Try Something Different

[Abigail]

I read this article here and it really got me thinking.

I will post some excerpts for those who don't want to read the whole thing:

"But what I saw--with an almost painful intensity--was that each one of us, no matter what we were doing or with whom we were doing it, was essentially in our own world. Not necessarily lonely, but alone, our thoughts, longings, our selves on some core level separate from everyone around us."

Kabbalah explains that in truth there is nothing but G-d. Everything that exists, whether physical or spiritual, is simply a highly limited expression of its Creator, somewhat like each of your thoughts and actions is a little expression of you.

in order to allow for Creation in all of its limitless details and forms, G-d had to conceal His own infinite light. This concealment, known as tzimtzum, is what enables us to be. And more, it allows us to experience ourselves as real, solid, and the center of our universe.

But we are not cut off completely. A glimmer of the Infinite light from before Creation surrounds and permeates each person who walks this earth. This light is what gives us the profound sense that there is something else out there. Only the something doesn't always feel like an actual something. It often feels like something missing--a void.

But being physical beings in a physical world, we are not naturally inclined to relate to it in this esoteric way. In fact, the non-physical all too often makes us feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. So, instead of slowly allowing our eyes to adjust to this more subtle light, we avoid the experience altogether, or seek to fill the void with physical things.

But, as uncomfortable and threatening as it can feel, if you are willing to face the discomfort, to stop running and listen, you can begin to explore the secret of the void, to expand your ability to see and hear things that lie outside your normal range

It is fascinating to know that the Hebrew word for "void," challal, has the same numerical value (68) as the word chaim, which means "life."

As physical beings, we are primed to seek permanence and stability. But the bad news--the paradoxical news--is that physical things are inherently unstable and impermanent. Coming face to face with this fact can be scary. It can feel, indeed, like hovering over a dark and formless void. But Kabbalah explains that this darkness is really a much vaster and more brilliant form of light--one that's simply too great for our senses to contain

Many of us spend our lives attempting to block it out, to run from the darkness, or to create stability and solidity out of things that are intrinsically unstable.

Maybe you can let yourself be vulnerable to someone else where you'd normally be defensive, to really listen rather than defend. Or maybe you can take an hour away from work to sit with your children and smile into their eyes, without having to accomplish anything at all. Learn some Torah, give some charity, or take a few minutes to open your heart to your Creator. These things bring more Divine light into the darkness and help to illuminate the void.

Whatever you choose to do, if you do it consciously, listening intently for what you haven't been willing to hear before, it will almost certainly help you expand beyond the limitations of who you've known yourself to be. It will help you to embrace a new level of yourself, a new level of being alive.

[dancing]

That's deep Abigail and cool. Have to reflect on it.

Same kind of thopughts run thru my head, just in different words i think.

If i can get it in a post that is what really is challenging.

[Carl Smuda]

Maybe you can let yourself be vulnerable to someone else where you'd normally be defensive, to really listen rather than defend. Or maybe you can take an hour away from work to sit with your children and smile into their eyes, without having to accomplish anything at all. Learn some Torah, give some charity, or take a few minutes to open your heart to your Creator. These things bring more Divine light into the darkness and help to illuminate the void.

Beautiful words of encouragment. May I take the time to do this.

[T-Bone]

Thanks, Abigail for another interesting article – I went to the Chabad website and read the whole article "The Secret of the Void: The Kabbalah of Self-Discovery" by Shifra Hendrie. When I say "interesting" I'm not saying I understand every point Hendrie makes – I guess what I mean is there's things in the article that touch on things I'm interested in – things that relate to my Christian faith and personal viewpoint – so for what it's worth here's my two cents on this thread.

Some things in Shifra Hendrie's article caught my eye:

"…But what I saw--with an almost painful intensity--was that each one of us, no matter what we were doing or with whom we were doing it, was essentially in our own world. Not necessarily lonely, but alone, our thoughts, longings, our selves on some core level separate from everyone around us.

Once, many years ago, my four-year-old cousin was standing in the living room with her mother and grandmother when she suddenly burst out, "I'm all alone in here!" When her mother hastened to reassure her that they were right there with her in the room, she responded, "No, in here. I'm all alone in here." Every human being experiences this essential aloneness. Sometimes we're not aware of it at all, and sometimes the awareness, like it was for my little cousin, is profound...

