It all comes down to intention and separation.
According to the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a Kabbalistic text, when the intention was to bring forth evil, something profound shifted in the cosmos. The upper, more spiritual realms began to separate from the lower ones. This wasn't just a spatial separation, but a separation in consciousness, in being. And with this separation came an intensification of hester panim, concealment.
Imagine it like this: the further you get from the source of light, the more shadows deepen. In the upper levels, the light of the Divine was so intense that evil couldn't even take root. But in these newly separated lower levels, the concealment was so profound, so dense, that evil could actually emerge. It's a chilling thought, isn't it?
Why did this happen? The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah suggests that everything that gains its own independent function also acquires its own name, its own identity. If this lowest level had remained subordinate to the higher realms, if it hadn't sought its own independent existence, then its mission would have been aligned with the Divine. It would have served to complete and perfect the earlier levels.
But it didn't. It became its own thing.
The text emphasizes that this lowest level is called a level "on its own" precisely because the light found there is diminished, existing on a plane far lower than that of the levels that came before. Even though, initially, this lower level was part of the overall unity, a process of gradation took place, a descent, a falling away.
This wasn't just a simple decline. It was a fundamental shift in purpose, a divergence from the original intention. And it’s this divergence, this independent function, that allowed evil to take hold.
So, what does this all mean for us? It’s a potent reminder that our intentions matter. That separation, whether from the Divine or from each other, can lead to profound darkness. And that remaining connected, striving for unity, is the path towards light.