Having Courage to Experience G

Having Courage to Experience G G-d By HaRav Ariel Bar Tzadok One of the great hindrances I have noticed that seems to forever keep yearning souls distant and removed from any sincere spiritual experience is the dire warnings, fear and dread spread about by certain segments within the religious communities. I am often en asked, is it safe to perform prophetic Kabbalistic meditations? Can we really recite or chant holy Names and letter combinations; is this not prohibited? What will happen to my immortal soul if I fail to do things exactly correct? Can I not cause more e harm than good because I am unworthy to seek to connect in this fashion? These types of questions sum up the fears expressed by many prospective students. These fears unfortunately are generated from those sources who only seek to continue keeping yearning rning souls disconnected from truth and real spiritual experience. These fears, when addressed properly, are totally false and without merit. Regardless of whatever smokescreens of apparent Torah knowledge some may throw to prevent spiritual seekers from m following the necessary path, nonetheless, our obligations under Torah law are clear. We all have a Torah obligation to practice those spiritual techniques that will enable us and strengthen us to fulfill the commandment to bond with G-d. Ultimately, those hose who oppose this path, even on so so-called Torah grounds, unds, are nothing more than ill-minded minded charlatans who are contradicting Torah in the name of Torah and deceiving Heaven s children and distancing them from their Divine Father and Source. While many in the religious community are happy living out their lives wit with h the accoutrements of religion without any real spiritual experience or desire, Heaven on the other hand considers ers such a state to be the epitome of hypocrisy. One ne simply needs to read the words of the Torah and the prophets to see this clearly. Then again, almost nobody in the religious world today studies the words of the prophets. Indeed, almost all Torah and prophetic studies that do occur are relegated to the academic domain with exclusiv exclusive e emphasis on the intellectual and philosophical principles of the works. All too few stop and read the words of the prophets as they were originally spoken; as words of moral admonishments, to direct us 1

and guide us towards true spiritual experience with G-d and not just to a superficial relationship with religious accoutrements and cultural identification. I have long taught my students to learn the TaNaKh, to simply read the stories and the words of the prophets directly without any type of academic filter. One should only turn to a commentary if and when there is a problem in understanding vocabulary or terminology. Once one understands the words one reads, one should not force that understanding into the mold of the thoughts of others. Such a fundamentalist outlook is what has led to thousands of years of Biblical misinterpretations and misunderstandings, with each building mountains out of molehills, twisting and turning the Biblical texts on a verse or two and reinventing it to make it say something so totally other than what was originally said. This is what happened when members of other nations, distant from original Torah sources came to read our TaNaKh. They came to our books with an agenda and did not finish their dealings with them until their agendas has been proven and solidified, at least in their own eyes. This mentality of reinterpretation has never died. It still exists inside and outside of Israel and Judaism. An exclusive academic orientation towards spirituality and religion can never provide anyone with an experience of G-d or an understanding of Heaven. In order to interact with these higher realms of nature and to experience them one must cultivate and use one s own higher mental faculties of intuition and psychic connection. Religion today has pretty much been stripped of its vibrancy and has become indistinguishable from any other form of mythology and fairy tales. Indeed, the growing radical atheistic movement sees this clearly and exploits this sad reality to promote its own agenda. Any religion that wishes to present itself as a rational and intellectual choice void of all mysticism and active spiritual experience is indeed nothing more than myth and story. This is a sad reality known to prophets, sages and rabbis for millennia. Torah has always commanded us to place the word of G-d in and upon our hearts. This is one commandment that most religious individuals fail to fulfill. Having G-d s word in our hearts means having a complete personality transformation through which one integrates all aspects of one s humanity and lives as a full human being as G-d has ordained since the beginning. One cannot become fully human unless one integrates into one s life all elements of one s humanity and this by definition must include one s spirituality. Spirituality is again not a pursuit of the intellect; it is not academic in nature at all. Spirituality requires one to cultivate what the Bible calls the heart and what we today call the inner or higher unconscious self. Unless one practices techniques of self discovery and introspection then one never comes in touch with one s whole self. As such, being incomplete, the individual lacks what it takes to perceive and comprehend a true experience of Heaven. The intellect and the spirit are two very different elements within the human mind. One cannot take the place of the other. All the while that one uses one aspect of human consciousness at the expense of the other we rightly say that such an individual is halfbrained. This is not a statement of religion or philosophy. It is rather a well known psychological fact. 2

