Torah-Veda

An Interspiritual Journey
Find Your Inspiration and Follow It

WELCOME TO TORAH-VEDA

Torah and Veda are two ancient sources of spirituality still vibrant today. Torah is conveyed through the sacred language of Hebrew and Veda is conveyed through the sacred language of Sanskrit. The focus here is on meditation, mysticism, philosophy, psychology and the underlying spirituality that has been incorporated into religions, and not as much on the religions themselves. Your comments and posts are welcome.


Quote of the Week 419 - Listend/Hearing for Non-material Sustenance

Quote of the Week 419 - Listening/Hearing for Non-material Sustenance


Every one who is thirsty, come and drink. He who has no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good. Let your soul delight in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, that your soul will live…


--Isaiah 55:1-3, The Living Torah translation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

CURRENT TEACHING SESSIONS




Interfaith/Inter-Spiritual Contemplative Groups


Please check out the following, which is an ongoing activity that may be of interest:


https://www.zgatl.org/contemplative-group.html


https://www.zgatl.org/ongoing-groups.html


http://www.interfaithci.org/contemplative.html


https://faithallianceofmetroatlanta.org/recent-events/programs-events/ongoing-programs/











Thursday, December 15, 2011

Quote of the Week 203 - Nothing Can Stand in the Way


As long as we remain inspired to discover why we came to this world, we remain youthful. Old age has no power over us when we are accompanied by faith that we have something precious to experience and achieve in this lifetime. This faith sparks a burning desire to know the true nature of the invisible force that lies at the core of our being, and when it wells up, nothing – not the lack of worldly resources, a limited knowledge of philosophy, the absence of a living guide, or even old age – can stand in the way of our inner fulfillment.

--Pandit Rajmani Tigunait

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Quotes of the Week 202 - Last Words


“Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”
--Steve Jobs

“I must go in, the fog is rising.”
--Emily Dickinson

“Now we can cross the shifting sands.”
--L. Frank Baum

“It is very beautiful over there.”
--Thomas Edison

“I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed every minute.”
--Errol Flynn

“My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go.”
--Oscar Wilde

“Now I shall go to sleep. Good night.”
--Lord Byron

“Love one another.”
--George Harrison

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Quote of the Week 201 - The Everlasting Light


As we enter this season of celebration of Divine Light as a counter-balance to the shortest hours of daylight, I share with you this quote from the Prophets:

Quote of the Week 201 - The Everlasting Light

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and God’s glory has risen upon you…Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising…you will see and be radiant, and your heart will throb and swell with joy…I will exchange your brass for gold, your iron for silver, your wood for brass, your stones for iron; I will also make your officers Peace and your rules Righteousness…The sun will no longer be your light by day, nor will the moon give light for brightness. But God will be your everlasting light, and your God your glory. Your sun will no longer set, nor will your moon wane. For God will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning will be ended.

Isaiah 60:1-20 (Haftorah of Ki Tavo)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Quote of the Week 200 - Requirements for Inner Research


When we start turning within, we do not have to ignore the external world, nor do we have to make any radical change in our external life. We simply have to be ourselves and create a strong desire to know ourselves from within. That desire is the first requirement. If one doesn’t understand the importance of spirituality and meditation, then he should not waste his time and energy with it. If one is not convinced that meditation is a technique that is helpful, if one is not prepared, then he should not apply that technique. So first, to research the inner world, one needs a burning desire to know his inner potentials and states.

In the path of sadhana [spiritual practice, work, discipline] no effort is in vain; all sincere efforts bear their fruits in the unconscious mind according to the inevitable law of karma. Even a little sadhana practices with sincere effort leaves deep imprints in the unconscious mind. Those impressions help and guide the sadhaka [person engaging in spiritual practice] whenever he goes off the path. The conscious part of the mind is but a small part of the whole. It is helpful in communicating with the external world but has very little use on the inward journey. If the conscious part of the mind is trained not to create further barriers, then sadhana is useful.

All your actions leave some impression in your unconscious mind, and those impressions then become your samskaras [subtle impressions that can create limitations and limiting impulses leading to certain external actions or reactions to outer circumstances] and control your life. To make progress, your samskaras need to be purified. You can do that in meditation if you ask all the impressions in your mind to come forward, so that you can examine and burn them. You can consciously bring forward all the latent, buried impressions during meditation, telling your mind that you are ready to face them, and if you have built that kind of determination and willpower, you can allow those samskaras to be burnt mentally. They are all mental impressions, there is nothing solid or material there. All these past impressions can be burnt, and then you can be free from them. The goal is to expand the conscious aspect of mind so that there is no unconscious.

Yoga sadhana alone has explored all the unknown levels of life and is thus useful for knowing the levels of the unconscious and for training the totality of the mind. Sadhana alone is the way of knowing, understanding, and analyzing the internal states and one’s relationship to the external world. While treading the path of the inner world, the sadhaka comes in touch with those potentialities that guide him unconsciously, or sometimes through dreams, and at other times consciously. Fearlessness thus increases, and self-reliance is strengthened. He is fully protected by the finer forces that exist, although he is not aware of them because of his extroverted nature. No danger can ever befall the sincere sadhaka in his exploration of the inner realms. The sadhaka is completely protected if he is fully dedicated to the goal of Self-realization.

You need to examine honestly what is in your mind. Be honest with yourself. Do not meditate if you are being hypocritical and are just sitting and punishing yourself. There should be only one desire, the desire for meditation, the desire to go deep inside. At first, you will fail to achieve it, but that does not matter; you should not give up.

Start to work with yourself: when you work with yourself, do not waste energy observing what others are doing. Appreciate what they are doing, and do not condemn or criticize what they are doing. Otherwise, you spend your whole life in celebrating or in mourning. What is important is that you constantly work with yourself, no matter who your are. The thought, “I am going to enlighten myself,” should not make you egotistical. You should not isolate yourself; this thought should make you more creative, because withdrawing yourself from the world is not your real motive; it is not life’s purpose. Your life’s purpose is to live in the world and yet remain above it.

Above all else, remember this one thing: it is easy to meet that Infinity within.

