Hasagas (conception-perception) of G-d

HH

One of the reasons we cannot simply conceive G-d is because He is so to say to big, we don't have a vessel large enough to take Him in - no one does or can... The best we can do is make vessels, and being that G-d is everywhere - the very fabric of existence, and He just awaits an opening to reveal Himself, as soon as we make any sort of vessel, it is immediately filled. Therefore it is essential to keep pouring out words of prayer and Torah, each utterance is a concrete vessel which is immediately filled with the Divine Presence, and bit by bit we gain more and conception of HY.

Also see The Life of Our Leader Rabbi Nachman article 441 (brought down in Outpouring of the Soul article 48):

Once, Rabbainu o.b.m. spoke with Rav Yaakov Yosef regarding the service of Hashem, as was his practice always, and he told him a parable of a king who sent his son far away to learn wisdoms. Afterwards the son came to the king's house erudite in all the wisdoms. Once, the king commanded the son to take a certain extremely large stone (like a millstone) and carry it up to the higher floors of the house, and probably the son was unable to carry and lift the stone, because it was a very large and heavy stone. And the son was anguished for not being able to fulfill the desire of his father the king, until the king revealed to him afterwards his purport, and said to him, “Is it conceivable to you that I would command you something so arduous like this to take the stone as it is and carry it and lift it; are you able to do such a thing with your great wisdom?! Rather my entire intention was that you should take a sledgehammer and bash and break apart the stone into small pieces, and in this way you would be able to bring it up to the higher floor.” Similarly, Hashem Yisburach commanded us (Lamentations 3:41) that we lift our hearts up to hands (stretched out) to G-d in heaven, and our hearts are very large and heavy stone (heart), and it is impossible to lift by any means, just, by taking a hammer, which is speech, and through this it is possible to bust and break apart the heart of stone, and then we are able to lift it to Hashem Yisburach, and understand (this).

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

Ramchal's One infinite vessel

HH
Tonight, yesod she-bi-yisod, is the hilula of the Ramchal (acronym Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto). He brought many souls to Nanach, including myself. When I read his work "daas tevunos" (realizing knowledge of understanding) I was an extremely diligent yeshiva boy very much ingrained in the Yeshiva philosophy, this work made a huge dent in my belief in their system. It was such a huge game changer - I understood distinctly that a person can excel and master the whole Talmud, and not realize the enormous revelation of this holy awesome work. From then on I intensified my search, concentration, and focus on finding out the important things in life. This is in fact what "Torah Lishmu" (Torah for the Sake of the Shechina), as Rashi in two places in the Talmud says explicitly that this is the intent to find the secrets of the Torah. On all of this I would need to go to great lengths to explain, but here is not the place or time.

It's been many many years since I've reread this holy work, and I can not do full justice or take responsibility of accuracy. Arguably the main point of the work is to show how G-d created the world to reveal His unity, as this allows for the manifestation of all the possible levels of non-unity, where as any other attribute only shows a clear expression of it's positive existence but not of it's ineptitude. E.g wisdom manifests itself at many levels, but there is no measure for stupidity, it is just the absence of intellect, whereas G-d's Unity is just the opposite, His unity is infinite and cannot be fathomed, but every type, form, and amount of unity clearly manifests itself, and thus can be used as a handle of showing some level and perception of G-d's unity. as negative vessels, to reveal that there is only The One Infinite. These vessels show that after every possible force, virtue, or anything achieves maximization, it is nothing, there is just G-d. The evil was created to show that as much as it can even look as prevalent, a rock to big for its creator, it can even give such an impression, and this too is nothing, for the reality is the One Infinite G-d. The infinity of G-d can not be shown in itself, it is impossible to show the infinity of 1, so G-d showed every possible venue, and the more realization of how they have no existence outside of G-d, the more realization of the infinity of G-d Himself.

Some people find this hard to understand, and that's reading it from the clear writing of the Ramchal, so don't go hard on yourself if you don't get my one paragraph synopsis written 15 years after reading the original. But it's the best I can give you for now.

The Ramchal himself reveals, and this is something the Baal Shem Tov really drove home, that all of the Kabbala, all the worlds, are in Man. When sitting before G-d, you gotto let G-d take over. Contemplate how all your limbs are inverse vessel (vessels that don't hold things inside of them, but rather like a dot which holds everything around it) screaming the ultimate presence and realization of G-d. If you could do this, you will be one very happy camper, fortunate is your lot in this world which is already the next world.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

Experiencing G-d

HH
The Talmud (Shabbos 119a) relates how certain sages would prepare for the Shabbos saying to themselves that if they would be receiving the greats of the generation they would certainly prepare accordingly, so too they must preprare for the Shabbos.

This is good way for one to get a handle of the magnitude of experiencing G-d. Imagine that you get notice that some very powerful person will be visiting you shortly to appoint you over his whole enterprise, and then another such notification regarding another personage, etc.. Getting visited by G-d Almighty means that He who creates and runs the whole world is meeting with you.

The more a person fathoms the magnitude of G-d, this itself is the vessel which is immediately filled by G-d's Presence.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!