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By Rabbi Shlomo Ezagui

I am going to present, in English, a free translation of a Hasidic discourse delivered by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in 1953. When you read (or listen) carefully to its structure and language, you will notice that it could almost be replaced by a conceptual explanation of dark matter and dark energy as discussed in modern physics. I hope you will hold on with me to the end. There is a very powerful and deeply personal message we can take from this.

There is also something I believe is scientifically very revolutionary, but I will leave that for another time.

This part of the discourse begins by asking: “What is the (spiritual energy) ‘light’ (oir) with which God created the universe? (As we know, Kabbalah and mysticism describe the energy with which the universe was created as Oir Ein Sof – the “Light which has no end”.)

On the deeper, underlying spiritual level, this “light” is understood as a revelation—a radiance, a flow—that emerges from a core essence. However, that core essence is intrinsically and essentially concealed. Its very identity is one of hiddenness; it does not reveal itself, nor is it defined by revelation.

Therefore, when we speak of (this spiritual) “light,” we are not referring to the essence itself, nor even to a direct revelation of the essence. Rather, it is something drawn from the essence—almost, relatively speaking, inconsequential—like a measured extension, a limited radiance that extends outward beyond itself. This is what we call “oir,” the light with which God created the entire universe.

Because this light is only an emanation and not the essence, the essence itself is completely unaffected by it. Whether the light shines or not makes absolutely no difference to the core source. This radiance causes no change whatsoever in the essence, because it is not the essence—it is only an indirect, almost incidental expression of the essence.

A useful analogy is the relationship between the soul and the body. The life-force that animates the body is only a “shine” from the essence of the soul. The essence of the soul itself is completely concealed; its nature is not outward expression, nor is it designed or defined by revealing itself. It simply exists in its own essential state. Yet from it emerges a flow—an energy that animates the body in a general way and also differentiates into specific powers that enliven each organ individually, each according to its function. That flow is what we call “light.” It is (merely) an expression of the essence of the soul, outside itself.

This is similar to the light that shines from a candle flame or the sun. The light we see is not the essence of the flame or the sun. The essence of the sun itself does not expand into the vacuum of space; it remains what it is. What extends outward is only a radiance—a limited external expression. That is what we call sunlight. It is real and powerful, but it is only a small external expression of something far greater.

This same structure exists within the faculties of the human mind. Take intelligence as an example. The essential power of intellect—the raw capacity to understand, analyze, generate, and conceptualize wisdom—is itself concealed. We do not feel or experience this essence directly. What we experience are its expressions: actual intelligence, thoughts, ideas, insights, and moments of understanding.

From those revealed expressions, we infer that there must be an underlying faculty—a power of intelligence that produces them. Yet that power itself remains hidden from us. For this reason, it is described as “darkness”—not because it lacks richness, but because it is not revealed or directly accessible.

In truth, that concealed source of intelligence contains infinitely more than the revealed intellect. It is qualitatively and quantitatively beyond comparison with the small portion that becomes expressed as conscious thought. The same is true of the soul (of a person) and the life of the body: the essence of the soul, from which the life of the body is drawn, is infinitely greater—without comparison—than the limited life-force that radiates outward and is experienced within the body. Yet because it is hidden, we call it “dark,” and say it is “above” the body, while the small revealed portion—the energy that animates and vivifies the body—is called “light.”

This leads to a fundamental reversal of perspective. From the recipient’s standpoint—the body or conscious awareness—the small revealed radiance is everything. It is experienced as light, clarity, vitality, and life. The concealed source is perceived as darkness.

But from the standpoint of the essence itself, the exact opposite is true. The essence is the ultimate light—complete, infinite, absolute. The small radiance that emerges from it is negligible by comparison, almost like darkness relative to its source. So what is “light” to the recipient is, relative to the essence, almost nothing, and what is “darkness” to the recipient is, at the level of the source, the highest and most essential light. (End of this quote from the Chassidic discourse.)

