Q: I'm having a hard time understanding the constant recreation of all conscious reality ex nihilo. Does anything ever revert to nothingness be it for the minutest fraction of time? Is the divine flow of energy ever suspended? God's will permeates every object in creation. Isn't God's will constant and unceasing? How does that square with ex nihilo?
A: Chassidut explains that there are two dimensions to creation: The outer dimension of reality and the inner dimension of reality. In the outer dimension of reality, the letters of the 10 utterances with which the world was created bring this reality to a constant state of being. (If the letters would discontinue this action, all of creation would return to a state of nothingness, as before the six days of creation. However, God constantly renews His Presence in creation, infusing it with His energy and light.)
The inner dimension of reality has an actual pulse of returning to nothingness for a split second, and actual renewal, every second, ex nihilo.
In man's consciousness, the inner dimension is the attributes of chochmah, binah and da'at, (wisdom, understanding and knowledge) while the outer dimension is the character traits; chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod and malchut (loving kindness, might, beauty, victory, acknowledgement, foundation and kingdom).
