« Time is more subtle than space, for it cannot be grasped. Therefore, the root of a person’s flaw lies mainly in space, which corresponds to Action. It is space that causes a person to stumble, God forbid, when they cannot stand firm in the trial. » (Likutey Halakhot, Rabbi Nathan of Breslov)
Rabbi Nathan opens a fascinating perspective on spiritual life: time is more subtle than space. Time slips through our fingers, intangible, while space feels solid, stable, and concrete. And yet, it is often in what is solid and visible that our challenges arise.
Space corresponds to Action — to the gestures, places, and concrete situations where life unfolds. It is there that temptation appears, and there that the trial takes form. When we cannot “stand firm” in the reality of this world — in a particular place, in a tangible situation — that is where the danger of falling emerges.
But if time is more subtle, it is also a carrier of redemption. Every moment is a doorway. Even in the heaviest, most difficult space, we can remember that time belongs to Hashem — and that a single instant of awareness or return can transform everything. To stand firm in a trial is sometimes to wait for that breath of time where light breaks through.
