Part 2 · Chapter 19

Ten Powers of the Soul Explained 0:00

ולהבין יתר מי' כחות הנפש, but we'll understand it better from the from a משל in ourself, from the ten powers of the soul. והנה ידוע ענין העלם וגילוי אינו כהתפשטות כח מן העצם. That העלם and גילוי are not the same as התפשטות from an עצם. כמו כח הפועל שמתפשט בפעולה, like when you throw something. שזהו מחוץ כח העצם שנקרא עיוא ועול. When you throw something, you actually expend effort, you put actually energy into what you're doing.

אלא כמו בחינת זיו ואור של העצם, but rather it's like or like the the זיו and the אור of the of the עצם, כהארת זיו אור השמש, וכחיות אור הנפש בכלי הגוף, כשחוק וככח השכל כהאי גוונא. ויתר דימיון אמיתי לגילוי העלם הוא כמו גילוי התנועה מן החי, כעס, מחשבה, אותיות הדיבור כהאי גוונא.

So these are all משלים. The ענין of עצם והתפשטות, there's like there's like when you throw something, there's like light coming out from the sun,

and the חיות of the גוף coming into the גוף, well, really in everything there's like an ענין of עצם התפשטות and גילוי והעלם. He explains before that there's four משלים for עצם that are the משלים for עצם והתפשטות.

Four Analogies: Light, Candle, Soul, Motion 1:29

There's the light of the sun, the light of a candle, the way the soul comes into the body, and like the כח התנועה when you're throwing something. That when you throw something, you actually put in energy into it.

That's the same thing like a a candle, that it actually the the fire actually burns up the something from the candle and it's actually giving off that light is actually something coming off. And the same thing, the light of the sun is actually it's actually an עצם, that the light is actually a something, it's a יש that's coming out. The ענין of גילוי והעלם means that it's not it's not that that you're not being given something, it's just a question of how much you're that like the the עצם is there, and however much you're able to appreciate what's there, that's how much you'll see it.

So this is like the in within the חיות the חיות of the גוף, there's two things. Like when a person is exercising, so when they use energy, the energy that they give off into the thing that they're throwing is עצם והתפשטות, they're actually expending energy. But what that, but then afterwards from they become stronger. Why do they become stronger? Because their body becomes a better vessel for their soul, becomes a it becomes more refined, in other words, it's more efficient.

So then it's able to express the the soul's power better. So it's just being מגלה, though really the soul has the same abilities, just now the body is able to be מגלה more of it.

There's also this ענין in the אור of the עצם, the the the זיו and the אור of the שמש. In other words, the actual light that comes off is עצם והתפשטות. But the way that it's מגלה to you the sun, that from the light you're able to, in other words, like if you see light coming through your window and you don't, but it it just makes your room light, so there you're seeing an עצם והתפשטות, you're just seeing the light as it is separate from the sun.

But if you look through the window, then like the light disappears and you see the sun. In other words, you just see the form of the sun, that the light is just being מגלה to you what's there.

So that's a גילוי והעלם. When you're looking, if you look through the window, it's גילוי והעלם. If it's just making the light bright, then it's עצם והתפשטות. There's there's both going on. The same thing with the חיות in the אור הנפש and the כלי הגוף, that the each the כח of like a consciousness, when it goes into the eye, the eye is a vessel that allows it to see.

And so therefore the only the the really the עצם הנפש is a simple is a simple essence. The eye only reveals allows it to reveal one aspect, it only allows it to reveal sight. And the ear only allows it to reveal, it's only a כלי to reveal and express hearing.

And in general the body, if the body is a healthy body, then it will express, it'll be able to express the soul well. So the ענין of גילוי והעלם is that the better that the vessel is, the more אור it gets. But it's not that the soul is actually giving more, it's just like this is it's just that it's able to receive it better, it's a it's able to be more transparent to it.

Or like כשחוק וככח השכל, that the real כח השכל, like I mean like even when a teacher is explaining somebody something, All the teacher's really doing is helping them to see something that's already, like to look in the right way so they'll they'll see something that's already there. And they're also the ענין that when you study, really all you're doing is you're setting yourself up to perceive.

Study as Preparation for Perception 5:09

You really have the this ענין that the baby is taught the whole תורה before it's born is that you really have a perception of the truth already in your this ענין of כח המשכיל means that you really perceive the whole truth.

And that's the ענין that you're taught like the whole תורה. Thing is that you're not you don't see how it applies in this situation. In order to see how it applies, you have to do עיון and study, and then you'll be able to see how this inner perception of the truth will be able to be מגלה in your brain in this instance. And the more that you refine your brain, the more it comes in.

