AyinBase / Ayin Beis with
R' Paltiel 15 Kislev 5775 (Today's Extra: See poem and original artwork below)
Page 72(15)
Near
top of the page – about 7th
line –
(line
begins: 'be-etzem...') For text see below.
The Rebbe is
explaining that although there is a process that allows us to get to
know that which is above being dressed in the world... it is
applicable only in the 'spreading light' and not in the 'essence of
the light'.
There are things we
sense that defy understanding.
Essence can be
recognized, but never understood.
The light as dressed
in vessels can be understood.
We can understand
that part of the human being that comes to expression. And we can
recognize a reality in a human being that is beyond understanding.
In essence there is
no 'knowing', since 'knowing' is applicable only to that which has
limits.
The world may claim
that the human being comes from a monkey. But ask any man, “do
you really think you came from a monkey?” and you will find none
that answers in the affirmative, even though he may have long given
up in identifying in what a human being is in a positive way... this
is like negative knowledge, he does not know what a human being is in
a positive way, but he says he is not an animal.
We have been robbed
of our initial truth. We have been taught not to trust our initial
truth... The simple truth of man and the world is that they don't
exist, except for the fact that they are created, yet for us it is a
whole struggle to sense this. You have to rise to chochmah and
extricate yourself from physical constraint, but in essence our
simple truth is chochmah/wisdom, which tells you, “you and this
world are the ongoing creation of the King.”
We see it and refuse
to accept it.
 |
| Detail from a Persian Minature done by Yitzchak Bloom, using charcoal |
Chochma is a faculty
of the soul. It cannot be perverted. It sees the world and sees it
is His palace – a reality. A tree grows because it is part of the
whole reality, not due to a struggle to survive... Chochmah sees
this is a creation and thus everything has its place and mission.
This chochmah, as
pure as it is can only perceive hispashtus ha-or (the spreading
light) and not the essence of light.
The way out: reflect
on this, 'everything is where it should be, where it is to fulfill a
Godly mission. Things are where they belong... so too with the
natural forces. This is a first step in extricating one self from
chochmah chitzonius (superficial mind).
Here's a short poem written and read by Yitzchak Bloom, with preliminary comments by Shmuel Graybar:
And here's the text of the poem...
THE PHYSICAL HAS BLINDED US
The physical has blinded us
To what behind it really lies
For, faced with what is obvious,
We only see what meets the eyes
But miss the fact that there is more
Than meets the eyes; it lies behind
The surface—what its face is for,
So as to seek what’s deep to find.
