“It is the Same Water, and Not the Same Water” p:174-175 AyinBase / Ayin Beis with R' Paltiel WednesdayNight 28 Kislev 5772 Fifth night of Channukah

Page 174/קעד

2 lines from end of the second paragraph of the page – (line starts, 'bebechinat...') For text, see picture below.

We looked at how the light becomes dressed into vessels...! In summary: light/ohr comes from an essence. It represents an essential truth, not a functional truth. The vessel is functional and is a functional truth... and the light does not lose its primary quality – that it is light and thus essential.

The body does not perceive the truths that the soul sees, but it perceives physicality in a true manner... this is a living perception... this is enclothement... and yet the light keeps its essential quality.

Yet the light does change. It modifies itself according to the vessel...

The light presents its pure truth in different levels, depending on the level of the vessel, and even while changing it retains the essential level.

Think of water in a cup. This is to drink. Jumping into the lake is not drinking. This is the effect of the vessel. Water is not light, but you sense the difference between the lake (like an essential presence) and the usable state (cup). It is the same water, and not the same water. 

Light cannot be captured. Although it functions like the vessel, but still it does not change into the mehus of the vessel.

The light is not dependent on the circumstance of the vessel.

The Pardes gives an example of water that appears to have the color of the transparent vessel that holds it... picture water in a blue vase... the water appears to have that color. But the color is not acquired by the water. The water is unchanged. The water retains its simple non color. It just appears to have the color of the vessel. This seems simplistic. The water has a neutral color – it can assume any color without limiting it... 

The water presents itself as blue water. It remains itself. So too the experience we have in the world is a soul thing, which from a body perspective is just an appearance...