Part one of Chapter 28. We continue to discuss the topic of extraneous thoughts that come into our minds in the midst of our actions. This time the focus is on how to handle these thoughts in the midst of prayer and Torah study. We get into a discussion of how a tzaddik will deal with this versus how we, the beinoni, needs to work on not allowing the thought to bring us down. I offer a short parashat Mishpatim thought based on the past couple of days of Tanya as well.
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Faith manifests itself in many forms. Much of our approach to faith is emotional/intellectual, in that we either try to gain clarity and understanding in what we see in the world or allow experience and gut to guide us on our journey. In the below quote from Rebbe Nachman, he suggests that faith has a more pragmatic, action oriented element as well:
Charity is only perfect when it is combined with faith. The same is true of all the blessings which flow into the world through acts of charity. They are only perfect when there is faith. Faith is the source of blessings. Keeping the holy Shabbat — which is called the “source of blessings”— is the foundation of faith (31:2).
From this passage, we are given a shift in our perspective on both charity and faith. As to faith, Rebbe Nachman gives us a clear approach to its value in that faith allows us to be a receptacle for blessing. Through faith in its ideal, we open ourselves up to a more selfless approach to life as a whole. Obviously, this takes work and effort to overcome selfish faith, one in which we claim faith only so that we can receive blessing. Rather, we have to cultivate faith in our individual and collective missions to make the world a better place. All of this leads us to charity.
Charity is a complicated idea. Maimonides, for example, makes it clear that tzedaka, which we translate as charity, a term that implies a certain subjectivity in that we can choose how to be supportive, is not the correct translation of tzedaka. Rather tzedaka should be seen as a required form of supporting others in positions of need. Without tzedaka, the world wouldn’t stand as we would be relying only on acts of kindness, chesed, which are contingent on the goodness of one to another. Others work with the more colloquial approach to tzedaka as the equivalent of chesed, which I would argue is what Rebbe Nachman is suggesting. As such, this is where faith comes in. If we combine faith with our sense of charity, we will find it easier to give because this combination cultivates our sense of trusting our giving is not a diminishment in what we have but rather a conduit for furthering our collective mission as human beings in caring for all.
Finally, how does Shabbat fit in? Shabbat, cessation from doing, is the source of all blessing. When we allow ourselves to take a moment to witness all we have done, we can often gain a deeper perspective. We can see the bigger picture. We can have the time and space to reflect and to not be caught up in doing, allowing ourselves to strengthen our spirituality and ultimately our faith. This foundational principle is in line with the above. When we allow ourselves to stop, we are saying that we trust that even if we aren’t doing, the world can continue because we have done what we could. Faith is the sense that we do our part and believe that Gd will take care of the rest. Faith is a deep sense of trust. Resting/Shabbat and Charity both must be accompanied by this notion of faith in order for them to be done to their utmost and if they are, then we should hopefully see blessings come into this world as a result.
As we get ready to enter the Shabbat of the special reading for Parashat Shekalim, which is about the obligatory giving of a half shekel to support the tabernacle and Temple, may we see the merits of our giving shine a light on our lives.
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End of chapter 27. This section looks at a second approach to overcoming our base, physical instincts, or overcoming the Sitra Achara (dark/other side). There are many permissible actions one is allowed to do yet we must also work on the motivation for doing them. If we are doing things for the sake of connecting to Gd, then we are also suppressing the power of the Sitra Achara from getting the upper hand. This comes through the means of learning how to delay giving in to our physical desires. We are not ignoring them. Rather we are using things like eating as a tools to grow spiritually. We also briefly explore the term Kadosh, translated as holy to find the depth and beauty of this term.
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Part two of chapter 27. The Tanya warns us not to be sad about the internal struggle because the internal struggle is our mission in life. He suggests that it is this struggle which helps define the Beinoni, the intermediary person, to whom he is writing. We discuss the power of struggle and overcoming it to continue along a path of spiritual growth. I reflect on the importance of maintaining practice even if our minds are not engaged because the actions can, if we are intentional, hopefully open the door to further spiritual growth.
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As we continue to explore some key points of faith as per Rebbe Nachman, this short piece is fundamental to his thought as well as a good reflection on the ideal engagement with faith.
