And the answer, according to some of the deepest Kabbalistic teachings, is more mind-bending than you might think.
The great Kabbalist, Baal HaSulam (Rabbi Yehuda Leib HaLevi Ashlag), in his preface to the Zohar (an essential text of Kabbalah), dives headfirst into this mystery. He asks us to consider two phases: the initial thought of Ein Sof (the Infinite), blessed be He, and the meticulously planned design for Creation.
Now, hold on tight. Here's the kicker: in both these phases, there isn't even a undefined of actual created beings. Everything is still potential, unmanifest, existing solely within the Divine Mind.
Baal HaSulam illustrates this with a practical example. Imagine someone planning to build a house. They meticulously calculate every detail, from the wood and bricks to the metal, even anticipating the construction process itself. Yet, until the first brick is laid, it's all just a "free-floating mental substance," as Baal HaSulam puts it. There's no actual wood, no real bricks, only the idea of them.
So, what’s the difference between our mental blueprint and God's?
This is where things get truly profound. In our case, the imagined design is just that – imagined. It's not considered actual reality. But with the Divine thought, it is actual reality. In fact, Baal HaSulam asserts it's "inestimably more so than the actual, real created beings themselves." The Divine thought, the initial impulse of Creation, is more real than the world we experience every day. More real than the trees, the stars, even ourselves.
How can that be? Well, according to Kabbalah, everything in our reality is ultimately a manifestation of that original Divine thought. It’s like a shadow of the original blueprint. The blueprint holds the essence, the potential, the truth of what is to come.
This concept challenges our conventional understanding of reality. We tend to prioritize the tangible, the concrete, what we can see and touch. But Kabbalah invites us to look deeper, to recognize that the true reality lies within the realm of Divine thought, the source from which everything else emanates.
It begs the question: if the Divine thought is more real than our reality, how do we connect with it? How do we tap into that source of infinite potential? And what does it mean for how we understand our own existence, our own potential to create and manifest in the world? Food for thought, indeed.