NACHMAN'S "LIKUTEI MOHARAN" part 1 (of 2) of my commentary on essay 1

part 1 (of 2) of my commentary on essay 1 of nachman of breslav's "likutei moharan" (collected essays)

FRANKLYN WEPNER [email protected] april 2012

THIS MAY 2012 ESSAY IS MY SECOND ESSAY ABOUT LIKUTEI MOHARAH 1, WHICH IS THE FIRST SECTION OF NACHMAN OF BRESLAV'S "COLLECTED ESSAYS" AFTER HIS BRIEF "PROLOGUE". PLEASE SEE ALSO MY FIRST ESSAY ABOUT LIKUTEI MOHARAN 1 (2008) AT MY WEBSITE, franklynwepner.com. YOU CAN FIND THAT ESSAY THERE BY USING THE FOLLOWING PATH: essays>platonic tradition>nachman of breslav>01-deduction & induction (LM1). THIS PRESENT ESSAY IS MORE ADVANCED AND ASSUMES THAT OTHER ESSAY AS AN INTRODUCTION.

LIKUTEI MOHARAN 1:

SUPPLEMENTARY COMMENTARY

להסתכל בהשכל של כל דבכ

"to look at, contact, the object of interest, the assimilable novelty, in that thing out there". both roots are related. histakel and haskil both have the

meaning "to look, consider, pay attention", rather than "knowing" something intellectually. so from the very beginning we are dealing here with awareness, induction, in the typical gestalt sense.

ולקשר עצמו אל החכמה והשכל שיש בכל דבר

"to connect himself to the wisdom, idea, object of interest that is in that object of attention". what we contact is a figure emerging from the ground, a strong gestalt, in the manner of the two birds meeting at a contact boundary. this is love in the sense that adam knows eve, the most intimate connecting possible if the awareness is not held back by self-interruptions.

כדי שיאיר לו השכל שיש בכל דבר, להתקרב להשם יתברך על ידי אותו הדבר

"in order that the wisdom, idea, gestalt, monad, in that object will shed light on him, and that he will approach the naming of god by means of that object". every moment of awareness is a new gestalt, monad, name, point of view in the world of awareness that a person is discovering moment by moment. that is to say, each moment of awareness is another aspect of the complete naming of god that is being revealed to that subject at that moment in that situation. in gestalt work by identifying with the coming solution, the emerging large gestalt, all the beats of the objective history are illuminated and are translated up the spiraling tree of life from the level of angels (games) to the level of archangels (keruvim, unfinished business).

חכמת אדם תאיר פניו

"the sefirah chochmah illuminates the sefirah binah", again in the manner of the two birds coalescing into a moment of contact boundary. the complete contact boundary is the glory, tangibility of god here and now. at that moment all forms are live forms. the performer is "on top of his material" getting ideas, hits, freely in the messianic now.

וזה בחינת יעקוב, כי יעקוב זכה לבכורה שהוא ראשית

"and that is the correspondence to Jacob, for Jacob merited the birthright which is genesis, origin". by entering fully into the emerging strong gestalt, messianic idea, here and now, the protagonist attains the viewpoint that aristotle alludes to when he writes: "actuality is prior to potentiality", or that plato alludes to when he writes of "anamnesis of pure ideas, of original ideas", symbolized by the patriarchs in judaism. that is to say, the goal here is to surrender fully to involvement in the action that emerges from fully contacting the situation. then, that act encompasses all the realities. the knower, the known and the knowing all are one, or - in the language of judaism - god and his nam(ing) are one when moshiach is arriving. the gestalt therapy parallel is to begin with awareness of an object and then move to the level of identifying with the object fully. "say it with your whole body". commit totally to the action, without self-interruptions. this is not merely blind servitude, since contacting all the realities of the situation maintains the balance of identity and difference, activity and passivity, right and left sides of the tree of life, the middle way.

וזה בחינת "ויעקבני פעמים". ותרגום אונקלוס: וחכמני

of course, the pshat, 3rd grade, allusion here is that Jacob was so clever he fooled Esav twice. but perhaps nachman is going for bigger fish. if the first tsimtsum which is deductive logic is the negation of the oneness of god, and the second tsimtsum which is inductive logic is the negation of all the negations arising from excess rationalizing, then Jacob could symbolize the double negation process which imparts an endless river, overabundance, "shefah", of creative ideas to us when we operate as prophets. that is to say, when we operate "in the image of god" by imitating how god operates in divine action via the merkavah, the demiurge, the entire concrete dialectic. i may be pushing the limits of exegesis a bit too far here, but probably "imparts wisdom twice" makes more sense than "outwitted me twice", given where nachman is moving with this piece

וזה בחינת שמש. כי השכל הוא מאיר לו בכל דרכיו כמו השמש

the light of figure/ground, gestalt formation, generates the first tsimtsum by creating the vast array of awareness moments that fragment the oneness. but then the same sun or "organic lamp" goes on to flood the antitheses with new ideas at the moment of the second tsimtsum, the negation of all the negations which leads by induction back to the one as identity in difference. it is the same "sun" or encompassing light, "ohr maqqif", which generates both levels of ideas, wisdom, illuminating the protagonist "in all his ways" around the spiral of the concrete dialectic.

