“And the Lord God planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.”

One-on-One with the Creator in the Garden of Eden

What is a “garden?” It is man’s qualities, which, utilized correctly, will provide him with the opportunity to reach the spiritual world. This “garden” was “planted” for the sole purpose of leading us to life’s goal. The garden is “planted” within us by the Creator, which means that we cannot attribute any of our qualities to ourselves.

Try to imagine that the people around you, the entire universe, are all your qualities projected into your consciousness. It only appears to us that something exists on the outside. In fact, as we correct ourselves, we begin to perceive that all of these are our own qualities, which exist within us. People, animals, plants, planets, the entire world, and the entire universe—everything exists within us.

The moment we attain this, we are left one-on-one with the Creator, and we understand that nothing exists but we and the Creator.

In Between the Trees of the Garden

“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

So what is the meaning of, “the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”?

The “tree of life” is the higher part of your soul, the quality of bestowal that draws you. It is that innermost quality that’s close to the Creator, which is why it is written to be “in the midst of the garden,” at the center of all your qualities.

The “tree of knowledge of good and evil” is the lower part of your soul, the quality of reception, your egoistic component.

Here is where the issue of good and evil comes into play. It depends on how you utilize your ego, and this is called the “intention.”

Nourished by the River of Bestowal

“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden.”

What is this river that flows out of Eden to water the garden?

The “river” is the Upper Light, nourishing your quality of bestowal from within, imparting confidence that you can exist without desiring anything for yourself.

How can you claim that you don’t want anything for yourself? You can if you have the opportunity to possess everything.

It is the sensation of security and serenity that is provided by the river (Upper Light) that waters everything.

Avoiding Death by Not Eating from the Tree

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying: ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.’”

You currently exist in an exalted state, for you have finally attained the “human” in you.

All your desires at this stage are in euphoria from attaining the spiritual world. You feel good in this Light, and you wish to continue living and breathing only in this way.

At this moment, it is as if you forget that inside you lurks the ego, that you’re surrounded by egoistic, worldly desires for money, fame, power and knowledge.

Presently, you exist in this “garden” with your qualities of bestowal. Therefore, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.”

However, if you use your egoistic qualities, “…but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat,” the Light will instantly vanish and you will find yourself disconnected from the Creator, the universal Law of Life, from bestowal.

Connecting to the Creator is life; disconnecting from Him is death.

Erecting a Screen to Protect from Temptation

When a “human” is born inside you, you mustn’t rouse the full extent of your ego.

Because you still cannot correct it, you mustn’t use it.

That is, the “human in you” must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, as that would harm him.

It is as if you say to yourself, “No, I will not receive! I won’t be able to resist and instead will take for myself, and all will fall into my egoism. But I want to learn to bestow, like You. So what can I do? I have only one option: I won’t receive anything. I don’t want to take for myself. I want nothing! And so I’m erecting a screen on everything.”

“What Is the Tree of Life, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Garden of Eden in the Bible?” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.

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The Creator wished to make the body of Adam. This is how He worked: To fashion the hands and legs of Adam, the Creator gathered earth from all the corners of the world. For his torso, He took the earth of Babylon. To fashion Adam’s head, the most important part of the human body, He took the earth of Eretz Ysrael (The Land of Israel). The Creator put all the gathered earth atop MountMoriah, where the sacrificial altar shall be in the Temple. He mixed it with water taken from all the oceans of the world, and from the resulting clay He fashioned the body of man.

A Mixture of Receiving and Bestowing Forces

The Midrash isn’t speaking of how the biological human body was made, or about mixing clay and earth with water. Rather, it describes how man includes within him all of the world’s forces. Here is what is written, “To fashion the hands and legs of Adam, the Creator gathered earth from all the corners of the world.” This means that man contains the desires of the whole world. If he corrects them, he will thus correct the whole world.

“He mixed it with water taken from all the oceans of the world, and from the resulting clay he fashioned the body of man.” The “water” in man represents the force of bestowal, the quality of altruism, which animates everything, which is also collected from the whole world.

Thus, both the desire to enjoy and the desire to bestow exist in abundance in man. They are mixed and connected together in man’s every desire. We need only identify the force of bestowal and use it to correct the force of reception, so that bestowal will dominate reception. Then all our desires to enjoy, gathered within us from all the “nations” of the world, will be activated only by the quality of bestowal.

“To fashion the head of Adam, the most important part of the human body, He took the earth of Eretz Ysrael.”

The Creator made man’s “head” out of the “earth” of Israel, out of desires aimed at the Creator. Thus, all of man’s aspirations must be aimed at acquiring the Creator’s qualities. Israel comes from the words Yashar El, which translates as “straight” and to the Creator.

