Vast & Varied; Ensouled Beings ~ two related prayer sessions

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19 Elul 5772, 8:10AM, Thursday, at a Starbucks in Philadelphia

Dearest Sweet Beloved Divine Parent,

Thank You for this opportunity to commune with You. The day looks dreary and darkened. However, this doesn’t have to be how I feel. I can feel elated and inspired. The outer weather doesn’t need to rule the inner weather.

This morning I was contemplating how this world is literally a meeting place for souls from so many different levels. Souls come from different soul families. Often, it’s possible that the higher realms are so vast and multi-dimensional that they don’t meet. How matters go on the earthly level often influence the flow of blessing and illumination to a soul family in a particular region of the spiritual realms. So certain souls will be “released” or “sacrificed” to be sent to this realm in order to effect the flow of blessing [to that celestial region and by extension to the resident soul family].

Yet, here on the earthly realm, there’s limited dimensionality. The directions one can go are too few [limited by the dimensions of space and time]. So all souls who occupy bodies, regardless of soul family, are forced into a shared dimensionality. At best, a soul family can claim a region on earth that’s a parallel to it’s region in the spiritual realms. Still, it can’t fully claim exclusivity in it’s region because people belonging to other soul families often come and go; through trade often leave their cultural influence, through media get to speak directly to the inhabitants. Certainly, as technology makes the world smaller and smaller a choke hold is cast over isolationism. This is part of what’s causing what we see today called “extremism”.

Extremism is an internal isolationism. When a soul wants what’s spiritually and culturally familiar to her, without the full support of the outside world to provide her with her “matching environment”, she tries to create that environment internally, in her being, which often leads her to become and appear out of sync with her external environment.

However, such measures are only temporary because as the earthly realm becomes more integrated so do the heavenly realms. This is the process of “tikkun” or repair. Of course, this process is reflective. As the vastness of heaven becomes more unified, even more unity reaches earth; further, “tikkun”.

The reason why the process of unification [first] begins with earth, and earth was made with limited dimensions to facilitate the process, is because earth mostly relates to the Oneness exemplified by the “afterglow” and heaven mostly relates to the Infinity of the Infinite Light. [Oneness is togetherness - as reflected in the limited dimensionality of the earthly realm, which gathers together embodied souls and other spiritual lights, who would normally be spread out over the dimensional vastness of the spiritual realms in their disembodied states.]

Thank You … Love and Kisses ...

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23 Elul 5772, 8:13AM, Monday, at a Starbucks in Philadelphia

Dearest Sweet Beloved Divine Parent,

Thank You for this opportunity to reach out to You. Thank You for this opportunity called, “life” - an opportunity to be surrounded by so many ensouled beings. I’m not the only ensouled being, but, surrounded around and around ~ interacting with ensouled beings. It’s so beautiful to be in a sea of so many “walking candles”, each carrying a “soul flame”, a consciousness. It’s so beautiful, so cozy and cuddly.

The human soul is very very special, as Rabbi Ya’akov Meir Shpielman teaches in “Tal Oros” that the consciousness of a being depends on the level its drawing from cosmically. A rock draws from a lower level than a tree. A tree draws from a lower level than an ox and an ox draws from a lower level than a human. It really depends on what level the particular consciousness branches off into a recognizable being. So for example, a human soul branches off much higher cosmically than an ox’s soul. As a result, it’s already available higher up to extend her identity into an earthly body.

Therefore, every human being is a window through which higher realms peer into our earthly realm. Vice versa, every human being is a window by which the earthly realm can peer into the heavenly realms. However, the beauty of a window is that it’s a spot of transparency which allows lights to flow through. Open a window shade and the room is lit. So every encounter with every human is potentially so beautiful. Please help me do a much better job of opening my own window shade to see this. In most cases, it’s not the other person’s blockages that interfere with this transparent connection, soul to soul, but my own. So please help me open my own window shade, even more, even higher.

This world is populated by people whose souls come from so many cosmic levels. Paradise is vast and varied. Yet, as a marketplace is a gathering point for people far and wide, so too the earthly realm is where souls from the vast and varied spiritual realms converge to interact and transact in varied currency ~ thoughts, ideas, perspectives, designs, song, music, goods, etc.

In a market place, one is dazzled by the array of cultures that pass one’s eyes. So too in this realm, I am dazzled by the array of soul styles that I encounter. It’s beautiful. Thank You for this amazing experience. Thank You for making me alive to it. It’s a true celebration!

Love and Kisses ...

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A Drop of Paradise ~ a prayer

B”H

24 Elul 5772, Tues., at a Starbucks in Philadelphia

Dearest Sweet Beloved Divine Parent, Thank You for helping me find a place to commune with You. Thank You for the opportunity to commune with You. Thank You for last night’s class. Thank You for this morning’s Torah study. I guess the concept that struck my chord most is the notion that a tiny drop of a higher realm has so much more to it than the entirety of a lower realm. This is why all the pleasures of the world combined don’t even attain to the pleasures of a drop of paradise. The popular conception of paradise is that its a place of peace, serenity, weightlessness, love, deeper understandings, etc. However, these are only earthly attempts to approximate paradise. What paradise really is can’t be grasped by a human mind attached to flesh. The reason is because every pleasure the world offers combined together is still less than a drop of paradise. That’s why to some extent it still needs to be earned. Otherwise, it’s painful absorbing. The highest pleasure can soar into the most intense pain; again, a pain of a proportion unmatched in our physical world, “bread of shame”. This might actually be what the opposite of paradise is; enduring the “bread of shame” until the intensity of such pain itself earns the paradise for the person within the year (in spiritual terms).

