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עמוד:14
From Lurianic Kabbalah To Hasidism 14 any revelation in or to others possible . Ein - Sof is beyond man’s attainment ; it does not confront man as an object of achievement and contemplation, and one cannot make any positive statement about it . Within the limitations of his knowledge and the narrow bounds of his intellect, man can only comprehend finite beings . As to God’s infinite being, man cannot contemplate it, nor can he say anything about it . As opposed to the hidden aspect of the divinity, the revealed aspect is an object for man’s contemplation and attainment . This revealed aspect of divinity, or the divine in its revealed aspect, is described by the Kabbalists in a very complex manner . In this context, they speak of ten Sefirot ( “emanations”, or “numbers” ) , which constitute ten divine essences radiating or shining and revealing themselves in a process of emanating or flowing abundantly from the hidden source of the divine being . This process, known in Western languages as “emanation”, is called by the Kabbalists Atzilut or Ha’atzalah . The source of this doctrine of emanation is in Neo - Platonic philosophy, founded in the third century C . E . by Plotinus . Neo - Platonic thought was absorbed into the Kabbalah, together with some ancient Gnostic views, which also found their way into the world of the Kabbalah, and can be observed even in its earliest written text, Sefer - ha - Bahir ( “The Book of Brightness” ) . What is the nature of this process of emanation ? One can compare it to a ray of light, which, at first, was included in its source, but later broke out and was revealed outside the source of light . As long as this ray is inside its source, it is not known and not distinguished in its particular being . It begins to be known as a ray in its own right, distinct, perceived, capable of being contemplated, observed and attained, only once it has come out of the source of light, in which it was originally included as indistinguishable . Thus, in the Ein - Sof , there is nothing particular, distinct and perceivable in its own right . As the meaning of this term “Infinite” shows, Ein - Sof implies the negation of everything
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