Now, we must understand the second way the influence comes down from Arich Anpin (Desire) to Abba (Insight)and Imma (Comprehension). It was stated that Abba and Imma enclothe the “Arms” of Arich. This means that Chesed and Gevurah of Arich become enclothed within Abba and Imma. In order to understand this, we must first understand exactly what the emotions of Arich Anpin are. As mentioned above, Arich Anpin is desire. This being the case, Chesed and Gevurah of Arich are the emotions of desire. They are not actual heartfelt emotions at all. Neither are they intellectual. Rather, this is to say that the desire itself leans either toward kindness or sternness.
When these sefirot become enclothed within Chochmah and Binah, the intellect becomes like a garment that covers over them. The intellect conforms to the leanings of the desire, just as a garment takes on the movements of the person who is wearing it. If the person moves to the left, his clothing will move along with him and if he moves to the right, his clothing will move along with him.
This may be understood by the example of a judge who has been bribed. Because the judge accepted a bribe from the defendant, he can no longer be unbiased in judgment. His desire is to treat the defendant with kindness. Because of this, his intellect will also lean toward kindness in regard to the defendant and he will come up with logical justifications to exonerate the defendant. This illustrates how the intellect conforms to the desire.
Another example which illustrates this is that of a child who desires a bicycle. His intellect will come up with reasons why he needs it. For instance, he will tell his mother, “I need a bike to get to school”. “I’ll drive you there”, she answers him. “I realize you’re very busy and driving me to school will be too much trouble for you”, he says. “That’s okay, it’s no trouble at all. I’ll drive you to school, and besides, we can’t afford it.” “But I don’t want you to drive me to school. I want a bike.” We see that even though his “transportation problem” has been solved by his mother driving him to school, he still wants the bike. The reason is because that is what he wanted in the first place. Now, he may become completely unreasonable and throw a tantrum. This is because his intellect was just a “garment” which conforms to the emotions of the desire, not visa versa. This example illustrates how the intellect becomes a garment within which the “arms” of Arich Anpin (Emotions of Desire)are enclothed. This is a type of revelation of the world of Tohu (Chaos).
