“Something that Begins Without a Beginning” p: 50

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 50 8/4/11 Thursday 4 MenachemAv 5771  

Page 50 – about middle of the page (de-uz...)

We are just below the middle of the page.

We are saying that essence cannot serve as a makor/source. To be a source it has to have elements that can exist outside the source. Essence is only in Elokus/G-dliness. A presence, without a presence. Essence has no source and no function. How do we even talk of essence, when we have no real examples. World does not consist of essence.

In the worldly perception there is always the question, 'where did it come from? Why is it there?' Nothing is there without a cause, since in the world per se truth is not found. But even so we know, because our soul knows and our Torah tells us – 'He made the world' and nothing triggered it. This is a G-dly decision. He would not have been missing anything, had He not decided to create the world. The soul is a reality – eternal. And so we are exposed, to recognize that there is such thing as an essence. Something that begins without a beginning. The way we relate to that is by the word 'truth'.

Evil has a cause. Good doesn't need an explanation. 

Makor means that when one learns there is something that demands that it further develop into midot/emotions and action.

When we learn, 'In the beginning He made heaven and earth...' the knowledge leads to consequences. It triggers a realization. When do we truly recognize that He made the world? When it is manifest in our actions. But atzmi / essence is reality unto itself.

The soul is the extension of etzem/essence.

Everything, but torah and souls are not essence. This is what opens our minds to the concept of truth, since you cannot, 'wrap your mind around truth'. Essence/atzmus is the source for worlds. Souls are an extension of Essence.

What allows us to relate to concepts that are beyond conceptualization, is that in this precarious world there is a reflection of its Creator. In the concept of world it is real – breathing is life itself, yet we are not aware of the activity – life is steady, not in and out. How can anything in the world be steady? The answer is like emunah/faith – the hands of Moses were held up. We are held up. The air pressure puts the air into our lungs. We are 'in life' we are 'part of life'. So here in the world, and its structures, this is like an essence.

The breathing (and all in the world) is a mashal/metaphor for a G-dly aspect, at higher and higher levels...

The fish in the water are entities, but not independent. They are part of the water, yet separate creations. A fish cannot exist outside the water. For immersion, fish create no separation. So too for us, real life is when we breathe in the atmosphere – part of the life element.