SAHAJA.

At the heart of Kabbalah lies a beautiful question: If God is infinite, filling all that exists, then how can there be space for anything else?

The Mystery of Beginning

Kabbalah teaches that before creation, there was only God — endless, boundless light without limit. If this light filled everything, nothing else could exist. There would be no room for separation, individuality, or freedom.

So how could a finite world, with real beings and real choices, come into existence within the infinite?

The Great Withdrawal

The answer is the concept of Tzimtzum (צמצום), which means contraction or withdrawal.

According to Kabbalistic tradition, in order for the world to exist, God drew back His infinite light, creating a kind of empty space — a void within which creation could unfold.

This does not mean God disappeared. Rather, God concealed His overwhelming presence so that something “other” than God could come into being. Without this act of Divine humility, creation would be swallowed in infinity.

A Space for Freedom

Tzimtzum reveals something remarkable about the Divine: that creation was born not from domination, but from restraint. God, so to speak, made room for the world, allowing space for us to exist with individuality, freedom, and responsibility.

This idea has deep spiritual meaning. Just as God withdraws to allow us space, we are called to imitate this pattern in our own lives:

• To give others room to grow.
• To hold back our own ego so that relationships can flourish.
• To recognize that true love often means creating space, not filling it.

Presence within Absence

Yet Kabbalah also teaches a paradox. Although God concealed His light to make space, that space is never truly empty. The Divine remains hidden within it, like sparks waiting to be discovered.

This is why life can feel both full and empty at once. The emptiness we sense is not abandonment, but an invitation: to seek, to choose, to reveal what is hidden.

Tzimtzum and the Human Heart

On a personal level, Tzimtzum explains why we sometimes feel distance from God, or why life contains struggle and longing. The distance is real — but it was created with purpose. It gives us freedom to act, to love, to return to God by choice.

In every moment of searching, in every act of repair, we are responding to that Divine invitation.

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✨ Closing thought:
Tzimtzum is the mystery of how the infinite God made space for a finite world. It is the story of a love so great that it withdraws to let the beloved be. To live with this awareness is to see every moment of emptiness not as absence, but as possibility — the sacred space where creation and freedom can unfold.