Bilvavi Part 1 - Section 8 Integrating with Hashem

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Once a person has really attained the feeling that Hashem is right near him, his avodah is to attain hiskalelus in the Infinite, as it says, "I am His." (A deeper form of this avodah is to cause all the creations to be miskalel in Him.)  In a general sense, this avodah has three phases.

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The first phase is the perception from deep in the soul that the created being, the "I" is, so to speak, part of Hashem, as it says, "For Hashem's portion is His nation" (Devarim 32:9). Chazal have also said, "Hashem and Yisrael are one" (Zohar 3:73a) and, "The creation is like a grasshopper whose garment is part of its body" (Bereishis Rabbah 21:5).  There are many other statements of this nature, all of which point to the depth of this concept that the creation is, so to speak, part of Him, blessed be His name.

Although many great people tried to explain the depth of this concept by employing various different terms, ultimately, it is all a secret, and it is beyond the grasp of a created being.  (Just as the Infinite cannot be grasped, so can one not grasp that which is a part thereof, so to speak.  Think deeply about this.  This should be adequate for one with understanding.)  Therefore, the way to attach oneself to this extent is not through intellectual understanding and mental clarification, but through total faith in Hashem and the words of Chazal.  When one attaches his thought to this concept very often (without attempting to understand, but just with simple faith in the concept), and articulates it with his mouth, so that this concept is regularly on his mind and tongue, he will merit to be integrated at this level, and will feel that he is part of Hashem, so to speak.

I must repeat and warn that you may not try to understand this intellectually, because it cannot be understood at all.  "If your heart runs" - in order to understand this - "return to your place" (Sefer Yetzirah 1:7).  This affirms the need for simple faith in the concept, until it is sensed through the feelings of the heart, not through conscious thought. 

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The second phase, which is higher than the first, is where one removes all thought about his sense of self.  During the first phase, a person is involved with his "I," but he doesn't deal with it as something separate, - "There is me and there is the Creator, and I am close and attached to the Creator." Rather he feels "I am part of Him, so to speak."  There is an involvement with the self, but this is a self that is part of Hashem, so to speak.  In the second phase, there is no involvement at all with the self (other than the extent to which the Torah requires it), but only with Hashem.  Any time a person begins to think about himself, whether about a positive or negative quality he possesses, whether of greatness or lowliness, he should take his mind off the matter, and return to connect his thoughts to Hashem.  He should only deal with the self as required to fulfill the Torah and make a daily spiritual accounting for a specific period of time.  Other than that, he should not deal with the self at all, but only with his Creator.

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In a deeper sense, ignoring the self includes ignoring all created beings, because they are a large manifestation of the self (since the world is a microcosm).  Rather, one will be involved only with the Creator.  He will think of the created beings only as needed in order to do acts of kindness and such.  In this stage, a person is not attentive to his "I;" rather, the essence of his soul is absorbed with Hashem.  Through regularly shifting his thoughts from the creations to Hashem, and not thinking about them, but about Hashem, the person escapes from the attachment to the created world in general and the "I" in specific, and has the privilege to be integrated with Hashem.

This level is higher than deveikus, because with deveikus, the "I" cleaves to Hashem.  But on this level, one is not involved with the "I," but only with Hashem, and that is the hiskalelus.  Material things exist based on the perception of man, the recipient of Hashem's kindness, and when the recipient is not involved with a thing, it is as if it does not exist.  When a person removes his thoughts from the self and thinks only of the Creator, there is no self.  Understand this, for these words are very, very deep.

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This second phase has two parts: 1) contemplating the greatness of the Creator, His actions, and so on; 2) thinking about His essence.  Here, there can be no contemplation, but only simple thought about the existence of the Creator.  This is a higher level than the first.  When a person attaches his thoughts in this manner constantly, the principle that a person is wherever his thoughts are may be applied.  He is absorbed in the object of his thought.  When he thinks only of the existence of the Creator, he is, so to speak, really integrated in Him. This discussion should suffice for one who understands. You should realize that this state requires one to divest himself of complex thought and become united with Hashem.

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The third phase is an attachment to the concept of, "There is literally nothing other than Him," which the sefarim hakedoshim discuss.  Study their words, which will suffice for one who understands. All our words about being miskalel in Hashem have been written with extreme brevity.  The outstanding ones in the generation, who seek total perfection, will need a longer and more detailed explanation.  We have only come to expose a spark of this great light, as Chazal said, "The Master of the palace looked at him" (Bereishis Rabbah 39:1).  This comment will suffice for one who understands.

Finished, but not complete.

If Hashem will give us the opportunity, we will continue to expand upon these topics.