The Creator took the “earth” for man’s “torso” from Babylon, the degree that pertains to the quality of bestowal. It is no accident that Babylon was the setting for a great crisis known as “the Tower of Babel.” The Babylonians wanted to attain Godliness with the help of the forces of reception, and this is impossible. After the people dispersed and realized the futility of their aspirations, they reunited and achieved the degree of the Creator with the help of the forces of bestowal.

Between the Spiritual and the Material

Where was man created? He was created in a special place where the spiritual origin touches the corporeal one, at the point of contact between the two adjacent degrees.

The reality above “MountMoriah” is called the spiritual reality, whereas all that exists below is called “the material world.” The peak of Mount Moriah is a spiritual summit, the highest possible point in this world. It towers over all the material of this world, and the greatest spiritual forces assemble there. It is precisely where man—the “coordinator” between the material and the spiritual dimensions—was created.

“Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” We mustn’t forget that we’re always talking about what’s happening within. You have undergone the phases of development of the still, vegetative, and animate desires, and now you’re no longer fulfilled by all that pertains to them. Now you want another level—the spiritual one!

Seeing the Creator through the Point in the Heart

If you catch yourself thinking this way, it means the point in the heart has awakened within you and is drawing you to the Creator. If you don’t want this incarnation going to waste, follow your point and listen to your inner voice.

You begin to identify with the point in the heart that is drawing you to the Creator. You enjoy being in this state, and you want to acquire spiritual sensations. This is the meaning of “…and man became a living soul.” The human inside you has been born. If you follow this “human,” He will surely lead you into the “land that flows with milk and honey,” and there you will see the Creator.

What does it mean to “see the Creator”? He has many names, but the one that relates to us is Boreh. It consists of two words: Bo (come) and Re’eh (see). In other words, you will see the Creator; no one else can do it for you.

“What Are You Made Of? – According to the Midrash” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.

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The following text is taken from the Midrash on the creation of man: “When the Holy One, blessed be He, came to create Adam, the ministering angels formed themselves into groups and parties, some of them saying, ‘Let him be created,’ whilst others urged, ‘Let him not be created.’”

What is the meaning of this passage, which details the Creator’s “conversation” with the “angels”?

Doubts about Man’s Right to Exist

The Creator is the unified Law of Nature, the Law of Love and bestowal, present within us and all around us.  We don’t perceive Him because we live by completely different laws, but the whole purpose of our lives is to reveal Him.

The “angels” are nature’s (the Creator’s) forces, which obey the Law and are unable to act or think independently.

The story symbolizes as the opposing forces begin to manifest, illustrating human nature, which is wholly egoistic and evil.

Imagine flicking on a flashlight in total darkness. As it illuminates your surroundings, you discover that you’ve been sitting in a cesspool all this time. At first, it may seem as if you would have been better to remain in the dark, but that is not the case. At least now you know the source of the stench, and why you’ve been so miserable. Our task is to clean up the cesspool, to rein in our egoism.

Man Is Born with a Destructive Nature

Man is born an egoist. From the very beginning, he is mired in imbalance and prefers falsehood to truth.

Precisely because man is an egoist, he will have the opportunity to realize this, and then to show mercy. Thanks to his good deeds, starting from the opposite end, he’ll be able to realize what is good, so that afterward he can acquire the quality of bestowal and correct himself.

Man is aggressive, delights in the misery of others, strives to harm others, and longs to hoard more than necessary for his existence. Although he evolved from the animate degree, while the animate degree is in harmony with Nature, man is not!

The lion and the cow take from their environment only what they need for their sustenance, but man does not. Nature dictates this behavior in animals, but not in man. There is not a single quality in man that he uses to achieve peace.

Man is born with a grotesque desire to rule and dominate the whole world to suit his needs, which is contrary to Nature’s quality of bestowal.

We see that the history of humankind is a procession of wars. If man were to grow cognizant of his essence, he would realize that all he thinks of is how to use others for his own benefit.

The whole progress of humankind throughout millennia amounts to the development of weapons of mass destruction. Man sought ways to rule, profit, and use his strengths by elevating himself over others.

Not one of his inclinations is directed toward achieving balance with his environment, which would allow him to give others their due. Instead, man strives to acquire and control everything that belongs to others.

Given the circumstances, man should not be created, for he is opposite to all of Nature.

Man Justifying His Own Creation through Struggle and Free Choice

However, when man uses his powers correctly and achieves correction, he becomes king over Nature and the world, the whole process becomes purposeful, and man becomes equal to the Creator.

The Creator says to the angels, “Nevertheless, I am for creating man, despite his flaws, because I see that through this process he will obtain a spiritual degree. That is what I need from him. He will correct himself. He will rid himself of his ego and come to Me. And when he does, it will be of his own accord, not as a slave to My Light. This is very important.”

