come to us.

• These lights traverse Zeir Anpin and reach the Nukva, Malchut of Atzilut, who is called “Divinity,” since all the light that is intended for the souls comes from her, from Divinity. Malchut is also called “the Assembly of Israel” because she assembles within her all the souls that wish to reach Yashar El [straight to god], meaning rise to the world of Ein Sof.

4. Below the world of Atzilut are the worlds Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya (BYA), where our souls exist.

5. Finally, there is this world.

Working in Our World to Attain the Spiritual World

These worlds do not exist in any physical place. Rather, they are as qualities that have no place, volume, or weight.

A person who still resides in the inborn egoistic desires is regarded as being in this world, in terms of one’s qualities. If the point in the heart awakens and one begins to wish to grow in spirituality, if one aspires for a higher dimension, it is considered being in the worlds BYA, in one’s qualities.

Working on oneself in a group that studies the wisdom of Kabbalah, one begins to evoke the light that reforms from the degree of Ein Sof, through all the worlds. That light creates a desire to reach Malchut of Atzilut along with one’s group. When one is included in Malchut of Atzilut, one evokes the desire to feel Him, to give back to Him, in return for the Creator’s giving.

This general will of the souls rises from Malchut to Zeir Anpin of Atzilut. Zeir Anpin raises that will to Aba and Ima of Atzilut, and from there it rises further through Ein Sof. Then, light pours down from Ein Sof through the entire system down to Aba and Ima, from them to Zeir Anpin, and from there to Malchut, and the souls in Malchut receive the filling.

When the souls receive the filling, they grow and unite with Zeir Anpin. This is called “the unification of Divinity with the Creator,” or “the unification of the souls with the Creator.”

How Giving Relates to Spiritual Progress

It requires many such operations before all the desires in the souls realize themselves. When all the desires are corrected and aim to give to the Creator as the Creator gives to them, the end of correction will arrive.

What causes this process? The Creator has an inherent desire to give. Hence, there is no need to ask Him to give abundance and pleasure, as we normally do. The Creator has what to give, as well as an infinite desire to give it, but He wants us to not merely be receivers, inferior to Him, but for us to be like Him— great, independent, giving—similar in qualities to the creator.

We are accustomed to asking for fulfillment. Instead, we should be asking for correction. When we acquire the correction, meaning become givers ourselves, we will immediately begin to feel all the abundance of the Creator and be filled with it. In other words, our problem is that we don’t understand what to ask of the Creator. We are in an ocean of bounty, goodness, and delight, but we lack the proper receptacle in which to sense it. That Kli [vessel] is the quality of love and giving, and this is what we should ask of the Creator to give us. The more we have of this quality, the more we will feel the abundance that fills us.

On the Creator’s part there is only one limitation on our reception of abundance—we should be like Him. He wishes for us to enjoy as much as He enjoys.

The Gradual Process of Acquiring a Desire for Spiritual Fulfillments

What does that mean? Let us assume that I come to visit a respectable personality. The host serves me all kinds of delicacies, invites me to play golf with him, listen to classical music … but alas, I am an uncultured person. I have no interest in any of these offerings. I never experienced these sophisticated delights and I have no desire for them. I look at the host, bewildered, and say, “What do you want from me? I didn’t come to you to enjoy what you like. I came to enjoy what I like!”

And the host replies, “My friend, I wish to give you pleasures beyond your imagination. Make a little effort, get used to them and believe me, you will see the beauty in them. You will feel that they are giving you much greater pleasure than you are feeling now.”

What should I do? I can go along with the host and try to learn those new pleasures, although I have no desire for them, and then I will indeed gradually begin to experience a very special pleasure in them, a real taste of heaven. I can also tell the host, “You know what? It’s too hard for me to get used to these new things. I can’t, so let’s drop it. I’m going back to my simple life.” “Fine, go back,” he’ll reply.

But when I return to my old life, I now feel that it’s not such a bargain after all. And then I remember those words of the host about those other pleasures, the superior ones, and I return to him after all.

And perhaps I will go back to my old life once more, and then again to him several times. But in the end, I will understand that I have no choice but to return to the host to change my taste into his, because I already know that in them I will feel the taste of life.

“Unveiling the Way to Receive Spiritual Pleasures” is based on the book, Unlocking the Zohar by Dr. Michael Laitman.