End of Chapter 26 – In this short piece, we reflect on how to divert the feeling of sadness to a specific time and place for reflection. This reflection should allow a person to find the wholeness again from a broken heart and from contrition. The goal is to the see and experience the joy that should come out of the sadness.
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Do you want to work on taking the actions of your life and find meaning in all you do and who you are? Are you struggling with your spiritual growth. Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
Part one of Chapter 26. This chapter discusses finding positive growth in the midst of sadness and darkness. We delve into the beginnings of the theology of how we find hope in tragedy, meaning in suffering, light within darkness. This relates to inspiring people to continue to work on spiritual growth even when things seem lost. The Alter Rebbe suggests that we may never understand the why and that our push to succeed might be like planting the seeds for some future time. None of this pushes aside the pain and sadness. Rather, it is a his call to reflect on trying to see farther and deeper, which for most of us is nearly impossible to do. It doesn’t we despair and don’t reflect. Rather, we recognize our limitations as human beings to prognosticate on the whys of the future.
All episodes can also now be heard on Apple Podcasts – here
Do you want to work on taking the actions of your life and find meaning in all you do and who you are? Are you struggling with your spiritual growth. Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
Are there actual miracles in the world? Can we be open to the concept that even the events that we think are natural are miraculous? Do we just rely on our knowledge, which blinds us to seeing the beauty and sacredness all around us?
I have suggested that our understanding of miracles has become more sophisticated. This is a double-edged sword. We can see the miraculous even in moments that we have a clear sense of the nature of what we are witnessing and yet, because we know more, we tend not to be able to experience the miraculous with as much excitement and wonder. Because of this, our skepticism gets in the way of our experiencing the world.
For Rebbe Nachman, as part of his perspectives on faith as culled together in Likkutei Etzot, recognizing the possibility of the miraculous, something seeming beyond the norm, is an important element of developing, strengthening and maintaining our faith. As he says:
The people who deny that miracles are possible and claim that everything that takes place has a natural explanation can actually witness a miracle themselves and still try and glaze over it and explain it away. Naturally, this attitude of mind is very damaging to religious faith. It is harmful to prayer, and people’s understanding of the true significance of the Land of Israel becomes obscured. All this contributes to the lengthening of the exile (Ibid. 2).
Before unpacking this idea, I would highlight a summarization of this concept from earlier in this section of Likkutei Etzot:
Faith, prayer, miracles and the Land of Israel are all one concept. They are all dependent upon each other (Ibid.).
If we remove the belief in the miraculous, we run the risk of losing the feelings of awe and wonder that is the beauty in the world. If we lose this sense of awe, we presume everything has a direct correlation, instead of maintaining a sense of the faith we often need to help guide us through challenging moments. Without this faith, why would we pray, since how can prayer ever make a change. And finally, we close ourselves off the sacredness of time and space, as exemplified by the notion of that the true significance of Israel is obscured, for part of the true significance of Israel is the notion that place can be sacred.
Rebbe Nachman is advising us to be open to experiencing things without having to intellectualize them. If we allow for experience, we open ourselves up to feeling the changes between the mundane and sacred. How do we feel the difference between a weekday and Shabbat if we merely just look at a calendar? How do we see the beauty of Gd’s creation if all we are doing is driving through? When we experience the sacredness, we feel the inspiration to grow, to connect, to recognize the faith of the “unknown.”
May we be able to open our hearts and minds to truly feel the holiness and sacred of our world. May we recognize how different times and different spaces have different vibes.
Are you struggling with your spiritual growth? Faith? Feeling lost in the midst of the journey of life? Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
Pray with strength and put all your force into the letters of the prayers. Through this you attain faith (9:1).
Prayer comes from faith and faith comes from prayer.
How many of us who pray daily throw away prayer through rote recitation and then say, “prayer has no meaning for me?” Or perhaps prayer seems uninspired. The question is, just as much as we want prayer to give us something, so too prayer “wants” us to give it something.
For Rebbe Nachman, strengthening our faith comes from the exertion and work of growing and cultivating that faith. Faith is not something we just have. It is something we need to plant, water and grow. Faith is something that can be damaged or even “destroyed (but don’t despair, the seed we planted will always remain, perhaps deep down, but it remains).” An ideal way to strengthen our faith is through the “action” of tefillah, turning to Gd daily in recognition of being provided with what we need and having opportunity to request what we believe will help us further our lives. If we focus and we take hold of what we are saying and to Whom we are addressing, we have the opportunity to enhance and inspire our prayers.
