Centre Calm

You are walking along a heavily path toward a city. Sadly, the path petered out into a multitude tracks. He noticed a white beaded man in deep reflection sitting under a tree.
“Hello, old man .... Which way to the city?”
“There’s two ways,“ he replies “the long short way and the short long way.”
“Ok the short long way?”
“That’s easy,” replies the old man “Walk down that gully and climb that hill and once your over the hill and your there...”
Nodding in gratitude you ask casually “ .. and the long short way?” to which the old sage knowingly points.

So down the gully over the hill and there is the huge city wall – and no gate. Trees and undergrowth block any progress along the city wall.
Disheartened you return, glare at the meditating old man and struggle down the second road. You have to make your way around obstacles, the path is confusing, but you can work it out. Around you go winding a distance yet soon the path widens joins a road and enters straight into the cities heart.

So it is in life that we can be caught up in the periphery of the spirit. We can take someone else’s directions – its easy to do. However, that takes us only to the periphery of the soul. To find our true soul we must do our own work – true we can be given the direction, but we must find our own way and search our own heart.

The disturbances of life throw us like the spinning platform at a playground. Round and round we go, speeding at the circles circumference, forces trying to pull us away from our balance. As we approach the centre, the distance travelled in each revolution is less, the centrifugal force is reduced, it becomes easier to hold on.
There is a point, infinitely small where the distance travelled is zero, where there is perfect calm. That point of the soul is a point in life where we are at peace. To a Jew it may be in the Sabbath service, to another a service in church or mosque. Nevertheless, the service is not a goal that stands alone.

These are tools designed to help us reconnect with God, to search our soul and find that infinitely minute spark of divinity that resides within awaiting the stillness within to flourish and re-ignite our passion for union with Him. Religion may take us to the periphery of divinity but we must take a hold of that mode of service to find our own way in through the door and into our heart.

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40 Love – Game, Set, Match and the love of the Game

Well it’s Wimbledon.
Again we get to sit enthralled as Federer, Nadal, the William sisters and whoever else serves, slices, lobs, grunts and groans their way in or out of the history books.

Of course, its also a game with a rather strange scoring method:

“15 love...”
“30 love....”
“40 love....”

Er and if you don’t follow tennis, love means ‘nothing’, ‘nil’, ‘zilch’. In other words they have 15 points and you ain’t scored yet.

Ouch!

So where does this strange meaning for the word ‘love’ come from?
Well according to the Oxford dictionary it is short for ‘to play the love of the game’. That is to play for nothing, not for money, not for honour, not to win.

Now, I ‘m one of those people who loves the ideas of history; especially beliefs and religion.

It is also interesting that in the Jewish tradition this week the Torah reading is about a contest that came down to ‘game, set and match’.

A chap called Korah decided to have it out with Moses. Korah was not just anyone, he was descendant of Levi of whom the priests and Levites descended, as did his cousins Moses and Aaron, Moses brother, the High Priest.

The problem was, according to the Bible, God wanted Aaron as High Priest, but Korah, along with 250 other ‘men of renown’, comes onto the scene breathing accusation and fury accusing Moses of nepotism.

He doesn’t come to check the facts no he’s out to let Moses have it.
"You have gone too far!” he tells Moses “For all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and The Lord is among them; why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of The Lord?" (Numbers 16:1-3). A bit far fetched since Moses had initially tried to get out of being leader.

for Moses it's love of the game...

Korah and company have time to recant, or front up and let God decide.

For these guys its win at all cost!

They proudly stick to their agenda, and so God opens up the earth and the story tells us they are swallowed alive by the earth.

Game, set, match.

OK that’s a rather sticky end….

Well what’s that got to do with Wimbledon or tennis?

Worship is a ‘game’ we need to play for the love of it. A game played for love of God, love of fellow man, love of the community.

Yes there are some who are leaders, organizers, priests, Rabbi’s, you name it … there are also some who help the old lady across the street. Worship is not to be played as an ego trip. It is a service.

Each person is part of the divine plan, no matter where he or she is or who he she is. We need to live this life in love rather than get swallowed up by the arguments of life.

