King in Your Livingroom p: 51

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 51 5/23/2011 Monday 19 Iyar 5771 

Page 51 – lower than the middle of the page (line starts: haray ha ohr... )

We have been looking at how light, even that light,which represents the etzem is at a lower level than essence, since it is not essence itself.

We have said the light is everywhere and this is different to how the essence is everywhere. 

The light of the essences is the light that represents the essential nature of the essence. Sight is not about the functional element of seeing, but about relating to the object in its purity – to see it as it is, rather than 'the way I see it'. So the light is revealing the essence, but this does not compare to the essence itself. 

There is a difference between 'light reaches everywhere' and the 'essence is everywhere'. It is everywhere due to the truth of its metziut.

In the Rambam say, 'from the truth of His presence, everything that exists came forth...' and later he says, 'the Lord our G-d is true – He alone is true and there is no truth like His' – this is not the truth due to manifesting in the world, but the essence itself.

The role of chochmah is to find His presence, His truth in everything – this is already the level of ohr/light.

His truth is more fundamental than that – it is present eveywhere, not because it extends there, but because it is present everywhere.

Before we had ha-arah/reflection that was a functional light, and above that the essential light. Here we are saying that this essential light is 'functional' in contrast to the essence itself.

Think of a king. 'Kingship/malchus' is a reflection of the king. And each individual has a aspect of this faculty – each is a king in a limited way... In his home a man is a 'king' – this extends to even the unused space... no-one may enter without his permission. The man may be asleep. He's not everywhere. But some aspect of his presence is recognized everywhere – this is his malchus/kingship element.

Because he is a true presence, hence there is ownership of property. He can own the home and you cannot enter into that domain. That is the reality to the human being. The essence (that man is a true presence) is much higher than the reflection of this essence (the extension of his domain). If he had 'made himself', he wouldn't have this quality. One has the element of ownership only because Hashem made him and he has a true presence in the world.