Secondly, in saying that the Sefirot were permitted to be seen, we are not saying that they were intrinsically visible. The light of the Sefirot is not a particular kind of light that is visible in its intrinsic nature, as opposed to the light of Eyn Sof, blessed be He, which is not. What changed in the act of creation was that the Sefirot became visible. It became possible for them to be seen because Eyn Sof wanted it so.
If the light of the Sefirot was a particular kind of light that was visible in its intrinsic nature, we would have to say that the Sefirot were not an innovation. For what exists in something as part of its intrinsic nature is found in it throughout its existence. If the ability of the Sefirot to be seen were part of their intrinsic nature, then as long as the light of the Sefirot existed, it would have to be visible.
What we must say is that the light of the Sefirot cannot have been new, but that the revelation of this light – the ability of the Sefirot to be seen – is what was new.