This also explains why it shouldn’t be a surprise that the seven spiritual days it took to create the residence of Adam and Eve in Eden flattens out into billions of earthly years. That’s what it take to translate the same phenomena in a far more limited medium with inferior time units.

This whole difference is one of quality. It’s what’s often referred to as a paradigm shift. Even in the best attempts to translate from higher reality into lower reality, the highest and finest is usually lost in translation ~ serving as a transcendent light to the newly translated reality, influencing, guiding, but, not quite grasped.

So even with billions of years on the earthly realm, not everything quite translated from Eden into our realm. It’s like a shattered mirror trying to reflect the image of a full face. That’s what our realm is relative to Eden. This is why eventually there needs to be a new heavens and earth, a better vessel to process the light.

What this all means to me is yet another signal to be humble, patient, full of faith and love for You; There are very good reasons why I can’t wrap my mind anchored in flesh around the real truth of what’s going on around me. My very best response is to simply to place myself emotionally in Your “Hands” and trust You to carry me along. 

Thank You. Love & Kisses ...

Vast & Varied; Ensouled Beings ~ a Prayer

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B”H

23 Elul 5772, Monday, at a Starbucks in Philadelphia

Dearest Sweet Beloved Divine Parent, Thank You for this opportunity to reach out to You. Thank You for this opportunity called, “life” - an opportunity to be surrounded by so many ensouled beings. I’m not the only ensouled being, but, surrounded around and around ~ interacting with ensouled beings. It’s so beautiful to be in a sea of so many “walking candles”, each carrying a “soul flame”, a consciousness. It’s so beautiful, so cozy and cuddly.

The human soul is very very special, as Rabbi Ya’akov Meir Shpielman teaches in “Tal Oros” that the consciousness of a being depends on the level its drawing from cosmically. A rock draws from a lower level than a tree. A tree draws from a lower level than an ox and an ox draws from a lower level than a human. It really depends on what level the particular consciousness branches off into a recognizable being. So for example, a human soul branches off much higher cosmically than an ox’s soul. As a result, it’s already available higher up to extend her identity into an earthly body.

Therefore, every human being is a window through which higher realms peer into our earthly realm. Vice versa, every human being is a window by which the earthly realm can peer into the heavenly realms. However, the beauty of a window is that it’s a spot of transparency which allows lights to flow through. Open a window shade and the room is lit. So every encounter with every human is potentially so beautiful. Please help me do a much better job of opening my own window shade to see this. In most cases, it’s not the other person’s blockages that interfere with this transparent connection, soul to soul, but my own. So please help me open my own window shade, even more, even higher.

This world is populated by people whose souls come from so many cosmic levels. Paradise is vast and varied. Yet, as a marketplace is a gathering point for people far and wide, so too the earthly realm is where souls from the vast and varied spiritual realms converge to interact and transact in varied currency ~ thoughts, ideas, perspectives, designs, song, music, goods, etc.

In a market place, one is dazzled by the array of cultures that pass one’s eyes. So too in this realm, I am dazzled by the array of soul styles that I encounter. It’s beautiful. Thank You for this amazing experience.Thank You for making me alive to it. It’s a true celebration!

Love and Kisses ...

Strolling Along ...

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Today, strolling along the rainy banks of the Delaware River, I saw the battleship New Jersey in the near distance. As I beheld this magnificent testament of human ingenuity and achievement, I was momentarily spellbound with awe. 

Then it dawned on me that one tiny molecule of this huge ship displays incredibly more ingenuity and wisdom than the whole structure of the ship put together - a mark of the vast disparity in wisdom between man and his Creator. 

Then I was spellbound with happiness. :)

"New to Me" ~ a prayer

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12 Elul 5772, Thursday, 8:19 AM, at a Starbucks in Philadelphia

Dearest Sweet Beloved Divine Parent, Thank You for the opportunity to commune with You. Thank You this early morning opportunity to dawn with the unfolding of emotional sincerity. To You I am drawn, like a lost child who's just discovered his/her parents, like soul mates whom upon reaching adulthood, after years of separation, finally meet ~ what a celebration!

Yet with You, I’m within You 24/7. In fact, my whole existence is within You. My whole existence is You. I’m a character inside Your dream. I’m simultaneously, within You & You. In a deeper sleep, I feel within You. However, my ultimate wakeful state is my seamless absorption into Your Being. Ah! The human words don’t do the reality of our relationship justice. It’s so so deep!

Yet, despite the inherent constancy of connection to You, I still feel like at every session like I’m encountering my long lost Parent or Lover. The freshness and renewal in our relationship dazzles me, surprises me and inspires me. Perhaps, the reason is because we’re interacting over endlessness. Relative to my human experience, my states of heart seem endless and certainly what You flow into me in response to my states of heart seems endless to me.