Live life, love life, love God, love man …

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Rules, Rules, Rules

"For this commandment which I command you this day, is not concealed from you, nor is it far away It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?" Rather,[this] thing is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can fulfill it."

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 30:11-14

We have a strange practice of making doing the right thing hard to do. Religions are masterful at it. The same religious that teach love can sink into depressing rules that repel the young from finding the joy of experience ones inner divinity as children of God.

The truth is that doing the right thing is really quiet simple. Naturally our heart, our mouth and our actions want to do the right thing. These 3 parts of our make-up – our thoughts, our words and actions, like organs of the divine soul work in perfect harmony when vested in following the leadings of the divine.

Of course our thoughts and our heart relate strongly. We often try to separate them. Yet we are emotional beings, and our heart as so often portrayed in literature is a symbol our emotional life which is best felt when we are in awe of this life we have been given and the divinity that has made it possible.

When I chose to obey the divine, I am not cowering in fear, rather I am in awe of the cause and sustainer of life as I experience it. The infinite of divinity is beyond me and I experience it as far as my limited grasp interacts with the immeasurable light around me.

In Hebrew the word for commandment, mitzvot, means more than commandment. It also means connection. When I do something for a person I admire I feel connected to Him, in the same way by choosing a moral life because it is the divine thing to do, allows me a sense of connection. To the infinite God it gives nothing – the infinite cannot change –however, I can change. I can be more like Him by my experience with Him. A healthy respect, a sense of awe, will prevent me from acting, even wanting to act, unjustly and encourage me to act in love.

It is this divine interplay of awe and love that motivates me and so the idea of obeying the commandments - that is obeying the rules - becomes easy. I desire to obey them – they become ‘near to me.’

True this requires an interplay of the three parts of our experience. Just as what I say or do with words in written form is important so is it important that I take in the words of instruction. Just as I impelled to act in kindness because of the love in my heart, I must meditate and understand the spirit and intent, the purpose of these dictates, lest I fall into mindless, heartless and unkind rule dominated control. Also I must act, my hands must actually do something to make the world a home where god would chose to reside.

Naturally we are a materialistic bunch - and indeed our material life is a reflection of our spiritual values – however it is as if the world and god are at different ends of the spectrum. We can simply just obey the rules and do so for the benefit of society or we can spend time and contemplate and develop an actual relationship with divinity. Perhaps that can be compared to taking a longer, but ultimately, more satisfying route. As we ponder on Him, and on the wonders of the material universe, we see interplay of qualities in balance that brings to the surface the naturally innate compassion and love that is within every human soul.

When we come in touch with divine spark that is seeking to reunite with the divine we can route its power into the service of this world. just as aflame, a burning gas reaching upward and outward, must be routed to a wick, our desire to be with Him and like Him, must be bound in service of Man and God both.

In the three Abrahamic Faiths there is a fundamental truth commonly expounded- you cannot love the invisible God if you do not love your fellow, and very visible, man.

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Making Our Neighbours Eyes Shine

Benjamin Zander has two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it. However, this is also a lesson about life and possibilities. This is the story of realising that as a conductor his job is to empower an orchestra. That when he is doing his job well there is an orchestra looking back with shining eyes.

"Success is about how many shining eyes I have around me", says Zander.
If the yes lack tustre then perhaps it is time to ask "Who am I being that my childrens eyes are not shining?"

Then there is the story of the woman who survived Auschwitz. On the train to the camp she noiced her younger brother di not have his shoes and she chastised him. That ws the last thing she ever said to him.

After the war this woman vowered "I will never say anything that could not stand as the last thing I could say to that person."

Although a lesson in music, this video helps us understand that we have the power to bring lustre to the eyes of all around us.

"My job is is to awaken possibilities in other people" Lets make other peoples eyes shine. In business perhaps we can ask, as does success coach Tom Wood, "What do you do John, how can I help you?"

A simple question perhaps, yet a question that opens up the possibility of building a better world.

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Does Kabbalah Use Meditation?

Michael Laitman, Founder, Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Institute, explains internal observation form the kabbalistic perspective.