The founder of Analytical Psychology, Carl Jung (CW 13, 7) stated it in this fashion. "The intellect does indeed do harm to the soul, when it dares to possess itself of the heritage of the spirit. It is in no way fitted to do this, for spirit is something higher than intellect, since it embraces the latter, and includes feelings, as well. It is a guiding principle of life that strives towards super-human shining heights." I have long tried to show my readers that spiritual growth is not a merely an option of religion. Rather, it is a psychological necessity. One cannot find true inner peace without first finding one s own inner self. And finding one s inner self cannot be accomplished unless such a quest is guided by Heaven. In the end, the quest for one s inner self and the discovery of the bond with Heaven are one and the same. When one finds oneself, one will at the same time find G-d. Therefore, the spiritual quest is an essential part of all human development. Therefore, the intellectualization of this process thus thwarts and retards an individual s personal growth and at the same time causes great harm to society and to the world at large. This message was always taught by the Biblical prophets and by numerous later Sages who followed in their footsteps. Unfortunately, their message got lost, buried under piles and piles of books and the academic side of learning that has been elevated beyond its natural parameters. Academic learning has its place, but as Jung has psychologically pointed out, that place is not paramount, but secondary. We must learn to reprioritize and readjust the way we think and thus the way we pursue religion and spirituality. As long as the intellect is the driving force, we will forever be driving in the wrong direction. Unless the spirit and the intuitive, psychic mind is unleashed through the practices of meditation and the like we will forever be driving further and further away from the truth that we at least proclaim that we are running after. Torah tradition since most ancient times has always been a path of seclusion, meditation and simplicity. It never required much book learning or other types of academic pursuits. The Biblical prophets and the Sages after them were all well learned, but their learning came mostly through their mediations on Torah and not through numerous hours of book learning. Indeed, their academic successes began when they closed their books and opened their hearts. For decades after the destruction of the Second Temple the Sages were outright afraid to commit the Oral Torah to writing. They feared that such a transformation would kill the living fluid movement of Torah that no words on any page could ever contain. Hundreds of years later, Rav Ashi in Bavel well aware of these concerns specifically formatted the Gemara to try to offset this destructive element. When one studies Gemara the way Rav Ashi meant it, one flows from academic discussions of Halakhic minutia into Aggadic stories that speak to the heart, then back into academia and then back into heart knowledge. Back and forth goes this flow on every page of Gemara. This method of constant movement between head and heart is a technique which has its written source in none other than the most ancient of mishnaic texts, the Kabbalistic Sefer Yetzirah. Although not quoting the text or the source of his method, Rav Ashi, the compiler of the Talmud Bavli certainly followed the ancient Kabbalist code of balancing intellectual and spiritual learning. 3

