Gone Fishin'

I am about to embark upon a two week trip to Turkey and Israel, and I don't expect to be adding any new content to this site during that time. New content will resume in the second half of April.

Om Shalom.

Quote of the Week 86 - Atlanta Graffiti

“Be the person your dog thinks you are.”
--Atlanta Graffiti

Bibliography/Book Review/Eulogy; Jones, Franklin aka Bubba Free John, Avatar Adi Da Samraj,et al; The Knee of Listening, Method of the Siddhas, et al.

Bibliography/Book Review/Eulogy;
Jones, Franklin aka Bubba Free John, Avatar Adi Da Samraj, et al; The Knee of Listening, Method of the Siddhas, The Paradox of Instruction, et al.

I first heard about Bubba Free John as I was walking though a run-down part of Portland, Oregon one evening in the mid-1970’s. Posted in a window of a vacant storefront was a poster for a movie called “A Difficult Man”. Something grabbed me about this poster, and I went and saw the movie, which I think was screened in a room at Portland State University, having been sponsored by a group of Bubba’s followers. The movie about this being likewise fascinated me, and I soon thereafter purchased and read his first book, The Knee of Listening, containing his autobiography and early teachings. Here was the first American-born spiritual master that I had ever heard of (Richard Alpert/Ram Dass never pretended to be any such thing), in the tradition of Eastern spirituality, recasting the teachings of the East into Western terminology and experience, as perhaps only a Westerner could do. There was something about his being and method and mode of communication that grabbed me on a very deep level. He wrote in prose, yet it was poetic, profound and moving, and above all dripped with spiritual power and essence, as did his photos and movie and video images. The magic of these early books in particular was that I could pick up any page, start reading, and somehow the profound essence and power of his teaching was communicated with almost every sentence and paragraph. It was almost more than my psychic energy system could bear, and I could not read for very long without needing to put the book down to gain my bearings, as the power was so transfiguring. I remember one evening in particular reading Paradox of Instruction all the way through (in its original version, it was a very short book), spending most of my time on the toilet, as it literally had the visceral effect of thoroughly cleaning out my bowels. It grabbed and churned and cleansed just like an enema. I cannot recall any other author’s writings having such a deep impact on me in this respect, except perhaps D. T. Suzuki (I don’t think I ever got through his Studies in Zen cover-to-cover; it was just too potent at the time).

His physical image, movement, voice and speaking likewise exuded extraordinary spiritual power. His laugh echoed from the deepest recesses of Cosmic Humor (in fact, a periodical that was once published by his organization was called The Laughing Man, and one of his organizations was called The Laughing Man Institute), and his spontaneous articulated speech was mesmerizing. In one of Alan Watts’ last public utterances, he more or less gave Bubba the Goodhouskeeping Seal of Approval as the next Great World Teacher.

Needless to say, I was very taken with this man and his teachings, and joined up with the local Portland group who had sponsored the showing of the movie. They were highly intelligent and spiritually sensitive. Although I had some desire to meet Bubba in person down in California, where he generally hung out, he rarely made himself available to the public at large, and never went on any speaking tours or the such. As a community of followers sprang up around him, there were all sorts of psycho-dramas and ever-shifting barriers erected around him, making the opportunity to see him difficult and never guaranteed. He was in this regard sort of like an American version of Rajneesh/Osho, acting as an iconoclast and playing a lot of games with his followers, many of them controversial. I had no interest in engaging in any trials or tribulations that might be involved in navigating such a course, so I contented myself to reading the books and purchasing some tapes and videos as they came out.

Bubba’s teachings had a deep impact on me, and in addition to the books and other media through which I was exposed to them, I also felt a master-student connection on an inner level. I had some extremely powerful dream-vision encounters with him over the years, and I consider him one of my spiritual teachers and guides, even though I never met him on the physical plane.

There were two basic streams to his teaching, one quite enlightening, and the other, in my opinion, quite disappointing, delusional and tragic.

On the positive side of things, he was undoubtedly a highly advanced spiritual being who had locked into a state of spiritual development at a very high level. It is clear from his autobiography and other writings that he was an incredibly intense, intelligent, articulate, determined and introspective person. He enunciated with razor-sharp clarity insights into and understandings of the functioning of the human psyche and its virtues and vices, and methods by which one could overcome and pierce through self-constructed obstacles in order to spiritually develop. His fundamental teaching was a precursor to the neo-Advaitist movement: any kind of spiritual search is self-defeating because it presupposes there is something to search for and be found. In fact, that which is searching is that which needs to be found, the idea that “what you are looking for is that which is doing the looking” (not his quote), and, as he never tired of saying, “it is always already the case”. There is a root-function of our separative egoic being, which he referred to as “Narcissus” after the Greek myth of one absorbed with oneself, and which he also called “vital shock”, and “contraction”, which obscures our ability to perceive that underlying Prior Condition of Oneness and leads us off in tangents of never-ending melodrama that we call our ordinary lives. We conduct our lives based upon a false presumption of separation that this contraction generates, and in fact is. He used the metaphor of a clenched fist for how we perceive and define our lives, never understanding that the way to real freedom and truth is to let go of the contraction that causes the fist in the first place. By opening up the hand we come to the realization that the fist no longer exists and only existed due to the contraction of our self-absorption whereby we thought the fist was all that existed. Another illustration was of someone pinching themselves and complaining of the pain, not realizing that the pain was in fact self-inflicted and that the way out was to stop the pinching in the first place. He also spoke of our great Dilemma, that we are self-absorbed with our own self-inflicted contractions and limitations, but fearful of the unknown involved in letting go of what is known and familiar. So we stay trapped in this vicious cycle, even though we are unhappy with the dissatisfaction and incompleteness with what we know, but too deeply afraid of what we don’t know to want to venture forth into that unknown.

He emphasized that true spiritual understanding was not a matter or process of undergoing extraordinary experiences by which one finally gains the ultimate experience of spiritual enlightenment, but rather a matter of coming to rest into this Prior Condition that is Always Already the Case, which provides for a true, complete and profound understanding of the ordinary. He maintained that there was nothing you could really “do” to spiritually develop, and at one point melodramatically issued the iconoclastic edict, “I do not recommend that you meditate”. His point was that as long as there was a sense of a separative self as a “doer”, even “doing” meditation, that it was just reinforcing that sense of separation, and thus undermining any ability to establish the sense of non-separation which is the true spiritual condition that is real meditation. However, at other times he did recommend a variety of fairly traditional yoga-based practices, emphasizing that they needed to be engaged in from a sense of unity and not of separation. You don’t “do” meditation or other traditional yoga practices; rather, meditation and the other practices happen of their own accord as an innate activity of a spiritually connected being. So the basic “method” that he prescribed was to “presume that you are none other than Living Light itself”: to conduct ones life based upon the assumption that we are united with The Source of All. Proceeding from that perspective, all of the traditional spiritual practices could be worthwhile in maintaining the health of the physical-psycho-spiritual being, and help it to increase its functional capabilities and magnify/expand its capacity to conduct divine vital life force. Another of my favorite quotes in line with this orientation was his description of his state of being: “I do not feel full or fulfilled. I am lost in the Fullness.”