Thus, the Creator doesn’t mind the initial state of Creation and all the states we go through. He already sees us in the final state, which is the reason for our existence.

The struggle described in the Midrash is ever-present within man. With every step, at every moment in life, man works to establish this balance, and thereby brings balance to the whole world. He cannot stand still, for every state compels him to act, and he chooses his path with each step. Every second, man must connect to the goal of Creation, scrutinizing why the Creator had chosen to make him, despite all the forces and qualities that opposed his creation. Indeed, the goal of man’s work lies in justifying his own creation.

“What Is the Meaning of the Angels’ Argument Over Whether Man Should or Shouldn’t Be Created?” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.

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By correcting one’s inherently egoistic qualities to bestowing ones with the help of the Screen, one attains more and more names of the Creator, becomes capable of seeing reality in an increasingly perfect way, gradually revealing its source.

Receiving the Anti-Egoistic Filter through the Right Request

The Screen is the force of resistance against egoistic desires. If you acquire this force, you are in perfect shape, headed straight for the Creator. Here I must add that you cannot build the screen by yourself. Rather, it must be obtained by persistently demanding it of the Creator, which is the Upper Degree. The Upper Degree in the spiritual world is the degree directly above your current degree. This degree is the Creator for you.

At each subsequent degree, you will know the Creator better, meaning you will be revealing more and more of His names until you reach the complete revelation of the Maker.

So, when do you acquire a screen? When the Upper Degree feels that you’re prepared to do anything to get it. The plea must come from the bottom of the heart: “Give me strength to bestow like You… Help me correct myself, I beg You.” If your plea is sincere, you will receive the screen

Gradual Self-Correction in the Creator’s Clinic

That is, you must “correct” the egoistic desire with the intention to bestow. Every day, it is as if you place your “I” in the Creator’s “clinic” and ask for the cure—the screen that will enable you to open your eyes and see the true picture of reality. In this clinic, you are given additional egoistic desires with which you must begin to work and feel, to check your attitude toward them, realize how powerful they are, and only then to ask for the screen—the force that can protect you from falling from this degree.

The goal is clear—to correct your ego, which is supplied to you in portions as you ascend upward and mature. Thus, you gradually move from degree to degree. Once you’ve dealt with one portion of egoism, you are given an opportunity to ascend, to draw closer to the next batch of egoistic desires. And then you begin to work with them, correcting your intention from egoistic to altruistic, so you can say, “I receive and in so doing I am giving You delight.” Every degree contains its own work, its own screen, a new name of the Creator.

“How to Attain the Names of the Creator” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.

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On the seventh day of Creation, after a step-by-step examination of one’s own egoistic qualities compared to the Creator’s bestowal, the person reaches the opportunity to bestow like the Creator.

The Self-Scrutiny during the First Six Days of Creation

All of man’s work, the reason for his existence, amounts to acquiring the qualities of the Creator, which are the qualities of bestowal. Man corrects himself through these qualities, and in the process of the correction he ascends along the spiritual ladder toward infinity and perfection, growing closer and closer to the Creator.

What were we doing over the course of the previous six days, the six degrees of correction? We were looking at our egoistic desires through the prism of the quality of bestowal. At every degree we compared ourselves to the Creator and saw that we still had a lot of work to do. In so doing, we seemingly delved into our “I.”

Working Towards Similarity with the Creator

A Kabbalist is someone who is connected to the spiritual world, who feels this connection very clearly.

His objective is to build himself similar to the Creator. He thinks of only one thing: “What can I do to make our communication pleasurable for Him, how do I change my egoistic desire into a desire to bestow? On this degree He is so pure and bestowing. I want to be like Him, and I know that He wants this, too. I cannot achieve this directly because in His Light I am exposed as a true egoist. I understand that this is my nature, so can I circumvent it?”

Following these thoughts, a person seemingly tells the Creator: “You were the One who created me this way, to receive pleasure, so what can I do to receive yet bestow at the same time? For in this lies the true, eternal pleasure for which You have created me, and not for the fleeting egoistic one. What can I do to delight You, like a son who wishes his father to be happy?”

Becoming Similar to the Creator by Changing the Intention

The answer lies in the question itself: To receive so as to give joy. How? By changing the intention. Instead of the typical self-serving intention, I need to form an intention whereby my actions delight the Creator. This is possible only if, at a particular degree  you start to “see” Him. That is, you clearly feel the magnificence of the quality of bestowal, and the utter baseness and barrenness of the ego. If the Creator heeds your pleas and grants you this revelation, you will be able to change your intention.

You will desire to be in bestowal, realizing that there is no greater joy for the Creator than this. If that happens, it means that you have built a “screen.”

“What Is the Meaning of ‘the Seventh Day of Creation’ in the Bible?” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.

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