Chapter Three

[The Alter Rebbe has explained that the activating force of the Creator must constantly be vested within creation, ceaselessly recreating and reanimating created beings ex nihilo.

This force consists of the creative "letters" which emanate from the five supernal organs of verbal articulation].

Now, following these words of truth [concerning the nature of creation, namely, that the activating force must continually be vested in created beings and create them ex nihilo], every discerning person will understand clearly that every creature and being, [even though it appears to have an existence of its own], is in reality considered to be absolute naught and nothingness in relation to the activating force [which creates it] and the "breath of His mouth" which is within it, continuously calling it into existence and bringing it from absolute non-being into being.

[Since this function must be continuous, it follows that the creature's activating force is the true reality of its existence; the being itself bears no comparison to the activating force which is wholly responsible for its existence].

The reason that all things created and activated appear to us as existing [i.e., self-subsisting and tangible, and we fail to see the Divine activating source which is the true reality of any created being], is that we do not comprehend nor see with our physical eyes the power of G-d and the "breath of His mouth" which is in the created thing.

If, however, the eye were permitted to see and to comprehend the life- force and spirituality which is in every created thing, flowing into it from "that which proceeds from the mouth of G-d" [1] and "His breath," then the physicality, materiality and tangibility of the creature would not be seen by our eyes at all, for it [this physicality, etc.] is completely nullified in relation to the life- force and the spirituality which is within it since without the spirituality [within it] it would be naught and absolute nothingness, exactly as before the Six Days of Creation, [at which time the creature was utterly non-existent].

The spirituality that flows into it from "that which proceeds from the mouth of G-d" and "His breath," - that alone continuously brings it forth from naught and nullity into being, and [this spirituality] gives it existence.

Hence, there is truly nothing besides Him [in any created being, apart from the Divinity - the only true reality - that brings it into existence.

The created being does not constitute a true reality, inasmuch as it is wholly dependent for its existence on the continuous flow of Divine life-force. Indeed, its existence verily consists of that activating force.

The Alter Rebbe proceeds to demonstrate how this is true of creatures that appear to be tangible, by means of an illustration]:

   

Notes:

1. (Back to text) Devarim 8:3.