והנה מדות אלו, הן בחינות חיצוניות שבנפש

Now, these emotive attributes — those involved in imparting enlightenment, and the like — are the external aspects of the soul.

ובתוכן מלובשות מדות פנימיות

Within them are vested the inner attributes, which bring about the external attributes involved in the actual imparting of knowledge,

שהן בחינות אהבה ויראה כו׳

i.e., the faculties of love and awe, and so on.

דהיינו, על דרך משל, באב המשפיע לבנו מחמת אהבתו

This may be compared to the case of a father who bestows enlightenment upon his son because of his love for him,

The internal aspect of the attribute involved is love and its external aspect is kindness.

ומונע השפעתו מפחדו ויראתו שלא יבא לידי מכשול, חס ושלום

and withholds his influence because of his dread and fear lest [his son] come to some downfall, heaven forfend.

The father’s fear and dread are thus the internal aspect of his Gevurah, the attribute that completely or partially witholds the flow of instruction.

The remaining emotive attributes are all offshoots of love and fear (as explained in Part I, ch. 3, above), and accordingly they too possess internal and external aspects.

* * *

Having dealt with the middot, the seven emotive attributes of the soul, the Alter Rebbe now proceeds to discuss the intellective attributes which give birth to them.

ומקור ושרש מדות אלו, הפנימיות והחיצוניות

The source and root of these internal and external emotive attributes,

הוא מחב״ד שבנפשו

is the ChaBaD — an acronym for the intellectual faculties of Chochmah, Binah and Daat — of one’s soul,

כי לפי שכל האדם, כך הן מדותיו

for a person’s emotive traits are in proportion to his intellect.

כנראה בחוש, שהקטן, שהחב״ד שלו הן בבחינת קטנות, כך כל מדותיו הן בדברים קטני הערך

This is empirically evident; with a child, for example, whose ChaBaD are in a state of pettiness, all his emotive traits, too, relate to insignificant things, and as he matures in age and understanding, his emotive traits correspondingly aspire to worthier goals.

וגם בגדולים, לפי שכלו יהולל איש

With adults, too, the emotive traits develop in proportion to the intellect, for49 “According to his intelligence is a man praised.”

Since the term “man” (איש) is an appelative for the emotive traits (cf. the verse,50 “As is a man, so is his Gevurah”), the previously-quoted verse is teaching us that a person’s emotive traits are praiseworthy in proportion to the stature of his ChaBaD.

כי לפי רוב חכמתו, כך הוא רוב אהבתו וחסדו

For the extent of his love and kindness corresponds to the extent of his wisdom,

וכן שאר כל מדותיו פנימיות וחיצוניות, מקורן הוא מחב״ד שבו

and all his other internal and external traits likewise have their source in his ChaBaD.

והעיקר הוא הדעת שבו, הנמשך מבחינת החכמה ובינה שבו

Most important to the development of the spiritual emotions is one’s Daat, which derives from one’s Chochmah and Binah.

A thinker first grasps the essence of a concept through the seminal flash of illumination afforded by his faculty of Chochmah; he next understands it fully by means of the analysis and amplification which are the function of his faculty of Binah; ultimately, he must immerse himself in concentration on the concept, binding and unifying himself with it to the point that — beyond mere intellective comprehension — he also senses and experiences it with his faculty of Daat.

It is this faculty that is critical to the development of his middot, such as the spiritual emotions of love and awe of G‑d, for Daat provides them with their substance and vitality, as explained in Part I, ch. 3.

כנראה בחוש, כי לפי שינוי דעות בני אדם זה מזה, כך הוא שינוי מדותיהם

This is readily observable, for the differences between the emotive traits of various people corresponds to the differences in their respective degrees of Daat.