As always, this writing is a work in progress.


In the previous shiur we have the following;

“Our consciousness of reality is inextricably bound to limits/Hagboles. Consciousness and awareness is all about defining reality, which means realizing its limits. So it would seem that we shouldn’t be able to conceptualize other than limits. Yet there is one step further that we can go, namely, theorizing about negating these limits. Maybe we cannot conceptualize it, but we can theorize about taking away the limits of everything and anything. That is presumably the closest we can get to the "beyond".

In Sum;This Unfathomable Beyond gets expressed at our level by the term Ein Sof. That is the ultimate we can go on a conceptual level. We may phrase this as follows;The Beyond as it enters/shines into our conceptual framework is concieved as Ein Sof”



From the above paragraphs it would seem that we can logically assume that in the realm of Hagbalah we can identify the Ein Sof.

Yet, how can we really go outside of Hagboleh? Isn’t it contradictory to say that a mugbal goes/sees outside of itself? Aren’t you then saying that it is not mugbal? Yet here we are conceptualizing about it nevertheless.

It seems that although we can conceptualize/theorize about this level, it is not a natural byproduct of being Mugbal, it would be and additional element in our being (i.e. over and above our existence in the ‘limited/defined realm)




Looking at the above from a different angle, let’s talk about ‘consciousnesses. We can’t really understand consciousness while being completely within the realm of Hagaboleh. In Hagboleh there are only defined entities, there’s nothing sort of outside Hagboleh looking in. There would then be no “I” that is conscious.

So in essence, when we “theorize about negating these limits” we have entered into a new realm, the realm of Ohr Ein Sof. That would then be the deepest (semi)conceptual level of our being/existence.

It is, then, not something that comes part and parcel along with the realm of Hagabalah. If so, from our point of view (we always talk about ‘our point of view’ because we never talk from the point of view of the Beyond, see previous Shiur) we see this Ein Sof as ‘willed’ not automatic.
But on the other hand, by doing that (i.e. seeing it as willed) we are then completely separating It from the Beyond, and making it just another defined entity. (see later why “will” implies separation from the entity that is doing the willing)

Hmm… in a tight spot here, eh. To will or not to will, that is the question.

Yet on the other hand (the last hand, promise) it does come along (i.e. it’s deduced) from our conceptualization of reality.

So in the end we see it now as an integral part of our hagbalahdig existence, but we also understand that from the standpoint of pure Hagbalah we wouldn’t see this Ein Sof, hence it is not a necessary deduction from Hagbalah.

Yeaaahh, huuuh, ummmm, ok I'm with you there, but we gotta start somewhere.