If I had a very good friend whom I can count on for freshly new and inspiring insight every single day, I’d look very much forward to our daily deep meaningful discussions. It doesn’t matter if he or she is the same friend I met everyday, day in and day out. It does not even matter if the meeting place is overly familiar. What matters is that the content of our discussions are fresh and new ~ not old and worn.

This is what I can count on in our daily communion. Therefore, the same Creator feels new to me in every session. There’s a passage in the Zohar which states that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our Biblical Patriarchs, each had four wives. Abraham and Jacob had four wives in four different people. Isaac had four wives in one person - Rebecca. Who was luckier? I think Isaac was. Why? Because he was able to have a multitude of freshly new experiences simply by accessing one source. If the connection is right, the variety needed to sustain, nourish, grow, stay excited, awake and full of longing for what comes next can come from one source.

Thank You for this beautiful session. Help me carry it in the most sensitive pocket of my heart. Love and Kisses …

What Your Kindness does for my Heart ~ a prayer

Thursday 5 Elul 5772, 8:10 AM, at a Starbucks in Philadelphia

Dearest Sweet Beloved Divine Parent, Thank you for the opportunity to commune with You. Thank You for the constant kindnesses that I’m aware of and experience. My knowledge and awareness of them nourishes my focus on You. These kindnesses that You bring to my awareness nourish my faith in You. Of course as my Creator, You hide almost everything from for my own good. Just for starters: (A) it would be overwhelming (B) it may cause me to get in my own way (C) it will interfere with free choice. Yet, that little spark of awareness You allow me does so much for my relationship with You. It allows me to be inspired by You. It allows me to teach others Your ways. It reinforces for me that You are here and You care. It reinforces for me that You want a relationship with me.

Much of what a parent does for a child is behind the scenes. The child doesn’t know about it. In many cases, if the child were to overhear the parents’ plans on his/her behalf, the child still wouldn’t understand and trying to understand them would be confusing. Yet, every nurturing parent tries to do some things for a child that the child can relate to, understand and carry in his/her awareness. Why? To nurture a relationship with the child by managing the perception of the parent in the child’s mind and heart.

Similarly, Your kindness and Your ways [that] I can perceive, understand and relate to nurture my side of the relationship with You. Occasionally, there may be a very mature child who doesn’t require such a constant stream of reinforcement. This is compared to very high and big souls who don’t want spiritual pampering and view it as a sign of their growth and maturity that they no longer need such coddling and favors. However, I only relate to such a state as a metaphor. I don’t relate to it in a real way. So, I’m obviously a smaller and lower soul. I need spiritual treats and candies along the way to reinforce and nurture, to feel Your Involvement and Your Love.  Knowing that this is part of my needs, I thank You with a full heart for every drop of these perceptions of kindness You dote upon me. In fact, I beg of You to increase them - so I become more and more aware of You. It’s far more honest [for me] to be in Your Presence who I really am than to pretend a greatness, maturity and independence that’s not in me. In any event who can hide from Your all seeing and all knowing perception?

Thank You kindly for transmitting to me the words of this prayer. Love and Kisses …

Essential Attribute

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Recently, I read something interesting in Rabbi Bachya Ibn Pequda’s “Duties of the Heart”, section 1, chapter 9. It was a very elegant argument for the Creator’s Oneness based on ancient Greek philosophical notions, as echoed in the philosophy of Andalusian Jewry.

The argument is based on the notion of “essential and accidental attributes”. An “essential attribute” is a quality which is core to an entity. The entity simply cannot be without it and trying to remove it would remove the entity as well. Examples of essential attributes are wet to water or heat to fire. An “accidental attribute” is a quality which can be added to or removed from an entity without changing its core. It’s a secondary attribute, which an entity can exist with or without. An example is hot water. The heat is an accidental attribute because water is water, whether hot or not.

The argument:

Hot water acquires heat by being placed over a fire (or an energetic equivalent). In other words, fire supplies water with heat. Water does not have heat on its own. It needs to receive heat from an outside source - fire. Why? The answer is because for water, heat is an accidental attribute. Accidental attributes are never “native” to the entities which possess them. They need to be imported from essential attributes of other entities. Therefore, fire transmits heat to water and water transmits dampness to sponges.

Stylistically, accidental attributes are degraded versions of essential attributes. They are weaker than their corresponding essential attribute. Water can never be as hot as the fire that heated it up. Flawed attributes are clearly accidental, not essential. Throughout creation, the notion of oneness is flawed because it’s not real oneness. It’s unified multiplicity. Every oneness within the vast span of creation is composed of parts, multiplicity in space, and is subject to change, multiplicity in time.

These flaws of multiplicity cast all onenesses in creation as accidental attributes. Like “where there’s smoke there’s fire”, where there are accidental attributes there must be a transmitting essential attribute, feeding it with continuity. Therefore, there must exist a perfect Oneness which feeds all these imperfect onenesses with continuity. Since this Oneness is perfect, void of multiplicity, it can only belong to One Entity - namely, the Creator.


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