“Rewarded – I Will Hasten It, Not Rewarded – ‘In Its Time'”
-from Rav Ashlag – “On World Peace“

We must know that the above-mentioned law of development, which is spread over the whole of reality, is guaranteed to return all evil to good and useful acts through the power of the Government of Heaven Above, meaning without asking permission from the people who inhabit the earth. However, the Creator placed knowledge and authority in the hands of man and permitted him to accept the above-mentioned law of development under his own authority and government, and handed him the ability to hasten the process of development as he wishes, freely and completely independent of the boundaries of time.

It turns out that there are two authorities here, acting in the above-mentioned conduct of development: the one is the authority of Heaven, which is sure to turn anything harmful and evil to good and useful, but that will be in due time, in its own way, in a floundering manner and after a long time. And then there is the authority of the earth. And when the “evolving object” is a living being, it suffers horrendous torments while under the “press of development,” a press that carves its way ruthlessly.

The “authority of the earth,” however, is comprised of people who have taken this above-mentioned law of development under their own government and can free themselves entirely from the chains of time, and who greatly accelerate time, the completion of the ripeness and correction of the object, which is the end of its development.

Such are the words that our sages said (Sanhedrin 98) about the complete redemption and complete correction of Israel. And thus they clarified the verse “I the Lord will hasten it in its time” (Isaiah 60:22): Rewarded – I will hasten it, not rewarded – in its time.

Thus, if Israel are rewarded and take the law of development that their bad attributes must go through in order to invert them into good ones, they will bring it under their own government. In other words, they will set their minds and hearts to correct all the bad attributes in them and turn them into good ones by themselves. Then, “I will hasten it,” meaning they will be completely freed from the chains of time. And from now on, this end depends on their own will, meaning only by the greatness of the deed and the mindfulness. Thus, they hasten the end.

But if they are not rewarded with developing their bad attributes under their own authority, but leave it under the Authority of Heaven, they, too, are certain to attain the end of their redemption and the end of their correction. This is because there is complete certainty in the Government of Heaven, which operates by the law of gradual development, degree by degree, until it turns any evil and harmful to good and useful, as the fruit on a tree. The end is guaranteed, but in its time, meaning it is completely connected and dependent on time.

According to that law of gradual development, one must go through many degrees, which tend to come heavily and very slowly and lengthily, and stretch over a very long time before one reaches the end. And because the objects we are discussing are evolving, sensing, living beings, they, too, must suffer great agony and pains in those states of development, since the compelling force, which exists in those degrees in order to raise man from a lower degree to a Higher One, is but a pushing force of pain and torment that has accumulated in the lower degree and that can no longer be tolerated. Because of that, we must leave that degree and rise to a Higher One. It is as our sages said, “The Creator places over them a king whose sentences are as harsh as Haman’s, and Israel repent and reform.”

Therefore, the end is certain to come to Israel by the above-mentioned law of gradual development, and it is called “in its time,” meaning tied to the chains of time. And Israel’s guaranteed end, by taking the development of their attributes under their own authority is called, “I will hasten it,” meaning completely independent of time.

“Rewarded—I will hasten it,” meaning the path of Torah; “not rewarded—through suffering,” an evolutionary path that will finally lead everything to utter perfection. And concerning the path of Torah, that an ordinary person is given virtues by which he can make for himself vessels that are ready for it. And the vessels are made through the expansion of the Light and its departure.

A Kli (vessel) is specifically called “the will to receive.” This means that he is deficient of some thing. And “there is no Light without a Kli”; the Light must be caught in some Kli, so it would have a hold.

But an ordinary person cannot have desires for sublime things, since it is impossible to have a need before there is fulfillment, as it is written, “the expansion of the Light, etc..” For example, when a person has a thousand pounds, he is rich and content. However, if he subsequently earns more, up to five thousand pounds, and then loses until he is left with two thousand, he is then deficient. Now he has Kelim (vessels) for three thousand pounds, since he had already had it. Thus, he has actually been cancelled.

And there is a path of Torah for it. When one is accustomed to the path of Torah, to regret the scantiness of attainment, and every time he has some illuminations, and they are divided, they cause him to have more sorrow and more Kelim.

This is the meaning of every Kli needing Light, that it is not filled, that its Light is missing. Thus, every deficient place becomes a place for faith. Yet, were it filled, there would be no existence of a Kli, existence of a place for faith.

|||-Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Shamati (‘I heard“) #195, retrieved from kabbalah.info/