Explore the complex spiritual reality of the individual described as "intermediate," delving into how this level is characterized not by balancing good and bad actions, but by an unrelenting internal struggle to prevent evil impulses from manifesting in thought, speech, or deed. Their physical being is dedicated solely to sacred study and fulfilling divine commands. Discover why ancient wisdom states such individuals are "judged by both" good and evil tendencies rather than being "ruled by" them, likening this dynamic to competing judges whose ultimate decision requires divine intervention. Learn the crucial role of spiritual assistance in empowering the divine aspect to overcome the inherent strength and worldly desires of the animal nature. Understand the instruction to perceive oneself "like a wicked person" – recognizing the potent, unrestrained potential for wrong within, held in check only by divine aid, contrasting this with the righteous where evil is nullified or transformed. The sources use the example of a renowned sage to illustrate a high intermediate state where evil is permanently inactive but not abolished. Finally, we examine the concept of truth in service, explaining how moments of intense devotion, like during prayer, are considered "true service relative to one's level," as the capacity to reawaken this connection is always present day after day.

This episode explores the profound definition of the Intermediate Man, a spiritual level distinct from both the perfectly righteous person and the wicked person. Unlike the wicked person, in whom evil overcomes good leading to sin, the Intermediate Man is one whose practical conduct—their thought, speech, and action—is dictated solely by the good of the divine soul, completely avoiding sin. Sources state that an Intermediate Man has never committed a transgression and will never transgress in their present state. However, despite this perfect outward behavior, the Intermediate Man is not considered a righteous person because the essence or faculties of their animal soul, located in the heart, remain powerful and can still arouse desires for worldly pleasures and even involuntary negative thoughts. The control exerted by the Intermediate Man is achieved through the natural supremacy of the brain's will over the heart's desires, allowing them to keep these urges in check and prevent them from manifesting in deed, speech, or conscious, deliberate thought. This control is particularly effective when motivated by holiness, likened to how a small amount of light banishes a great deal of darkness. While during times like prayer, the divine soul may achieve temporary, undisputed sovereignty and the evil is nullified, after prayer, the evil reawakens its desires. The key distinction is that while the righteous person has eradicated or transformed the evil of their animal soul, the Intermediate Man's evil remains in essence, merely subjugated and prevented from expression by the divine soul's dominance over outward actions and willful thought. This mastery extends even to interpersonal feelings, where the Intermediate Man actively rejects negative emotions and chooses kindness and forgiveness.

• (00:00:00) - Lessons in Tanya, Chapter 12
• (00:01:12) - What Exactly Is the Intermediate State?
• (00:02:49) - The Intermediate Person
• (00:05:01) - What is the Intermediate Person?
• (00:07:38) - The Negative Intensity in the Intermediate Person
• (00:11:00) - The Intermediate Person's Prayer
• (00:15:05) - Intermediate Person
• (00:19:52) - The Essence of Mind Over Heart
• (00:27:48) - The Intermediate Person
• (00:32:46) - The Intermediate Person
• (00:37:41) - The Intermediate State
• (00:39:05) - The Meaning of the Intermediate Person
• (00:42:04) - What Does the Intermediate Person Mean?

Defining the Wicked Person in Tanya Chapter 11

This chapter of Tanya defines the wicked person, presenting them as the opposite of the righteous person. The fundamental characteristic is that the animal soul overpowers the divine soul. The discussion distinguishes between two main categories: the wicked person who possesses some good, and the wicked person who possesses only evil. In the former, the good within the divine soul is overwhelmed and nullified by the evil from the animal soul. This category encompasses a wide spectrum of levels. At one end are those who sin rarely and in minor ways, such as through certain thoughts, speech, or actions, often experiencing remorse and seeking forgiveness afterward. Even post-repentance, their classification as wicked in a true sense remains due to the underlying tendency for the animal soul to dominate. Higher levels in this category sin more frequently and severely, involving all aspects of negative expression, yet they still retain lingering good that prompts feelings of vexation and remorse between transgressions. These individuals represent the majority of those classified as wicked. In contrast, the wicked person who possesses only evil is characterized by a complete lack of contrition or thoughts of repentance. In such a person, the evil has so prevailed that the good has departed from within and exists only as an external influence. Nevertheless, this external good persists because they still possess a divine soul, which explains why the Divine Presence rests over any gathering of ten Jews. The text also includes an illustration demonstrating that even those whose lives are primarily dictated by negative forces can, through repentance following hardship, attain a level of equality with those guided by the divine soul.