Yeah, so that's a גילוי העלם. The actual, like photons that come out from the sun are an עצם. It's an actual התפשטות. It's actually something that's that's being In other words, that that it was in the sun and now it's not in the sun, now it's here. It's actually like losing something. That's a physical, it's a it's a, you know, a שפע. It's not really an אור, it's really a שפע.

But the the form that it has is not The the fact that the that that the the photons are, like, able they're ready to accept whatever form, so whatever they hit they'll bounce off it and and show you when you your eye when it hits your eye you'll see the thing, that's a גילוי העלם. That that that's really what's called אור in חסידות, is not the actual physical light, but the גילוי of the thing.

That's the actual אור. So right. So here now he's we're explaining the ענין of גילוי העלם, and this is the this is the main thing he's trying to explain here.

These are all different משלים to the ענין of גילוי העלם. The idea of we'll see soon the main, he's going to explain soon the main idea of גילוי העלם. והציור דמיון אמיתי לגילוי העלם הוא כמו גילוי התנועה מן החי כאותיות שמחשבה.

So he says, so he said a few משלים for it. Although some of those משלים are also used for עצם התפשטות, but a little, but it's a different the same the same subject is used, different aspects of it are used for a משל for both. Like the ענין of the אור, one aspect of it is used for a משל for עצם התפשטות, and one is a משל for גילוי העלם, same with the soul, like we're going to talk about.

Like it was he talked he talks about it earlier a little bit. And then it's explained at length in different places like the the מאמר שכר אותך in the סידור, ר' הלל explains it here based on that in his פירוש. There's a I think there's a quite a number of מאמרים about it in the beginning of ע"ב, which are based on the explanation in אמרי בינה about the difference.

So, and I mean if you get more particular, then there's like there's עצם התפשטות and when רוחני and גשמי, and then there's גילוי העלם. There's there's all these different there's התלבשות. I mean there's all these different particular things within those two general categories. But and each of those, the reason why like it goes into explaining those the difference between all those things in חסידות is because different parts of the השתלשלות are the relationships that are represented by different parts of the השתלשלות correspond to those different things.

So in order to properly understand the whole השתלשלות, you have to understand all of them. So right, so והציור דמיון אמיתי לגילוי העלם הוא כמו גילוי התנועה מן החי is like the גילוי התנועה מן החי, in other words, that when something is moving, that shows you that it's alive. So you're not seeing the actual life, but everybody knows, like even a vulture knows that when somebody stops moving, it's dead, and if it's moving, it's not dead.

But you're not actually seeing a soul thing, you're seeing a physical movement. You could, well you know, put wires up to it and give it electrical shocks and it would make it move, but it's not alive. The thing of of being alive is just revealed through the fact it's move, it's just like a סימן. That's the idea. וכאותיות שמחשבה ואותיות הדיבור, like when you talk, that that your אותיות הדיבור reveal what you're thinking.

But you're not actually, though the sounds are not actually the thought itself, it's just revealing the thought. It's once you learn the language, you know that this word means that. And so if the guy said, just giving you directions and he says, "Go three blocks and make a left at the light," you know what he means, even though the words In other words, when as soon as he you hear those sounds, you immediately conjure a picture, a mental picture.

What, what all you really got was sounds. I mean, if, like if you would hear those sounds in another language, you would have no idea what it was. Because the sounds don't have any essential connection to the thing that they're revealing.

And that's the basic idea here that we're trying to explain. וכל זה יותר אמיתי מדמיון שלהבת הקשורה בהעלם בגחלת.

Coal Fire Analogy for Hidden Light 10:21

And all of these are more a better משל than the fire that's inside the coal. שאף על פי שבגחלת היה שלהבת בהעלם, even though in the coal the fire was hidden, and when you blow on it it's revealed. אבל הרי על כל פנים מכח החום שבגחלת יצאה שלהבת, but there's actually the the coal's actually on fire, and there actually is like, even though it's not really a flame, it's just like a hot burning, it's like a thing going on, but but in order to actually make a flame, the flame happens when like the gas that's released from the chemical reaction of burning gets, becomes hot, it becomes ionized, and it makes the flame, and then it gives off light.

But it's actually like there's actually a direct connection. It's actually like a in a way, עצם התפשטות kind of, from the fire, because the fire is actually what's giving off the heat, and it's just that the the light of the flame, the fact that the flame gives off light, lets you know that something is on fire. The light is not the actual fire. That's the, so that's the גילוי העלם part of it, is that when you see a light, you know, like they say, when there's smoke there's fire, it's a similar thing.

When there's when you see a flame, you know that that's that it's hot, that there's a, it's it's burning. But really, and but really the light is not the actual process of burning itself. Like you can have, like rust is the same thing as as fire, it's just going very slowly.

And like an explosion is also the same thing, it's just going very quickly. So if it goes quick enough, it makes a flame, it makes light.