The title of his book, The Paradox of Instruction, conveys the idea of the dilemma faced by all spiritual teachers: the essence of what they want to really convey cannot be taught in any traditional sense of teaching as a means of imparting a body of information or concepts; it can only best be conveyed through Being That, through their very existence, and through Silence. All that a spiritual teacher really does with all of his or her writings, lectures, audio tapes, video tapes, gatherings, etc. is attract people to the Essence from which those things stem, distracting them from their own self-absorbed, self-limiting narcissistic activities. A good spiritual writer or speaker can convey the message of the Essence through those media, as they can wonderfully imbue those media with that Essence. Master Da was very good at that. He once candidly told his followers that all he was doing with all of his teaching activities and controversies that he stirred up with his spiritual guerilla theater were attempts to keep them focused on him and the Essence that he communicated. If it got too bland or humdrum, then people might start walking away, so he was constantly doing something to keep their attention. In line with this idea, the content and public face of what he and his organization presented was always cutting edge, intended to create a buzz, what I referred to as “avant guarde” spirituality. This stood in stark contrast with how the Himalayan Institute, the organization I eventually hooked up with, went about its business in a staid, traditional style of presentation. For example, the Institute’s book on healthy eating is called Diet and Nutrition, while Bubba’s is called The Eating Gorilla Comes in Peace; the Institute’s books on physical exercise are called, Joints and Glands Exercises, Hatha Yoga Manual I, Heath Yoga Manual II, while Bubba’s is called Conscious Exercise and the Transcendental Sun.

But this approach led to many controversies over the years about him and his community of followers, including the fact that he used profanity (such as his infamous self-promoting proclamation that “dead gurus don’t kick ass”, despite the fact that he himself had significant encounters on inner spiritual planes with several such “dead gurus”), maintained a harem of “gopis” (female sexual consorts) and stories of wild orgy-like parties involving strange drugs, etc. But for me, the true tragedy concerned the second basic stream to his teaching that developed over the years and eventually gained pre-eminence: that he was an Avatar, a flesh-and-blood incarnation of God on earth, with the mission to lead all of mankind into the light of spiritual realization. The best (if not only) means for anyone to gain spiritual development and realization was to come into relationship with Master Da and ponder his Divine Being. It was continually made clear that who he really was had nothing to do with his physical bodily presence, and that many could benefit from his existence without ever encountering him in his physical body, although at the same time, there was something special to his physical bodily existence. It was also made clear that everyone had the capacity to be like him, which was his mission, yet at the same time, there was another message of his unique Specialness as an Avatar, by which nobody else could be like him, and it was expected and promoted that he should be treated and regarded accordingly as the Special Being that he was. It is one thing for a spiritual teacher to engage in activities to gain and keep attention of students as discussed above, but at some point a line is crossed into the inappropriate realm of demagoguery and cult-worship. His teaching unfortunately crossed that line and devolved into a delusional personality cult. The more that this message came to the fore and became prevalent, overshadowing the other teachings, the more I became disappointed and disillusioned with him.

It was clear from his original unrevised autobiography that he had been born as a mortal human like everyone else. Certainly, he had intensely magnified qualities that set him apart early on. He had a distinct memory of experiencing what he called “The Bright” as an infant and toddler. It was a sense of moving within a medium of unified illumination. But the original unrevised message was that perhaps we all came into life with this state as our earliest reality, but most of us not only lose it as we grow older, but forget the memory of it, just as most of us don’t remember too much of what occurred in our lives before around three years of age. The young Franklin Jones likewise lost this sensation in his later childhood years, as he was conditioned into life in the American material world. What set him apart was this memory and a one-pointed intensity coupled with a high level of intelligence that marked his early adult spiritual search, as he was unconsciously propelled by an inkling of this lost memory to regain it. When he ultimately did, he described his eventual, final spiritual reawakening/realization as a non-phenomenal non-event. It came upon him while sitting in the Vedanta Society Temple in Hollywood, California. He described this new condition in which he had come to rest as follows: “The primary awareness of reality, my own actual consciousness, could not be modified or lost. It is the only thing in our lives that is not an experience. It depends on nothing and nothing can destroy it. It is bliss, joy, freedom, consciousness and sublime knowledge!” (The Knee of Listening, First Edition, page 136).

My disillusionment started early on as it became evident that his teaching styles would shift, mimicking those of others that preceded him, sometime with attribution, and sometimes not. Early on, it was Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi. Many familiar with Krishnamurti claimed that Bubba’s teachings were virtually identical to his. Bubba himself acknowledged a deep indebtedness to Ramana Maharshi, to the extent that he somewhat suggested that he was his incarnation. I am grateful to him for this reference, because although I was never personally that attracted to Krishnamurti, Bubba introduced me to Ramana Maharshi, with whom I have felt a great affinity, and I could see after studying Ramana, that in fact, Bubba’s early teaching expressions were for the most part a restatement of Ramana’s teachings with a certain amount of theatrical spin and flair.

As the years moved along, Bubba went through many melodramatic shifts with his community of followers and organizations, along with several name changes, all the while churning out more books and publications. Revisionist interpretations where then laid over the original early writings. Instead of acknowledging a mortal human birth, losing his way, engaging in an intense and dramatic search filled with all kinds of extraordinary events, teachers and experiences before eventually regaining/finding his way, Bubba’s early history was recast in a new perspective. The revised story-line was that he was established in the final realization from birth and never lost it. He knew it and maintained it all along, and only went through the apparent drama and search documented in his autobiography for the benefit of his students and mankind, to illustrate the futility of spiritual searching. This, despite the obvious that all of this spiritual searching in fact led him to his final realization beyond the search and probably were necessary prerequisites and preconditions laying essential groundwork for his final realization. Many of the preliminary stages took the form of intense spiritual searching through various organizations, starting with Columbia Seminary School, wending through Scientology, and then a series of one American and several Indian yoga and Vedanta masters, with the last stages closely corresponding to kundalini awakening as documented in yoga literature and tradition. His organization eventually actually declared a new religion in his name, the religion of Adidam. I did not follow any developments or read anything too closely after the first few years in the 1970’s, just getting wind of new directions and configurations through occasional mailings and emails. The books became more verbose, with an extraordinary amount of adjectives, adverbs, and like qualifiers and conditioners, some with strange employment of capitalization that was supposed to have some deep hidden meaning. The early books, which to me were the best, contained all of the essential teachings, and the later books were just gobbledy-gook rehashes. As described above, many of the early books went through later revisionist edits and versions, to bring them in accord with the new emphasis then in vogue. Apparently much later on, the new message was that Master Da was in some form or fashion an extension of the lineage running from Ramakrishna to Vivekananda and on to him. This was a nice, tidy and poetic tying-up of loose ends, as it completed a circle that began at the Vedanta Society Temple in Hollywood so many years earlier, although at that time, Franklin did not so recognize this connection, and regarded the location of his final realization as something of a peculiar happenstance (the Vedanta Society is in outgrowth of a lineage originating with the remarkable late-day sage of India, Sri Ramakrishna, and his primary disciple and successor, Swami Vivekananda) .

