What Is Atzmuto?

Question: Does the Creator exist inside us or outside of us? You say that He exists only within us. What is Atzmuto?

Answer: There is nothing that exists “outside,” “inside,” “on the side,” or “somewhere out there.” It simply exists, and that is all.

Atzmuto is something that we do not attain. We grasp some kind of influence upon us and we call it the Creator because He creates.

I call myself “creation” because He created me. Beside the Creator, who has created me, there is a more superior, inner essence of Him. It is called Atzmuto, that is, He on His own without any relation to me.

It is possible to depict Atzmuto as the inner part of the upper force, and His attitude toward me is His outer part, called the Creator. And there is me who perceives this.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/27/19