--from Essential Swami Rama, Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati, Editor

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Quote of the Week 199 - The Power of Sound


The Qabalists believed that the universe was created from sound. Thus by reciting sacred sounds, changes or transformations of matter could take place. Healing could simply consist of reinvoking those sacred sounds in the body…Perhaps this is what the shamans do when they chant.

--Fred Alan Wolf, quoted in the March 2011 issue of The Sun magazine

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Quote of the Week 198 - The Delight of the Moon and the Dew


A certain main once said, “Surely nothing is so delightful as the moon,” but another man rejoined, “The dew moves me even more.” How amusing that they should have argued the point.

--from Essays in Idleness, by Kenko, a 14th Century Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, translated by Lance Morrow

Friday, October 28, 2011

Quote of the Week 197 - God's Breath


I am the breath of the Most High,
blanketing the earth like mist,
filling the sky like towering clouds.

I encompass distant galaxies,
and walk the innermost abyss.
Over crest and trough,
over sea and land,
over every people and nation
I hold sway.

--Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach 24:3-6, translated by Rabbi Rami Shapiro in The Divine Feminine in Biblical Wisdom Literature

Friday, October 21, 2011

Quote of the Week 196 - Realizing Enlightenment by Removing Obstacles


When you remove the obstacles you have been creating, then you are enlightened. Enlightenment is not something that you gain. You are already enlightened, but you do not realize it because you are constantly identifying yourself with the outer sheaths and with the objects of the world.

--from Essential Swami Rama, Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati, Editor

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Quote of the Week 195 - True Laughter


To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain and play with it.                 

--Charlie Chaplin

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Quote of the Week 194 - Absolutely Unique


Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.

--Margaret Mead

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Quote of the Week 193 - A Zombie Life


In the Moment magazine of July/August 2011, the question “Is There Life After Death?” was posed to various Jewish figures, who provided responses. Following is one of those responses:

A ZOMBIE LIFE

I have no idea if there’s an afterlife. I’d like there to be. I’d like to think that when I said goodbye to my mom, it wasn’t forever. But how would I know? Because some guy in the desert wrote a book and told me so? I don’t go in for that stuff. I wonder about it a lot, but there’s no proof. I’ll have to wait and see.

I’ve always considered myself not Jewish enough for Israel, but Jewish enough for Auschwitz. I write about zombies. I try not to get into the spiritual aspect. I focus on the concrete: How do you not die when you’re supposed to? I grew up in California, so it’s all about disaster preparedness for me. We had earthquake drills; nuclear war drills, because it was the Reagan era; and then we had real disasters, we had fires, we had the Rodney King riots. L.A. was never safe. And now its even worse – 9/11, global warming. So I took that mindset of disaster preparedness and applied it to a science fiction concept. Zombie culture has really taken off in the last decade and it’s because of the times we’re living in. The world hasn’t been this inside-out since the 1970”s, and that was the last time zombies were popular.

There’s always a rise in spirituality when there’s a decline in the physical comfort of the world. Imagine if you lived in some village in Gaul, in the late Roman Empire, and the sewer system had collapsed and the barbarians were everywhere, and you were hungry and poor and terrified, and then along comes some pilgrim from Italy with that Christian glow, and he says, “Don’t worry, after you die it’s all going to be OK.”

I think Jews are probably too neurotic to believe that. I know I am. We think too much, that’s our problem. We sit around and debate, and wonder about the nature of reality, what is justifiable, what is not, what is sin, what does it all mean? Any good Jew by nature has to be a little bit conflicted. Being a good Jew means you don’t sleep well, and you don’t take your rabbi’s view as gospel. We’re questioners. So I don’t think the answer for Jews is heaven. I think the answer is Ambien.

--Max Brooks

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Mantra Meditation Basics

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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Meditation Basics - Condensed Version

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Friday, September 16, 2011

Ten Years After


As the ten-year commemoration of 09/11 begins to fade away, I would like to share something that I wrote a couple of months after that event that still rings true to me today, ten years later:

            Concerning September 11, there certainly is a lot to sort through. It was so shocking, amazing, and surreal. After that first wave was over, my reaction was just to “carry on”. I just have a few basic thoughts and observations. One theme that has kept with me is that our greatest strength is also our greatest weakness: freedom. It is what we cherish most, and what we flaunt most. I know that this “enemy” we are dealing with is founded in religious fascism with which there seems to be no room for compromise or negotiation. But this fascism has gained momentum not through promoting its message of what it stands for, which is ludicrous on its face, but what it stands against, which is the unfettered consumerism, materialism, and amorality which has come to epitomize the American way of life. 

            What was quite striking to me after September 11, was that for a whole week, all of the crass commercialism that has crept into every corner of our lives came to a screeching halt, and yet life went on. All of the commercials in all of the media were muted. It was eerie but actually quite pleasant. And then in the weeks that followed, as we returned more to “normal”, the commercialism started creeping back, with a new and bizarre message. Consumerism is now being equated with patriotism and freedom. It has become so evident that the economic well-being of our country is tied to extravagant consumption. Which leads to my next theme. 

            America is loved and hated throughout the world because of our strengths and weaknesses. Democracy and freedom are ideals that most of the world at least aspires to. Why they need to be so closely wedded to numbing commercialism and excessive consumption is another question. America is resented throughout the world because of our relentless materialistic imperialism that seeks to implant itself and its mindset into every corner of the world, and hardly to its betterment. The triumph of McDonald’s and Coca-Cola does not equate to a heightened civilization and is not to the betterment of the quality of life in the world.  Resentment is a powerful emotion, and our fascist enemies can use it to garner support in their crusade against the Western “infidels”. 

            Before September 11, we were wobbling because we were so out of balance.  Weaknesses were showing up in the functioning of the FBI, our premier law enforcement agency, the issues concerning our last election exposed embarrassing weaknesses to our very ideals and system of democracy, Columbine, parents murdering their children, a political system with partisanship paramount. One positive outcome of September 11 is that it will take a while for the partisan bickering to rear its ugly head. But in the unification that has emerged, these other serious questions have been deflected. Nobody is considering that maybe we shouldn’t be going back to “business as usual” because “business as usual” wasn’t so great. We’re all trying to go back to how it was, with just a new layer of heightened vigilance and security underlying a new sense of insecurity and vulnerability. September 11 shook our national psyche because we were so complacent in our sense of security and material well-being. That was a sense of security that many in the rest of the world never had to begin with, but we could never appreciate that. 

