הַשָּׂגוֹת וְהִתְנוֹצְצוּת אֱלָקוּת

Even one who merits to attain the dimension of "the ultimate of knowledge is that we do not know" [tachlis ha'yedi'ah asher lo naidah — Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, 2:10] — even so this is still not the final ultimate, for within every dimension of knowledge there exists this same ultimate. It follows that one has not yet attained the ultimate of knowledge except in relation to that particular level of knowledge — and one must afterward strive still further to merit a higher ultimate, meaning to merit the level of "the ultimate of knowledge is that we do not know" at a higher level of knowledge; and so on forever. It follows that one never knows at all — and yet one has still not begun to attain the ultimate. [Translator's note: No source citation appears in this edition for this teaching.]

For the investigators and philosophers, their attainment and knowledge ends at the celestial spheres [galgalim] — and it seems to them that from there upward is only the pure Divine essence Itself. But in truth, all of the study of Kabbalah deals with worlds and levels above that point — and where the wisdom of philosophy ends, there the wisdom of Kabbalah begins [see the inner text]. Similarly, even one who has attained the wisdom of Kabbalah thoroughly — which is the wisdom of truth [chochmas ha'emes] — even so, "there is no searching of His understanding" [Isaiah 40:28], for there is still "high above high, etc." [Ecclesiastes 5:7] — for "His greatness is unfathomable" [Psalms 145:3].