After the first two chapters, the Alter Rebbe says that now, with certainty, we can understand how the entire universe is truly insignificant compared to the power of Hashem within it that creates it and gives it life.
But the truth is, we see a concrete, quite significant world: we live in it, we eat food, we build houses, and so on. Why does the Alter Rebbe say that what we see is insignificant? To our human eyes, it seems quite significant…
The Alter Rebbe explains that this happens because Hashem He does not give our eyes permission to see His creative power, for if He did, we would see how, in reality, the material world is nothing more than the creative power of Hashem. In other words, not only the creative force of Hashem It is not only holy and Divine, but the material world around us is also holy and Divine; it is just that, to our eyes of flesh and blood, that is not seen.
The material world does not have an existence independent of the creative force of Hashem, but, as the Alter Rebbe explained in chapter 1, the strength of Hashem It must constantly create and recreate the entire universe for it to continue existing. Therefore, the true essence of all things we see is nothing more and nothing less than the creative force of Hashem Because, without it, everything would return to nothing and cease to exist, as before creation.
To understand this idea, the Alter Rebbe gives an example from the physical world: a ray of sunlight and the sun itself. A ray of sunlight can be seen and enjoyed when it is outside the sun and far from it. But that same ray, before leaving the sun, when it was still inside it, was not called a "ray of sunlight," but the sun itself. The sun is so powerful that everything inside it is nothing but sunlight. Only when the ray leaves the sun and travels away from it to illuminate the world can we say that there is a ray of sunlight.
It's important to understand that this example has nothing to do with how science describes the sun. Scientifically speaking, the sun is a huge ball composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, so there are no rays of light inside it, but rather chemical processes and reactions that aren't recognizable as the "ray of light" we see on Earth. However, the Alter Rebbe is offering a model of the sun that differs from science's.
A descriptive model is a way of explaining a phenomenon. Different models can be used to explain different aspects of the same phenomenon. Science explains the composition of the sun to understand its shape, size, and the energy it produces, but the Alter Rebbe uses a different model to explain the concept of annulment.bitul (in Hebrew). So, to understand the Alter Rebbe's example, it is important that we focus on the aspect that the Alter Rebbe wants to explain and not on what science says about the sun.
The most beautiful thing about all this is that one model does not negate the other, but they simply focus on different aspects of the sun.
Returning to the sun's rays and the sun itself, the entire universe is similarly compared to the creative energy of HashemThe world is nothing more than a ray that emanates, so to speak, from the creative energy of Hashem (the words of the creation story or their combination and exchange). Just as a ray of sunlight is nothing within the sun, the universe is nothing when it is “within” its source, in the creative energy of Hashem. In other words, the universe is nullified at its source.
Only when a ray of light leaves the sun does it become known as a ray. Similarly, the universe comes into existence "outside" of its source (the creative force of HashemWhat does it mean that creation is “outside” its source? Because we are unable to see the spiritual source of the world, the creative force of Hashem, We see the universe "as if" it were "outside" its source; that is, we see a material world. In the same way that we see a ray of sunlight outside its source, the sun.
The Alter Rebbe ends the chapter by posing a question. This example of lightning and the sun to understand why we see a material world presents a difficulty: it only works when the lightning is outside and far from the sun. If the sun were everywhere, there could never be lightning outside the sun! That is precisely what happens with all of creation: the creative force of Hashem It is always creating and giving life to everything (even though we don't see it, it is everywhere). It follows that all of creation is always within its source!
When a ray of sunlight is inside the sun, it is completely canceled out by the sun. What difference is there with the universe, which, even while being “inside” its source (the creative force of Hashem), is it not cancelled?
SummaryThe universe is insignificant compared to Hashem, But we cannot perceive it. The essence of every creature is the force of Hashem that creates it, therefore it has no existence of its own. He gives the example of the sunbeam and the sun: just as the sunbeam is insignificant when it is inside the sun, in the same way all of creation is insignificant when it is “inside” its source, that is, the creative force of Hashem. Question against the example of the sunbeam: the beam “comes out” of the sun, but creation is always “within” of Hashem.