One day the Teacher spoke about Joseph in the Bible and the coat his father Jacob made for him. Jacob made the coat for Joseph because Jacob loved Joseph his youngest child so much. It was a special coat, a Coat of Many Colors.
"As you know", the Teacher said, "The salvation of man comes through two forces. One is called 'Savior the Son of Joseph' and the other is called 'Savior the Son of David.' Can anyone here tell me then, the significance of Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors?"
His deep blue eyes searched ours, meeting our gaze, one at a time. No one answered.
"I will tell you the hidden mystery of this thing." And then he looked at me, "You Rabbi David, have studied art in the world's universities. Tell me…what is color?"
"Is it when invisible light becomes visible to our eyes?" I asked.
"And when there is no light source?" he asked, smiling.
"Then there are no colors, only black or darkness…" I said hesitantly.
"Exactly!" he said, "And this is what the Coat of Many colors was. To the enlightened, it looked like the rainbow representing the light from all the various worlds, or levels of spirituality, to the others…darkness…it was black…a bitter joke, for they were blind to it.
"So Joseph put on the coat of many colors and went to his brothers in the field.They were jealous of the coat for two reasons. First, Joseph was given this gift by their father, which meant Joseph was above them on the spiritual plane. As they only saw a black garment, the brothers asked one another, "Who is this Joseph who claims to have a coat of many colors? He is a liar and a fraud!"
"The second reason the sons of Jacob were jealous was because their father loved Joseph more than he loved them. Their envy made them blind to the brilliance of the coat. Their envy also made them blind to the colors of Joseph's aura and the light of the Creator with which Joseph was encompassed.
"So the sons of Jacob cast their youngest brother Joseph into the pit (which represents an attempt at throwing him down from the spiritual heights represented by the coat) leaving him in total physical darkness while they decided his fate.
"Judah, the eldest and most spiritually aware, had indeed seen the light of the coatand pleaded with his brothers to release Joseph. But they were intent on killing him and extinguishing this light from the world of men. However, they sold him into slavery in Egypt instead which represents the lower realms of spiritual darkness. In this way, the brothers hoped that darkness would completely extinguish the light of Joseph and the light of his coat which was meant to be a spiritual sign for all the nations.
"Then the brothers took the coat, still just a black rag in their eyes, and soaked it in the blood of an animal, to show their father that Joseph had been killed. The light, if there had been a light, was now extinguished. Upon seeing the cloak their father refused to be consoled and went into prolonged morning. He mourned, not for his son alone, but for what Joseph represented. Joseph represented another chance at raising the world of mankind to the level of Messiah, another chance of repairing of the broken vessel. Had they accepted Joseph and the coat he wore, the world would have evolved into a higher world. The tikun or spiritual repair of the world would have been complete.
"But for every unjust action, there is always a reaction which brings a tikun. Just as Joseph was sold into slavery, so were the descendants of Jacob's sons, the Israelites. During a severe famine in Israel, the Israelites went down to Egypt. Enticed by a vision of plenty, they became slaves like Joseph. The first part of their tikun or restoration was the years of slavery that they had to endure. They endured this until Moses, another Savior Son of Joseph came to lead them back into the light.
"Blood was placed on the doorposts during the exodus from Egypt as a sign of Joseph's Coat of Many Colors soaked in an animal's blood. The tikun for this evil action was also given to Israel for Joseph's sake. By the sign of blood on doorposts, the angel of death did not take the firstborn of Israel as punishment for what had happened, and took instead the first born of Egypt.
"Each culture and every nation has in every generation a Savior Son of Joseph to lead them out of the darkness because this salvation is one of choice…one of free will.
"However, the final salvation, or the Savior Son of David, is not a matter of free choice, but a forced evolutionary change of the spirit. Happy are those who make the choice offered us by Joseph before that final and terrible day."
Monday, December 31, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
From the Teacher to David: God is Everything and Everything is in God
"Teacher" I said, "If God is everything and everything is in God, and, as we learn God is good…what then is evil? Where did it come from?"
"If I give you your hearts desire, you will call me "good"…and if I strike you, then you will call me "evil," he said patiently. "But here in this world you define good and evil by what affects you subjectively. The Wise have always said that God is not confined by our view of good and evil, and He cannot be defined by the limits of our mind."
"If so, Teacher," I said, "What then is evil and how did it come into the world? What then is Satan…what are angels, devils…?"
He held up his hand for me to be silent and continued, "The Torah says, "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' And later, 'So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.'
"The Hebrew, as you know, reads נעשה אדם בצלמנו, which comes from the source צלם or image, but the root of this word is צל , which means shadow or shade. This is what man is: not the image of God as we understand an image, or a copy…but a shadow or shade of God, not equal to God, but still capable of being God-like and capable of creating within the limitations of our collective being.
