Editing The Self-Concealment - Helem Hatzmi (section)

== The Essence of Essence ==
[In examining] any reality, we cannot grasp its essential nature but only the way in which that essence clothed itself in a form and definition that can be perceived by the senses or intellect. For example, we recognize "wisdom" when we see a person with inventive talent, and "understanding" when we see a person with special explanatory ability. But the essence of wisdom as it exists detached from any specific idea (or the essence of the power of understanding before it clothes itself in a particular explanation) we cannot see, and they remain hidden even from the person themselves. Yet despite our inability to discern the essential nature of '''any''' thing, it is clear to us that '''everything''' has some hidden source - which is the essence of the thing.

Since all powers of the soul come from the essence of the soul, we must say that the essence of the revealed powers is already included in the encompassing powers of the soul, and similarly with Divinity. That is, everything in the world has a source in Divinity, and this source is the essence of that reality (and it is the reality of the thing as it is detached from all definitions and forms related to revelation). For example, from the fact that the body of fire is hot and luminous, we must say that the essence of fire (the sphere of fire beneath the sphere of the moon) is neither hot nor luminous.