Some time after I began my studies of Judaism and Kabala, I revisited the early books of Franklin Jones, aka Bubba Free John, as a refresher, to see how they stood the test of time, and also for any references to Judaism and Kabala. I found only two such references. One is when he described a sort of initiatory rite of passage that he experienced on an inner subtle realm with yet another great sage of India, Shirdi Sai Baba, a few months before Bubba’s final realization described above. He was received by an assemblage of the sage and family, friends and devotees as a son, in “a celebration that had the informal, family air and importance of a Jewish Bar Mitzvah.” (The Knee of Listening, First Edition, page 145). The final realization non-event occurred in the Vedanta Society Temple a few months later, and shortly thereafter, he had another inner experience whereby he realized that Ramana Maharshi was another of his spiritual “fathers”.

The only other reference I can recall to Judaism was in a newsletter I received some years ago, recording an exchange between Master Da and one of his Jewish devotees who was a Holocaust survivor. The pain and agony of her experience came cathartically rushing out of her, and he very appropriately and touchingly comforted her.

I learned a little while back that Master Da left his physical body in November 2008. Right before I heard that news, I had been thinking about him and realizing how lost and delusional he had become in his cloistered and secluded life, dragging so many others with him down that road. Now he leaves behind a community of however many remaining followers, some of whom will spend the rest of their lives archiving and chronicling the materials he left behind, and attempting to promote to the rest of us what they believe is the truth and significance of his life as a Divine Incarnation, separate and apart from any realization us mere mortals could ever attain, which is totally contrary to his real core teaching that what he realized and became is everyone’s possibility. He should be remembered and promoted as an example of what is possible, not placed on a pedestal of adoration as a graven image of what is impossible. The traditions have always warned that even such highly evolved beings can lose their way and become less than honest as they become morosely absorbed with their own delusions, and have cautioned to be ever vigilant against such dangers, and to remain in humble service to That Which is Greater and Beyond. “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” If we all realize our inherent buddhahood, there will be everyone and no-one left to idolize. All that is left to be done is to serve, not seek to be served.

Because the delusion surrounding Master Da and his followers had taken such a firm hold and prominence over the years, I had hardly any emotional response to the news of his passing, even though I consider him a great and positive influence on my life. That influence was in the past. We experience a natural grief of loss upon learning that someone dear to us has passed. In the case of Master Da, upon hearing of his passing, I don’t think I experienced that sense of grief because I had already lost him many years ago while he was still alive.

Two Jewish Sacred Cows: The Messiah and Tikkun Olam - Hope and Meaning

Two Jewish Sacred Cows: The Messiah and Tikkun Olam – Hope and Meaning

Maybe I’ve been watching too much Bill Maher, that abrasive atheist/agnostic comic/social commentator (whose mother is Jewish by the way, but who was raised in the Catholic faith of his father) who viciously attacks anything religious, and this I have gleaned just from an occasional viewing of his HBO show and the trailer of his movie, “Religulous”. I understand his viewpoint that religion of all kinds is “the opium of the people” steeped in anti-intellectual, anti-scientific infantile superstition that keeps people dumbed-down and has been the cause of a great deal of historical human suffering and political turmoil. I have a number of fundamental differences with him, one being that he does not seem to acknowledge the possibility contained in the motto of my son’s college (as translated from the Latin): “Religion and Science from the Same Source”; the other being that he doesn’t seem to acknowledge spirituality as distinct from religion, which is a significant distinction for me. Nevertheless, he does seem to make a lot of valid points critical of religions and the dogmatic doctrines they promulgate, regardless of what they are, and I wish to express my views of two such matters prevalent in Judaism that tend to transcend denominational differences, although they may be interpreted differently depending on the perspective of the various branches of Judaism: The Messiah and Tikkun Olam.

It seems to me that these two terms relate mostly with Hope (the Messiah) and Meaning (Tikkun Olam), two important and inter-related themes concerning our human condition. Hope seems to be a function of time, and more specifically of a sense of the future, as it looks towards the future. We can hope for all kinds of things, both big and small, from hoping for a good grade on that last test, getting into the college of our choice, to hoping for improvement in any kind of circumstance that is less than acceptable as it now stands. The Big Hope concerning the Messiah has to do with hoping for a Utopia, something that has not been limited to the realm of religion. There appears to be a very deep, strong, passionate longing on the part of human beings for life conditions that are better than what is currently being experienced. But not only better, but also Perfect or close to perfect. To varying degrees of definitions and interpretations, Utopian conceptions present the possibility of an attainable world community of near-perfect human beings carrying on their lives in a near-perfect world, with all of the virtues we have ever imagined being the rule of the day, with little or no vice of any kind. In many versions, even the usual natural circumstances of predator and prey cease to exist, e.g. “the lion laying with the lamb”, etc. I don’t know if this means that all animal life becomes vegetarian, or if there is no longer a need to eat for nurturance, but I’m sure there are explanations for it all. Many religions have posited that a new utopian age will be fostered in by some kind of agency such as the Jewish Messiah, the Christian Messiah, the Hindu Kalki, the Buddhist Maitreya.

