Note 16 — I.

The souls of all these epitomes of the universe are pre-existent in the World of Emanations,16 and are without exception destined to inhabit human bodies, and pursue their course upon earth for a certain number of years. Hence we are told that, “When the Holy One, blessed be his name, wished to create the world, the universe was before him in idea. He then formed all the souls which are destined for the whole human race. All were minutely before him in the same form which they were to assume in the human body. He looked at each one of them; and there were some among them which would corrupt their way upon the earth.” (Sohar, i, 96 b). Like the Sephiroth from which it emanates, every soul has ten potencies, which are subdivided into a trinity of triads, and are respectively represented by (I) The Spirit, (‏נשמה‎), which is the highest degree of being, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon by The Crown (‏כתר‎), representing the highest triad in the Sephiroth, called the Intellectual World; (II) The Soul (‏רוח‎), which is the seat of good and evil, as well as the moral qualities, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon by Beauty (‏תפארת‎), representing the second triad in the Sephiroth, called the Moral World; and (III) The Cruder Spirit (‏נפש‎), which is immediately connected with the body, is the direct cause of its lower functions, instincts, and animal life, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon by Foundation (‏יסוד‎), representing the third triad in the Sephiroth, called the Material World.