This is the underlying spiritual framework described in the discourse as the background of creation: the essence and source constitute the overwhelming majority of reality, from which only a thin strand of revealed light emerges. To us, the source appears as darkness, but in truth, it is the very basis and substance of all that exists.

Now, when we compare this to modern physics, the parallel becomes striking—almost precise in structure. Physicists tell us that the overwhelming majority of the universe is composed of dark energy and dark matter. Dark energy makes up the largest share, dark matter a significant but smaller share, and only a very small percentage of the universe consists of what we can detect, measure, observe, and interact with—ordinary matter, electromagnetic radiation, and the measurable interactions and forces that our instruments can register.

In other words, almost all energy that exists is “dark,” meaning it is not directly accessible—not because it is absent, but because it does not interact with our detection tools in a way that allows it to be measured in the usual sense. We can say that although it is very much there, it is beyond us. Only a thin outer layer of reality is revealed.

Modern physics’s current understanding of the universe aligns with the structure described in the Discourse. The vast underlying “dark energy” can be understood, conceptually, as corresponding to the most refined, essential (soul) level of existence—so subtle, so all-encompassing, and so beyond definition that we know it is there and calculate its effects, yet we cannot grasp what it actually is. It is “dark” only relative to our limitations in perception and measurement.

From there, this reality takes a somewhat more defined form as what we call “dark matter”—still hidden and not directly observable, yet already interacting in ways that allow us to infer structure, gravitational influence, and presence. It is a step closer to revelation, but still largely concealed.

From that, an even smaller emanation emerges: the physical universe we can observe—light, atoms, galaxies, measurable energy, and electromagnetic radiation. This is the “oir,” the revealed radiance—the tiny, detectable expression of a vastly greater underlying reality.

Just as the light of the sun is only a tiny fraction of the sun’s total energy and substance, the observable universe is only a minute expression of what actually exists. The majority of reality remains hidden—not because it is lacking, but because it is too fundamental, too refined, too expansive, and too intense to be directly revealed by the limited framework of our instruments and senses.

The truth, then, is that everything in the universe is a single continuum of energy—or, more precisely, a single continuum of existence—expressing itself at different levels and degrees: from the most essential and hidden to the increasingly revealed, until it becomes the thin layer we can perceive and measure.

On a personal level, this idea carries a direct and powerful message, as explained in the Tanya.

When a person goes through periods of darkness—times that feel unclear, blocked, distant, or beyond comprehension—this is not necessarily a lower state or a sign of God’s absence.

On the contrary, it indicates that the person is encountering a reality that is deeper, more essential, and more intense than their current “instruments”—their mind, emotions, and perception—can process or reveal.

Revealed goodness—clarity, understanding, and visible positivity—is naturally easier for the human mind to relate to and appreciate. But that is only because our internal “detection system” is limited to what can be grasped, measured, and emotionally processed. What lies beyond that range, and what constitutes the majority of what is happening, and why things are happening, remains and is experienced as darkness.

However, that “darkness” actually signifies a higher, more powerful, and more expansive level of connection—to the core, to the essence, to the very source of life and existence. It is not emptiness; it is depth. It is not absence; it is intensity beyond what we can currently perceive.

In the language of the Tanya, the revealed world is created through the lower letters of God’s Name—levels that are accessible and expressed—while the higher, hidden worlds stem from the earlier letters, which are closer to the essence and therefore less revealed.

The personal takeaway is this: when you encounter darkness in your life—whether through confusion, struggle, lack of clarity, or a sense of disconnection—you should not immediately assume you are far from meaning, purpose, or Godliness. It is exactly the opposite. You are encountering something deeper than your current capacity to understand. “This too is for the good” must be taken seriously and applied concretely.

The task is not only to appreciate the light but also to recognize and accept that what feels like darkness is a higher form of light—one that has not yet been translated into something you can perceive. Staying present, grounded, and connected through that experience is itself a form of alignment with the deepest level of reality, as Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson often advised. When we insist on drawing the light from the darkness, the light reveals itself to us more quickly.

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