I don’t claim to have exhaustively studied the Jewish origins or conceptions of the Messiah, but I have studied it about as much as I care to. Scholars point out that there is very little evidence or reference in support of it in the Torah itself, although there may be a few. References to it appear more in other parts of the Tanach and in the Talmud and rabbinic Judaism as it has evolved over the centuries. I doubt there was hardly any conception of it during the glory days of the First Temple, as that was a period in which We Had Arrived, and there was little need of hope for a better day. Upon its destruction, the longing for the glory days of the past became translated into an expression of a return to those days in the future, and eventually the Second Temple did arise, without the aid of a Messiah, but it was never the same as the days of the First Temple. The period of the Second Temple was mostly marked by foreign oppression and subjugation, leading to a concept of a Messiah that would free the Jewish people from this yoke and establish a Second Temple period as glorious as the first. There was no need for the Messiah at this point to build a new Temple, only to free the existing Temple of its subjugation. Then after the Second Temple was destroyed, an additional task was added to the mission of the Messiah. Now, in addition to freeing Zion from foreign rule, a new Temple also needed to be built. And so here we are today, still waiting for this Messiah to appear, although at this point of time, Zion, to some extent, has been freed from foreign rule. By many accounts, the appearance of the Messiah is due any time, if not overdue.

I have many concerns and questions about the various Messiah concepts that now exist. I was always intrigued by the title of a book popular in the 70’s called, What to Do Until the Messiah Comes. I admit that I was never intrigued enough to actually read the book, but I thought the title was catchy, and begs many questions: What are we doing until the Messiah comes? What would we be doing differently if we didn’t think the Messiah was coming? What should we be doing whether or not the Messiah is coming? I have a concern about attitudes, perspectives, and approaches towards life that are generated by the idea of a coming Messiah which is held dearly as a core value and belief. I realize that the religions which hold to the doctrine of a Messiah also teach values and virtues, but it seems to me that if they believe in this idea, that in the back of their minds, there may be an underlying sense of certain limitations on what is possible: “What can you expect? There is only so much we can do until the Messiah comes.” When the Messiah doesn’t come as hoped and expected, then what? We all know of many misdirected and tragic times over the centuries when some charismatic person or another predicted with certainty the date of the Coming. A lot of disappointment, frustration, disillusionment results when it doesn’t happen because a core belief is shattered. I see the great need for hope that many people feel, and a great power and influence that can be gained by appealing to this need for hope and exploiting it. I am also concerned about this waiting around until the Messiah comes to fulfill some hope of a vision of a utopian world of some sort that reason tells me in most likelihood will never happen.

I just don’t get it. I once went to a lecture sponsored by Chabad in which a leading authority on the Jewish Messiah made a presentation on the real definition of the Messiah and the Messianic Age, to dispel any misconceptions. To my disappointment, there wasn’t anything that new or different presented besides some more speculative details that maybe I hadn’t previously known. My first reaction was how could anyone be so sure of what and how the Messiah was going to do, and what the world was going to be like after the work was done? My other reaction was, so after the Messiah is finished, we all live happily ever after, and that’s it? End of story? I asked the speaker that question afterwards, to which he answered, yes, but he understood that inherent in my question was a question about stagnation, a static state. He further elaborated in his answer that it would not be a stagnant, static state, that there would still be room to grow and expand, but it would just be on a more highly elevated level of mind and intellect, with no concern for being prepossessed with hand-to-mouth, day-to-day survival needs. I still think that this happily-ever-after scenario for the rest of eternity is too far-fetched and over-stated.

I believe that the mystical teachings from many traditions, including Judaism, provide another, and more plausible, answer to the need for Hope. It first starts with a sense of accepting the Now in all of its fullness. “I Was What I Was/I Am That I Am/I Will Be What I Will Be” can also translate as “It Was What It Was/It Is What It Is/It Will Be What It Will Be”. One of the profound descriptions/interpretations of the mass Revelation at Sinai is that everyone attained a highly-elevated spiritual state in which they could see the Perfection of Being Right Now and make sense of it all. Everything that had occurred in the past led inextricably to that current point in time, and everything in the future would inextricably proceed from that point in time. And that would be true for every point in time forever. It was all Perfect right Now and Now and Now. There was nothing to be added and nothing to be taken away. Ah.

But Now, there is also work to be done, so get back to your families, your tents, your asses, etc. and get back to work! The avant-guard artist and musician, John Cage, who operated from an outer limits realm known only to him, once was asked, “Don’t you think there is too much pain and suffering in the world?” To which he responded in a ponderous, deliberate manner, “No, I think there is just the right amount.” Our mysticism reveals to us that we are in a constant state of equilibrium, but it is a dynamic, not a static equilibrium, which is also constantly in motion, constantly in change and flux. At any given time and place, we are exactly where we are meant to be (It Is What It Is), but we are also guaranteed that we won’t be there long. So if we are in need of Hope for any reason, we can be assured that things will change, and while there is always a chance of change for the worse, there is also always a chance of change for the better. But at the same time, at any given moment, everything is perfect, as it always was and will always be. That doesn’t mean we don’t strive and aspire, because that is part of what always is, to strive and aspire and participate in this Grand Scheme, just for the sake of it, because that is all there is to do, and it is always in process. There is no end point of perfection and then the work is done. You never reach the horizon that appears in the far-off distance. You come to realize from a different perspective that you are already standing on the horizon, and carry on from there.

So what about the Messiah? I’m not sure where it first appears in Jewish writings or liturgy, but the Hebrew word is “Moshiach” and is contained near the beginning of the Amidah (one of the most important parts of traditional Jewish liturgy) in reference to God, along with other attributes of God, and is usually translated as “Savior” (the other attributes in this context are Melech/King, Ozer/Helper, and Mogen/Shield). So what is the function of God as Savior? Perhaps, most importantly, is that God saves us from ourselves, the Good Inclination prevailing over the Evil Inclination, our internal enemies. Perhaps God also saves us from perceived external enemies. Ultimately, we return to That from whence we came, to the Divine Source of All, to Paradise. But some kind of Paradise on Earth separate from the Ultimate Paradise, ushered in by the agency of an earthly or other-worldly Messiah, whereby everyone who has died is going to raise up from the dead and physically regenerate their bodies, who is going to build the Third Temple and reinstitute all of the old Temple rituals, including animal sacrifices? I don’t get it, and I don’t buy it. It is certainly not necessary in order for me to have Hope, Meaning or be connected with spirituality. And I certainly don’t think it is necessary in order for me to be a good Jew, with my apologies to Maimonedes.

For the Christians and Messianic Jews who have taken this traditional Jewish ball and run with it, putting their own spin on it, the popular apocalyptic phrase, “End of Days” comes from the Hebrew phrase found in Genesis, “Vayehi Miketz Yamim”, which Jewish scholar Aryeh Kaplan has pointed out literally does translate as “It was the end of days”, but from the context for which it is utilized in the Torah, it has an obvious meaning as usually translated, “An era ended”, or “some time had passed”, or “in the course of time”, without any connotation as a be-all-and-end-all End of Time. It was the end of days of Adam and Eve, the end of days of Noah, etc. It marked a significant benchmark in the passage of time, but not the end of time itself.

