Introduction to Sulam Commentary

An Important Principle regarding Time and Place61. It is important to know, with regard to all expressions in the wisdom of Kabbala relating to time and place, that they do not refer to the conceptualized time and place that operate in the material reality. Here, in discussions of Kabbala, everything is above time and above place. Rather, every occurrence of the terms “before” and “after” means cause and effect. We call the cause “before” and the effect “after” because every cause precedes its effect.

The concepts of “above” and “below” and “ascent” and “descent” are measures of opacity and purity. “Ascent” means purification, and “descent” means an increase in opacity. When we say that a lower level ascends upward, this means that the lower level was purified and became as purified as the upper level, and therefore the lower level became attached to the upper level, since the equating of form attaches spiritual entities to one another. Likewise, when we say that a lower level enclothes an upper level, this means that an equating of form with the external aspect of the upper level was developed in the lower level, because we call an attachment to the external aspect of the upper level the enclothing of the upper level. You should similarly interpret all other concepts that are presented in terms of time or place in this manner, that is, in spiritual terms, according to the context.