Chapter II

This is the true process of creation: Whether the created entity is spiritual or physical, Creator and created are always incomparable. Dovid HaMelech expressed this concept with the words: "He who implants the ear surely hears; He who forms the eye surely sees."

It is written:1 "From my flesh I can glimpse G-d." Iyov says that a person can understand G-dliness from his own body and soul; the soul powers and the bodily organs can help a person comprehend how G-d vivifies the world. This corresponds to the well-known saying:2 "Just as the soul fills [and animates] the body, so too toes G-d fill [and give life] to the world."

The soul's life-giving force is very different from G-d's giving life to the world, in that the soul doesn't create the body, it only gives it life. The G-dly creative force, however, not only animates the world but also creates it every moment anew.

We say [in our daily prayers]:3 "He who in His goodness renews each day, continuously, the work of creation." The [Alter] Rebbe4 comments: "It is continuously similar to the original days of creation." Just as in the original days of creation G-d created the world with all its beings from complete nothingness, so too does He continuously create.

Though all the above indicates that the soul's vivification of the body is dissimilar to G-d's creation of the world, the former can still serve as a simile to help understand the latter, at least to a limited degree. It is for this reason that the verse specifically states: "From my flesh I can glimpse G-d," and not, "I can see G-d." Seeing denotes clear and lucid vision, while glimpsing indicates imprecise, blurred vision. Thus the word "glimpse" is used to underscore the fact that from the soul's giving of life to the body we can gain an inexact impression of how G-d gives life to the world.

Aside from the [previously mentioned] difference that the soul only animates the body while G-d both creates and sustains the world, there is yet another difference. The life force with which G-d sustains the world and its beings is different from the life force with which the soul animates the body. These differences notwithstanding, the example of the soul vivifying the body gives us at least a limited degree of understanding of how G-d gives life to the world and its inhabitants.

There is great merit in understanding G-dliness through an example, for then the matter becomes abundantly clear. If the example is clearly understood, the object of the example becomes understood as well.

The example of the soul powers is more powerful than others, for not only is this example understood, but certain aspects of it are also felt, i.e., a person can sense that the matter which he understands is truly so. Sensing the truth of a concept is one of the highest degrees of comprehension.

It is for this reason that Dovid HaMelech explained G-dliness and Divine Providence by using the example of sight and hearing, saying: "He who implants the ear surely hears; He who forms the eye surely sees."

In summary: Though the soul only enlivens and does not create the body, while G-d creates and animates the world, the soul's enlivening of the body can still help us glimpse G-dliness. Therefore Dovid explains G-dliness and Divine Providence by using the example of sight and hearing.