Chapter XL · 1 min read
“And He Was No More”
The softening of false authorship
There is another way to hear v'einenu.
The ego through which Chanoch could have separated from the Divine direction became progressively less central.
Not that Chanoch ceased to exist.
Quite the opposite.
His true name survives so strongly that mystical tradition places it in his own mouth above.
But the self as autonomous source loses its claim.
וְאֵינֶנּוּ.
Original text
The separate centre is not where it used to be.
כִּי לָקַח אֹתוֹ אֱלֹהִים.
Original text
He has been received.
This is one of the great paradoxes of בִּיטּוּלbittulSelf-nullification — more precisely, the surrender of the claim to be an independent source. Not the erasure of the self but the emptying of false authorship.Glossary.
The more completely the false independence softens, the more particular the person can become.
Moshe remains Moshe.
David remains David.
The Alter Rebbe remains the Alter Rebbe.
No one becomes a grey spiritual blank.
Unity does not erase distinctions.
It permits them to cease fighting for metaphysical independence.
Chanoch becomes more Chanoch, not less.
So much more himself that heaven can say Metatron and he can still answer:
אני חנוך בן ירד.
Original text