Regarding the letters of prayer, I will just add that within mystical traditions each letter carries a spark of the divine which, through our recitation, we are said to be able to reveal to the world. When we do the work, we reap the efforts spiritually.
Today, may each of us find the inspiration within the faith we already carry to inspire our prayer so as to continue to grow our faith.
Are you struggling with your spiritual growth? Faith? Feeling lost in the midst of the journey of life? Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
Final section of Chapter 25. This last section deals with two topics.
1. The daily need for forgiveness for the negligence that is our human imperfection as it relates to not constantly fulfilling study of Torah and performing mitzvot. This negligence is in contrast to willfully abrogating the law, for which teshuva is much more complicated.
2. A review of how reciting Shema 2x a day is a message of absolute loyalty to Gd. It is about commitment. Spiritual growth and connection to faith is ideally about absolute commitment.
We look at how we have to commit to change and not just claim we want it.
Finally, we end off with a short Torah thought based on Parashat Yitro regarding Gd’s revelation of Torah at Mount Sinai in light of what we have studied as it relates to Gd revealing Gdself distilled through the Torah.
All episodes can also now be heard on Apple Podcasts – here
Do you want to work on taking the actions of your life and find meaning in all you do and who you are? Are you struggling with your spiritual growth. Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
In addition to my recordings on Tanya, (see latest episode – Episode 38, and link to episodes on Apple Podcasts – here), and my occasional, reflective writing as the muse speaks to me, I am planning a couple of other serial postings. Keep on the lookout for new writing projects.
For now, I want to begin with a new series writing and commenting on the spiritual and psychological underpinnings as I see them in from the aphorisms and quotations of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov as culled together in the work, Likkutei Etzot. Based on the sales blurb on breslovbooks.com, Likkutei Etzot is:
The teachings in the Likutey Moharan not only contain novel enlightening concepts but also contain very practical advice and directions on how to implement the wisdom in the teachings. Lekuty Eitzos extracts and summarizes the main practical advice from Rabbi Nachman’s teachings, outlining them in a clear organized fashion. Aside from Lekutey Moharan thoughts are also taken from the sefer Sichos Haran. Now Rebbe Nachman’s guidance is made readably accessible, where one can directly locate and relate to his powerful advice. This work was compiled by Rebbe Nosson. He understood the strong, clear guidance Rebbe Nachman offers and wanted to make it more accessible for the masses. Likutey Eitzos was later reprinted with additions by Rabbi Nachman of Tcherin Lekutay Eitzos is therefore sometimes referred to as the “early” or “later” edition. This book is an amazingly powerful aid for one’s spiritual journey in this world.
I plan to explore selected pieces of advice, in order of the book. The text and translation come from Sefaria. I invite readers to search Sefaria for the original source texts to get a sense of the quotations context. However, my goal is to see the quotes as independent statements requiring our attention and reflection.
The first section is about אֱמֶת וֶאֱמוּנָה, Truth and faith.
א. עִקַּר הַגְּאֻלָּה תְּלוּיָה בָּאֱמוּנָה, כִּי עִקַּר הַגָּלוּת אֵינוֹ אֶלָּא בִּשְׁבִיל חֶסְרוֹן אֱמוּנָה: (לק”א סי’ ז’ אות א’) In essence, redemption is dependent on faith. The root cause of the exile is simply a lack of faith (Likutey Moharan 7:1).
In this first quote, we can surmise a powerful idea in relation to mindset. Many times the sense of personal exile and redemption is one of perception. When we are in a “good place,” which might be a place where we are feeling strong in our faith in something greater than ourselves, we might well feel a freedom and sense of being redeemed from the trials and tribulations of what came before. At other times, this sense of faith will ebb, will shrink, will shatter. This is often in moments of crisis, moments taking us off the path we feel we have set before ourselves. In those moments of exile, part of the mindset of feeling exiled, feeling lost, can be rooted in the ebbing of our sense of order in the ways of the world. It can be rooted in our loss of sense of connection to Gd. Of course, many times it is the opposite, the exile leads to a sense of lost faith, lost trust.
