Continuation of chapter 37 – We continue to look at the results of performing the mitzvot as it leads to revealing the hidden light in the world. This section also touches on the descent of the souls into the world to perfect the world and bring everything back to the original intention of creation.
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 two of chapter 37. We continue to look at how we can reveal the divine light in the world. This piece looks at how we derive energy from food and drink as items that give us energy to fulfill mitzvot. We review how avoiding transgressions allows the divine energy to continue to influence the world. If we transgress a prohibition, it seems the shells come back. I also offer a small additional point on how preparations allow us to be open to experience the light that is hidden in a mitzvah or in a day, as derived from a book I’m reading called B’Yam Darkecha.
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
How many times do we suddenly feel a stiffness and have questions as to why this pain is suddenly upon us? I know that often what is ailing me physically is not coming just from sitting or moving the wrong way but from something deeper. We know our physical pain is often the outward manifestation of spiritual, social or emotional pain. This is why good holistic medicine offers people supports that move beyond the questions of just where does it hurt to questions about what is currently going on in one’s life and explorations of current stressors that might need to be expressed. Truth be told, like so much else in modern spirituality and psychology literature, these wisdoms are not new. They are known thoughts and ideas we have been exploring for centuries.
For example, the below quote from Rebbe Nachman suggests when we find ourselves struggling with our faith, as we so often do, we are more susceptible to struggles that cannot be cured by simply taking a pill, calling on Gd to help or even relying on the merits of our ancestors (a deeper topic that isn’t directly tied into my train of thought in this piece). Many of our difficulties stem from the imbalance we might be experiencing. Or, as Rebbe Nachman suggests:
The main thing is emunah (faith). Every person has to search within himself and strengthen himself in faith. The fall of faith brings to astounding afflictions, for which neither medicines, nor prayer, nor ancestral merit helps. Neither is the sick person helped by the sound of his sighs and groans. There are times when such sounds help the sick person by arousing mercy for him. But on account of the fall of faith, this, too, does not help (II 5:1).
Strengthening our sense of faith is a foundation of regular spiritual growth. By faith, I am not speaking in a narrow sense, though Rebbe Nachman would be more limiting as to the word’s definition. I am speaking in the broad sense of recognizing that spiritual contentment and spiritual struggle will have a positive or negative effect, respectively, on our lives. We are tasked to always be strengthening our faith, a theme we have seen in some of the other quotes from Rebbe Nachman. Through this spiritual vigilance, we often have the fortitude to overcome many obstacles.
It is important for me to emphasize that this is not a post suggesting that modern medicine or taking care of our physical health is unimportant. It is of paramount importance to be vigilant with our bodies and couple that with spiritual/emotional vigilance. And while Rebbe Nachman had many negative things to say regarding physicians (keeping in mind in his late 18th century/early 19th century world doctors did not have nearly the amount of knowledge or tools at their disposal as they do today), I think we can read his words in light of our seeing ourselves in the holistic way I mentioned above.
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 one of chapter 37. We continue on our reflection of the power of mitzvot to reveal the light of Gd in the world. The focus here is on raising up the light that is concealed in the physical world. We discuss this on two levels, revealing the light of the materials we use for mitzvot and revealing the light that is buried within the animal soul. The discussion circles back again to how thought and speech are also “actions” of bringing out light.
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
Today, I am thinking about my motivations. Why do I do the things I do? Why share my thoughts with others through this medium? Why do I help others in times of crisis? Why do I live a life focused on spiritual growth? These questions, among others, are part of my daily reflections. Of course, at times one question sticks out more than the rest while other questions percolate below the surface, ready to come forth when they need time and reinforcement.
I am reminded of this because of the following idea from the thought of Rebbe Nachman.
A person should be so honest that when he carries out the mitzvot and all their fine details it is for the sake of God alone. Even if he were completely alone with no one to watch him, he would still carry them all out scrupulously. Being free of the slightest hint of dishonesty, he would never do anything merely to impress others (Ibid.).
Do my motivations change if others watch me do an action? Am I consistent in private and public? Being consistent in our inner and outer selves is quite difficult. It is something that I know to be a daily struggle. Most of us tend to find elements of our motivations coming from external incentives, whether honor, glory, the hope someone will return the favor (quid pro quo), etc. This is not a negative. Yet, this cannot be seen as an ideal for us to live by. While it is part of our growth to need these external incentives for our growth, the true goal is to move beyond the reward and do it for its own sake. To me, reading these words of Rebbe Nachman, I am reminded of this statement from Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our Fathers:
Antigonus a man of Socho received [the oral tradition] from Shimon the Righteous. He used to say: do not be like servants who serve the master in the expectation of receiving a reward, but be like servants who serve the master without the expectation of receiving a reward, and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.
Pirkei Avot 1:3
Our spiritual growth is a continuous process of struggle to be consistent in the motivations for all we do. Today, may we reflect on what makes us do the great things we do and begin working on aligning our real motivations with the actions we take.
