The Practical Tanya Part Two - Gateway to Unity and Faith

The universe, we are told, only exists by virtue of (Divine/Hebrew) language, which means: language is reality and existence is convention.

The core error of the heretics is thinking in human terms about G-d. They impose certain features of human creative work on the Divine, and come to mistaken conclusions.

וְאַף הַשָּׂגַת מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ עָלָיו הַשָּׁלוֹם בִּנְבוּאָתוֹ — And even what Moses, of blessed memory, grasped through his prophecy, לֹא הָיְתָה בְּעוֹלַם הָאֲצִילוּת אֶלָּא עַל יְדֵי הִתְלַבְּשׁוּתוֹ בְּעוֹלַם הַבְּרִיאָה — was not a direct vision of the World of Atzilus (Emanation), but seen through the filtering of the World of Beriah (Creation).

וְהִנֵּה שֵׁם אֱלֹהִים הוּא שֵׁם מִדַּת הַגְּבוּרָה וְהַצִּמְצוּם — Now the Divine name Elokim represents G-d’s attribute of gevurah and power of diminishment, Note: Diminishment can also be a power

If you were invited to give a twenty-minute talk summarizing five years of your research findings to a lay audience, you would have to significantly “diminish” your understanding of the topic. But you don’t actually become dumber through the process, you simply “diminish” the ideas for your audience. In a similar way, G-d’s “diminishment” is only from our perspective (“the audience”). Even after G-d’s light is dimmed and hidden through His power of gevurah, from His perspective, it is as if nothing has happened.

וּבְכָל מַחֲשָׁבָה שֶׁבָּעוֹלָם מְלוּבֶּשֶׁת בָּהּ אֵיזוֹ מִדָּה הַמְּבִיאָהּ לַחֲשׁוֹב מַחֲשָׁבָה זוֹ — Any thought that occurs is fueled by an emotional energy from the soul which causes you to think that thought, וּמִדָּה זוֹ הִיא חַיּוּתָהּ שֶׁל מַחֲשָׁבָה זוֹ — and that emotional energy powers the thought.

חָכְמָה וָשֵׂכֶל — It’s inappropriate to praise G-d’s transcendence of chochmah as something that humans can’t comprehend, since “comprehension” refers to something already in the realm of wisdom and intellect, לוֹמַר שֶׁאֶפְשָׁר לְהַשִּׂיגוֹ — and once something is in the realm of the intellect, we can say either that it’s possible to comprehend it, אוֹ אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהַשִּׂיגוֹ מִפְּנֵי עוֹמֶק הַמּוּשָּׂג — or that it’s impossible to comprehend it, because it’s too profound. אֲבָל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא שֶׁהוּא לְמַעְלָה מִן הַשֵּׂכֶל וְהַחָכְמָה — But in reference to G-d, who transcends the realm of intellect and wisdom, לֹא שַׁיָּיךְ כְּלָל לוֹמַר בּוֹ שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהַשִּׂיגוֹ מִפְּנֵי עוֹמֶק הַמּוּשָּׂג — you can’t say of Him that, “He’s too deep a concept to be understood,” כִּי אֵינוֹ בִּבְחִינַת הַשָּׂגָה כְּלָל — because He’s not something which can at all be grasped with intellect to begin with.

True unity means that each of G-d’s attributes contains all the others. When one attribute is at work you can always discern the others in the background

If, over a period of time, you contemplate the idea that G-d creates the world constantly and that the universe enjoys no independent existence, after a while, that becomes your truth, your reference point with which you interpret sensory information. You will still see a physical world, but you will have trained yourself to not be deceived by its illusion.

In the Kabbalah, each energy/attribute (sefirah) contains a little of all the other energies, even opposing ones. G-d did this to make the universe viable, otherwise the energies would end up destroying each other. ... This, the Tanya asserts, is a “self-evident” fact. It is impossible that G-d’s kindness (chesed) could be devoid of discipline, or that G-d’s might (gevurah) would be devoid of compassion.