“And God said: ‘Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth.’ And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree-bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.”
The Middle Line as the Combination of Altruistic and Egoistic Forces
Man’s correction is built precisely on the ideal combination of altruistic and egoistic qualities within his soul, the “heavens” and the “earth,” the Creator and the creature.
This correction is called moving along the “middle line.”
Our innate egoistic nature is called “earth,” or the left line.
The quality of the Creator, “water,” absolute bestowal is the right line.
The middle line is what we must create on our own, by combining the right and the left lines.
That is, we must combine the “water” with the “earth” in a complementary way, which would allow the two qualities to “bear fruit.”
First we ought to ask for rain and not a storm, since we are not yet capable of bestowing like the Creator. However, we are ready to gradually advance, starting with correcting our smaller egoistic desires, as it is written: “And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind.” Subsequently, rougher desires emerge, as in “and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind,” followed by even rougher desires … until our eyes fully open to the wonderful world that the Creator has prepared for us.
Growing the Tree of Life through the Study of Kabbalah
First we ought to “ask for rain” so that these two qualities (“water” and “earth”) combine to ultimately grow the “Tree of Life”—a spiritual person who perceives the whole universe, existing eternally and blissfully in all the worlds.
Eternally, because by identifying ourselves with an eternal soul instead of a transient body, we begin to equate your being with our soul, relegating the body to its true role—an ephemeral shell that simply accompanies it. This transition to identifying ourselves with the soul, rather than the body, is strictly internal, taking place as we gradually acquire the quality of bestowal through working correctly with the Kabbalistic books.
“Eternal Life through the Middle Line by the Study of Kabbalah” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.
