We must first understand the true essence of impurity and husks. Know that the desire to receive – which, as we said, is the essence of the souls as they were created, since that enables them to receive all of the fullness planned for creation – does not remain as it was [originally] in the souls. Had it [the desire to receive] remained the same, they [the souls] would always remain separate from God, since their change in form separates them from God.
In order to repair the separation [from God] that is present in the vessel of the souls, God created all of the worlds and divided them into two systems, as the verse states: “God made both, one opposite the other” (Eccl. 7:14). These are the four holy worlds of ABYA (Atzilut [Emanation], Beria [Creation], Yetzira [Formation], and Asiya [Action](, as well as their counterparts – four impure ABYA worlds. God established a desire to give in the holy system of ABYA, and He removed from them a selfish desire to receive (as I will explain in chapters 14–19 below). He placed that [desire to receive] in the impure ABYA worlds, which separated them from God and from the worlds of sanctity.