            A client of mine from Bangladesh pointed this out to me. He said in Bangladesh, abject poverty, insecurity, and death are everywhere all of the time, but Americans aren’t used to these conditions so close to home, while a good deal of the rest of the world deals with it on a daily basis. Foreigners like him come to America for the promise of material well-being we present, but at the same time, they resent us because of our material shallowness. 

            We must resist fascism of any sort, but that does not mean that we must promote excessive consumerism as the favored ends to democracy and freedom. Self-interest must be tempered with selflessness. Maybe it was too cynical and too anemic in its approach, but perhaps George Bush, Sr. was hitting upon something when he promoted “A Thousand Points of Light” and George Bush, Jr. with his “compassionate conservatism”. There is no doubt to me that we need further illumination and compassion, not through hollow demagoguery, but through an awakening and deepening of genuine spirituality.

            May we all find the proper balance and inner strength to get through these difficult and challenging times.

  

Quote of the Week 192- Longing for the Missing Moon, Admiring Buds and Faded Flowers


Are we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom, the moon only when it is cloudless? To long for the moon while looking on the rain, to lower the blinds and be unaware of the passing of the spring – these are even more deeply moving. Branches about to blossom or the gardens strewn with faded flowers are worthier of our admiration.

--from Essays in Idleness, by Kenko, a 14th Century Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, translated by Lance Morrow

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Quote of the Week 192 - What Is God?


I attended a Jewish conference this past Labor Day weekend called “Limmud”, which means, learning. If you haven’t attended one, you should check it out, as they are a lot of fun, and very educational. They are conducted all over the world, run mostly by volunteers. So I encourage you to do an internet search and check for one in your area.

At this conference, there was a young fellow named Patrick Aleph who was a presenter, and spoke about an ongoing project of his called “The God Project”, in which he is going all around the country and making video interviews of people talking about their definition of God. He discussed his findings so far, and solicited participants to allow him to video them. I volunteered, and this was the basic gist of our recorded conversation. A much more extensive conversation off-camera followed.

What is God?

I am that I am. And that’s all that I am. God is Popeye.

Let me answer that question with another question: What is not God?

To pose that answer in the positive, God is everything that exists, both known and unknown, and all activity and inactivity related to everything that exists.

But what about evil, does God include evil?

God includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. Nothing can exist independent of God.



Tuesday, September 6, 2011

God and Evil


I have been engaged in an ongoing private email dialogue with someone, and I would like to share an edited version of our latest exchange. It begins with their follow-up question to an earlier response I gave about the meaning and function of kundalini.

Thank you so much for your long and thorough reply. How then would you differentiate between God and Kundalini, since surely we cannot say that God is the author or source of sin or evil?

I will try to keep my response short this time.

First, I'll start with some questions for you to ponder:

Can anything at all exist without God?

Are you suggesting with your question that something (sin, evil) exists independent of God?

How can you suggest that, if you are a monotheist, which you appear to be?

If you are a monotheist, does not everything owe its authorship or source to the One?

If you have a child that becomes a totally incorrigible, lifetime criminal committing the most heinous of crimes, is he/she no longer your child?

Isn't Samael/Satan/Lucifer a fallen angel?
(A designation of God is in the name of Samael, as “El” is a designation of God, and “Samael” means “The Venom of God”. “Satan” is usually translated as “The Adversary”, who is considered an agent of God with the mission to tempt humans and test their free will and resolve to stay on the path of righteousness, and is sometimes referred to as “Sataniel”, again employing a designation of God in its name. “Lucifer” has a somewhat convoluted history related to the light of the morning star, but also is described as a fallen angel).

If so, when he was a good angel, was he not a creation of God's?

If so, did he cease to be a creation of God's after he fell?

I have differentiated between God and Kundalini the best I could in my last lengthy response. Kundalini, by my definition, is the designation for the power/activity of God as Creator, Sustainer, and Destroyer of all in the realm of the relative, of the manifest, of actuality. In that realm, God as Kundalini is a verb as much as a noun. There is a wonderful book by a modern Jewish mystic rabbi, David Cooper, called "God is a Verb".  Kundalini does not exist in the realm beyond creation. There, the ineffable God alone exists. 
Ponder, contemplate the above. Give it some time. Then l would like to hear from you.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Quote of the Week 191 - True Surrender


When your mind becomes aware that the Spirit is everywhere, then the mind surrenders. The mind learns that although it thought it knew all things, Spirit is everywhere and the mind is nothing. Mind learns that all the power it has is due only to the Spirit, the Source of life, the Source of Consciousness. Then the mind surrenders. That is the meaning of true surrender; such self-surrender is the highest of all yogas. Your mind surrenders when you reach such a height that the mind doesn’t function any longer. Mind is still there, but as it becomes aware of the Reality, its ego vanishes. When you fully understand the functions of mind, you will know how to work with yourself.

--from Essential Swami Rama, Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati, Editor

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Quote of the Week 190 - That Won't Hold Water


They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that cannot hold water.

--Jeremiah 2:13, translated by Aryeh Kaplan in The Living Torah

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Quote of the Week 189 - The Philosopher and the Seer


The philosophers can only surmise what exists in the metaphysical realm, while the Kabblist can actually see it.

--From Meditation and Kabbalah by Aryeh Kaplan, quoting from Elema Rabatai by Rabbi Moshe Cordevero (the Ramak, 1522-1570)

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Quote of the Week 188 - The Path of Yearning


“Neither thinking about the day of one’s death nor the fear of punishment in hell will arouse a person’s heart to serve God. But yearning to cling to the source of life and goodness will do so. And neither fasting nor afflicting oneself will be of any help. But forgetting oneself out of the depth of one’s yearning will do so.”

--From The Ten Principles of the Baal Shem Tov, translated by Yaacov Dovid Shulman.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Spiritual Sexuality: Kundalini, Tantra, Taoism and Judaism


I received a private email recently inquiring about kundalini, spiritual sexuality, tantra, Daoism, and Jewish views on these matters. The email included the following quote from the website www.jewishhealing.com:

“This Jewish idea of sublimating sexuality is a major difference between the Jewish view and the rest of the world. Kundalini and the Daoists, through their sophisticated techniques such as tantric yoga and Daoist sexual practices, bring sexuality into their consciousness, and according to Judaism this generates impure, evil energy. The Jewish method brings Divine Consciousness into our sexuality!”

