The Gra builds on a concept of Reb Chaim Vital about the human soul.
The idea of the Gra is a person has נפש יסודית (or נפש בהמית) (animal soul) that desires physical pleasures. Also there is a רוח יסודית (animal spirit) that desires less physical kinds of pleasure like honor or social prestige. He says animal have both of these. That seems clear as we can see in many animals a social hierarchy--especially primates. It seems clear that the desire to be the alpha male or close to the Alpha male is by no means just a human trait. He then says that the holy soul נשמה (breath, neshama) desires Torah for its own sake. But he is hiding the idea there is a soul from the realm of evil.
That means one can have the first two levels of his body and soul from the realm of holiness and the third and highest level from the realm of evil. This explains a lot to me about experiences I have had with people who seemed to be keeping Torah, but had some very powerful spirit of evil by which they were able to seduce others and create followings and cults.
[To get the whole idea look at the Eitz Chaim of Reb Chaim Vital after Shaar Hanukvah. Excuse any mistakes here because I have not looked at the Eitz Chaim for many years. Mainly the idea of Reb Chaim Vital is there is the holy soul נפש השכלית, the unholy soul נפש הטמאה, and the soul attached to the body נפש היסודית. But take a look at the Eitz Chaim to get a clearer idea if this interests you. Roughly this corresponds to Ego, Id, super Ego. But not exactly, If we take for example the Id as Nietzsche understood it, then we certainly are not talking about the unholy soul but some deep levels of the soul that are really related to Kant's and Schopenhauer's Dinge An Sich. Thing in itself.]
The idea of the Gra is a person has נפש יסודית (or נפש בהמית) (animal soul) that desires physical pleasures. Also there is a רוח יסודית (animal spirit) that desires less physical kinds of pleasure like honor or social prestige. He says animal have both of these. That seems clear as we can see in many animals a social hierarchy--especially primates. It seems clear that the desire to be the alpha male or close to the Alpha male is by no means just a human trait. He then says that the holy soul נשמה (breath, neshama) desires Torah for its own sake. But he is hiding the idea there is a soul from the realm of evil.
That means one can have the first two levels of his body and soul from the realm of holiness and the third and highest level from the realm of evil. This explains a lot to me about experiences I have had with people who seemed to be keeping Torah, but had some very powerful spirit of evil by which they were able to seduce others and create followings and cults.
[To get the whole idea look at the Eitz Chaim of Reb Chaim Vital after Shaar Hanukvah. Excuse any mistakes here because I have not looked at the Eitz Chaim for many years. Mainly the idea of Reb Chaim Vital is there is the holy soul נפש השכלית, the unholy soul נפש הטמאה, and the soul attached to the body נפש היסודית. But take a look at the Eitz Chaim to get a clearer idea if this interests you. Roughly this corresponds to Ego, Id, super Ego. But not exactly, If we take for example the Id as Nietzsche understood it, then we certainly are not talking about the unholy soul but some deep levels of the soul that are really related to Kant's and Schopenhauer's Dinge An Sich. Thing in itself.]
