It is stated in the Zohar, “He made clothing for them (the sefirot) from which the souls of human beings come out.” Now, according to what was explained above, how is it possible that from a totally separate thing, like clothing, the essence of the human soul can come out?
It must therefore be understood that what is considered to be a “garment” on one level can become the essential light of another level. This may be understood by examining what takes place when one person communicates a desire or an idea to another. From the essential desire of the first person, his desire descends, in the fashion explained earlier, until it is enclothed within his thought. It then descends further to his emotions, and finally, is “enclothed” in his speech. However, in and of themselves, the words he speaks are merely a conglomeration of external sounds which have no intrinsic connection to his desires, thoughts and feelings.
Let’s say he communicates his desire or idea over the telephone. The external sounds of his speech become “enclothed” and converted into electronic impulses that travel through the telephone lines. They then are reconstituted in the receiver on the other end of the line. The person on the receiving end is not hearing the voice or speech of the speaker at all. He is only hearing an artificial approximation of his voice, reconstituted from electrical impulses. He certainly cannot hear the thoughts of the speaker, and certainly not his desire. Actually all he is hearing are consecutive sounds. However, enclothed within these sounds is the desire, intellect, emotions, and speech of the speaker. If the listener is influenced by these thoughts and ideas, this “enclothement” may become his inner desire, intellect and motivation. What is a most external level relative to the speaker becomes the deepest motivating factor for the listener.
An additional example may be understood from the letters of this book. The letters themselves are nothing more than physical squiggles of ink on paper. Nonetheless, when they are absorbed by the reader they become his essential inner motivation and intellect. It is also understood that the external speech of a political or spiritual leader becomes the inner motivation and intellect of his devoted followers. From this it is clear, that what is an enclothement relative to one level, may be an essential desire and motivation relative to the next level.
We may now understand the above statement of the Zohar that what may be regarded as the essential soul relative to one level, may be regarded as a separate “garment” relative to the level above it.