Below is my response to this inquiry, revised for publishing on this blog.

First off, I will start with a paragraph from the Preface of my book, Yoga and Judaism, Second Edition. For anyone who wants a detailed and accurate description of the subject of kundalini from a traditional yogic source, I highly recommend the book I refer to below. It is available from the author at www.kundalinicare.com.

“The other correction is also in Chapter Five in the discussion about kundalini shakti, another subject matter over which there has been much confusion. After receiving clarification from sources within my own yoga tradition which were further substantiated in great detail by another wonderful source discussed below, I have corrected the statement in the first edition that “kundalini shakti is a particular manifestation of concentrated pranic energy”, replacing it with the following: “although there has been some confusion about referring to kundalini shakti as a type of concentrated pranic energy, there is an alternative and more accurate view that it is a mysterious power of consciousness more subtle than and distinguished from energy”. The other source referred to above is the book, Kundalini Vidya, The Science of Spiritual Transformation, A Comprehensive System for Understanding and Guiding Spiritual Development, by Joan Shivarpita Harrigan, Ph.D. This is the most comprehensive, detailed and well-researched book on the subject matter I have to date encountered. Dr. Harrigan, aided by the guidance of Swami Chandrasekharanand Saraswati, has created an excellent source book that, despite its extensive research, is not couched in the abstruse language of a scholarly tome, but is rather quite easily accessible and readable. It deftly combines inspirational passages with detailed information obviously based upon direct experience and not just intellectual knowledge. It provided answers and clarity to many little questions and fuzzy details that have nagged at me over the years. I commend this book to anyone who has an interest in the subject matter as contained in the title and subtitles.” 

Following is my vision of kundalini, consistent with the description contained in the above-referenced book. Through a mysterious process of Divine Will/Intent, the pure unadulterated spirit/consciousness of the unmanifest realm of the impersonal, absolute, potentiality encapsulates its pure power into a sheath/veil composed of pure Divine Love/Bliss. This is the birth of the Divine Mother, Kundalini Shakti, on the most subtle level of existence. All of creation in the manifest realm of the personal, relative, actuality originates from this most subtle point which is the body of the Divine Mother, Kundalini Shakti. All of creation includes everything, the good, the bad, and the ugly, the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination. So when questions arise about kundalini being evil, yes, it is the source of all evil, because it is the source of everything. But it is likewise the source of all good, because it is the source of everything. There is a powerful illustration of this portrayed in the Jewish Testament (the Torah) in the confrontations between Moses and Pharaoh. Pharaoh encompasses the epitome of the misuse of kundalini, leading to the belief that he is God Incarnate on earth and all powerful. Moses is the epitome of the proper use of kundalini, leading to his unbending mission as a humble servant of the Divine, who has a mastery of the kundalini superior to that of Pharaoh’s: his snake not only overcomes Pharaoh’s, it also serves as his staff that provides him support. “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” Pharaoh erroneously thinks he is a master of the Divine, separate and above all others, but it is revealed that he is actually a mere puppet of the Divine. Pharaoh epitomizes what some call sin, the origins of evil and the devil, that which nurtures a sense of separation and superiority, instead of a sense of unity, awe and humility properly expressed by Moses.

I have some strong, critical viewpoints about the perspectives and viewpoints expressed by many traditional Jewish writers and teachers, and the writer of the article containing the above quote is no exception. There is a strong propensity among these type of people to view Judaism and its teachings as unique and superior to any other spiritual or philosophical teachings. By splitting hairs and drawing distinctions without any real difference, they insist on promulgating their viewpoint of the superiority of Judaism in every way. Jewish meditation might seem like other traditions’ forms of meditation, but the Jewish method is better; Jewish views on reincarnation may sound similar to other traditions’ views, but the Jewish view is better. Same with views on sexuality as contained in that article. This author even goes to further lengths of misrepresenting what other traditions practice and believe, and then denigrates them and calls them evil. This is a classic approach employed by all despotic ideologies whereby they distinguish themselves into a place of superiority by putting down and criticizing others who are different. In this time when interfaith respect and understanding is so crucial, I find this disturbing and despicable.

It is a great mistake to view kundalini as only sexual power, as the article seems to do. As defined above, it is the source of all life and all life force, sexual power included. The book I recommended above contains 256 pages, and I don’t recall any discussion about sex at all, or if there is, it is an extremely minor part of the book. Sex is not even an entry in the Index.

Tantric and Taoist sexual practice has not been a major focus for me, but I have read some about it and have had my own actual experiences with it. It is difficult to sort through all of the distortions and misconceptions that exist about it, especially in the neurotic, juvenile, sex-obsessed Western cultural milieu. What I have read, from what I think are the most accurate texts, has been borne out by my own personal experience. The author of the article makes distinctions that are totally wrong. The yogic and Taoist approach is exactly the same as the Jewish approach that he claims is different. The sublimation that he describes as the superior Jewish practice is exactly the same as in the yogic/Taoist practices. It is all about alchemy, of transforming lower energy into higher energy, of transforming all actions, sexual and otherwise, into sacred actions, of beseeching/invoking higher consciousness to be infused into our actions. Just as you can elevate eating by saying grace over a meal, thus transforming that necessary bodily function originating from the primal instinct of survival into something more spiritually sublime, you can “say grace” over sexual activity, originating from another primal instinct, thus transforming it into something more spiritually sublime. Saying grace is not merely expressing gratitude, it is invoking higher consciousness to infuse it into the activity in which you are about to partake. In many orthodox practices of many religions, a blessing is said before engaging in almost every single activity. The purpose of that is to elevate the activity into something sacred. I personally believe that these types of practices can be internalized and become second nature to who and what we are and why we are here, and do not have to be performed externally.

