The “Self” From A Kabbalistic Point Of View

Question: Does my “self,” meaning my desire to receive, feel the desires of the physical body as if they were its own?

Answer: The “desire to receive” is what I want, while the physical body is my “beast.” Sometimes I feel my desires through the physical body, meaning a desire for food, sex, and family, and sometimes through a more internal body, a desire for knowledge, respect, and wealth.

The first type of desires (food, sex, and family), are a person’s “beastly” desires. Then follow the desires on the human level, desires for wealth, respect, and knowledge, but these are still not desires on a spiritual level. And then, spiritual desires are revealed in a person, attracting him to resemble the Creator.

Question: What is the “self” from a Kabbalistic point of view?

Answer: The “self” is a desire for pleasure and it is different on different levels. Sometimes I want food, sex, or family, and sometimes control, wealth, or knowledge.

Question: If the body is given only to meet the first three types of desire, is it possible to attain spirituality, discovery of the Creator, without it?

Answer: How can I begin to work with others without a body? After all, we must communicate with each other. Our entire world is built from the first and final state of our way; there is nothing accidental.

The final goal of creation appears first, which is to bring the person to the likeness of the Creator.

It is from this that creation was created. In order to realize the goal of creation, a person must simultaneously include the “minus” and the “plus.” So from the start, the “ego,” which is contrary to the altruistic characteristic of the Creator, becomes determined within him.

The “minus,” meaning the egoistic state in a person, constantly grows. But together with this, a person must create a “plus” from the “Point in the Heart.” Therefore it is said, “The end of the action is in the initial thought.”
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/13/16