Da'as Tevunos - Section 88

Said the Intellect - Here this comes out first in the consequences of the joining of these two characteristics as one, the perfect situation which is appropriate to be for man in the end-time of perfection which will be for him. And the thing is evident from itself, for the intended level, which will be at the end of all of the elevations of man it is established first, for from when the soul emanates from its source it needs to be in its state of greatest perfection to which it can reach at the end of everything rather it is said to it from above, go and diminish yourself, until you return to your original place when elevated by your actions. But it is not that its creation is diminished from its beginning, and that is elevation will be greater later, for there is nothing new under the sun, rather the order is the opposite of this, for in its great strength did it emanate, afterwards - it was diminished until it will return to its strength. And in any event - the end action is the original thought. Therefore the perfection of many is established first, and afterwards - his dimininution, to return in the steps that he descended, to elevate toward his perfection as was established in him from the beginning:

And we find that the situation of perfection with which man is initially distinguished, which is the path and period where the soul alone controls and rules entirely, without any control by the boy at all, it is as if it [the body] were not, for it is entirely subservient and bent completely under the rule of the soul in its purity, until it does not even have identity, it only has existence, but no control. And this is clear, for the control of the body is not other than darkness and blackness to the soul, for behold the matter of physicality is nothing but concealment of illumination, and something from it - hinders, for it is impossible for there to be even a small amount of control for the body, in order not to decrease some light and power from the soul. Therefore, in the time when the soul in all its might, that nothing in it be decreased that is appropriate for its perfection, this is the time when the body certainly has no control, therefore the soul has nothing withholding it. But it should not be said that it [the body] does not have existence, for we already said that the reward needs to be for both of them, but it will not have control, and it will be completely bound to the soul without separation from it, for it cannot do anything by itself, there cannot be in its will that which is not in the soul's will, to the point that it is almost as if it cannot be discerned by itself for something, rather it is as if it were intermingled among the pure powers of of the soul:

The situation lesser than this, is when the body is distinguished by its slight control, for consequent to this a deficit comes to the soul, for it to not be perfect in all of the glory of its splendor; but this minimal control does not cause other than a minimal deficit, but if the control multiplies then the deficit multiplies. And indeed, if we speak about one generality alone, we would say that there are 3 time periods, the time of the complete control by the soul, and the time of the minimal control by the body, and the time of complete control by the body. But if we go in the manner of gradations, to understand other situations of the body in its control - five levels can be counted according to the way of the generalization. And these are they:

The first level, is it not that the body has existence, but no control at all, until the point that there is no hint in the world of matters of physicality, the way there are now. And we find, that in this situation man will not find within himself anything from those items that he has today when his physicality controls him, and this is the most perfected situation among the situations:

The second level, that there will be for the body minimal control, and you will find in man himself like a remembrance of that which he had at the time that he had a body, and this is not a remembrance of the details of things, rather a remembrance of the generalities of many things that he had. It can be compared to someone who suffered many difficulties, and worked and toiled through various experiences, and afterwards remained weakened and generally tired. For like this the existence of control by the body produces one general deficiency, without clarity on what it is in detail, rather it is like a person who has some sorrow in his heart, such that his joy is not complete, even though there is no specific cause for this sorrow. Similarly you will not find a power of the soul by itself to expand through all its powers, rather you will feel some kind of small heaviness, and the details of the hindrance are not known:

The third level, when the body controls in particular, but not in all its details rather in some details. That you find man in himself some things from the things of the body, the simplest ones, but in any event physical. And indeed it is clear, that in all of these situations there are no great consequences to these matters of the body as I will write with the help of heaven:

The fourth level, when the body will control in all its details, and you find man in himself all the physical matters. But like the souls is presently in this world like a stranger in the land, it it needs to travel in the ways of the body, similarly the body will be like a stranger in the land, and the soul will be the ruler, and the body will need to travel in its ways, like the matter (Shemot Rabbah 47:5) "You came to the city go according to the custom of the place". What is this like? Like Moshe our teacher, peace upon him, when he went to receive the Torah for Israel, he did not lose his body and did not change, but since his body was like a guest in the place of the souls he changed his style to act like the actions of the souls, like the Rabbis explained, may their memory be for a blessing (Bava Metzia 86b), "A person should never deviate from the local" etc., (see there). And you find, that his change at that time does not follow as a consequence of himself but rather a consequence of his place, and it is not a complete change. And here consequences still do not emerge from these matters of the body, for it is still like a stranger, and like we explained, that it needs to go in the ways of the soul; but rather in this fourth level - all the matters of the body are differentiated and known, but they are not in their place, and need to nullify their matters because of the soul. And from this level and up we shall not differentiate all the details of the body, and all the more so that they don't have consequence, since they need to go in the ways of the soul.

The fifth level, is when the body controls in all aspects, and is like a person reigning in his home, that all of its matter are in their strength and will all their consequences. And this level is also divided into two, and even so is all one level. And this is, because the matters of the body, even in the aspect of the body, can be of two paths, either the secular path and animalistic action, like that actions of most people, or a path of holiness and service, like the matter of (Mishlei 3:6), "in all your ways know him", when everything is in the straight intention as appropriate and like it will be in the future time as it says (Ezezkiel 36:26), " and I will give you a heart of flesh", as was appropriate for man to have had he not sinned. But both of them are like one in any event physical matters, for he needs to eat, needs to drink and it is impossible without this whether the eating or drinking is secular or holy. Both are physical matters:

And indeed, once we knew that all these things come into being from the concealment of His countenance may He be blessed or from the illumination of his countenance, therefore it is said that the Holy One blessed is He changes his behavior according to that which is needed for his creations in these five levels. For in the low level which is the fifth, the lowest of all, he will increase his behavior through concealment of his countenance, and a small amount of illumination of his countenance will act in his world; And in the fourth - the concealment is diminished and the illumination is increased; and in the third - the concealment is diminished in diminution after diminution, and the illumination is increased in a greater increase; And so according to this way, until rising to the first level, where the illumination is strengthened greatly, and the concealment is a very small amount, until because of this there will only remain control for the soul alone and not for the body at all:...