The approach to spiritual sexuality involves moving beyond the lower physical urges and drives of flesh-oriented ejaculation, orgasm and release. A point can be reached where those urges recede in both partners, and that is the point of sublimation/transformation, where a deep, sublime sense of equanimity and peace is attained. For me, this state is no different than a comparable state I experience in advanced states of solitary meditation. It is  a simple, yet profound sense of inner peace, expansion, infinity, silence. It is nice to experience it alone in solitary meditation, and it is also nice to experience it in a variety of common worldly activities, including sexual union with another person with whom you have a deep spiritual connection. You will note in the various illustrations and statues depicted in the books on tantric and Taoist sex, that the facial expressions of the partners are always very serene, placid and peaceful, in great contrast to the facial expressions of the partners in the flesh-based, orgasm-release oriented sex in modern Western depictions.

A spiritual state of balance, peace and equanimity should be easy to attain, through meditation, sex, or other activities where we approach all of life’s activities as sacred, or as opportunities to reveal and elevate the sacred that exists within everything. Real tantra is about attaining that state in all of life’s external common activities, not just sex. It happens to be very similar to the Jewish approach of conducting one’s life and practicing the mitzvot in a life-affirming and elevated manner, as opposed to ascetic practices advocated by other spiritual approaches of self-abnegation. Such a spiritual state and approach can be the epitome of simplicity. Somehow, however, it gets very complicated. It is not easy to establish and maintain equanimity as we address the travails of life, and it can be difficult for sexual partners to move beyond the primal physical urges and drives into the deep, sublime sacred space to experience this same spiritual simplicity through sexual union. Life is fraught with danger and temptation. It is our spiritual challenge and task to navigate through life and remain true to our spiritual nature by seeking for, connecting with, and having faith in a source of Benevolent Guidance beyond our mortal resources.

Spiritual development involves two basic processes that work in concert: elevating and transforming lower levels into higher levels, through the ascending process of kundalini awakening and arising, and opening up channels to allow the flow of grace to descend. If we always remember with gratitude and true humility that spiritual development and life itself is totally dependent upon a Benevolent Power beyond our mortal resources, then we will advance and approach the level of Moses and the prophets, and serve humanity and God suitably. If we forget the above and attribute our spiritual development to our mortal efforts alone, then we will succumb to the grave error that will eventually lead to our demise, just as certainly as Pharaoh, Rasputin, Hitler, and their likes came to their demise.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Quote of the Week 187 - Looking Good vs. Doing Good


Personal success devoid of meaningfulness, free of a steady commitment to social justice, that’s more than a barren life, it is a trivial one. It’s looking good instead of doing good.

--Toni Morrison, Rutgers University Commencement Address, 2011

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Quote of the Week 186 - Jeremiah, Destroyer and Builder


See, today I have set you over nations and kingdoms, to root up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

--Jeremiah 1:10, translated by Aryeh Kaplan in The Living Torah

Friday, July 15, 2011

Quote of the Week 185 - Being Fully Present


In whatever you do, try to be present, fully present. As Satchel Paige put it, “Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching.” You gotta be all in. This means leaving your technology behind occasionally and listening to a friend without half of your brain preoccupied by its inner longing for the red light on the Blackberry.

--Samantha Power Commencement Address at Occidental College, 2011

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Quote of the Week 184 - Myself

While regarding my body as myself, I am thy servant; while regarding my individual soul as myself, I am an atom, scintillation, ray, reflection of Thine; but when regarding my interior Self as myself, I am the very Thou.

Shankara

 

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Quote of the Week 183 - Tao, the Mother of Ten Thousand Things


Something mysteriously formed.
Born before heaven and earth.
In the silence and the void…
It is the mother of ten thousand things.
I do not know its name;
I call it Tao.

--Tao Te Ching, as quoted in The Divine Feminine in Biblical Wisdom Literature, by Rabbi Rami Shapiro

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Hebrew Mantras - Adonai Hineni


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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Quote of the Week 182 - Process and Effort


The fact is, that in our lifetime we are never guaranteed we will live long enough to finish what we want to accomplish. No guarantee. What we are guaranteed, however, is that we will live long enough to try, to begin the  process. It isn’t about achievement, it is about the effort, the process, the journey, the phases along the way.

--Rabbi Gershon Winkler

[Observation by Steve Gold: And any achievements we may accomplish along the way are just stepping stones in the process, which is never-ending]

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Quote of the Week 181 - Intuition


Deep within you, within the recesses of your being, lies the library of intuition, but you do not know how to reach it, and you don’t have access to its wealth. We are all rich, deep within. Great people receive a small fountain from that knowledge, and that’s why they become great. The knowledge of the mind, the senses, and instinctual knowledge do not help in this. All those kinds of knowledge, all those resources, are important and we need them and can use them, but the highest of all knowledge is intuition.

Intuition does not require any evidence at all; it does not need to ask if something is right. When you have intuition, you don’t have to ask about it, because you know it’s right. That knowledge helps you see things and know things as they are, and then you no longer see things incompletely and partially.

--from Essential Swami Rama, Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati, Editor

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Quote of the Week 180 - One Breath

Everyone on this planet shares one breath and one life force.

--Pandit Rajmani Tigunait

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Quote of the Week 179 - Overcoming Evil


“The Talmud notes that the Shema has the unique ability to dispel the forces of evil…The reason for this should be obvious: evil has power only when it is seen as disconnected from God. If one thinks that there can be a force of evil apart from God, then one can be harmed by it. However, if a person recognizes that even evil is a creation of God, then it no longer has any power over him. God Himself said through His prophet, ‘I form light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil; I am God, I do all these things.’ (Isa. 45:7)…In any case, the Shema declares that God is One. If God is One, then His purpose must also be One. Since God’s purpose in creation was to do good, then the only reason that evil exists is to enhance the world’s ultimate good. If a person has a deep realization of this, then the forces of evil have no power over him.”

-- From Jewish Meditation, a Practical Guide, Jewish Meditation, a Practical Guide, by Aryeh Kaplan, Pp 123, 124.

“The evil inclination and lust are agents of God. They carry out God’s will to mislead a person in order that he will overcome them. From them, you can learn to be as mighty as they are. Just as they never slacken in their work but are trying to destroy you day and night…just as they are happy and delighted to carry out God’s will, it should be as clear to you that God wants you to overcome them until you will conquer yourself and all your desires will be under your control – until you transform them to good…we will take a lesson from the evil inclination to act just as it acts to fulfill God’s will.”