וזה בחינת: "ואורח צדיקים כאור נוגה הולך ואור עד נכון היום: וזה בחינת חית - לשון חיות . . . "החכמה תחיה"

"the way of the just man, wise man" is that induction/awareness needs to permeate deduction to sustain it as live form. the kabbalah jargon is that chochmah is the hidden light residing within binah to sustain it. the encompassing light of induction is aristotle's final cause, operating like a magnet to pull the entire dialectic towards its final conflagration, explosion into authentic action and emotion. likewise, this is plato's process of collection into strong gestalts as enlightenment, wisdom. another parallel is the pure process mode, with awareness balancing deliberateness to attain the middle way of active passivity. nachman's metaphor here is "until the arrival of high noon" as the peak of the sun's light. for nachman the stress is on tsimtsum 2 at the moment of the extremes, as an explosion into authentic emotion and action in the messianic now.

אך מחמת שאור השכל גדול מאוד, אי אפשר לזכות אליו כי אם על ידי בחינת נון שהוא בחינת מלכות, כמו שכתוב: לפני שמש יינון שמו", ופרש רש"י: לשון מלכות

the spiraling dialectic is a gradual ascent, with occasional leaps of faith, but one does not usually jump from "now i am aware that" to a grand explosion into authentic emotion and integrated, well founded action. during the stages of the objective history chochmah more and more establishes itself within binah, adam more and more impregnates eve, games more and more give way to work on unfinished business. likewise, it is only after mocking one's forms that the protagonist is free to illuminate them as the performer on top of his material. the pure process mode creates live form on only a superficial level. the root "N-U-N" means: to shine, flourish, spout, spread, be established. all of these senses are relevant metaphors, as is the metaphor of alchemical air being established within alchemical earth by means of the tsimtsum 2 process which opens up the void (no-thing-ness) within things. induction establishes itself within deduction, abraham establishes himself within isaac, and the result is jacob, the balanced middle way. "yinon shemoh" (will be established, shine forth, sprout the complete name of god) expresses the process in terms of the gestalt objective history as naming god by successive approximations, since each new cycle (naming) of the dialectic reveals god's action from a different point of view.

וזה בחינת לבנה, כי הלבנה אין לה אור מעצמה כי אם מה שמקבלת מי השמש

the sun/moon relationship is a bit crude as a metaphor to describe the chochmah/binah relationship. the verb N-U-N is more precise, with the allusion to flourishing, sprouting, spreading and being established, along with the obvious meaning "to shine" back identical light like the moon does. the experience of contacting an object of awareness implies immediately to some extent identifying with that object. rabbi yehuda ashlag points out that this faculty is what especially distinguishes human beings from inorganic matter, plants and animals. finding the idea in an object by play acting that object establishes that other object as an independent center of consciousness in relationship to the observer, in an i-thou relationship of souls or monads (see Leibniz). in LM4 nachman uses the metaphor of two birds flying to meet each other somewhere between the subject and the object. when the gestalt superobjective or aristotelian final cause permeates שמג engraves itself within an object, as alchemical ether appears within alchemical earth, that other object becomes a new potential center of the entire community of objects or world of the observer. this is the mystical metaphor of a sphere of which every point is the center. the leaderless worlds exercise approximates this notion of all the objects being penetrated and directed by the unseen "it". the N-U-N root comes very close to capturing this complex event, especially in the metaphor nachman uses above: "before (in the faces of) the sun, is established the naming of god", in the sense that each moment of awareness is a new naming or point of view of the emerging complete naming of god, the "glory" of god in the sense of god's total tangibility as an assymptotic idea to which we approach only by successive approximations.

ועל ידי מה הוא נותן כוח למלכות דקדושא? על ידי התורה שהוא עוסק בכוח . . . ואזי מקבלת המלכות, שהיא בחימת "נ", חיות מן החכמה, שהיא בחינת "ח", ונתחבר ונתקשר ה"ח" וה"נ"

assuming here that "torah" is based on the root T-U-R, then we can think in terms of the framework of gestalt therapy theory. and then "doing torah with strength" translates into "doing gestalt with creative aggression, rather than with violence". creative aggression is based in here and now awareness, whereas violence is based in rigid preset infantile habits, detached from the here and now awareness, confluence. creative aggression moves the dialectic forward, as (1) "negation", tsimtsum 1, deduction, carves up the one into all the conflicting opposites of our everyday lives, and "negation of the negation", tsimtsum 2, induction, negates all the negations, the x/-x impasses, and restores the oneness as identity in difference. this is the synthesis that follows the thesis and the antithesis. the creative aggression is the life force that the objective history, the contact boundary, "nun", receives from the emerging messianic idea, "chet", as the energy of all weak gestalts collects within the new emerging strong gestalt. creative aggression powers translation down or up the spiraling concrete dialectic. it is the fuel for the merkavah chariot.