Explore the nature of a righteous person, defined as one who vanquishes their animal soul and transforms its evil into good. The sources outline two primary categories: the "complete righteous person", also known as the "righteous person who knows only good", who has entirely transformed the evil of their animal soul to good, and the "incomplete righteous person", or "righteous person who knows evil", who retains some vestige of evil. These distinctions are rooted in the degree of the righteous person's love of G-d—complete and perfect love for the complete righteous person, and imperfect love for the incomplete. The complete righteous person's great love, specifically a "love of delights", fuels an utter hatred for the spiritual forces opposing holiness and repugnance for physical pleasures not used for serving G-d, allowing them to completely remove evil's "filthy garments" and convert its energy to good. In contrast, the incomplete righteous person's imperfect love means they lack absolute hatred or repugnance for evil, retaining a trace of evil that is subjugated and nullified by the good but not truly converted. This remaining evil finds no outward expression, not even in desires, and the person may even imagine it is completely gone, but its presence indicates the evil has not departed completely and therefore has not been converted to good. Complete righteous people are rare and are called "men of ascent" because they convert evil to holiness and their service is altruistic, aimed at uniting G-d and His presence below, drawing down benevolence through their actions, which are described using the mystical terms "ascent of feminine waters" causing a "descent of masculine waters". The category of incomplete righteous people encompasses many levels based on the remaining evil, varying qualitatively by the type of evil element and quantitatively by the degree to which it is nullified within the good, such as in proportions of 60:1 or 1000:1. Many righteous people found in all generations belong to this incomplete category.

• (00:00:00) - The Battle for the Righteous Individuals
• (00:02:21) - The Proximal and Imperfecteous Individuals
• (00:06:15) - The Problem of the Imperfect Judaeo-
• (00:11:14) - The Perfecteous Person
• (00:15:23) - The Perfecteous vs The Imperfect
• (00:17:30) - The Life of Men of Ascent
• (00:21:37) - The Complete Righteous Man
• (00:22:32) - The Life of the Men of Ascension

This podcast episode explores the profound inner conflict described in Chapter 9 of Tanya, focusing on the battle between an individual's two souls: the animal soul and the divine soul. The animal soul, rooted in mundane desires like lust and anger, primarily resides in the left ventricle of the heart, from where its passions spread throughout the body, even influencing the brain to scheme for their fulfillment. In contrast, the divine soul's abode is in the brain, the seat of intellect, extending also to the right ventricle of the heart, inspiring holy emotions like fiery love and awe for G-d. The text likens the body to a "small city" where these two souls, like warring kings, vie for exclusive control over its organs, thoughts, speech, and actions. The divine soul's ultimate desire is to permeate the entire being, guiding all faculties and actions towards spiritual service, and crucially, to transform the animal soul's negative impulses into a sublime love for G-d, thereby dedicating all of one's inner being to divine service. Surprisingly, the animal soul's opposition is depicted as being for the individual's benefit, providing the necessary challenge for spiritual growth and victory.

• (00:00:00) - The Divine Soul: A Deep Dive
• (00:01:31) - The Animal Soul and the Divine Soul
• (00:04:54) - The Divine Soul and Its Emotions
• (00:10:02) - The Divine Love of the Animal Soul
• (00:14:37) - A Divine Soul: The Search for Meaning
• (00:15:43) - The Power of Intro Struggle
• (00:16:37) - A Deep Dive Into The Inner Battlefield

This podcast episode explores the spiritual roots of different aspects of life, particularly the distinction between things that are permissible and those that are forbidden. It explains that forbidden actions and substances are inherently "bound". Even if consumed or done unknowingly and with the intention of serving the Creator, their vital energy cannot ascend to holiness. This inability to ascend is because their energy is held captive by entirely unclean spiritual forces. This applies even to prohibitions established by religious authorities, as illustrated by a story where unknowingly consuming something forbidden by such a decree led to spiritual doubt. The desire for forbidden things is associated with an impulse stemming from these same unclean spiritual sources. In contrast, permissible things and actions, as discussed in previous parts of this source, originate from an intermediate spiritual category that contains a mixture of good and evil. The impulse for permissible things, even when driven by simple desire, is linked to this intermediate source, allowing for potential spiritual elevation. The spiritual consequence of permissible actions depends on intent: if done for the sake of the Creator, their vital energy is elevated to sanctity (as discussed previously), but if done solely for physical pleasure, the energy is degraded (as discussed previously). However, unlike forbidden acts, this degraded energy from permissible actions can be released and elevated through repentance. Nevertheless, a residual trace of impurity from enjoying mundane, permissible things remains attached to the body. This lingering impurity necessitates a purification process for the body after death, known as the "Purgatory of the Grave," unless an individual completely avoided worldly enjoyment throughout their life. The episode also discusses rectification for inappropriate speech and thought: idle chatter, even if permissible for some, requires a spiritual cleansing process described as being "slung", whereas forbidden speech, originating from the deeply unclean sources, demands descent into a more severe form of spiritual cleansing. Furthermore, neglecting sacred study by engaging in other activities, including non-sacred intellectual disciplines, incurs significant penalties. The impurity associated with non-sacred intellectual disciplines is considered more severe than idle speech as it contaminates the intellectual faculties of the soul, unless these studies are pursued for the purpose of serving the Creator or aiding in the understanding of sacred texts. As noted in our conversation history, elevating the vital energy from forbidden acts typically requires a profound form of repentance stemming from deep love for the Creator, with an exception for a specific grave act which can be rectified differently through true repentance and focused devotion during prayer. Our conversation history also noted that certain forbidden relations resulting in physical offspring create a spiritual entanglement that cannot be fully rectified even by profound repentance.

