Never have I dealt with anything more difficult than my own soul, which sometimes helps me and sometimes opposes me.
― Imam al-Ghazali
It is foolish to think that we will enter heaven without entering into ourselves.
― Teresa of Ávila
― Teresa of Ávila
I Must Speak of Myself
Matters of my essential being must become extremely clear to me.
When I understand myself, I will understand everything—the world and life—until my understanding will reach the Source of life.
―Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook
- Why are the mystics so preoccupied with themselves and their own souls?
Should their eyes not be better lifted upward toward God?
2. One of the most enchantingly ambiguous verses in Psalms is from chapter 27:
לְךָ אָמַר לִבִּי בַּקְּשׁוּ פָנָי, אֶת פָּנֶיךָ ה' אֲבַקֵּשׁ
It has been translated variously as:
--> My heart says of You, “Seek His face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
--> When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
--> On Your behalf, my heart says, "Seek My presence." Your presence, O Lord, I will seek.
All the translations convey that our heart commands us to seek God's Face.
But there is an extraordinarily deep translation from Rashi. The Hebrew word for "face" has also the connotation "my interior", "my inner being." (For indeed, the face shows what a person is experiencing in his interior...)
Hence the translation can be read, "On Your behalf, my heart says "Seek my interior", and by doing so it is Your Face, O Lord, that I seek."
In other words, by seeking the inner essence of one's own heart, one's own soul--one is indeed seeking the Source of life....One enters Heaven by finding the Heaven within....
What harm can words do?
Speech is a contracting of the soul to radiate a specific form and idea. The sum total of who I am includes countless thoughts, emotions, reactions, etc. When I choose to talk, I am emanating one particular aspect of myself to another. That is what communication and talking means. As a single ray shining from the orb of the sun, words are a radiation from my soul to another.
Awkward and empty silences ensue when there is no shining outwards from one soul to the other, and hence the others' looming presence is felt to be almost like a challenge and an uncomfortable encroachment upon one's being.
Frustrating silence happens when one can't find the means to bridge the gap that separates between two people, to radiate from myself to a willing receiver, though the desire to do so is very strong.
Comfortable silence is when two people enjoy each other's company, enjoy existing as parallel companion souls; the other's being is a comfort and a joy, and therefore no communication is necessary.
Painful silence is suffered when no other is found to receive a deep, raging soul's radiation.
What is the utter bliss and sweetness in lovers' silence?
True lovers are not looking to radiate any particular aspect of their souls. They also are not content remaining as two separate, parallel people, soothed by each other's presence.
They are looking to fuse. They are yearning to fuse their essences to become one. They throw all pretenses to the sea, and with the wave of a magic wand dissolve all the world's boundaries to fuse and become as one.
Their silence does that. The silence itself is the vehicle that brings about the fusion. It is more than a communication. The two souls' merging together is the unheard melody, the voice of gentle quiet, the inner scream of the two hearts beating as one. The silence is the conduit through which the souls pass to fuse.
Hence the translation can be read, "On Your behalf, my heart says "Seek my interior", and by doing so it is Your Face, O Lord, that I seek."
In other words, by seeking the inner essence of one's own heart, one's own soul--one is indeed seeking the Source of life....One enters Heaven by finding the Heaven within....
What does that mean?
3. Let us return to the lovers' sweet silence.
Words like violence
Break the silence....
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm
Words like violence
Break the silence....
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm
Speech is a contracting of the soul to radiate a specific form and idea. The sum total of who I am includes countless thoughts, emotions, reactions, etc. When I choose to talk, I am emanating one particular aspect of myself to another. That is what communication and talking means. As a single ray shining from the orb of the sun, words are a radiation from my soul to another.
Awkward and empty silences ensue when there is no shining outwards from one soul to the other, and hence the others' looming presence is felt to be almost like a challenge and an uncomfortable encroachment upon one's being.
Frustrating silence happens when one can't find the means to bridge the gap that separates between two people, to radiate from myself to a willing receiver, though the desire to do so is very strong.
Comfortable silence is when two people enjoy each other's company, enjoy existing as parallel companion souls; the other's being is a comfort and a joy, and therefore no communication is necessary.
Painful silence is suffered when no other is found to receive a deep, raging soul's radiation.
What is the utter bliss and sweetness in lovers' silence?
True lovers are not looking to radiate any particular aspect of their souls. They also are not content remaining as two separate, parallel people, soothed by each other's presence.
They are looking to fuse. They are yearning to fuse their essences to become one. They throw all pretenses to the sea, and with the wave of a magic wand dissolve all the world's boundaries to fuse and become as one.
Their silence does that. The silence itself is the vehicle that brings about the fusion. It is more than a communication. The two souls' merging together is the unheard melody, the voice of gentle quiet, the inner scream of the two hearts beating as one. The silence is the conduit through which the souls pass to fuse.
We
had bliss of sheer knowing without any word.
In
the stillness of voices, our souls spoke and heard.
That
stillness still lives. It’s the only thing real.
I
can sense it with shut eyes, and let my heart feel.
--
4. That is the seduction of the shofar.
Usually, we speak and God speaks.
We speak to God words of prayer. And God, too, is constantly speaking.[1]
The reality we experience is His speech, as those that have listening ears know.
But once in a while, we need to seduce our Beloved. Enter a state of silence with Him, without talking. And He for a moment suspends creation from being.
And we become as One.
That is the shofar.
4. That is the seduction of the shofar.
Usually, we speak and God speaks.
We speak to God words of prayer. And God, too, is constantly speaking.[1]
The reality we experience is His speech, as those that have listening ears know.
But once in a while, we need to seduce our Beloved. Enter a state of silence with Him, without talking. And He for a moment suspends creation from being.
And we become as One.
On Your behalf, my heart says "Seek my interior", and by doing so it is Your Face, O Lord, that I seek.
That is the shofar.
May we all be inscribed in the book of the living for a happy and sweet year. And may all sweet silences be empirically and sensually experienced with all the force and clarity of the shofar.
[1]
Genesis
chapter 1 teaches that God spoke the world into existence, "And the
Lord said, let etc..." Kabbalah teaches that every moment He is still saying those
words of creation. And the world and all of reality is really nothing other
than His "speech." Just as human speech is the soul condensing itself into a
particular, defined expression, created reality is Gods Infinite Light radiating a small emanation from Himself to become the world.
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