Nefesh HaChayim and Tanya

Both texts affirm divine presence sustains creation, but emphasize different aspects. Nefesh HaChayim (Text 1) stresses that without divine will ('ברצונו'), worlds would be 'כלא היו' (as if non-existent), emphasizing the contingency and non-reality of creation. Tanya (Text 2) focuses on the mechanism of how divine vitality descends through successive tzimtzumim to clothe even inanimate matter ('אבנים ועפר'), describing the positive actualization process. Text 1 emphasizes the illusory/dependent nature of creation; Text 2 emphasizes the real vitality-transmission through tzimtzum. Text 2 explicitly distinguishes 'memale' (filling all worlds) from 'sovev' (surrounding), while Text 1 doesn't employ this distinction. Both affirm divine sustenance but Text 1 negates independent reality while Text 2 explains how divine vitality actually becomes immanent.