… But we are not cut off completely. A glimmer of the Infinite light from before Creation surrounds and permeates each person who walks this earth. This light is what gives us the profound sense that there is something else out there. Only the something doesn't always feel like an actual something. It often feels like something missing--a void…

…This sensation of something missing is actually the glimmer of something too vast and amazing to be perceived by our ordinary senses. But being physical beings in a physical world, we are not naturally inclined to relate to it in this esoteric way. In fact, the non-physical all too often makes us feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. So, instead of slowly allowing our eyes to adjust to this more subtle light, we avoid the experience altogether, or seek to fill the void with physical things.

The void pulls us relentlessly toward the next high, the next success, the more exciting relationship, the bigger, flashier toy. The feelings it triggers--like sadness, depression, anxiety or dissatisfaction--drive us to eat too much, drink too much, work too much, need too much; in short, whatever it takes to avoid facing the threatening insubstantiality of it all…"

I believe God made us social creatures – as beings to commune with God and each other. I think one of the things from the fall of man in Genesis is alienation – we became estranged from God, each other and even ourselves. I see alienation as one of the themes in the Bible – Adam and Eve getting the boot out of the Garden of Eden, Israel as strangers serving in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness, exiled in Babylon, references to this world not being our home, that we are strangers and aliens in this world. I think the work of Christ addresses this need of mankind in the blessings of atonement – even though we don't fully realize them in this life.

I like Hendrie's phrase "this sensation of something missing is actually the glimmer of something too vast and amazing to be perceived by our ordinary senses." That reminds me of Ecclesiastes 3: 10, 11 "I have seen the task God has given humanity to keep us occupied. He has made everything suited to its time; also, he has given human beings an awareness of eternity; but in such a way that they can't fully comprehend, from beginning to end, the things God does." [The Complete Jewish Bible translated by David H. Stern]

And along those lines of sensing "something else out there" I think of James 3: 9 where it mentions how with the same tongue we bless our Lord and Father and yet curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. In my TWI days I use to think it was only referring to born again believers – wrong – I now believe it refers to everyone – doesn't matter what their beliefs are. It is how God made us – part of what it is to be human. It is that likeness of God in us – that picks up on these things eternal. Maybe in this life it's a feeling we're not quite home yet, sensing our relationships fall short of a connectedness we long for. But I don't think it has to be a downbeat philosophy – Hendrie's article mentions self-discovery – I think life is a journey of sorts – from my Christian perspective it's an unfolding discovery – learning more about God, others and myself.

Edited July 24, 2006 by T-Bone

[Abigail]

I'm glad you enjoyed the article T. I don't understand everything I read within the articles of Chabad either, but I usually find something I can pull out and learn from.

I really enjoyed your comments on the article as well. A good summary of sorts, IMO. I agree, life is a journey we are all on together, even if we follow different paths. Lables such as Jewish, Christian, Hindu, etc are man made things, not God made. We use them to help process information and to understand each other - world views, perspectives, etc. Unforutnately, we also use them to justify hate, war, and murder as well. I look forward to the day when we no longer have to label ourselves and each other, or at the very least, when we no longer use those labels to justify doing harmful things to each other in God's name.

[Carl Smuda]

I have a real problem with David Stern. No doubt he is very qualified in his work but what he did to the New Testament with his "Jewish New Testament" makes me crazy! When I was studying hard about Law & Grace I fugured out from Bullinger that some times the word law (nomos) has a little article in front of the word. So Bullinger had it "law" or "THE Law". I tried to see a observable difference in the NT text but this was too subtle for me. Then I saw in the Jehovah's Witnesses Bible (New World Translation) that they capitalized the word "Law" when the article appeared and used lower case (law) when there was no article.

Well, Dr. David Stern took it upon himself to translate "nomos" in at least six (6!) different words!! So naturally this totally destroys the letter to the Galatians. It is one thing to explore the mysteries of Law&Grace. It is another thing to destroy the text to give the text a meaning that nobody anywhere ever saw in the text. does that make sense.

Christians beware of Jews who translate the New Testament.

Given that, when I was on Guam, I use to get up every day early and SIT for 15 minutes, pray with understanding for 15 minutes and read the Scripture for 15 minutes. Usually Ephesians. and then at work (I was in the Navy) all of us would walk in a long line across the Flight Line to look for debri on the runway. One morning while doing this I had a beautiful instant of realizing that we were all one. Somehow I saw that all of our hearts were one and that we all had in our hearts brahma, or Vishnu. I don't know. At the time I was very Christian but the image was like that you might see in a colored painting in a Hare Krishna book.

It was one of the few epiphanys in my life. But I remember. I think when Adam&Eve ate that forbidden fruit what they got was EGO. Ego seperates us into seperate individuals. I don't fully understand it in my studies yet, but, Ego is part of the illusion.