The Four Worlds, The Garments and the Body

As a student of Jewish mysticism you will hear a lot about the doctrine of the Four Worlds. According to the Kabbalists, the process of creation begins with the infinite light descending to create the spiritual world of “Atzilut”/”Emanation”, a world which has ten Divine attributes, or Sefirot. The en attributes of the world of Emanation then move to create the lower three worlds of “Creation” “Formation” and “Action” (Hebrew acronym: “Biy”a”); the universe as we know it is the world of action, which is the lowest of the four worlds.  

Thousands of pages have been written to describe the nature if these four worlds, the differences between them, their purpose and so much more. If you are like me, you want a one phrase soundbite that captures the essence of the difference between the highest world, where the Divine reality is felt, and the lower worlds, where the reality of creation is felt.  

The Tikuney Zohar, offers a strange sound bite; it writes that the lower worlds are “garments” the higher world is a “body”.

Both the body and the garment serve to enclothe something else, the body enclothe the soul, while the garments enclothe the body. Yet there are important differences between them. These differences capture the essence of the differences between the worlds.  

The garment tells it’s own story.

The garment industry is a multiple billion-dollar-a-year industry, because people are attracted to the beauty and personality of  garments. I too wear a specific garment because I want the garment to tell a story. I want it to attract attention to it’s beauty and artistry, I want it to to highlight it’s unique features. I want it to hide behind its story.

I am in love with my garment. In fact, every now and then I catch myself standing in the closet holding a garment in my hand, feeling it’s texture, admiring it’s beauty and enjoying it’s elegance hanging there on the rack.

A body, while also serving to enclothe the soul, is a completely different story.

The body serves no function other than expressing the soul. When the soul departs the body, we don't display the body on a shelf to admire it’s remarkable complexity. Instead, we bury it in the ground. Because a body’s purpose is, not to showcase it’s own features, rather it is is to serve as a vehicle for the soul’s expression.

We live on a magnificent planet that is part of a universe that is a “garment”, the lowest of the three worlds of “Biy”a”. As such, our world is shouting to us about its beauty, about it’s importance, about it’s physicality, and about reality from it’s perspective. The truth, hidden within the garment, the life-force that is the source and sustenance of the universe, is hidden within the garment, waiting to be discovered by the spiritual seeker.

In the highest world of “Atzilut”, or when the creations of the lower world succeed in elevating themselves to the level of “Atzilut”, there are no garments, only a “body”. In the reality of that world there is only the infinite light. Although it is a world comprised of definition, such as kindness, judgment, compassion etc., these defined realities are like a body, for they contain a soul of infinite light, yet they do not hide it. They tell a story but their story is not about themselves, it’s about the infinity within them.