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Page 38 – third from the top of the page (line starts “beze...”)
We are looking at how souls are rooted in essence. Angels come from a spiritual union and souls from a bodily uinion. So why do we say souls are higher than angels?
The principle behind this paradox is due to the fact that the most internal and essential level comes by means of bodily union exclusively.
A metaphor for spiritual union is like the sechel coming from the mind. And a metaphor for bodily union is like the flow of the drop from the mind.
Sechel, if not controlled will lead off in many directions and if it is allowed it will thus pervert the original concept, which was initially correct.
Sechel relates to a specific concept, but the underlying light is not the structure, but the ohr that co-ordinates all the elements. The structure itself can be described as an almost physical structure without engaging the koach hamaskil.
At the wedding last night Rabbi had a conversation about evolution and he explained that gemara talks about natural change, but the theorists of evolutionists developed this idea to an extreme - “from a monkey you can make a human being”.
Koach ha maskil is the background that alows us to relate to the sechel/idea, but inside the koach ha maskil itself there there no specific sechel. Koach ha maskil has the operating procedure of saying, “there is a unity in the world” but this is not a specific identifiable “idea” that it has.
Atzmi / essence is the absolute basis for anything. This means it is the basis because of the essential truth of it, not because of any effect. Sechel is a uniquely a human trait. It is a soul quality. Sechel comes from the nefesh. It doesn't “contain” it but reveals this because of the quality of the soul.
The verse says, “the spirit of man rises, and the spirit of the animal descends”. The spirit of animal seeks the bottom, because its primary outlook is metziut. The man's primary orientation is bitul, not metziut – it is enticed by the truth, and asks, “what was it before it was formulated”. From this we can see how sechel is a direct derivative of the soul of man.
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