Tzimtzum
The contraction of God to make room for the world. The contraction of self to make room for another. The same gesture.
Tzimtzum is a Lurianic kabbalistic concept. The shorthand: in order to create a world, the infinite contracts and withdraws to make room for the finite. Without that contraction, there is no space for anything other than God.
I keep this concept close to me as a parent, as a partner, as a facilitator, as a friend. Every act of love I can think of contains a small tzimtzum: I make myself less present so that you can become more present. I do not retreat. I withdraw enough.
It is the opposite of the modern instinct, which is to fill the room with my own brightness and call it generosity. Tzimtzum asks: who am I making room for, by stepping slightly back?
Once you have learned to see it, you see it everywhere. The good teacher who waits. The mother who does not finish your sentence. The friend who lets the pause be long enough that you finally hear your own answer.