“Evil does not come down from heaven. Nevertheless, evil that exists has an inner power giving it life. And this [inner power] is total goodness. So if you look at the inner aspect of evil, you will only see the good in it.”

--From The Ten Principles of the Baal Shem Tov, translated by Yaacov Dovid Shulman.


Sunday, May 29, 2011

Jewish Meditation, a Practical Guide, by Aryeh Kaplan


The following has been added to the Bibliography/Book Review article on Aryeh Kaplan:

Jewish Meditation, A Practical Guide is one of the ground-breaking works I mentioned above. He had earlier written Meditation and the Bible and Meditation and Kabbalah, both of which are on my “to do” list. In his introduction to Jewish Meditation, he admitted that the earlier works were not accessible for practical application for those not already familiar with basic theory and practice. Thus he wrote Jewish Meditation, A Practical Guide in response to a need for such a manual, and thus my reason to read it first and put the other books on this subject on the back burner. I will merely here add to the chorus of many others who highly recommend this work for anyone interested in meditation generally, and in Jewish meditation specifically.

As indicated, the above was written from memory, having initially read this book several years ago, and before I read Meditation and the Bible and Meditation and Kabbalah. After reading them, I felt it worthwhile to go back and review Jewish Meditation, A Practical Guide, to see how Kaplan incorporated the principles from the earlier works into his more practice-based volume. I can now therefore provide a more detailed summary from this recent, fresh re-reading, which I believe is worthwhile because of the importance of these three books in framing the Jewish meditation movements that followed after them.

From the perspective provided to me by my background in the raja yoga and Vedanta systems, it was very interesting to once again become acquainted with Kaplan’s approach. He begins with introductory chapters about the usefulness and purpose for meditation techniques comparable to what is found in many meditation manuals. His definition of meditation is very broad, including many different practices which other traditions, including my yoga tradition, would call by other names, such as concentration and contemplation. He acknowledges that there are different Hebrew terms for these various forms in order to distinguish them. But his basic definition is “Meditation consists of thinking in a controlled manner. It is deciding exactly how one wishes to direct the mind for a period of time, and then doing it…Meditation is thought directed by will.” This is actually a little disappointing to me, because for me, the core of meditation is about non-doing, of locating that place of quiet mind that already exists within us, sitting/bathing in it, which elicits a heightened state of receptivity, and allowing whatever comes to unfold and be received from sources beyond the mind. This is consistent with the definition of the word “kabalah” meaning “receiving”. Kaplan does acknowledge this as an advanced form which focuses on “nonthought” or on nothingness. As he states in Meditation and Kabbalah, he repeats that “this form of meditation can be dangerous and should not be attempted without a practiced guide or master”. For me, the other forms that he describes as structured and directed contain the most potency when initiated after the quiet mind state is engaged, not before, as he seems to advocate. The remainder of the book reviews various practices — structured, unstructured, directed, undirected — which he gleaned from the research contained in his earlier books, which he deems relatively safe, although there are still warnings against engaging in some practices without guidance and without knowing how to re-engage into a balanced mental state of functioning in normal worldly activities. He tries to distinguish Jewish techniques from others, and there is no question that there is a great variety of practices within the Jewish tradition (almost a dizzying variety), some which may be unique and particular to Judaism, but for many practices, the similarities to descriptions from other traditions is inescapable. This includes a mantra practice like in yoga, utilizing Hebrew phrases instead of Sanskrit, which is my preferred Jewish meditation technique. Certainly, what is unique to Jewish practices is engaging Hebrew phrases and Jewish scriptures and sources, but other traditions similarly engage phrases from their chosen sacred languages and scriptures. He is very insistent on maintaining that although there may be similarities between Jewish and non-Jewish meditation practices, and that “all forms have characteristics in common”, that “does not imply any special relationship between [them]” or that one is derived from the other. This reflects, in part, a concept of what I call “similar independent revelation”, but it strives to deny, somewhat unconvincingly, that similarities exist because they derive from a common source, ascribing them to something more like insignificant coincidence. However, he elsewhere acknowledges that there was a significant interplay and mutual influencing between Jewish sages and mystics from other traditions, including Christians, Sufis and Indians.

The chapter on contemplation contains a few interesting subjects. One is an analysis of various levels of meaning and significance to the Tetragrammaton that I found very interesting. It describes the Yod in terms similar to the concept of “bindu” in yoga: the point of origination of everything. This beginning point Yod becomes encapsulated into the first Heh, entering through the top opening, and emerging through the bottom opening as the Vav, because it has gestated into this form of the Vav, which is an elongated Yod. This also brings forth images of a lingam from the yoga descriptions, and is consistent with Kaplan alternately describing the two Heh’s as hands that contain the Yod and the Vav, or as wombs containing them. The second Heh is then impregnated with the Vav, and brings forth the physical world as we know it. This corresponds to other conceptions that the four letters correspond with the four worlds, culminating in the lowest world of physical manifestation.

