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Chapter 3
Now, after these words and this truth, everyone who understands a matter will understand it aright: how every creature and every being is in truth counted as nothing and naught, actually, beside the power of the One who acts and the breath of His mouth in the thing acted upon, which brings it into being always and brings it out from actual nothing into something. And that every creature and thing acted upon appears to us as something, and as substance, is because we do not grasp, and do not see with eyes of flesh, the power of Hashem (God) and the breath of His mouth that is in the creature. But if leave were given to the eye to see and to grasp the life force and the spirituality in every creature, which flows into it from what issues from the mouth of Hashem and from the breath of His mouth, the corporeality of the creature, and its matter, and its concrete being, would not appear to our eyes at all. For it is nullified in existence, actually, beside the life force and the spirituality that are in it, since, without the spirituality, it would be nothing and naught, actually, exactly as before the six days of creation, actually. And the spirituality that flows upon it from what issues from the mouth of Hashem and the breath of His mouth, it alone brings it out always from naught and nothing into something, and brings it into being. If so, apart from it there is truly nothing.
And the parable for this is the light of the sun that shines to the earth and to those who dwell there, which is a radiance and a light that spreads from the body of the sun and is seen by every eye, shining upon the earth and in the space of the world. Now this is plain: that this light and this radiance is also present in the body and the matter of the globe of the sun itself in the heavens. For if it spreads and shines to so great a distance, how much more can it shine in its own place, actually. Only, there, in its own place, actually, this radiance is counted as nothing and naught, actually, for it is actually nullified in existence beside the body of the globe of the sun, which is the source of this light and this radiance, since this radiance and this light is only a shining illumination from the body and the essence of the globe of the sun. Only in the space of the world, under all the heavens and upon the earth, where the body of the globe of the sun is not present in existence, this light and this radiance appears here as an actual something to every eye, and the name “something” truly applies to it here. It is not so when it is in its source, in the body of the sun. The name “something” does not apply to it at all, only the name “nothing” and “naught.” For in truth it is there nothing and naught, actually, since nothing shines there except its source alone, which is the body of the sun that shines, and apart from it there is nothing.
And exactly like these things, in their likeness, as their image, are all the creatures beside the divine flow from the breath of His mouth, which flows upon them and brings them into being, and it is their source. And they themselves are only like a light and a radiance spreading from the flow and the spirit of Hashem, which flows and clothes itself within them and brings them out from nothing into something. And therefore they are nullified in existence beside their source, like the light of the sun, which is nullified in existence and is counted as nothing and naught, actually, and is not called by the name “something” at all when it is in its source, but only under the heavens, where its source is not. So it is with all the creatures. The name “something” does not apply to them at all, except to our eyes of flesh, for we do not see and do not grasp at all the source, which is the spirit of Hashem that brings them into being. And therefore the corporeality of the creatures, and their matter, and their concrete being, appear to our eyes, that they are a complete something, as the light of the sun appears a complete something when it is not in its source.
Only, in this the parable does not wholly resemble what it pictures, at first sight. For in the parable the source is not in existence at all in the space of the world and upon the earth, where its light appears as a complete something. It is not so with all the creatures. They are in their source always. Only, the source is not seen by eyes of flesh. And why are they not nullified in existence before their source? But to understand this, one needs to set a preface.
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