Quote of the Week 37 - A Journey From and To Eternity

“What a gift it is to take time to acknowledge time. To stop for a moment to receive the moment, to drink from its wellspring, to connect to it. To realize every now and then that we are in
motion, our bodies are aging, our spirits are blossoming, our feelings are ripening. We are on a journey from and to eternity. We are being carried by a force so clear and real that we are
blinded by it and often numb to it. Tapping into it when we can, gifts us with a reminder of the preciousness of our lives, of our mere existence. To experience Life, we need to occasionally feel
it, to stop the world and get off.”
Rabbi Gershon Winkler

The Now, The Expansion of the Present

There has been a popularization and emphasis in recent years among some spiritual teachers of the concept that realization is achieved by expanding the present moment, the Now. They urge us to let go of neurotically dwelling on the past and anxiously anticipating the future, to the detriment of hardly being aware of the present, which is all that really ever exists. Expanding a sense of the present, of the Now, will provide a refreshing and invigorating perspective. Such a realization does not require a long and arduous search and effort or assistance from others. We all have the self-contained ability to arrive upon this realization right now.
This is really not a new message, as it has existed in various forms in spiritual teachings for a long time. It is no better portrayed than in the modern American tale of The Wizard of Oz. A traumatic event spurs Dorothy to embark upon a search to find her home, which she thinks she has lost. During her search, her consciousness is greatly expanded and opened to realms beyond her wildest imagination. It takes an encounter with a humbug wizard to lead her to the final realization that the ability to find home was always in her possession all along. It didn’t require a great search and lengthy effort to arrive upon an elusive goal attainable only in the vague and uncertain future of sometime later. It was available right now! The humbug also assists her traveling companions in coming to the realization that they all already possessed the qualities they were searching for elsewhere, so maybe he wasn’t such a humbug after all! This is a portrayal of what one teacher has coined “The Paradox of Instruction” – all that a spiritual teacher can really do is take something out of a student’s back pocket, buff it up, and give it back as a gift. The honest spiritual teachers admit to this sleight of hand; the less than honest ones lead the students to think the gift has come from somewhere else, and that they are indebted to the teacher for what has been bestowed upon them from out of their own pockets! But perhaps Dorothy’s and her companions’ searches and adventures leading to their revelations were somehow beneficial, and maybe even necessary. Perhaps without those preliminaries, they wouldn’t have been able to realize the value of the gifts bestowed upon them by the wizard.
Traditional Jewish sources provide certain insights into two profound “expanding the moment” events that occurred in close proximity to each other in the Torah: an elevation of the masses to a high level of consciousness that occurred right after they successfully left Egypt after the parting of the Red Sea, which instigated the group composing the famous “Song by the Sea”; and a similar raising of group consciousness at the foot of Mt. Sinai at the time of the giving of the Ten Commandments. The revelation shared by the masses at those times involved seeing that what was occurring at that precise time and place was perfect, that everything that had occurred before had led inexorably to that time and place, that everything that was going to occur thereafter proceeded inexorably from that time and place, and that everything that had occurred and that would occur was in perfect accord with the Divine scheme of things. There was a realization brought into consciousness of the perfection that was, is, and always will be. (Hayah Hoveh V’Ehyeh). The past, present and future merge; they exist everywhere all of the time. There really is only the present. The universe is unfolding as it should, but not in complacency; for every entity of every kind has its unique function and mission to fulfill in that unfolding, whether consciously or unconsciously, and perhaps even with a sense of urgency.

Quote of the Week 36 - Joy

“Joy breaks down all boundaries”
Anonymous Jewish Sages, as per Chabad

Shortcuts to Spiritual Development?

Quote of the Week 35 - A Light for the Upright

“Even in darkness a light shines for the upright”
Psalm 112

The Sabbath

For many years, I considered my twice-daily meditation sessions as sufficient observance of the Sabbath, without setting a full day aside. However, in more recent years, I have begun to see the value of some kind of regular Sabbath observance, even if not along all of the strictures in traditional Orthodox observance. For me, the spirit of Sabbath observance is to set aside a day to remove oneself from the normal humdrum activities of daily life for a period of regeneration, contemplation, meditation, rest, relaxation, spiritual inspiration, etc.
The common notion of the term “recreation” is to engage in sports, outdoor activities, etc. as a form of this kind of respite. However, the real etymological spirit of recreation is to re-create, to go back to our roots and create anew. In this sense, that is what the Sabbath is about, and while common recreation activities might be helpful, the more quiet forms encompassed in traditional Sabbath observances provide opportunities for deeper spiritual introspection instead of the mere diversions encompassed in the more common forms of recreation activities.
General conceptions of Sabbath practice involve both remembering not to do things that are done at other times, and observing special activities to do. Focusing on spirituality and related topics is the key, and can include studying, reading, writing, meditating, resting, etc. The focus should be on pleasant interactions with others, avoiding controversy or engaging in subjects such as politics, news, work, current events, etc.
I would encourage everyone to consider engaging in a little bit of Sabbath practice in this vein on a regular basis, whether it be on Saturday or Sunday or some other day of the week. I see great value to such a regular respite.

Quote of the Week 34 - Humility

From UK Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks:
“Rabbi Hayyim ibn Attar (Ohr ha-Hayyim) adds a further fascinating insight [regarding the command in the Torah to not ill-treat a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in Egypt]. It may be, he says, that the very sanctity that Israelites feel as children of the covenant may lead them to look down on those who lack a similar lineage. Therefore they are commanded not to feel superior to the ger [stranger, sojourner, foreigner in their land], but instead to remember the degradation their ancestors experienced in Egypt. As such, it becomes a command of humility in the face of strangers.”

Meditating, Eating and Sleeping