The other subject that I found interesting in the chapter on contemplation concerned contemplating on a flame. In his other books, Kaplan cited references that were all over the place concerning the colors of a flame and their significance, some that seemed contrary to descriptions found in other traditions. However, in this book, the references he cites are a bit more consistent, but nevertheless quite perplexing in some respects. He states that the sources state there are five basic colors to the flame of a candle or oil lamp: white, yellow, red, black and sky-blue. He maintains that it is easy enough to perceive the white, yellow and red, but the black and the blue are much more problematic, because they do not appear in a common candle flame. He states that the black refers to darkness around the flame, and the blue appears only on an inner mystical level outside the black. I recently gazed fairly closely at a candle flame, and repeated this exercise again to confirm my earlier memory. Contrary to Kaplan’s assertion, I found a definite, but small, sky-blue color at the base of the flame (sort of like an upside-down cap to the flame), which then gave way to an inner tongue of dark/black that started a little below the upper tip of the glowing orange wick (my wife said it looked more purple to her). This black tongue was enveloped in a bright yellow tongue, and on the most external layer, there was a less bright yellow tongue. There was a distinct line of demarcation between the two yellow tongues. I did not see white or red, other than the glowing orange tip of the wick. I was also curious about the relationship between flame color and temperature. A quick little internet research revealed many layers of complexity to this question, but the simple answer concerning the candle is that the blue is the hottest, and it gets less hot from there. Kaplan goes into some detail about the profound significance to the inner-manifested blue aura around the candle, as it signifies the blue sapphire of the Throne of Glory and is also associated with the “third eye” of prophetic insight and vision. He provides a poetic description: “It will be the most beautiful sky-blue color imaginable, like that of a summer sky over the Holy Land. The color will have an almost awesome beauty”. He then follows this with some contradictory statements, which nevertheless are quite profound: “Of course, the blue color is not a physical reality, it is entirely a creation of the mind. But according to the Zohar, the blue sensation is a revelation of the spiritual. In a sense, it denotes that one is seeing the spiritual essence of the light that is radiating from the candle. There are sources that indicate that in more advanced meditative techniques it is possible actually to see visions in this blue field. Furthermore, in conjunction with the revelation at Sinai, when the Israelites had a vision of the Divine, the saw ‘under His feet like a brickwork of sapphire’. Similarly, when the prophet Exekiel saw the Throne of Glory, he described it as being the color of sapphire. Thus blue is always a color associated with vision and prophecy.” So he begins by stating it is a creation of mind, but then proceeds to explain that it is something much more than a creation of mind. This is an issue I found running throughout this book because of his definition of meditation as a method of directing the mind through will. But he seems to also be recognizing that at some point, this willful manipulation of the mind gives way to visions not created by the mind, but rather revealed to the mind from a source beyond mind. My intuition is that this blue is the color of the primordial flame of the burning bush, known as “agni” in yoga, and explains why many Hindu images are depicted in this color, such as Krishna and Shiva.

I have also been very interested in a notion I have found only from Kaplan about the black/dark flame, the lamp of darkness. It is very interesting to me that at the heart of the candle flame, above the blue foundation, first appears an inner core of dark/black. The yellow tongues are outside of that. Although it is a very different perception than what Kaplan describes, it is nevertheless there. Conduct your own experiment and see what you see!

There is a chapter on visualization followed by a chapter on nothingness, in which Kaplan persists in describing techniques by which the mind is actively engaged in fostering up images and conceptions, even that of nothingness, instead of encouraging a mode of inner receptivity by which one looks to receive images and a sense of nothingness originating from the Divine source within and beyond the mind. For me, meditation is not about manipulating the mind, but rather quieting the mind, which enables discovery of states of consciousness beyond the mind. Imagining Divine Light or Divine Sound through a visualization/fabrication of the mind is not the same as experiencing Divine Light or Divine Sound coming forth on their own accord as an inner revelation. Kaplan, however, warns against “spurious visions” that might come forward into the mind of a novice meditator. It is certainly important to guard against images and “visions” that are mere inner emotional churning machinations of an agitated mind stirred up by the meditative process, as distinct from real revelation, but there are criteria to distinguish between the two. Real revelation is not accompanied by an emotional charge, but is rather quite dispassionate and matter-of-fact in its appearance. Kaplan cites some sources that recommend banishing spurious visions, and replacing them with the Tetragrammaton, although later in the book, he states that the Baal Shem Tov encouraged an inspection of them. This is consistent with the suggestion of my spiritual master, Swami Rama, that it is an important process of self-therapeutic meditation to allow such images and thoughts to arise without getting emotionally involved with them or acting upon them. He suggests a process whereby a beginner just “lets them go” (at a stage when they are moving and changing rapidly), an intermediate “observes” them (at a stage when the chattering of the mind-stream has slowed down a bit), and an advanced practitioner “inspects” them from all angles (at a stage when thoughts/images/emotions arise at a much slower pace, allowing for this thorough inspection. This is a valuable inner process of self-cleansing and inner purifying heat that will eventually burn up these limiting obstructions and clear the way to deeper states of meditation, when the lower chattering mind gives way to the higher quiet mind. Swami Rama exhorts against attempting to suppress such rising thoughts, suggested by the “banishing” described by Kaplan, but offers an alternative method somewhat similar to Kaplan’s suggestion of replacing those visions with that of the Tetragrammaton: giving the mind a positive alternative productive thought to contemplate, being either a mantra or positive visual image. Another alternative method suggested by Swami Rama is to visualize an inner fire altar located above the third eye and direct all unwanted obstructive thought patterns to be burned/sacrificed at that altar. This is similar to an internal practice mirroring the sacrificial offerings described in the Torah performed by the High Priests of the Temple in the external world, burning up the lower animal nature on the altar.

He devotes a chapter to “Conversing with God”, focusing on the technique prescribed by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, discussed in Meditation and Kabalah. He then launches into two related chapters, “The Way of Prayer” and “Relating to God”, focusing on the central prayer of the Amidah as not only a prayer, but as a meditation device/long mantra. He goes into some detail about the history and deep meaning to the Amidah, and methods to recite it in a meditative fashion, all of which is very fascinating. He quite curiously concludes with a discussion of kundalini yoga in the context of the directions of bowing and raising up in reciting the Amidah. He relates the 18/19 blessings of the Amidah/Shemoneh Esrey as corresponding to the vertebrae of the spine, and that the bowing and rising up is an exercise intended to activate the spine and the kundalini energy associated with it. He distinguishes the Jewish approach from the yoga approach, stating that while the yoga approach focuses on stimulating the ascending energy rising from the base of the spine upward, the Jewish approach focuses on the descending energy coursing down from the mind/head through the spine to energize the body, or more precisely, that the head is bowed down to the body so that the spiritual energy from the head is employed to activate the lower kundalini energy to spur its rise up the spine. Serpent power only energized from below upward is depicted negatively, resulting in the serpent power of the rigid spine reigning supreme in the yoga tradition, while serpent power energized by the head first in the Jewish practice renders the serpent power subservient to the head, and thus acceptable. I have addressed issues concerning these concepts elsewhere, most specifically in a piece entitled “Schechinah, Rise of the Feminine” available on the Yoga and Judaism blog, and also in the book IVRI: The Essence of Hebrew Spirituality, and I will not repeat them at length here. In short, I agree with the caution that efforts at raising the kundalini from below should be tempered by or taken in context with the concept of the descending energy of grace coming from above. However, I disagree with the traditional Jewish take on the serpent repeated by Kaplan that “the serpent is seen as the enemy of mankind. The serpent is the tempter, who tries to use sexual energy to draw humans away from God”. But even Kaplan admits that the Jewish sources use the serpent image in a positive context if the Jewish practice is engaged, that after bowing down and infusing the body with spiritual energy, we “can rise and lift energy from the spine to the head, ‘rising like a snake’” [quoting from the Talmud. The primordial serpent power/Shakti/Schechina is the source of both the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination. Without it, humans would not exist to be tempted! In this discussion, Kaplan is careful to repeat the proviso: “This is not to suggest that there is any relationship between the Jewish teaching and that of the East, but merely to point out that the spine is universally recognized as an important conduit of energy”. Duly noted!