So what about Tikkun Olam, this idea of repairing the world articulated, if not originated, by Isaac Luria, and embraced by many across the spectrum of many versions of Judaism? It is premised on a notion that the world is metaphorically (and maybe literally on some mystical literal level) a broken vessel. God made this perfect vessel, but somehow it broke into almost innumerable pieces, and it is our job to find these pieces and repair this broken vessel to bring it back to its proper and intended full glory of perfection. Thus our lives are imbued with grand Meaning, as we are co-creators, co-participants with God in this ongoing process of rebuilding what has been shattered. It is a beautiful, powerful and poetic image. Another traditional Jewish answer provided to the basic existential question of Meaning is that God instituted Creation as an expression of His Glory, and Creation exists for the purpose of praising God by both elevating earth to heaven, and bringing down heaven to earth. That is the purpose of human life and endeavor. It just seems to me that these notions require accepting a heavy dose of doctrinal dogma as a core belief that is just not necessary in order to find Meaning. This is also contrary to the notion discussed above that in one very important sense, everything at any given moment is already Perfect, and we proceed from there. Why do we have to have a core belief containing a premise of things being broken in order to find Meaning? I don’t think it is necessary, and my concern is that holding such a core belief may again generate a perspective and world-view that can lead to unintended, yet unpleasant consequences. Likewise, the traditional notions that we are here to praise God, elevate earth to heaven and bring down heaven to earth are also associated with the related idea that the Jewish people have been chosen for these specific missions for the benefit of not only themselves, but of all of mankind, including to establish a suitable dwelling for God on earth, and to instill the mundane with the Divine, all in proper praise of God and His Glory. It all smacks of overly-serious and over-stated self-importance and self-inflation in light of the perspective that our entire world is akin to the size of a pinhead within the vast expanse of the cosmos. Why does God need our praise? Well, God doesn’t need our praise, it is we who have the need to praise God. And why do we have a need to praise God? Because God created us so that we could praise Him. And so the circular reasoning goes. Bill Maher would not be impressed.

One interesting distinction I have discovered between the inter-related concepts of Hope, discussed earlier, and Meaning, is that Hope seems to wax and wane more depending upon external circumstances. During times of subjugation, oppression, and attempts at forced assimilation or annihilation, Hope in the form of Messianic longing comes forward. In times of relative well-being, focus on the Messiah and the related longing for a perfected utopian world tends to recede into the background. The existential unease caused by a search for Meaning is likely to appear during times of material well-being, when the need for Hope wanes due to relative external comfort, for instance among the beatniks of the 50’s and the hippies of the 60’s, fueled by the observation that many who are materially well-off are still unhappy because of an inner emptiness. During times of severe oppression, the luxury of pondering Meaning and repairing the world is overshadowed and consumed by the struggle to survive. The miserable conditions involved with the struggle to survive get coupled with grasping at the straws of Hope, from which emerges ideas of a Messiah, in order to have something to cling to as a means to emotionally endure.

Another Lurianic idea that parallels the Broken Vessel notion is the idea of Divine Sparks, that contained within all physical manifestations is a spark of Divinity. Our mission, the Meaning to our lives, is first to locate the Divine Spark within us, and then attempt to connect with and enliven the Divine Spark that exists in everything else. This is another beautiful, profound, and poetic expression. I feel a greater affinity with it than the “broken vessel” notion, as it doesn’t rely on the premise that something is broken that needs repair, yet still expresses that there is a common essence originating from the Underlying Unity that we all share by the very fact of our being. For me, it may be a little over-the-top to maintain that we’re not only supposed to discover and connect with these Divine Sparks, but we’re supposed to go one step further and “enliven” them, whatever that means. It seems to carry a flavor of a little bit too much missionary zeal for my liking.

What resonates with me spiritually is a sense of a Grand Scheme that is found in both Eastern and Western mystical traditions, and is consistent with many of the findings and theories of modern science, and even has some relation to traditional religious notions of “God’s Plan”. There are involutionary and evolutionary movements of vibrational energies moving through various degrees and grades into and back out of what we perceive as this manifest physical world. This seems consistent with Jacob’s vision of the ladder of the Tree of Life with its ascending and descending angelic beings. There is a dynamic equilibrium at play, somewhat analogous to the pendulum of a clock moving down a railroad track, but the movements are not always smooth. There can be fits, stops, starts and spurts, consistent with the ideas of quantum leaps, paradigm shifts, ends of eras, ages and epochs. Perhaps we are in the midst of one now, or approaching one, as so many apocalyptic prognosticators from all different realms are claiming. The latest in some circles is that it is coming in 2012. I just think it is overstated as The Last Best Forever Winner Takes All Big One. History tells us that just as there have been many major upheavals in the past, there likely will me many more in the future, so maybe we should just cool our heels a little bit and lighten up.

It is easy enough to conceive of a new level of being in which we wouldn’t need locks or security systems on our homes or businesses, because nobody would even conceive of taking something that didn’t belong to them, invading someone’s privacy, or intentionally doing harm. Isn’t that what is expressed on Christmas Cards every year, portraying the yearning for harmony and peace on earth? It is not that hard to conceive or imagine. It is almost palpable. It seems like all it would take would be a profound, yet subtle shift of some basic energies. Yet there are times that it seems very far off and unattainable.

I have my Hope, based upon my sense that in the long run, I know where I have come from and I know where I am going. As one of my teachers has put it, “Presume no necessary destiny other than Living Light Itself.” That is quite sufficient for me to endure whatever I have to endure. Thank goodness, I don’t know all of the details along the way, but I certainly don’t need as a core belief the dogmatic doctrine encompassed by most common conceptions of The Messiah and a Messianic Age to get me there or to bolster my hope.

I have my Meaning, based upon my deep sense that I am a conscious participant in an Awesome, Wonderfully Intelligent and Intricate Grand Scheme, and my mission is to discover, play out and adapt my part as called upon. Some swings or spurts of the pendulum are not pretty, and can be downright nasty. But as George Harrison has so simply expressed, “All Things Must Pass”; hang around and endure long enough, and things will change, as change is the only constant; change for better, and change for worse. Joseph’s inspired advice to Pharaoh was to prepare for the worst during the times that you are enjoying the best. We are immersed in Infinity and traveling through Eternity. We encounter them at every turn. I don’t need as a core belief some mission that I am repairing a broken world or vessel in order to bolster my meaning. My apologies to Isaac Luria.

