Baal HaSulam, in his preface to the Zohar, a foundational text of Kabbalah, delves deep into this question. He reminds us that while God may "manifest Myself to you in your forms, i.e., in vision and imagination," as Isaiah (40:25) says, "to whom will you liken Me, that I should be equal?" In other words, even when we experience what feels like a direct connection to the Divine, we must remember that any image or form we perceive is ultimately limited by our own human capacity.
Before creation, before any image or form existed, God was utterly singular, without any likeness whatsoever. This is a crucial point. We often try to understand the Divine through analogy, through metaphors drawn from our own experiences. But Baal HaSulam cautions us against this. He's not saying we shouldn't try to understand, but rather that we need to be aware of the inherent limitations of our understanding.
Think of the Sefirot, those ten emanations through which God manifests in the world. Kabbalists use them as a map to understand the Divine flow. But even this map has its limits! Baal HaSulam explains that those who grasp God above the level of Beria—the world associated with the Sefirah of Bina (understanding)—are forbidden to compare God to any form or image.
Why Beria specifically? Because above Beria, in the realms of Atzilut (emanation) and Adam Kadmon (primordial man), corresponding to the Sefirot of Ḥokhma (wisdom) and Keter (crown) respectively, there is no form or image at all. There are no vessels or boundaries as Baal HaSulam notes. As the verse says, “For you did not see any image.” He clarifies that this verse applies specifically to those who have merited grasping God above the level of Beria, in the realms where form dissolves into pure, undifferentiated being.
Therefore, even the allusions found in letters, dots, or holy names – like the Havaya, the four-letter name of God (Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey) – are only relevant from Bina downward. Even then, they don't describe the Sefirot themselves, but rather exist in relation to the recipients of Divine emanation, as explained regarding the Sefirah of Malkhut (kingship).
So, what does this mean for us? It means that our attempts to understand God are always a dance between revelation and concealment. We can catch glimpses of the Divine through our experiences, through the teachings of Kabbalah, through the beauty of the world around us. But we must always remember that these are just glimpses. The ultimate reality of God remains beyond our full comprehension. And perhaps, that's exactly as it should be. The mystery, the unknowable, is what keeps us reaching, keeps us searching, keeps us connected to something far greater than ourselves.