Some people move through the world and see Godliness in everything. Every spark of light, every blooming flower, every movement, every manifestation of life, and certainly every insight, genuine emotion, or expression of spiritual longing – all make the reality of God, Who forms and enlivens everything, present. Even when they see something negative and sad, seeing the Divine vitality within it comforts them and restores the smile to their faces. For them, the world so clearly expresses Godliness that anyone who wishes can see it – nothing could be simpler.
In contrast, there are those who move through the world and do not see the fingerprints of the Creator – for them, the world is nothing but the material visible to the eyes, in which all phenomena of life are dry laws of nature, manifestations of energy that are equivalent – scientifically speaking – to inanimate matter itself. They don't even define themselves as deniers of God, because it doesn't occur to them that there is a Creator of the world. For them, the world follows its natural course, without a hint of anything beyond visible reality, which has something dark, cold, and alienating about it.
On a simple level, an encounter between these two types would lead to friction. The first would pity the obtuseness of the second and have compassion for the darkness in which he lives. The second would become a declared denier, striving to disprove the naive view of the first. In the best case, he would be intellectually convinced that there is a God, but would feel even more acutely how far our world is from Him, immersed in falsehood, darkness, and concealment.
Nevertheless, we must bring these two types together, both in the external world and within ourselves, and make peace between them:
The experience of God's presence in every place and in every thing, no matter how low and distant, is all light. But precisely because of this, it encounters only the revealed dimension of Godliness, the light of God, but not God Himself. Of this it is said, "If I ascend to heaven – You are there." The higher one ascends, contemplating God's presence and rising to the heavens, God Himself remains "out there," with all the lights merely directing him to recognize the hidden source of light somewhere.
In contrast, the fact that a completely hidden Divine power is concealed in the world, to the extent that the world appears to exist independently, reflects God's essence, God's reality as He is in and of Himself, without any revealed connection to the worlds. Of this it is said, "If I make my bed in the depths – behold, You are there." When one descends to the lowest depths (while posing questions and experiencing uncertainty), one directly encounters God Himself – "behold, You" Yourself before my eyes. It is precisely through the experience of existential loneliness, the feeling that there is no one and nothing to connect with, that one can encounter the "Unique One of the world" Himself. In this sense, the descent, even into the depths of sin and denial, of self-awareness that pushes away the Divine Presence, also ultimately brings ascent – to return to God Himself and a demand to reveal Him even in the lowest depths.
The power hidden in the people of concealment, the dwellers of the depths, can only be illuminated for them by the people of revelation, those who ascend to heaven. And then what is hidden at the highest heights will appear precisely in the lowest depths and illuminate us all with a new light.
