Understanding of divinity at the level of zeir anpin and arikh anpin
The Aramaic term, arikh anpin, is the partsuf of the sefirah Keter; zeir anpin is the partsuf of the sefirah Tiferet. In Kabbalah, the partsuf, or face, is a complex of sefirot that appears as the personal manifestation of the divine. The phrase arikh anpin (in Hebrew, erekh apayim) translates literally as "long face" or idiomatically "slow to anger" and zeir anpin as "short," or "small face" (in conversational Hebrew zeir anpin has come to mean "in miniature"). This term also connotes "short tempered" or "impatient." The partsuf zeir anpin signifies divine governance of the world based on the fluid balance of good and evil, on reward and punishment that are imperative at the local level at the present time. This type of dialogue between God and man is extremely important; on the individual intensity it can rise no higher than this.
Accordingly, at the individual level of dialogue with God, a person understands that God is the creator. God made the world, He rules it, and He acts in mercy and justice.
This understanding is not wrong. On the contrary, it is necessary and, at its level, correct. However, our task is to rise to a higher level.
The plane of arikh anpin is our recognition at the level of the "Providence of Unity." Everything in it shares a common goal and purpose. (The two levels of divine intervention - Providence of Good and Evil and Providence of Unity - are discussed above in paragraph 5. The arikh anpin, the partsuf of the sefirah Keter, is the original divine will, which strives to advance the world toward its goal; zeir anpin, on the other hand, is the practical, "natural" governance of the world. The partsuf aeir anpin unites six sefirot, from Hessed to Yesod, which correspond to the six days of creation - that is, to the normal and natural functioning of the world. This is why the dialogue with God at this level is manifested in "natural" divine rule: justice, mercy, and the love of God; while at the level of arikh anpin, the original universal design is realized, in accordance with which a person must be part of the divine unity. (The level of arikh anpin cannot be attained when a person focuses only on self-examination, as the scale of a single life is simply too small for the "long dialogue" that encompasses human history.)
Zeir anpin is "impatient," in that it consists of short-term reward and punishment, a shifting balance between sins and merits, mercy, and justice. At the level of arikh anpin the question of justice does not exist, as everything is one - and everything is meaningful, divine, and good. Therefore, in the dialogue with God at the level of zeir anpin, good and evil are distinct: this is good, this is bad; for this you are rewarded, for this punished; this advances the world, this impedes its progress - and that is, indeed, how the world functions locally. Arikh anpin, however, is the all-encompassing unity of the world, in which evil simply does not remain, as there is no room for it (and for this reason, there is no question of justice). For more on this, see paragraph 97.
Our task in the dialogue with God is to rise above the individual level to the national: to rise from zeir anpin to arikh anpin, from divine governance at the level of good and evil, to divine unity.