Even a person who attains a certain level of religious insight and understanding must take good care to ensure that the perception he has is suffused with faith. Intellect alone is not something to rely upon (24:6).
For faith to have an impact on our lives, it cannot just reside in our minds. Faith needs to find its place in our heart, in the depth of who we are. How many of us struggle with faith not because we don’t have it but because we work too hard to try to understand the world. We are educated to think, debate, hypothesize, experiment and sometimes we forget the simple beauty of just seeing what is right there in front of us. Rebbe Nachman warns that the more we learn, the more we think we know, the more we must also work to strengthen the tie to the emotional feeling that is faith. I believe it is from that feeling that is faith we draw on the strength to withstand traumas and crises.
But this is no easy task. It is hard work to get to this place. How do we do that without intellectualizing our faith? Perhaps this is the power and beauty that we can find in prayer. Through prayer, we approach the world from a place of recognizing lack and looking to Gd to show us how to fill up what is missing. Prayer as a regular practice goes beyond knowledge. While it is important to have a deep understanding of the words we are saying, the deeper investment of energy in tefillah, prayer, is in allowing each time we pray to be a new experience, leaving the intellectual to the side and approaching it from the emotional.
May each of us find and cultivate our individual reservoir of faith as we also work to learn and increase our knowledge and understanding of the world.
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Part one of chapter 27. We continue our discussion of finding the joy in the midst of sadness/melancholy. This time, the focus is on how we are building resistance to sin through pushing away our negative thoughts during our day to day business. Even when not involved in “holy” work, we are able to grow and improve passively by avoiding allowing the evil inclination to push us to sin.
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Let’s be real today. Who among us isn’t struggling to a certain extent with feeling like an imposter? According to this overview of imposter syndrome from Psychology Today, 70% of adults will have the feelings related to imposter syndrome at least once in life. In other words, most of us will have experienced this sense at some point in life.
I find myself reflecting on confidence and feeling like an imposter often. I find that part of the struggle is because we are inundated with the pristine images presented on social media. And just to be clear, we all do this. We get headshots to show our ideal selves, our smiling faces, our confidence. Most of us weed out the awkward picture for the perfect shot. We try not to post our foibles, only our successes.
Today, I want to say, I get the imposter feeling because many times I myself struggle with confidence. Recently I had an experience which reminded me of this struggle. The other day I was working along with a colleague and when he started speaking about me to a third person while I was present, sharing some of my “resume,” I found myself feeling both a sense of embarrassment to hear praise about myself (not in a humble sense, so don’t presume this comes from a sense of humility) and a sense of confidence being reminded that, yes, I am those things. For those who know me, that response is not surprising. Yes, I am aware of my resume and I do know what I have accomplished or attempted to accomplish. Yet, I struggle to believe it to be true. I struggle like we all struggle wondering whether we really have made an impact.
Why am I sharing this, being vulnerable with my readers?
I have a philosophy I bring to my work as a spiritual coach and I always tried to bring to my chaplaincy. It was something I learned early on in hospice work. Inevitably, during the course of a visit with the hospice patient and/or family, people would start asking me basic questions about my life, such as, was I married, did I have children, where do I live. At first, though I would respond, I was hesitant to answer, boundaries and all. Eventually, I realized that this was their way of testing the waters to see the humanness of the professional across the room. Sure, we could argue it is a form of avoidance in the midst of seriousness, but I truly believe it was a method for building trust. As such, I came to see this part of the conversation as a value unto itself. Sure, there are limits and professional boundaries and we aren’t there to unburden ourselves. Yet, if we don’t relate and connect on the basic human level, we will never fully engage the depth and sacredness of the space. In my coaching work, I have found the importance of bringing myself into the space, drawing from our common humanity to help further explore and build trust and relationship, which inevitably goes a long way to helping someone grow and discover.
Back to the imposter syndrome. We are all struggling in one way or another with who we really are and with how we perceive how others perceive us. It is part of being human. My hope is that each of has ways to remind ourselves that while it is a struggle, if we really think through all the naysaying, we might find how much we really are the person we claim to be, not an imposter pretending to be what we aren’t. May each of you find the confidence to overcome feeling like an imposter.
Are you struggling with your sense of self-confidence? Wondering if you really are the person people see you as? Are you working on 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
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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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.
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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
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