Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on February 23, 2011 by Aviva P.
All things pray, like the plant growing toward the sun. So the human tries to grow his mind and heart back to his Source, who is Hashem, and what we are praying for is to know our Higher Self. We are praying with the desire to release our mental projection of our self, our personality, in order to experience our Higher Ego.
From our actions, our hearts follow. So look for every opportunity to act properly in order to fashion a new heart.
The new heart allows us to experience Hashem more and more. So be excited about every moment to act properly.
Doing fixed spiritual action on a regular basis improves the heart and mind. It is also important to spontaneously cry out to the Higher Self.
Unify your experiences and hang everything on Gd, which in Creation is manifested as every being’s quest to realize the Higher Self. The waves will straighten out and you will experience bliss more and more.
Strong emotions penetrate the fog and awaken the soul from spiritual slumber. Watch your emotional reactions and learn about yourself by assessing why you reacted emotionally to this specific situation in this specific way. Don’t drown them out but learn from them (Piaseczner).
Unblock the soul: use the broken heart to ascend to your throne of seeing life from the vantage point of the Higher Self.
The urge, the itch to indulge in detrimental pleasures, is your soul crying out to stop the mind from spinning. What you actually want is peace of mind, but we fall into the habit of filling this gap another way.
And when the mind stops spinning, thank Gd, and don’t stop thanking Gd. Watch how your actions are occurring within your Mind.
Hashem will rescue you from a broken heart, which Hashem gave you to conquer. Focus on the One and you will earn focus.
Have a fixed time to pray to your Source, but make it a little different each time, because life is a combination of fixed cycles and completely new experiences. Pray in whatever way suits you: meditation, or something else.
Don’t let habit push you back into sleepiness. Seize the opportunity of entering loneliness to be with Hashem. Hashem is everywhere and everything. Commune with your Self when you are alone. Do this regularly. Don’t believe the voice that says all this spiritual work is stupid: this is false pride. This is the devil.
When you feel stymied, take a moment to pray.
“In all your ways know Him”