In summation, I think there are simple, yet profound, notions we can entertain and relate with in order to find Hope and Meaning. We don’t need the convoluted and complicated notions manufactured by our theologians that rely on the abandonment of reason and wild leaps of faith.

Quotes of the Week 84 - Fate and Destiny

“[Taking] personal responsibility for choice [means becoming] the heirs of destiny rather than the children of fate.”
--from God is Not and Uncle, by Bill Heilbronn

“The older I get, the surer I am that I’m not running the show.”
--Leonard Cohen

The Role of the Jewish People on Earth

The Role of the Jewish People on Earth

“It has been stated, and certainly most feasibly so, that the Jewish race was a family group sent from one of the other systems to help mankind. This may have been the reason why it has been referred to as ‘chosen’ by ancient texts. We know that because of the great intellectual capability of these individuals, they were chosen to carry forth the wisdom conveyed to them by God. This great intellectual capability may have been inherited from a prior evolutionary process within the system of one of the other brothers – perhaps the brother who is establishing Fifth Ray energy, that of concrete knowledge and analytical science. This Fifth Ray energy is a blending of Rays One and Three, according to Alice Bailey.

“If this is true, then one can easily see how the greatest blessing became, in turn, through unawareness and egocentricity, the greatest curse, for the intellect can crystallize and contain the essence of Truth until, because it cannot expand, it begins to die and dissipate. Given understanding that would help mankind break the bonds of slavery to manifested living, the Jewish race, by containing that understanding within the limits of its own culture, not only failed to instruct mankind, but lost most of it themselves due to that containment. The Kabalah is the greatest gift to mankind, for it leads mankind out of its bondage and into the development of each man’s own self-realization. Truth can never be contained, for containment will cause its disintegration. Many broke the crystallization of their own containment within that culture and many still within it are now beginning to question and seek out the Truths given to their forefathers so now one is beginning to see Kabalists from all cultures and races taking up the task of giving to mankind that through which he can become his own ‘messiah’. They are also bringing forth those Truths into an understanding and workable method akin to today’s frequency of evolution.”

The above is taken from Lesson Ninety-Five of the 1984 version of the Karin Kabalah course, by Shirley Chambers. It expresses a perspective from certain schools of thought within the Western Esoteric Tradition, including Theosophy, as indicated by the reference to Alice Bailey. It references and incorporates what many may consider far-fetched metaphysical concepts which I will attempt to explain here only to the extent necessary to facilitate the message that I am trying to convey.

First, there is reference to the Jewish race being “a family group sent from one of the other systems to help mankind”. There is a conception within the Western Esoteric Tradition that we are not alone in the universe. These notions are likely partly the source for the recurrent crazes about extraterrestrials, aliens, flying saucers, abductions and the like. However, those involved at that level have a limited materialistic focus which leads to many misconceptions. The mystical view is that what we commonly refer to as material life here on earth, “life as we know it” (as if we really “know” much about this life!) is just one of many different forms of intelligent life that exists throughout the universe and all of its far-flung corners. Those on the scientific fringe are obsessed with UFO’s, while others in the scientific mainstream are equally obsessed with a search for “life as we know it” on other planets. From a mystic’s point of view, this is all quite humorous, if not a little sad and pathetic, because firstly, we don’t “know” life, and secondly, because it is otherwise such a limited, shortsighted, and bloated-with-self-importance point of view. In accord with this mystical notion is that there are a multitude of other beings of varying natures existing in other evolutions and systems, many of whom continually visit our humble little planet earth in our little corner of the cosmos.

This viewpoint incorporates the idea contained within the Western Mystical Tradition of “monads”. Monads are the most basic core subtle units mysteriously arising as impulses out of the Ultimate Oneness from which individuals develop and evolve, comparable to the Kabalistic conception of “sparks” of divinity that have separated from the same One Divine Source from which they have been emitted, which lie embedded within all apparently separate manifestations. There are monadic beings at various stages of development throughout the cosmos, in systems and evolutions separate than, but no less real than, our scheme on earth. There are beings on earth who are “native” to earth, as their monadic existence originated here, but there are also many beings in human earthly form whose monadic origins are from elsewhere, other systems and evolutions, who have come to earth and taken on human form. The conception discussed above is that the Jewish people are a family group of such beings having a common monadic origin from elsewhere, although there are also other individuals and groups in human form on earth who also have different non-earthly monadic origins. This again harkens back to the more literal speculations surrounding UFO’s and extraterrestrials, comparable to what is humorously portrayed in the movie, “Men In Black”. Certain schools of Western Mysticism similarly maintain that most extraordinary beings in human history in all walks of life, such as Elvis Presley, Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, Alexander the Great, etc. all had monadic origins from elsewhere, as distinct from those on earth whose monadic origins are native to the planet earth. So that is what is behind the above notion about the Jewish race. It can be dismissed as outlandish, or it can be something worth pondering.

Accepting that notion as something worth pondering, the next otherworldly references concern a
“brother who is establishing Fifth Ray energy”, etc. This engenders a heavy dose of esoterica for which I will only venture to scratch the surface. The “brother” is a reference to a member of “The Great White Brotherhood”, a group of spiritually advanced beings specifically charged with the mission to aid the individual and collective spiritual development and evolution of earthlings. The Western Tradition also refers to them as “Mahatmas”, a term borrowed from the East, while the Indian tradition, although the source for the term, “mahatma”, prefers to refer to them as the great “Rishis” or “Sages”. The more mundane level Jewish tradition has its Patriarchs, while mystical Judaism has a variety of Archangels, Guides, Maggids. Within this scheme is the notion that phenomenal existence can best be described and understood as consisting of various degrees and grades of vibrational energy, not unlike as depicted on the chart of the electro-magnetic spectrum which most of us have encountered in high school science class. At one extreme is gamma, and at the other extreme is TV & radio, with the visible color spectrum (“the world as we know it”) a small section within this much broader spectrum. It is worth noting the scientific conception that the electro-magnetic spectrum theoretically has no real beginning or end. Beyond the shortest gamma waves that are usually depicted at one end of this spectrum is a theoretical end-point at the posited Planck length, the theoretically smallest conceivable unit of size (which nevertheless suggests the possibility of an infinity of never-ending minuteness that results from continually dividing a distance between two points in half). Beyond the longest radio waves that are usually depicted at the other end of this spectrum is a theoretical end-point corresponding to the end of the universe (which likewise suggests the possibility of an infinity of never-ending largeness, expansiveness, by continually doubling the distance between two points).

