What Is the Root of Shame?

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the root of shame is found in what is called the “Four Phases of Direct Light,” the initial blueprint of creation that exists at the very foundation of life.

These four phases are four key discernments and decisions that took place far beyond the physical universe as we know it, in a primordial relationship between the original force of love and bestowal, called “the Creator,” which created a created being in an opposite form, as a force of reception.

The created being’s fundamental nature was created as a desire to receive pleasure, without any awareness of who or what is giving it its fulfillment. In the beginning, the created being does not even recognize the existence of the giver. It is like newborns who simply take from their parents without a second thought. The created being thus does not feel any difference between itself and the Creator. It only perceives the fulfillment it receives.

However, as the created being develops, a new sensation arises: the recognition that it receives while the Creator gives. This realization creates a sense of disparity, an understanding that there is a higher nature that bestows to it, while it only takes. That sensation of disparity that emerges is the first sensation of shame in creation, the root of shame.

Based on the video “Shame — Spiritual States with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.”