Photo:Pastel by Moyan Brenn @ flickr.com/photos/aigle_dore/

Wishing only to Please the Creator

The true goal of creation is for the Creator to give pleasures to His created beings. For this purpose, the creatures are endowed with the desire to receive pleasure. In order for the creations not to experience feelings of shame when they receive pleasure, which would spoil the pleasure itself, the creations are given the opportunity to correct the feelings of shame.

This can be achieved if the created beings wish to receive nothing for themselves, but wish only to please the Creator. Only then will they not feel shame at receiving pleasure, since they will receive it for the sake of the Creator, rather than for their own gratification.

Becoming Similar to the Creator through Actions

But what can be given to the Creator that would give Him pleasure? For this, the Creator gave us Kabbalah and the spiritual laws, so that we could observe them “for His sake.” Then He can send us pleasures we can receive, that will not be diminished by feelings of shame and the insinuations of charity.

If we behave according to the spiritual laws, i.e. for the sake of the Creator, we are similar to the Creator in our actions, which are aimed at giving us pleasure. As our desires, acts, and qualities gain greater resemblance to those of the Creator, we and the Creator advance closer to one another. The Creator desires that we should give to Him, as He gives to us, in order for our pleasures not to be overshadowed by shame, and not to be seen as charity.

Correcting Evil (Egoism) by Observing Spiritual Laws

The spiritual desire—a desire that possesses all the conditions necessary to receive the Light determines the magnitude and type of pleasure that is received, because the Light of the Creator includes everything in itself, each one of our desires to be gratified by something. It isolates from the entire Light that which we desire.

The Creator prescribes precisely 613 commandments for the correction of the evil (in us) into the good (for us), because He created our desire for gratification from precisely 613 parts, and each commandment corrects a certain part or quality. For this reason it says, “I created the evil, and the Torah for its correction.”

Once Corrected, Spiritual Pleasures Can Be Received

But what is the purpose of observing the Torah (the spiritual laws) after the correction of evil? The spiritual laws are given to us:

1. When we are still under the enslavement of our own nature and are unable to act for the sake of the Creator, because we remain distant from the Creator, due to the disparity in qualities. The 613 spiritual laws allow us to have the strength to depart from egoism.

2. At the end of the correction, when we are in a state of unity with the Creator due to the congruence of qualities and desires, we then become worthy of the Light of the Torah: 613 spiritual laws become a part of our spiritual body; they become the vessel of our soul, and into each of the 613 desires, we receive the Light of Pleasure.

As we see, at this stage, spiritual laws transform from the means of correction to the “place” of receiving pleasure (the vessel, Kli).

“How to Become Worthy of Receiving Spiritual Pleasures” is based on the book, Attaining the Worlds Beyond by Dr. Michael Laitman.