The Western Tradition esoteric school of thought has developed a scheme in many ways comparable to the electro-magnetic spectrum enunciated by science, using descriptors such as the “Rays of energy”. One of their teaching points is that many people consider what is real and important as only what is material, akin to maintaining that all that is real and important is the visible color spectrum. But just as our own science tells us (through instrumentation developed that expands the range of our otherwise limited gross physical senses) that there is much more to our electro-magnetic reality than the visible color spectrum, our mystics tell us (through the medium of inner subtle senses) that there is much more to our being than that which we experience with our gross physical senses or any extensions thereof. We should no more deny the existence and significance of mystical realms beyond our gross senses than we would deny the existence and significance of x-rays that are likewise beyond our senses, and yet many of us do. We accept findings based upon the scientific extension of our gross senses, and even further theoretical extrapolations made therefrom, yet reject comparable findings based upon meditative expansion of subtle inner senses, most of which pre-date the scientific findings by hundreds and even thousands of years.

So the above text is claiming that those of us known as the Jewish people came to this earth as a group some time ago as highly evolved spiritual beings with the mission to assist native earthlings and work with others who arrived here from other evolutions to aid the individual and collective evolution of this planet. Thus the moniker of “the chosen people” and the associated mission to serve “as a light unto the nations”. The story of the Jewish people seen in this light thus becomes the story of a people struggling to fulfill this mission, but often losing their way or getting caught up in a mass of distortions, misconceptions, confusions, and bloated self-importance and self-absorption.

Perhaps prevalent Jewish stories, myths and practices should be reexamined in the light of this perspective. For instance, perhaps the Jewish myth that this world came into creation 6000 years ago actually relates to the time when this family of beings came to this earth from their other realm. Many common, but puzzling or hard-to-accept Jewish conceptions and beliefs might be better understood when seen in this light. For example, “Israel” is a state of spiritual development whereby one recognizes a connection with The Oneness, The Source of All. The Jewish people were charged with establishing the Temple in Jerusalem not only as a physical mechanism to aid others in coming to that state of spiritual realization, but also as a physical representation corresponding to a Temple that exists both microcosmically within each individual and macrocosmically on a more subtle level of the Beyond Which is Close.

The above text suggests that the Jewish people have by-and-large lost their way, for whatever the reasons may be. It repeats the message so eloquently conveyed in the Torah itself of how easy it is to slip away from blessing to curse. However, it also points to the recent resurgence of the Received (Kabalah) Teaching (Torah) both within traditional Jewish circles and also outside of those avenues. People of Jewish origin are prominent teachers and participants in a vast variety of mystical and meditative non-Jewish arenas, such as Yoga, Buddhism, Sufism and Mystical Christianity. Others are rediscovering the lost mysticism and related practices within Judaism. It is becoming increasingly clear and obvious that Kabalah is not just for Jews, and that Jews are not supposed to remain solely in insular enclaves proclaiming exclusive proprietary rights, “the inside scoop”, and reveling in the specialness of their choseness which the rest of mankind just cannot appreciate and understand. Perhaps even those practices and beliefs among some segments of the Jewish community serve a useful purpose for all of mankind. But it is not the only authentically Jewish approach, as many of those within those segments maintain. Many from those same segments of Judaism raise a frequent alarm about assimilation, although historically, Jews have remained as an identifiable group despite all past efforts of assimilation and annihilation. I am not personally worried about assimilation. If we are meant to survive and fulfill our mission, then it will happen. I do not know if this would be empirically corroborated, but my own limited experience seems to indicate that for every person of Jewish birth that I have come across who has assimilated, I have come across a similar number of people who have converted to Judaism or rediscovered a significance to their Jewish identity with renewed verve and vigor, so it appears that any depletions in the ranks get refurbished one way or another.

I do, however, appeal to all those of Jewish birth who have assimilated or are on the verge of assimilation to closely examine why you were so born and to give it some serious consideration before you abandon it totally. As I have attempted to convey in this piece, there are more varied ways in which to understand and express your Jewish birth, identity and function than is commonly conceived in the traditional segments of the Jewish community.

Sleepers Awake!

Ponder Infinity.

Awake and Arise.

Yoga for Alzheimers Seniors - Silver Age Yoga Community Outreach, Inc.

I would like to start by thanking Steven for allowing me to approach you, his readers. My name is Ally Peer Ben-Ezzer and I teach Yoga mostly to children www.HaveFunWithYoga.com. Since January of 2008, I have been teaching Yoga for Seniors at Cantor Center in South Florida. My seniors all have Alzheimer’s. They are all at a stage in which they cannot be left alone, so they come to the day center for the day and then go home to be with their families. Yet, they can still follow directions and understand their situation. I teach a weekly class there and can see the progress my seniors make. The daycare center happens to be a Jewish charity but everyone is welcome if they are in need. My class has grown from an average of 14 to an average of 24 participants a week. I need your support in donations to charity through which I teach. Since these are hard times, we were not able to secure a corporate sponsor, as was the initial plan. We are asking from anyone who can help to donate. Please know that there are no small donations, whatever you can do to help will be greatly appreciated.

Feel free to contact me with any questions: ally@HaveFunWithYoga.com.

The link for donations and for more info is:
http://www.firstgiving.com/cantoralzheimerpavilion.

Namaste,
Ally

Quote of the Week 85 - Learning Spirituality

“There are men who learn their spirituality by peaceful contemplation in the tranquility of a retreat, and there are others who learn theirs through being picked up by the scruff of the neck and being dropped into Hell."
--from God is Not an Uncle, by Bill Heilbronn

Bibliography/Book Review; Dass, Ram aka Alpert, Richard; Be Here Now, The Only Dance There Is, Grist for the Mill, et al

Bibliography/Book Review;
Dass, Ram aka Alpert, Richard; Be Here Now, The Only Dance There Is, Grist for the Mill, Miracle of Love, et al.

There are many who have contributed to the communication of Eastern spirituality to the Western world. Early on, there were visits to the West by Swami Vivekenanda and Swami Rama Tirtha. Others who added to this dialogue were Madam Blavatsky and her Theosophical Society, Nicholas and Helena Roerich and their Agni Yoga Society, Sir John Woodruff (an Englishman who studied with my spiritual mentor’s master and authored such books as The Serpent Power), Paul Brunton (whose encounter with Ramana Maharshi was the pinnacle to his trip to India as chronicled in his book, A Search in Secret India), Paramahansa Yogananda (Autobiography of a Yogi) and Allen Ginsberg, among others. They were all precursors to the tremendous influx that occurred in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, which continues to this day. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his TM movement, Swami A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupad and his Hare Krishna movement, Swami Satchidinanda with his memorable appearance at Woodstock, and my spiritual mentor, Swami Rama and The Himalayan Institute he founded, were all part of that influx. But I don’t think there was anyone who had as much influence and impact on the broadest audience as did Richard Alpert, a nice Jewish boy who was a Harvard psychology professor and early LSD researcher. He became transformed into Ram Dass as a result of his experiences in India, as chronicled in his benchmark book, Be Here Now.

