One of the Rebbe’s favorite themes – one in which I think he almost exclusively broke through the very paradigm of man (or man’s inherent limited mistaken paradigm) is Atzmus

What is Atzmus?

Atzmus relates to God’s duality

In other words, many can conceive of a God.

However as in King David’s famous teaching, gentiles who conceive of God, place him beyond earth.

In fact, Judaism is most peculiar in having a nitty-gritty God.

I recall as a child, when our ball would go over the fence on Shabbos (when we may not carry from one home to another) our gentile neighbor would kindly send the ball back – but after enough times he got frustrated and told us “Do you really think God cares?!”

And this very question, is at the heart of a very profound debacle.

You see, if God doesn’t care – then for man to achieve any sense of connection, they must divest themselves from any other affection – which is why, the saints of other religions (as we speak as well) are busy meditating, philosophizing; but fundamentally disengaging from that which would be an affront to God (the great irony of this, is assuming God has an ego; which he will react favorably to being served.)

On the flip side is Atzmus, for what we all somewhat fail to apprehend / comprehend / truly get, is, God can be in mutually (in fact, infinite realities) spaces, simultaneously!

So on one hand, God can be beyond our reality and simultaneously within it! He can be within it and simultaneously beyond it! in fact, and this is the ultimate punchline, it can be, that He both creates as well as allows us to discover him.