The Law of Root and Branch

Thus, there is not an element of reality, or an occurrence of reality in a lower world, that you will not find its likeness in the world Above it, as identical as two drops in a pond. And they are called “Root and Branch.” That means that the item in the lower world is deemed a branch of its pattern, found in the Higher World, being the root of the lower element, as this is where that item in the lower world was imprinted and made to be.

That was the intention of our sages when they said, “You haven’t a blade of grass below that has not a fortune and a guard above that strike it and tells it, ‘Grow’!” It follows that the root, called “fortune,” compels it to grow and assume its attribute in quantity and quality, as with the seal and the imprint. This is the law of Root and Branch, which applies to every detail and occurrence of reality, in every single world, in relation to the world Above it.

– Baal Hasulam, excerpt from “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”