When I transferred from staid Lafayette College to unstaid Antioch College after my college freshman year in 1970, I became exposed to and bombarded by an incredible variety of new experiences, ideas and challenges. The little bit of Eastern spirituality that I had experienced reading Hesse in high school and studying Eastern religions at Lafayette now expanded into hands-on experiential experimentation at Antioch. I was fortunate enough to have a room-mate who was ahead of the curve on all of this, and acted as my first mundane-level spiritual guide. He led me to Be Here Now and TM, among other things, and I also took up Hatha Yoga, with classes offered for free by an advanced student at Antioch.

Be Here Now is a collage-style book. It contains an inspiring autobiography of the spiritual quest, development and transformation of Richard Alpert into Ram Dass, a flowing, stream-of-consciousness type of narrative communicated from a higher state of spiritual consciousness (similar to the type of darshan/talks/happenings he used to stage on various tours around the country), and also a kind of resource manual into many aspects of Eastern spirituality, particularly yoga and Buddhism. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Eastern spirituality, their own spiritual development, and also to provide insight into the spiritual side of the cultural revolution of the 60’s and 70’s.

I had the pleasure of attending one of Ram Dass’ “happenings” in the mid-70’s in Portland, Oregon, and actually had a brief one-on-one encounter with him afterwards. I sort of just lingered about, and he came outside all alone, where we met and had a nice little exchange. He then walked off to a beat-up old VW bug and drove away.

He has written many other books in the ensuing years and has been a sort of celebrity on the American spiritual scene. Throughout various ups and downs and controversies along the way, he has pretty much remained true to his calling, and humble and giving in nature. Sometime a few years back, he had a major devastating stroke, and has struggled for years to slowly regain his physical functionality. There is a very beautiful and moving video called “Fierce Grace” that I also highly recommend. Its focus is on his struggles after the stroke, but also contains a good overview of his past and spiritual history. It is worth tracking down. (We were able to order it through NetFlix).

I would be remiss if I did not mention a particularly special volume compiled and edited by him: Miracle of Love, which is a collection of reminisces from various people who had experiences with Neem Karoli Baba, Ram Dass' guru.

"The best form in which to worship God is every form." -- Neem Karoli Baba

Quote of the Week 83 - Dining with God

Then went up Moshe and Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel: beneath his feet like work of sapphire tiles, like the substance of the heavens in purity. Yet against the Pillars of the Children of Israel, he did not send forth his hand – they beheld Godhood and ate and drank.

--Exodus 24:9-11; Everett Fox Translation

Layers Upon Layers

[From my spiritual journal]:

“I have undertaken the practice of reading the weekly Torah portion, accompanying Haftorah, and commentary from The Stone Edition and The Living Torah. While doing so one day recently, I had a flash of insight. It actually might not appear to be a new idea, but the depth of understanding of this insight was what was new for me. I had this realization that the words I was reading, the physical Torah and its written words, were nothing more than an elaborate book cover. There was something underneath it much more vast, powerful and meaningful than the Torah itself. The Torah itself was just a veneer, an external wrapping. The question was, what lay beneath the veneer, for that was the real Torah. The veneer, the wrapping, and all that it posed, was just a material entry portal. In the days that followed this flash of insight, the nature of this insight deepened further to a generalization about life and what we call the material world. I could see more clearly how the material world is just a crystallization, a congealing of energies meeting within a specific matrix, that there are other worlds and realities from which these energies come to congeal temporarily here, and there are other worlds and realities to which these energies are going after their expression through this particular matrix. Energies from other dimensions converge and intermingle to create this three-dimensional world. I saw the mathematical aspect to this, as this matrix of the material world is just like a three-dimensional Cartesian plane/cube. I could see how theoretical mathematics could analyze and describe this matrix, and inquire into the mechanics of the other worlds from which these energies come and to which they will be traveling.”

Soon after that, I had a dream. I get a lot of teachings through dreams. Sort of a sexy dream, but here it is, nonetheless. It’s sort of a follow up:

“I was visiting an art studio, and there was a painting by a particular female artist that caught my attention. [Female is interesting, because Torah is related to creation, and anything in creation is female, form]. It was of a reclining nude female, shown from the waist up. There was a certain seductiveness to it, but also a certain aloofness/indifference. It was as if to say, ‘I am here and available if you like, but if you don’t, I don’t really care.’ There was a light in the frame which appeared to be there just to illuminate the painting. I then noticed some type of image at the right side of the figure, and then images began appearing throughout the painting. At first I thought I had just missed seeing them at first blush, and that on closer inspection, I noticed them. But then I realized that the painting was transforming, that these other images were bleeding through, as if from a deeper layer that was coming through to the surface. Eventually, the painting transformed to a totally different scene, and then the same process began again, with images from yet a third layer/scene beginning to bleed through until again a totally new scene appeared. This process kept happening about ten times. I realized that this was a special technological process, and that the light at the top was part of the transforming technology. [Light – isn’t that interesting]. It was very fascinating and captivating.
“In contemplating this dream today, it became apparent to me that this was a depiction of the Torah. As I believe I have said in an earlier entry, I have begun the process of studying the weekly Torah portion. I first read the portion and comments from the Stone Edition, and then I read the same portion from The Living Torah by Aryeh Kaplan. I believe this process is having a deep effect upon me. I recall my last session with Panditji [my spiritual teacher from the yoga tradition] over New Years, in which he told me that there is an association between Mt. Kailash in Tibet and Mt. Sinai, as if Mt. Kailash manifested as Mt. Sinai. He also told me that there is an association between the word ‘Torah’ and the word ‘Tara’, which is one of the names of the Divine Mother. In the Torah section I read this weekend, the first detailed specifications for the Ark and Tabernacle are given. The cover for the Ark contains two Cherubim, one male and one female, and God told Moses that he would come and speak with Moses from between the two Cherubim. The commentary related this Divine Presence to be that of the Shekinah, which is generally depicted as the Female aspect of Divinity, similar to the Divine Mother or Kundalini.
“As I said in an earlier entry, it became clear to me that the written Torah was like an involved cover to a book, and that the book itself lay in layers within. There are layers upon layers to this revelation of Truth. It seemed like the depiction in the painting was the surface depiction of the Divine Mother/The Shekinah, which gave way to the inner layers that came forth as attention remained focused on the painting”.

--from Yoga and Judaism, by Steven J. Gold