While this statement can and is read as a call to merely strengthen faith and by extension we will find redemption, I would not be so quick to make that leap. I have witnessed those in “crisis,” in a personal exile being stronger and more secure in their faith than those for whom life is “whole” (though very few really have absolute wholeness in life).
In the eyes of my chaplaincy/spiritual coaching work, a statement like this is a good reinforcer to the work we support others in as it relates to their individual sense of belief, faith and spirituality. While things don’t occur so simply, it is in the depth of recognizing personal exile and redemption can have elements of spiritual struggle or the lack thereof that we can explore in our work.
Comments are welcome as we explore the work of Rebbe Nachman together.
Are you struggling with your spiritual growth? Faith? Feeling lost in the midst of the journey of life? Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
Part of two of chapter 25. This section deals with the phrase “doing good” as it relates to the hidden love, the divine soul within each of us. Even when we aren’t feeling the connection consciously, the love and connection to Gd is built in for us to work to draw upon in order to foster the relationship we want to have. In this piece I also touch on how the well could go dry but not when it comes to the divine soul.
All episodes can also now be heard on Apple Podcasts – here
Do you want to work on taking the actions of your life and find meaning in all you do and who you are? Are you struggling with your spiritual growth. Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
Part one chapter 25. This recording reviews some of the concepts we have seen in the previous chapters about how to overcome the spirit of folly. If we presume our ability to love and fear Gd are always present, we have the tools needed to sustain our positive spiritual growth. This section reviews the importance of relationship with the divine as part of the ability to overcome our mistakes. I also add in a plug for spiritual growth as relational and my work as a spiritual coach. I also offer a special wish at the end of the show to my older son as he turns 13 today on the Gregorian calendar (Hebrew birthday upcoming in a week).
All episodes can also now be heard on Apple Podcasts – here
Do you want to work on taking the actions of your life and find meaning in all you do and who you are? Are you struggling with your spiritual growth. Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
When you sign on to be a spiritual companion, you enter a two-way street. You invite intimacy, and you share from your own soul. You are a source of strength, but you look to the dying person for inspiration and moments of strength as well.
You open the window for peace to the surround the one who is dying, and you feel its breeze on your face.
You look for truth, for the expression of candid and deep feelings ranging from agony and anger to joy and acceptance, and find you must bare your feelings also.
Both of you will grow. You will care for one another. And you both will find tears to be a healing release and closeness of body, mind, and spirit to be a shelter from the cold night of pain and grief.
p. 2-3
While the chaplain, spiritual coach, spiritual care provider, (pick your title), has the ethical and professional responsibility to maintain boundaries, the ability to accompany a person from a spiritual place requires the professional to enter the sacred space heart and soul. We are the mostly non-anxious presence in the midst of a person’s struggle with the vulnerabilities that come from illness and loss of sense of wholeness. As such, when we enter, we are open to relationship being a two way relationship. While this does increase the risk of compassion fatigue and burnout, when we are meeting people from the place of relationship, we must meet the person as two vulnerable, imperfect human beings, not just in a the hierarchical relationship that is presumed by the professional role the chaplain or spiritual coach brings to the space.
This reminds me of the following passage from the Talmud:
And this is what Rabbi Ḥanina said: I have learned much from my teachers and even more from my friends, but from my students I have learned more than from all of them.
BT Taanit 7a
If you are in the midst of illness or spiritual struggle and are in need of a person to be on this journey with you, Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
Part two of Chapter 24. He continues the discussion of sin as a result of the “spirit of folly.” The section deals with three types of violations:
1. Cardinal sins which cannot be violated at any cost
2. Prohibitions that need to be violated in the short term for the sake of long term gain
3. Violations of prohibitions punishable by Karet – divine separation, vs. most other violations, which are temporary breaks with the divine.
I also attempt to express my view of how the spirit of folly as he presents it is not an excuse for the bad choices people make and yet we must also recognize that often people are not making rational choices when making hurtful, horrific choices in the actions that they take.
All episodes can also now be heard on Apple Podcasts – here
Do you want to work on taking the actions of your life and find meaning in all you do and who you are? Are you struggling with your spiritual growth. Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
New beginnings: A blog about spirituality, chaplaincy and renewal 