Deeper and Higher

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At times in my posts I use the words "deeper" and "higher" interchangeably. I suppose I should explain myself because mostly when we think of the word "deep" we think of something going lower.

So I have two two-dimensional pictures in my mind when I talk about depth:

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The red section is the outer portion of the body. That would be like the head /the brains /the beginning / wisdom/ knowledge, data bank part.  The pink section would be the middle, deeper part (the heart / the emotions, the spiritual, faith, confidence, humility capability, etc) Then the white part would be the deepest part (yesod, the womb, production, reality making, child bearing, foundation, new beginning based on the new info that got funneled through the brain and downwards through the heart, the groin, all that type of thing.)

Now, if I could turn both of these pictures into 3D, it would look about the same!

This was the best picture I could find from the google stock pile. But notice the circles are no longer next to each other, but rises the more internal we go.

The only funny thing about this imagery is that it makes one think of an upside down person! With his brains downwards and his rear end upwards!!

The Talmud (Pesachim 50a) records that Rav Yosef passed away briefly and was then revived. After his recovery, his father asked him what he saw during his brief journey Heavenwards. Rav Yosef answered tersely: "I saw an upside-down world. I saw upper ones below and lower ones above."

Of course, in the Talmud (Pesachim 50a) he meant that the people who were the truly Great Ones, were in lower positions, lowly regarded and scorned by others; whereas those who were revered as giants, wonderful people, sucess stories, etc., were regarded in Heaven as the lowly ones.
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I also heard some sages say that the beginning lust (the one that snowballs into other lusts and sins) is the lust for seksh. ( I misspelled on purpose because I don't want the 'wrong crowd' coming on my blog) which to me means that this lust is very unadulterated, I'd dare say pure but that just doesn't go with the territory. More like a one-celled amoeba that hasn't evolved yet. Thus, the other sins, stealing, murder, bribery, embezzlement, fraud, false witness, kidnapping, damaging, etc (God protect us from them all!) are more complex sins derived from that lust. (Other rabbis say the lust for food, gluttony, is also an original sin starter.)

Thus, if one can control this lust, its as if the reigns for all the other sins are somewhat in control. Its much harder than it seems because it may try to pop out in different ways. But basically, if that lust can be reigned, a very righteous, holy person can be had! This also makes me wonder if people who are accused of this basic lust is not so bad as those who's lust have snowballed into all kinds of higher, "white collar" crimes.

Please note: I am NOT condoning any bad behavior. And when I say, one sin is not as bad as its derivatives, that doesn't mean one should allow oneself to fall prey to lustful people! Discern.

At any rate, there is definitely an inclination towards holiness when one is keeping oneself in control of this very strong lust -especially since it originates from a very deep part of us. Like homeopathy or wholistic medicine-fixing the problem from all the way inside and it works its way outwards (hopefully).