The Potential of Our Souls

“Our soul is not different at all from the essence of the Light of the Creator. The only difference is that our soul is a part, and it is not everything. It is like a stone that is hewn from a mountain. The essence of the mountain and the essence of the stone are the same.”  -Rav Ashlag

In his writings on the Ten Luminous Emanations, Rav Ashlag explains how the soul is a Godly part from above, made of the same essence as the Creator. He compares it to a stone that falls from a mountain. Though the stone is no longer part of the mountain, it is still made of the same materials as the mountain, only not as vast. They are exactly the same - the only difference between the two is that they are separated. Likewise, our souls were once part of the Creator and have become separate, but still contain the same essence of the Light.  

"Our souls share the same essence as the Creator."

When we take a moment to appreciate what this concept means, it is truly amazing. The ancient kabbalists teach that the Light of the Creator contains the qualities of everything in our world, everything we see and experience, all unified in simple perfection. The Light is endless and unlimited. If our souls share the same essence as the Creator, then our souls are also unlimited in their power and potential.

Rav Ashlag also teaches us, however, that we do not experience the full power of the Light of the Creator, because our consciousness is limited. The more that we are disconnected from the Creator, the more we restrict the flow of Light into our lives. The blessings we receive are just a tiny fraction of the abundant blessings the Creator wishes to give us because of this restriction. It is we who limit those blessings from entering our lives.

The same is true with our souls. The power and abundance within our souls are restricted by our selfish Desire to Receive for the Self Alone. If there was a list of five things that you really wanted to do in your day that are very important to you, but someone kept telling you, “You can’t do that!”, you would get discouraged. This is what we tell our soul every day. We tell it we are not going to allow it to reveal its full potential.

"We can begin to truly appreciate who we are."

It is said that if we could hear the cries of pain from our soul, we couldn’t bear it. There is an amazing, unfathomable Light within every one of us, but we continue to restrict its revelation, limiting its potential. The pain that we inflict on our soul by not allowing it to reveal its essence is made even worse when we cover it up further and make it even more restricted. The more that we transform our selfish nature into a Desire to Receive for the Sake of Sharing, the more we can reveal the power of our souls. 

The positive side of this is that we can begin to truly appreciate who we are. When we start understanding that there is no such thing as limited Light and that our souls are part of the Light, we can recognize the incredible power within all of us. Our soul is exactly the Light of the Creator – the same essence that created this entire world. We have that power within us. The harder we work and the more we transform ourselves, the more we can reveal the essence of the Light within us.

*Adapted from Michael Berg’s Ten Luminous Emanations Lesson 13