Who Knows?

(c) Dovid Sears

Reb Noson, Sichos HaRan 279
From "The Tree that Stands Beyond Space"

"G-d is great"—indeed, " His greatness is unfathomable" (Psalms 145:3). Yet no one knows this at all. Amazing things take place in the world, various and diverse phenomena unfold without end, Creation is constantly changing, everything is constantly new and wondrous, and no one knows. One cannot even speak of this. However, each person according to the intuition of his heart can understand that he doesn't know anything at all. And this understanding remains far from the realization of "not knowing,"which is, in truth, the ultimate knowledge. For one has not yet scratched the surface of knowledge in the first place.

[However, this lack of knowledge has a positive side. Since we have no idea what G-d is doing in the world, we may expect G-d's deliverance at any moment.]

Rebbe Nachman had remarkable things to say about this: how a person should strengthen himself through this perception, and never become disheartened. No matter how far one may fall, one must never despair of crying out to G-d. For G-d is so great—whatever one's spiritual plight, He can turn everything to the good!