“The Choice is Formulated from Within” p: 69

AyinBase with R' Paltiel ThursdayNight 6 Nissan 5772  

Page 69 – 5 lines from the top line of the page (line starts, 'hi...') For text, see link top right of the blog. Or for text right click here.

Two aspects of choice/bechirah. One is the concept and the other is the significance. We're struggling and we'll be rewarded with a realization. We will identify the realization from this discussion. The 2 aspects are interrelated.

The concept/haskalah: choice/behirah seems common, but when we look closely it is elusive and contradictory.

The choice is not to fill a gap. That is not real choice. The bechirah/choice is thus only and no other way. Otherwise it is not choice. So our perception that we choose something to fill a gap is incorrect. If we choose to fill a lacking than anything would do so long as it fills the gap. It would not be a case of, 'it is impossible to exchange then for another nation'!

It is thus and no other way. And this means not a choice for the sake of filling a need. It is choice/bechira that does not relate to fulfilling a need. The concept of bechirah/choice does not exist on a worldly level. In the world anything you choose has a 'need element' behind it. It has the inescapable element of cause and effect. In the world there is no such thing as wanting something, purely for its own sake, and this means the element of choice/bechira does not exist in the world.  

We think into a different context. The situation of Atzmus/Essence. Essence is not compelled by anything. It is not grasped by anything. It has no concept of 'filling a gap'. The choice is formulated from within.

This means there will only be one choice. Essence has no external causes and needs. So if Essence chooses it has to be exclusive. The cause for the choice is one thing and unchanging.

The choice is one.

Take our own realm. We have a table in the house. We eat a meal there. It serves other functions. Depending on the context. It has many purposes. This is selecting the table for your house. It is not the real principle of choice.

The Rebbe says, 'He chooses, what is his inner and essential will and pleasure. He wants what he is. And the cause of the choice is that they are His inner pleasure and will'. This is to say there is no other reason for choosing. He doesn't want anything.

'I'm trying to get in touch with myself' means, 'I am fed-up with being a liar'!

He chooses us and we choose Him. We have an essential quality and choose Him.

We are understanding something that is not understandable. And there is something to be gained.  

On Purim night I asked the boys, 'what would be if the world would be destroyed?' and they said, 'well if none are hurt, then it wouldn't be a problem'. And it is a valid point of view – from a worldly perspective there is nothing there... But take it one step further and you reverse the perception. The question is not viable. The question is valid if you look at the world as self substantiating. But the world exists only on His G-dly input. If we recognize the world for what it truly is, then this question could not possibly arise. Only superficiality of the world can be destroyed – scientists confirm that matter cannot be destroyed, only its form altered.  

Coming back to our p0int, this means there is an essential truth in the world. Not something owned by the world, but something that He provides.

Take the metaphor of being a guest and sitting at the table of the host. Just like the meal is worthless without the presence of the host, so too it is His presence in the world that makes it real.

The reality of the world is not what we see, but what is presented to us.

The sun is like the burning bush – it burns and is not consumed. It is His presence that allows for this. You see not the sun, but His presence.

Our sun is not based on the physical entity. Our sun is not like other stars. We don't perceive any change in the sun – the point is that there is an essential reality in the world.

And our point is how does the world get such a reality. The reality comes form him choosing himself. He's not just maintaining the world, that would be a miracle, it is deeper than that. Why does he maintain the world? Because he is choosing himself.

In the beginning Adam was given a light that enabled him 'to see from one end of the world to the other'. Even if you have the stongest light today you cannot see too far, objects deflect light and you cannot see through or beyond objects. So how did he see around the world?! Light and sight have a special quality. What is special? In every other sense you need direct contact to know its there, and thus you knowledge is functional – based on the objects effect on you. In darkness you don't know the reality of things, just how they affect you.

Sight provides a sense of reality. Knowing not because it affects you, but because it is really there. This is based on your inner sense of the G-dly reality. This is why sight and chochmah/wisdom correlate.

This is real light – the light that reveals the G-dly presence in the world – nothing can obstruct it – you see the G-dliness in everything. G-d stored this light away and presented us with a sun that gives us a 'natural' light. However even though it is now 'in a physical context', there is still a miraculous element – we don't see the sun burning up... we see infinity in a qualified way.

We are saying there is an essential reality in the world. This is not a worldly reality. This is a G-dly reality – camouflaged.