Sneak a Peek @ the book Kabbalah for the Student

The Spiritual Ladder

The wisdom of Kabbalah is divided into two parallel orders, which are identical like two drops in a pond. The only difference between them is that the first order extends from Above downwards, to this world, and the second order traverses from below upwards, precisely by the same routes and make-ups imprinted at the root when they appeared from Above downwards. …

A revelation of Godliness does not appear at once, but gradually, over a period of time, depending on the cleansing of the attaining, until one discovers all the degrees from Above downwards. And because they come in an order of attainment, one after the other and one above the other, as do rungs of a ladder, they are called "degrees" (steps).

Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah