These three practical actions correspond to the three lower Worlds in Kabbalah. The three lower Worlds can be described as the realms of thoughts, emotions, and deeds. Each of the three actions we can and should take corresponds to one of these Worlds. Since all three lower Worlds have evil in them, with growing proportions, each action is meant to heal the evil in that world. Though we will not develop it here, it is important to note that the World of Emanation that is above the three lower Worlds is already rectified.
Worldrealm ofproportion of evilrectified byCreationthoughtsmostly goodspreading the Torah’s inner dimensionFormationemotionsequally good & evilbaseless loveActiondeedsmostly evilteshuvahSpreading the Torah’s Inner Dimension corresponds to the World of Creation and represents a shift in mindset. Changing our mindset is like what the Rebbe said that we need to open our eyes to see reality differently. That is the rationale behind the inner teachings of the Torah—to see reality with our inner eyesight, to see Mashiach. It says that for Rashbi, the author of the Zohar, the Temple was never destroyed, he continued to see it standing. If it was only up to Rashbi, he wouldn’t have to fast on Tisha B’av, but since he is part of the Jewish people, he mourns because of our state of consciousness. To change our mindset, Rashbi taught the Zohar, so that we could adopt his state of consciousness. This is in the world of Creation, where there is only a little bit of self-consciousness (or ego). The World of Creation is mostly good and only a little bit negative and it is defined as the world of perception of reality. Good in Creation means perceiving reality correctly. Evil in Creation manifests as perceiving reality incorrectly. Thus, rectifying the mind by spreading the wellsprings of the Torah’s inner dimension to see the world correctly, and not live in an illusion parallels the World of Creation. Creation is thus about perception vs. illusion.
The World of Formation is the seat of emotions. Most often we say that the two basic emotions are love and fear, however at times fear is replaced by hate. The World of Formation is half good and half bad. Which would mean that if love is good and hate is bad, then it is 50 percent love and 50 percent hate. Hate however is not always bad, because it says that those who love God shall hate evil, and God Himself hates Esau, even though he is Jacob’s brother.
The same Esau that God hates, Isaac loved (more than Jacob). The fact that we have two brothers here already presents a half and half situation. Nonetheless, we will say that hate is a bad quality in general and love is needed to rectify the world of Formation, as we said, to love unconditionally.
The World of Action is obviously rectified by doing teshuvah, getting our act together and fixing our conduct: from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. Consciousness permeates all three lower Worlds. If the question is “Who’s to blame?” and in these Three Weeks the answer is, “I am to blame.” That is the answer in the lowest world. Certainly, I am responsible for my mindset (Creation) and for my lack of love (Formation), but the thing I am most to blame for is for destroying the Temple because of my actions (Action). Most people shun responsibility or blame. Another word for blame is guilt. The World of Action is the world of guilt vs. innocence. When two people appear before a judge because of a dispute, the final decision must be that one is guilty, and the other is innocent. That is what the World of Action is about. You are either guilty or innocent. If you can take responsibility, then you have revealed the good in the World of Action. However, the World of Action is mostly evil, which means that almost no one can take responsibility.
This leads us to a parallel between the Worlds and defense mechanisms. In the World of Action, the defense mechanism against responsibility is repression. If I am found guilty in a court of law that is a huge blow to my ego. If the trauma of being guilty is too much to cope with, then I repress my guilt, I forget it. In the World of Formation, where good is love and evil is hatred, the defense mechanism is projection, which we began with. Using projection, we project our hate on the person we hate. Finally, since the World of Creation is about our perception of reality, the defense mechanism is known as denial. If the reality we are facing is too difficult to handle, we may end up entering a state of denial. This is not common, because the majority of Creation is good—meaning that people tend to accept reality, but some cannot handle it and end up setting up a denial defense mechanism.
During the Three Weeks, we have a chance to learn how to properly cope within the context of the three Worlds. Above the three Worlds, there is a World that is entirely good. It is known as the World of Emanation and those who are tzaddikim live in its state of mind. How do great tzaddikim perceive reality? They see what you and I see, but they see everything like a garment for God. In the World of Emanation, God is always removing a garment and dressing in another garment, as it were. At a certain point, perhaps God will strip off the clothing and we will see Him, “eye to eye, when God redeems Zion,” “Your teacher will no longer be enclothed” you will be able to see Him directly. Every one of us should strive to experience reality in this way. Everything that happens and that is in our experience is just an external expression of God. To reach this state of mind, we learn Chassidut and try to teach and spread it. Just as living life in the three lower Worlds requires the ego to protect itself with defense mechanisms, so the tzaddik who lives in the World of Emanation has no need to protect his ego at all. Thus, there are no defense mechanisms per se in the World of Emanation. Let us summarize this in a partzuf:
Worldrealm of good and evilaboutdefense mechanismrectified byEmanationnullificationall good: clinging to Godnonealready in a rectified stateCreationthoughtsperceptiondenialspreading the Torah’s inner dimensionFormationemotionsself-imageprojectionbaseless loveActiondeedsresponsibilityrepressionteshuvah