The Chapter on Unification is devoted to an examination of the Shema prayer, as its message is the message of Oneness. Although in my own personal practice, I utilize the Shema in a rapid repetition mantra method, Kaplan states the Talmud discourages such a practice, stating that “one who repeats the Shema should be silenced”. However, I utilize it in silent internal mode, so there is nothing external to be silenced, so perhaps I am okay with it. I find it to be a powerful practice. Kaplan’s recommendation is the exact opposite, to repeat the Shema very slowly in a meditative practice. He notes the similarity between the word, “Shema” consisting of Shin, Mem and Ayin, and the words “Shem” meaning “name” and “Sham” meaning “there”, both consisting of Shin and Mem, with no Ayin. He notes that the Sefer Yetzirah identifies three “mother letters”, Shin, Mem and Aleph, with Shin designating chaos and fire, Mem designating harmony and water, and Aleph designating the silence at the foundation of all sound. He describes a simple meditation technique contained in commentaries on the Sefer Yetzirah whereby the “Sh” sound is internally intoned on an outbreath, followed by the silence of Aleph on the inbreath, followed by the “M” sound on the next outbreath, and repeating that sequence. He states that the Ayin in the word Shema designates diversity within unity.

“It is easy to understand why the shin and mem are important. The shin has the sound of s or sh, and hence, of all the letters in the alphabet, it has the sound closest to white noise. White noise is sound that contains every possible wavelength, and is usually heard as a hissing sound. On an oscilloscope, the s sound would appear as a totally chaotic jumble with no structure whatsoever.”

“The opposite of white noise is pure harmonic sound. This is a hum, like the sound of a tuning fork. On an oscilloscope, this would appear as a perfect wavy line, the epitome of order and regularity. This is the sound of the mem.”

“The shin thus represents chaos, while the mem represents harmony. The Sefer Yetzirah says that the shin represents fire, while the mem represents water. The shin denotes a hot, chaotic state of consciousness, while the mem denotes a cool, harmonic state. This is significant, since in many meditative traditions, the m sound is seen as one that leads to tranquility and inner peace. The sound itself seems to be conducive to the harmony that one seeks in the meditative state. The s or sh sound, on the other hand, is more closely associated with our normal, everyday level of consciousness. It is also interesting to note that the ‘still small voice’ (1 Kings 19:12) in which Elijah heard God is translated by the Sefer Yetzirah as a ‘fine humming sound.’ It appears that the m sound was closely associated with prophecy.” Pp 129, 130.

The Chapter on The Ladder discusses the vision of Jacob’s Ladder, and how midrash relates that the ladder had four steps, relating to the four letters of the Tetragrammaton, the four worlds, and also to four layers of the soul. He also describes how the sequence in the traditional morning shacharith service guides one through these four levels, starting from the most gross to the most subtle, and then brings one back down to earth to instill the highest consciousness into daily living. He contends that the entire service can therefore be regarded as a meditation.

The Chapters, In All Your Ways, The Commandments, and Between Man and Woman contain a Jewish version of Tantra. They express the concept that every single action can be viewed as sacred and conducted as meditation in action. First, In All Your Ways expresses the idea that God is immanent in all things, so dealing with anything is dealing with God. Second, The Commandments expresses that there are certain activities that have been designated as particularly helpful in providing direction and spiritual guidance in life. And third, Between Man and Woman expresses that proper sexual relations is a particularly unique sacred activity, as it mimics the very act of ongoing creation whereby the interplay between male and female is essential for creating and sustaining anything and everything.

The book ends with a chapter entitled Remolding the Self. As sympathetic as Kaplan appears concerning Chasidism, Jewish Mysticism, and Kabbalah, it is interesting that he ends the book with this chapter discussing the Musar movement, which he says was a reaction to Chasidism. He explains that Chasidism had to a significant extent degenerated into a type of cult worship [my term, not his] of the various designated rebbes whereby “the guide became more important than the mountain. Many Chasidim regarded their rebbe as the paradigm of the saintly man and lived the righteous life vicariously through him. The Musar movement developed among the Mitnaggedim, opponents of the Chasidic movement. Musar schools taught that it was not enough to live the righteous life through a master. Every individual had an obligation to strive to live the righteous life in his own right. Beyond that, the Musar movement offered a program through which every person could gradually perfect himself.” He explains that Musar focuses on one’s relation with one’s fellow beings in addition to one’s relationship with God. Musar means “self-perfection”, and as such, focuses on methods to overcome individual shortcomings in order to be a better citizen of the world. Kaplan contends that the type of introspective Musar “self-help” techniques can be seen as individualized meditations, and that by engaging in these meditations, which are similar to the practice of affirmations found in some non-Jewish movements such as New Thought, the results can be realized. However, unlike a lot of New Thought “Power of Positive Thinking” approaches, in which just glowing positive attributes are emphasized, Musar starts with the practitioner honestly identifying and acknowledging a specific character flaw or weakness, and then identifying and focusing on the flip-side positive attribute to it in order to eliminate the flaw and replace it with its positive counterpart. In concluding the book with this chapter, Kaplan is making the point that the real test of spiritual development is not only in attaining lofty meditational levels, but in how one brings those attainments to bear in one’s interactions with the everyday mundane world and its challenges and relationships, starting first with the family unit, and especially between spouses. Perhaps the greatest testers to our spiritual development that we have are those closest to us, who can challenge us and press our “hot buttons” like no one else. This is the ultimate “reality check”, where “the rubber meets the road”. [The last three phrases in quotes are mine, not Kaplan’s!]