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Joseph and the Rabbinic-Coloured Psych Session

"And they took him and cast him into the pit;

now the pit was empty there was no water in it.”

- Gen 37:24.

“Now the pit was empty-there was no water in it: Since it says: “now the pit was empty,” do I not know that there was no water in it? For what purpose did the Torah write,

“there was no water in it” ? [To inform us that] there was no water in it,

but there were snakes and scorpions in it. “

-Shab. 22a, Chag. 3a

Sometimes life is the pits, you really are stuck in a hole. When you feel stressed out it can really pull you down, lower your sites and shrink the heart.

Joseph, the biblical character (you know: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat) gets thrown in a hole and left for dead by some pretty unpleasant brothers. OK he is rescued – one brother persuaded them to stick him in the hole rather than kill him – yet who says being sold as a slave is a great way to be saved?

Well you probably know that it all works out in the end. Yet being stuck in a pit to die is no one’s idea of fun.

An empty pit the Bible says. OK so it has no water in it. That’s the logical interpretation. But the Rabbi’s like to make things difficult. The reason we are told there was no water in it is ‘To inform us that there was no water in it, but there were snakes and scorpions in it”.

If that is not confusing enough we need remember that in each story there is a deep personal message. The Kabbalist’s tell us that the hole is the mind – the pit of our desperation.

So here we are stuck in the pit of life’s issues and we face issues with two types of dramas:

Frontal Attack: A snake has its venom up front You get bit and then the beginning of the mental process. Snake in Hebrew, nachash, also is related to the word for guess. I don’t know about you. But when I’m under attack I find it pretty easy to start trying to second guess the situation and if I’m not careful, end up making the problem worse, more anxious, with all the mind games and Shakespearean mental role play.

Attack from the rear: A scorpion has its sting in the tail. It is at the end of the mental process. Have you ever procrastinated because you think your assignment is not good enough and you keep putting it off?

It’s not enough to empty the pit of the mind of anxiety, else it will fill with even bigger snakes and scorpions. So how do we get rid of our snakes and scorpions? Simple: fill the pit with water - life giving, nourishing and sustaining water. No self respecting snake intends to hang around and drown.

What of the pit of our mind? Do we take control of our mind and keep it full with positive, uplifting and sustaining thoughtsand do we hill our lives with good? Or do we let every strange uninvited guest take over our aimless thinking processes? Do we fill our mind and make our life a place where the divine would choose to reside or do we let the demons of our past in habit our future?

Psalm 34: 14 suggests “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” You don’t have to be a Bible believer to recognize that doing good and filling the mind with good things is a better way to go.

The choice is ours. Fill our minds with water, grow a garden in our mind while we await our release or let the snakes and scorpions move in as we wallow in fear.

I know which choice I’m going to make.

What will you choose?

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Building Our Paradise

All of us at some time have been given a job that we don’t want to do. Perhaps our spouse wants us to help in the garden, to trim the hedges or mow the lawn. It could be an assignment from school is troubling our son, or perhaps our daughter is finding the transition into teenage life challenging. It is so easy to put things off into the idealised future.

There was a man I heard of who was given one last house to build. He didn’t want the job – he was approaching retirement – however, he was doing the job because a friend asked him to build it. He kept procrastinating, and finally gave in rushing its completion. The job was ok – it certainly wasn’t faulty, even good compared to some other tradesman standards, but it lacked the enthusiastic professionalism for which he was known. The man knew it too.

Eventually, he handed the keys over to his friend glad the job was over.
The friend handed the keys back.

“The house is yours. It’s my gift too you.”

If you were the builder would you suddenly exclaim: “Why didn’t you tell me? If I had known, I would have built stronger foundations, put in nicer lights, done .......” Because in truth our future is our own creation - our own building.

Some of us think that if we plod along in life doing no harm to others we will be rewarded with our Garden of Eden in heaven. The truth is our paradise will be built on the life and qualities we build now. If we have built much then our future will be strong. If our life is wasted well perhaps our paradise may be a little sparse, or we may find ourselves being asked “What have you done? You are full of excuses. Go back and try again and when you have lived the life you were sent down to earth to build then you can come back and see Me.”

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