From the last circle of the Ratzon HaKadoom (Primal Desire), which is the primal desire for action, the Ratzon L’ratzon (theDesire for the Desire), comes into being. This is to say that the primal desire for action, gives rise to a desire to facilitate and bring about the action. This second level of desire is a completely new existence relative to the level of primal desire, for it must be understood that the primal desire is not an active desire at all. Rather, it is the defining “identity” of the person. This is to say, that imbedded in his identity is the fact that he will have certain wants and desires.
If a person’s primal desire is the desire to be honored, for instance, this will give rise to a desire for the means to bring about honor. Therefore, as the means to actualize his primal desire to be honored, it may bring about a “desire for a desire” to be wise. This Ratzon L’Ratzon (Desire for a Desire)is his “Self perception” of himself as a person who is wise. He will have a drive to acquire wisdom, but it will really be secondary to the true underlying motivating desire to be honored. He may not be consciously aware of this altogether and will actually perceive himself as a person who seeks wisdom, but in truth he is seeking honor, for if honor would not be given to him, his enthusiasm for wisdom would dissipate. Of course, a person’s primal desire may truly be to be wise, which will give rise to a self perception of being a person who seeks wisdom. Such a person will continue to seek wisdom whether or not he receives honor.
We see from the above, that in the Sefirot of Yosher (The Upright Sefirot), the original primal desire is enclothed within the second desire. The second desire is then enclothed in thought, which is then enclothed in emotions, until the final actualization of the desire, which is its outermost “garment”, so to speak. Unlike the Sefirot of Igullim (Sefirot of Circles), here the original primal desire is the innermost thing and the final action is the outermost thing. When we look at a human being, for example, what we see are his final actions. Enclothed within his actions are his emotions, and enclothed within his emotions are his thoughts. Enclothed within his thoughts is his self-perception (Ratzon L’Ratzon) and enclothed within his self-perception is his “Primal desire” (Ratzon HaKadoom). We therefore see that the outermost thing is the action and the innermost is the primal desire. This is called Adam D’Yosher (The Upright Man), because it operates as a human being (who stands upright) would.
