“Up and Down the Mountain” p: 54

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 54 9/6/11 Tuesday 7 Elul 5771  

Page 54 – lower third of the page – 3 lines from the end of the page – line starts, 'kuli...'

one way to relate to the difference between thought and speech and the worlds of briah and yetzirah, is to think of a man standing on a mountain viewing the vista – this is like chochmah – at that moment he's part of the sight, without forming a description – this is like the sechel itself. If at the same time he is talking in a cell phone and describing what he sees, then he would be describing on the basis of what he observes. It is hardly understandable to someone else. This is like the 'letters of thought'. There are letters but they are based on the actual reality of the sechel.

A lower stage would be when h comes down the mountain and describes what he had seen. He has 'a mental record of what he saw' and he describes it – this is like the 'letters of speech'. Here the content is not the 'actual experience' – but a description of it.

When someone sees a wonder, the Grand Canyon or the Empire State building, he doesn't work with descriptions. He has a true, intellectual and emotional experience on the level of 'what wonders has He put in his world'. This original stage is not, 'what am I seeing and how did it come to be?' rather it is an experience above thought – 'he's part of the sight'.

The artist is struck by a view/image and is compelled to render it onto canvas. He's not doing it as a exhibition of his skills. It is not his skills, but his insight that prompts him to paint.

Briah is about creation – a real novelty – not the revelation of something already existing. In briah the novelty is the letters of thought.