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 two of chapter 36. We review a spiritually inspired read of the Torah’s revelation at Mount Sinai. This revelation was the revelation of the divine light into the world. We also see the consequences of the subsequent sin of the Golden Calf and how it is our mission to reclaim and rereveal the divine light in the world. I also reiterate the challenges of the particularism of the Tanya while trying to find universalistic messages within the book, using this section as a case study in understanding responsibility as it relates to each of our faiths.
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 of chapter 36. This section is a review of the Alter Rebbe’s mystical theology of existence. We explore the chain of being from Gd to our realm, in which the light of Gd is concealed and veiled the further one gets from the Infinite, Ein Sof. This section looks at our mission of revealing Gd’s light from within the concealed through the actions we take. We also touch on how the light we are looking to reveal is a redemptive light.
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
This list is quite telling. The authors suggest that the plurality of definitions is due to the difficulty in trying to pinpoint and narrow down experience of either the Big “E” or small “e” enlightenments that the book is exploring. If we just explore this list, we see terms that fall into religion, spirituality, secularism, and all states in between. And so, throughout history, we have looked to many ways to describe these states, starting from Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” to our book’s brain science exploration.
Back to our trying to define enlightenment, the authors’ propose that for the little “e” type, the definition is:
to shed light on our ignorance and bring ourselves out from the dark.
p. 29
All of those moments in our lives when we “shed light” on a subject might very well fall into this category. Of course, these little moments are there to build towards the potentially Big “E” moment, yet we must not lose sight of the value of each of the little “e” enlightenments most of us will experience.
The authors distinguish between the two types of enlightenment by suggesting that the Big “E” Enlightenment is a state of being “typically associated with a permanent shift of perception, awareness and knowledge (29-30).” Yet, this definition is not simple as it is difficult to assess the objectivity of the reported experience, since these are by nature, individualized, subjective stories from individual experience.
Chapter two is continues by surveying in brief eastern and western mystical enlightenment, western rational enlightenment, American spiritual enlightenment and psychological enlightenment. As with most surveys, there are various subcategories that get lost, nuances between different faiths and eras. Nevertheless, for the goal of this book, it is important to have this baseline to explore the contemporary neuroscientific approaches.
Towards the end of chapter two, one particular passage stood out, which I think makes for an interesting counter to experiments of defining enlightenment. It states:
There’s a wonderful story about a young man who goes to a Buddhist monastery eager to become enlightened as quickly as possible. The man asks the Buddhist master, “How long will it take me to become enlightened?” The master answers, “About ten years.” The young man says, “Ten years! Why ten years?” The master replies, “Ah, I see that you are right! In your case, twenty years!”
“Why do you now say twenty years?” the frustrated man retorts, but the master then says “Oh, I’m sorry. I was mistaken. For you, thirty years.”
In other words, the more you try to become enlightened, the more it may elude you, which is exactly what happened to me.
p, 43
As we continue to explore the ideas from this book, I wonder how much of the elusive nature of enlightenment will be a theme to return to, for no matter how much we can study the brain function of someone experiencing these alternate states of being, I would believe that the mystery that is the experience itself will remain.
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
Much of life is the struggle of our sense of control (The introduction to the Breslov Haggadah – free download here – presents a read of the sin of Adam and Eve as a sin presuming humanity has “real” control). We tend to believe we are in control of everything. Each of us struggles with this sense of self. Part of our expression of this control comes from our speech. While it is often important to speak up to protect ourselves, it is not without consequence. We find ourselves regularly in conflict with each other. This is true, even when we are right. Because being right can have unintended consequences.
In this piece from Rebbe Nachman, I find an approach to how we can overcome the sense of control we often struggle with. It comes from the importance of cultivating our ability to be silent.
Controversy and divisiveness can cause even God-fearing people to start having doubts about their beliefs. The answer is to be silent. And to leave the battle to the Lord (251).
Silence is not merely a passive state of allowing someone to take advantage or to trample over you. Here, Rebbe Nachman is suggesting that silence is a deliberate practice of realizing that very often, even if we think our approach might be the better approach, it is important to practice restraint and it is important to recognize that while we might think we are right, maybe the way we want to approach the situation requires a different, thought out strategy. Faith is recognizing that we don’t really know. Faith is often taking a step back and allowing things to play out instead of trying to force a situation into a certain box.
Spiritual growth is a constant approach of striving forward. To strive forward we need to work on our ability to cultivate connection and peacefulness. We cannot grow if things around us are broken, are divided. Sometimes these breaks are real and sometimes they are perceived to be broken. And sometimes the brokenness comes because we react instead of taking a moment, being in silence, and seeing the situation for its broader implications.
May each of us learn the art of silence as an act of expressing 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
Rest of chapter 35. We go deeper into the discussion of doing mitzvot, of taking action as a means of drawing down the light of the divine presence. This section brings us to a fuller picture of the tripartite growth that occurs as a result of thought, speech and action. To truly experience the light of the divine, we cannot merely live a life of contemplation. Actions are a vital part of elevating the animal soul that animates the body.
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 