Unfortunately, most today who study Gemara do not even do this properly. In the religious world today Gemara classes routinely skip over the Aggadic portions. Those that do cover them do so ever so briefly and almost never with the attention that they deserve and need. This is a symptom of the overly academic approach which essentially is an act of violence against the spirit, also known in Torah as the heart. This is a psychological aberration, the results of which are the various levels of spiritual disconnection apparent through the religious communities. This problem and the many problems that arise from it actually have an easy solution. At least the solution is easy to describe. It is not even that hard to practice. What is hard is to show the many others walking down the wrong paths the errors of their ways. Carl Jung correctly pointed out, that any psychological growth, however necessary, never comes easily. He states this in a number of times in many different ways. These are just samplings that truly expose our own human faults and failings. "As a rule, graduation to the next level is barred by violent prejudice and superstitious fears." (CW 17-344). "A critical survey of oneself and his fates enables a man to recognize his peculiarities. But these insights do not come to him easily; they are gained only through the severest of shocks." (CW 17-331A). "There is no birth of consciousness without pain." (CW 17-331). To approach the religious community and to seek reform often leads to violent resistance and reprisals. This is nothing new. It is the same fate that was suffered by the Biblical prophets and by many later Sages who dared to open their mouths to speak the truth. Even in the 1700s, when the Baal Shem Tov sought to reinstitute many of the old ways, he was ostracized and his students condemned. Only in later generations when the Hasidic movement that he started lost its original spiritual intuitive drive and settled down into a mold of academic pursuits not to dissimilar from the greater religious academic community was it finally tolerated and integrated into the greater whole. Today s Hasidism is not what the Baal Shem Tov originally taught. The Baal Shem Tov followed and taught many of the original ways. These included isolating oneself in nature, seeking wisdom from the natural world, and using music to chant holy Names, Psalms and other Biblical verses, all in seclusion, with the intent of blocking out the outside world so that one might more easily penetrate into the inner space of the mind. These most ancient of techniques are both spiritual and psychological. They work simultaneously to open the conscious mind to one s unconscious self and at the same time enables one to cultivate one s spiritual inner vision to experience the greater spiritual world surrounding us. In order to save ourselves and our world, in order to really do what is necessary to help bring the Messianic era into reality, we must do what is psychologically and spiritually necessary. The importance of this change of psychological and religious direction is imperative and should never be mistaken to be an optional thing. Again, Jung (The Undiscovered Self, pg. 63) states, "It is, unfortunately, only too clear that if the individual is not truly regenerated in spirit, society cannot be either, for society is the sum total of individuals in need of redemption. 4

Our entire religious system needs to be revamped. We do not need to innovate and entertain anything new. On the contrary, we need to return to the old, to the ancient, to the original way Torah was learned and experienced. We need to revive the Living Torah of life by lifting it off the pages of books and restoring it into our hearts. This cannot be done with open books, but only once the books have been closed. We need to leave the halls of study and return to nature, to seek out and experience G-d in the world that He has created. For it is here that G-d is to be found. Our Sages have taught us that in the beginning G-d gazed into the Torah and thus created from it the world. Therefore, the entire multiverse existed first in the Torah. It stands to reason then that the entire multiverse around us must still be contained within the Torah. Thus if we open our eyes to see we can learn Torah from everything, everywhere, for as the verse says, the whole world is full of His glory. G-d is to be found in the world that He has created all we have to do is open our eyes to see and our hearts to experience. This was the ancient way. It has not been lost to us. We have only been lost to it and to ourselves. It is time for us to return to the ancient, to the original Living Torah. The techniques are known to us. They are natural and ingrained within us. We do not have to worry about the proper laws of spirituality or what techniques we can or should use. Torah is open to us all. Whatever comes forth from Torah only gives us life, nothing else. When we embrace Torah and its holy Names and letter combinations, we open up avenues in the heart and soul that will guide us to the spirit. When we touch the spirit of Torah, it will guide us to our own spirit and from there will we see the Holy Spirit, the Ruah HaKodesh, which is none other than the Presence of G-d, the Shekhina. The path is open before us. The path is simple. It is its simplicity that makes it such a challenge, for we are so sophisticated and complicated that we have lost the ability to be simple. Yet, the verse in Psalms reminds, us that, the Torah of G-d is simple; and it is this simplicity that restores the soul. All we have to do is do it. There is nothing more to learn; on the contrary, there is so much that needs to be unlearned. Cast aside your fears of communal disapproval. Fear not the frowns and admonitions of the academics. They know not and cannot know. The spiritual pursuit is far beyond them, no matter how much Torah or Kabbalah they seem to know. Torah and G-d is found in simplicity. As the verse says, be simple before HaShem your G-d. Silence your tongue from further questions. Allow your heart to calm from its racing. Stand calm in stillness and allow the speaking silence to be heard in your heart. Hear it calling you out into the desert, the place where prophets are born. Those who heed the call will indeed find what it is they are looking for. Just remember this, the desert is to be found, even where it is not. Prophecy only resides in the Land of Israel, and the Land spoken of is not geographical. Contemplate this and let this begin your path. 5