Introduction to the Book of Zohar (PDF) - Kabbalah Media Archive

P R E FAC E T O T H E B O O K O F Z O H A R
• The will for human pleasures, which corresponds to the animate
level of desire;
• The aspiration to the sciences is the speaking level of desire.
20. We therefore find that a reception from the first level, the measure
of the need to sustain oneself, and from the second level – the
degree of animate desires that exceed the need to sustain oneself,
are for him reception and nourishment from the still, vegetative and
animate levels, all of which are lower than his.
If I desire food or sexual pleasures (these are the two basic kinds
of pleasure that my body demands), then I receive nourishment from
objects that are lower than my own level: from the still, vegetative and
animate levels. If I seek wealth, I too depend on the still level (money). If
I am after power and fame, I already need people like myself, i.e., the human
level. If I am thirsty for knowledge, I receive pleasure from a higher
level that is novel to me as well as to many people. My aspirations are
then considered spiritual in this world.
21. Similarly, you will learn the categories of the Upper spiritual
world. Since all the worlds are imprints of one another from upper to
lower, and all that is on the still, vegetative, animate and speaking
levels in the World of Beria, is impressed upon the still, vegetative,
animate and speaking levels of the World of Yetzira. Moreover, all
that is on the still, vegetative, animate and speaking in the World of
Yetzira is impressed upon the degrees still, vegetative, animate and
speaking levels of the World of Assiya. Again, the still, vegetative,
animate and speaking levels in the World of Assiya are impressed
upon the still, vegetative, animate and speaking levels of this world.
All of these levels in each world: the still, vegetative, animate and
human copy one another, each world being on its own different level of
organized matter.
56