• (00:00:00) - Sources of the Soul: The Hidden Spiritual Dynamics of Everyday Actions
• (00:02:03) - The Bound Vitality of Persecuted Foods
• (00:09:17) - Jewish Cravings for Permissible Things
• (00:15:00) - The Spiritual Hierarchy of Speech
• (00:21:31) - Intellectual Disciplines of the Nations
• (00:29:25) - The Source: The Hidden Spiritual Life

This podcast episode explores the spiritual source of the animal soul and permissible, mundane aspects of existence, explaining that they originate from a spiritual category sometimes called "Shell that shines," which contains a mixture of good and evil. Unlike truly forbidden things which come from entirely unclean sources, permissible actions, words, and thoughts that are not performed with the specific intention of serving the Creator are also connected to this category. The key factor determining the spiritual fate of these permissible things and actions is the individual's intent: if they are done for the sake of the Creator, their vital spiritual energy is elevated to holiness, but if done solely for bodily pleasure or desire, this energy can be degraded and absorbed into lower, unclean levels. The discussion contrasts this with forbidden acts, whose vital energy is fundamentally bound to the entirely unclean sources and typically cannot be fully elevated except through a powerful form of repentance stemming from deep love for the Creator, which can transform past wrongs into merits. However, an exception is noted for the sin of wasteful emission, which, while grave, can be rectified and its vital energy elevated through true repentance and focused devotion during a specific prayer, because it does not involve the same depth of absorption into the unclean levels characteristic of other forbidden acts. The consequence of certain forbidden relations resulting in offspring is highlighted as creating a challenge that even profound repentance cannot fully rectify, as the vital energy has become embodied in a physical being.

• (00:00:00) - Deep Dive: The Source of Spiritual Life
• (00:01:59) - The Holy Spirit: Shell That Shines
• (00:06:35) - The Soul's "Shell That Shines"
• (00:09:17) - The Real Meaning of Permissible Acts
• (00:13:45) - The Problem of Permissible Things
• (00:18:35) - The Problem of Personal Reparation
• (00:22:05) - What is Repentance Out of Love?
• (00:26:00) - Wasteful Emission: A Sin Different from Other Sexual Acts
• (00:29:56) - Why Even the Most Powerful Reparation Fall Short

This episode explores the nature of the animal soul, explaining its complete parallelism to the divine soul in having ten powers—three intellectual and seven emotional—and three forms of expression through thought, speech, and action. However, the animal soul's core substance is spiritual impurity, acting as a "shell" that conceals the divine life force within creation. This concealing force is categorized into two types: one that contains some good, providing vitality to permitted physical objects which can then be elevated or degraded, and another, wholly evil, that sustains forbidden objects and cannot be transformed into holiness. The animal soul, deriving from the former category of concealment, possesses intellectual powers (wisdom, understanding, and knowledge) that serve as the source of its evil emotional traits, such as lust, anger, and boastfulness, by shaping and directing these desires. Furthermore, the animal soul "clothes" itself in "impure garments": these are defined as any thoughts, words, or actions not directed towards the Divine and its service, even if not overtly sinful. Unlike the divine soul's actions which elevate it, these mundane activities ultimately degrade the animal soul. The episode concludes by explaining that this physical world is referred to as a "world of concealment" because its inhabitants often perceive themselves as separate and independent from the Divine, receiving their life force through numerous spiritual contractions and diminutions, leaving the divine vitality in a state of "exile" within existence.

• (00:00:00) - The Push and Pull of Our Souls
• (00:01:00) - Deep Dive: The Animal Soul
• (00:02:39) - The Divine Soul and Its Animal Sister
• (00:08:00) - Crucified Forces of Imposition and Concealing
• (00:13:06) - The Three Holy, Impaure Forces
• (00:18:51) - The 10 Faculties of the Animal Soul
• (00:19:38) - Anatomy 5, The Animal Soul
• (00:23:34) - The Sacrificial Clothing of the Animal Soul
• (00:28:03) - What is Holiness According to the Source? Surrender to the
• (00:35:14) - The World of Contempt
• (00:42:09) - The Animal Soul's Disguises
• (00:51:09) - A Deep Dive Into The Animal Soul