Selected Paragraphs from Arfilei Tohar, by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook (translator)
Page 1,
Paragraph 1
Just as [we] must elevate [our] fallen thoughts and traits (in which evil and ugliness may be discerned) to the source of their root in holiness, where we see that they are really exalted thoughts and good traits, so too must [a person] lift up [his] thoughts that are decent but that stand at the lowest level—where evil and chaos are united with them, even though they face holiness.
[He must lift them up] to the most elevated level of the ideal sublime—[a state of being that] is directed only toward total goodness and absolute straightness—until the uplifting [of these decent thoughts] grows and [reaches] the supernal world, over which pure holiness rules in its might.
Page 1, Paragraph 2
The insolence at the time preceding the messiah comes about because the world has progressed to such an extent that it demands an understanding of how every detail is connected to the whole.
A detail that is not connected to the great whole cannot satisfy [a person’s] mind.
If the world were engaged in [gaining access to] the light of Torah to such a degree that [a person’s] spiritual soul [would] grow to recognize the proper connection between details and spiritual wholeness, then the teshuvah and rectification of the world would be actualized. However, because [people’s] carelessness has led to [a state in which] the light of the inner Torah—which requires [that a person attain] an exalted state and an inherent holiness—has not appeared in the world correctly, the demand [of people for the structure of a life in which the details are understood within the [framework of the] whole has come at a time when the complete revelation of the light and the clearing of the path [leading] to understanding has not yet arrived.
And this has caused terrible destruction.
We must employ the supernal remedy, which is [the attainment of] increased strength in [our] spiritual ability. Then the common people will, [with their] feeling, directly understand and access a way of comprehending and appraising that which connects all of [their] Torah-[related] knowledge and deeds to the most supernal wholeness.
At that point, the strength of spiritual life will again appear in the world, in deed and in thought, and a universal teshuvah will begin to bear its fruit.
Just as [we] must elevate [our] fallen thoughts and traits (in which evil and ugliness may be discerned) to the source of their root in holiness, where we see that they are really exalted thoughts and good traits, so too must [a person] lift up [his] thoughts that are decent but that stand at the lowest level—where evil and chaos are united with them, even though they face holiness.
[He must lift them up] to the most elevated level of the ideal sublime—[a state of being that] is directed only toward total goodness and absolute straightness—until the uplifting [of these decent thoughts] grows and [reaches] the supernal world, over which pure holiness rules in its might.
Page 1, Paragraph 2
The insolence at the time preceding the messiah comes about because the world has progressed to such an extent that it demands an understanding of how every detail is connected to the whole.
A detail that is not connected to the great whole cannot satisfy [a person’s] mind.
If the world were engaged in [gaining access to] the light of Torah to such a degree that [a person’s] spiritual soul [would] grow to recognize the proper connection between details and spiritual wholeness, then the teshuvah and rectification of the world would be actualized. However, because [people’s] carelessness has led to [a state in which] the light of the inner Torah—which requires [that a person attain] an exalted state and an inherent holiness—has not appeared in the world correctly, the demand [of people for the structure of a life in which the details are understood within the [framework of the] whole has come at a time when the complete revelation of the light and the clearing of the path [leading] to understanding has not yet arrived.
And this has caused terrible destruction.
We must employ the supernal remedy, which is [the attainment of] increased strength in [our] spiritual ability. Then the common people will, [with their] feeling, directly understand and access a way of comprehending and appraising that which connects all of [their] Torah-[related] knowledge and deeds to the most supernal wholeness.
At that point, the strength of spiritual life will again appear in the world, in deed and in thought, and a universal teshuvah will begin to bear its fruit.