כי עיקר מה שאין נתקבלין הבקשות הוא מחמת שאין להדברים חן, ואין נכנסין בלב של זה שמבקשין ממנו, כאילו אין בליבו מקום שיכנסו הדברים בליבו, מחמת שאין להמבקש חן

"chen" here is a chet+nun contraction for what gestalt people label "contact" or "contact boundary". again, this is the connecting going on between ideas descending from the macrocosm (arik anpin, long face of god) and contactful here and now interactions in our lives (ze'ir anpin, small face of god). this is "the performer on top of his material getting hits", or gestalt work on unfinished business where the protagonist is "identifying with the coming solution". the space that opens up in good contact is the here and now gestalt, the figure emerging from the ground of possibilities. or from the point of view of the impasses of deduction, this is induction, gestalt formation, alchemical air, the empty space of the void penetrating alchemical earth. the new ideas are "chet", vitality, and the contact boundary open to receive those ideas is "nun", "malkhut of holiness", "live form". the unfinished business of the relationship moves towards closure as both sides of the dialectic open themselves to receive the ideas of the coming solution. our microcosmic illusion is that one side is convincing the other side, while "in truth" it is the emerging messianic idea, the middle way, which is encompassing and negating both sides in the next emerging idea of the relationship. nachman refers to the middle way in his usual manner as Jacob, the middle pillar of the tree of life.

כי על ידי החן נחקק ונרשם מקום בלב המתבקש לקבל הבקשה, כי על ידי החן נתקבלו דבריו

tsimtsum 2 of gestalt formation in good contact creates the space of induction within the grid of deduction, as though god as engraver or author is writing word via the contactful i-thou dialogue. so "graceful dialogue" equates to contactful communication or awareness. and as a matter of fact the sefirah "chesed" on the right side of induction is usually translated as "grace" or "lovingkindness". these are exactly the requirements for good contact.

בחינת חן ו"ת", ועל ידי זה נעשה אותיון "נחת", ואז נשמעים דבריו ונתקבל בקשתו

with "nachat" means with gentleness, i.e., good contact, creative aggression rather than violence. then all the contact boundaries, forms, are permeable, open to new ideas dripping like dew from the macrocosm, from the coming solution, the performer on top of his junk collage of forms. this is the pure process mode or tai ch'i way of performing forms, rather than the deliberate way of performing them

ועל כן יעקוב שהוא בחינת השכל, על כן זכה לחן

Jacob as usual symbolizes the middle pillar and the last step of the dialectic, the synthesis of the two antitheses: active and passive balanced in the middle way, which also is the balance needed for a prophet to receive the word. later nachman equates Jacob and Josef, and ties Josef in with the associations of grace and gazing, which we already know are elements needed for good contact and receiving the word.

כי יעקוב ויוסף כחדא חשיבי. ועל כן נאמר ביוסף: "בכור שורו הדר לו". "בכור" היא בחינת השכל. וזהו "שורו" - לשון הסתכלות, כי צריכין להסתכל בהשכל שיש בכל דבר

translation: "the firstborn of his shor (oxen), grandeur is his". "firstborn" corresponds to the intelligence. And this is "his shor", it suggests gazing." here nachman is stretching the inductive process of associations to its limits as he closes the circle of metaphors in order to arrive back at his opening statement that we need to see the idea hidden in each thing. we need to apprehend in each moment of awareness, of good contact, an emerging figure or gestalt from the ground of possible figures. after some farfetched associations he finds to link up jacob and yosef, nachman then cites josef as (1) the firstborn and (2) one who is very good at gazing. The notion of "firstborn" recalls the aristotelian foundation that actuality is prior (firstborn) vis-a-vis potentiality, and alludes to the emerging messianic idea or superobjective. and the notion of josef as expert gazer nachman pulls out of a hat by noting that the word for ox and the word for "to gaze" have the same roots in hebrew. therefore, since nachman maintains that "my torah is all behinot (associations)" we dare not question how he links up josef getting the birthright from his father jacob with josef as being the paradigm case of good gazing. after all, even in english "gazing" (of eyes) and "grazing" (of oxen) are only one consonant apart!

THAT WAVE WHICH WOULD SINK A SEPHINTA (SHIP) APPEARS TO HAVE A SPARK OF WHITE FLAME AT ITS CREST. WE BEAT IT WITH A STAFF ON WHICH WAS ETCHED EHYEH ASHER EHYEH.

having completed his circle of associations, nachman does a reprise of his main theme by means of the above fable from the talmud. starting with the etching action we already have decoded, he get the idea that a staff or straight line of authentic actions, i.e., good contact or "gentle, graceful living", succeeds in etching on the contact boundary of our here and now situation enough empty spaces of tsimtsum 2, i.e., getting new ideas in the void, such that these new ideas are able to encompass and negate all the negations which our previous moral degeneration in general and our mishandling of this existential encounter in particular have allowed us to slip into. amen. selah!

TAGS