"We create "good" in this world and we also create "evil." We create devils but we can also create angels. Satin is simply the collective embodiment of man's failure to use the incredible unlimited energy of the Creator to fill the universe with light and we chose to keep this light or energy to ourselves. This perversion of the creative force granted to man is the cause for the "breaking of the vessel" which we talked about before. This inevitably leads to waste, ecological crises, famine, injustice, war, death, and destruction. These become the crippled children of our collective being.
"We were given the power to create, within the boundaries of this, our test-tube world, and the collective "we" chose ego and self gratification over everything else…the desire to receive for the sake of receiving…and thus we created what we now call "evil."
"Our salvation will come because our soul recognizes this creation of our as being out of harmony with the universe and just as we have created "evil" we can also strive to create "good." This also is the first step in "repairing of the vessel.". We do so by striving to fill our creation with empathy and love until this collective effort will channel the unlimited energy of the Creator into everything and everyone, and we return to the garden.
"If I give you your hearts desire, you will call me "good"…and if I strike you, then you will call me "evil," he said patiently. "But here in this world you define good and evil by what affects you subjectively. The Wise have always said that God is not confined by our view of good and evil, and He cannot be defined by the limits of our mind."
"If so, Teacher," I said, "What then is evil and how did it come into the world? What then is Satan…what are angels, devils…?"
He held up his hand for me to be silent and continued, "The Torah says, "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' And later, 'So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.'
"The Hebrew, as you know, reads נעשה אדם בצלמנו, which comes from the source צלם or image, but the root of this word is צל , which means shadow or shade. This is what man is: not the image of God as we understand an image, or a copy…but a shadow or shade of God, not equal to God, but still capable of being God-like and capable of creating within the limitations of our collective being.
"We create "good" in this world and we also create "evil." We create devils but we can also create angels. Satin is simply the collective embodiment of man's failure to use the incredible unlimited energy of the Creator to fill the universe with light and we chose to keep this light or energy to ourselves. This perversion of the creative force granted to man is the cause for the "breaking of the vessel" which we talked about before. This inevitably leads to waste, ecological crises, famine, injustice, war, death, and destruction. These become the crippled children of our collective being.
"We were given the power to create, within the boundaries of this, our test-tube world, and the collective "we" chose ego and self gratification over everything else…the desire to receive for the sake of receiving…and thus we created what we now call "evil."
"Our salvation will come because our soul recognizes this creation of our as being out of harmony with the universe and just as we have created "evil" we can also strive to create "good." This also is the first step in "repairing of the vessel.". We do so by striving to fill our creation with empathy and love until this collective effort will channel the unlimited energy of the Creator into everything and everyone, and we return to the garden.
Monday, December 10, 2007
From the Teacher to David: Inducing Consciousness and the Messiah
One day our conversations concerned consciousness. We discussed the passages in the Zohar which explained that at one time, before the prior worlds were destroyed because of selfish desire to receive without contributing to the all, communication was possible between all created forms of matter; animal, vegetable, and minerals such as rocks.
I asked "Teacher, how is this possible?"
Once again, with infinite patience, the sage explained:
"Know that there were, and still are for those who are initiated, three levels of consciousness.-- the sub-conscious, the conscious, and what I like to call the super-conscious (for want of a better word).
"The sub-conscious, which all people share, is instinct and hidden memory. These direct our basic functions like heartbeat or primordial reactions to danger. The conscious level, which most people have to various degrees, is our ability to learn and reason within the physical environment in which we life. A baby learns to walk…falls…and then develops a protection mechanism like cushioning a fall with hands.
"This in turn sinks into the sub-conscious level and passes from conscious thought to unconscious thought. In this way, many of the things we learn as we grow start at the conscious level and sink to the unconscious level of instinct.
"The subconscious doesn't have the ability to communicate verbally, nor does it reason. Yet it is the rock foundation upon which we, as beings, are built.
"The conscious level is our decision making level; it includes verbal and non-verbal communication, writing, and culture. This level determines, to a great deal, the mythology of who and what we are and gives us the ability to choose our path.
"The super conscious level, on the other hand, is realized by only a few. It is the ultimate expression of empathy…giving and receiving energy from all that is around without taking or hording anything for oneself. It is the ultimate communication in which we can get a glimpse of the unity of all things.
"It cannot fully be attained by meditation, since meditation requires introspection which is division. Nor can it fully be attained by prayer, since prayer, either verbal or non-verbal, uses language. So even prayer is limited by a rational conceptual framework . No, the highest level is empathy with all things…losing the self in the all.
"This is the beginning of the next step in human evolution.At this stage all created forms of matter; animal, vegetable, and minerals such as rocks will once again be in deep communication. This stage is called "the revelation of the Messiah."
It is the stage of super-consciousness for all human beings.
I asked "Teacher, how is this possible?"
Once again, with infinite patience, the sage explained:
"Know that there were, and still are for those who are initiated, three levels of consciousness.-- the sub-conscious, the conscious, and what I like to call the super-conscious (for want of a better word).
"The sub-conscious, which all people share, is instinct and hidden memory. These direct our basic functions like heartbeat or primordial reactions to danger. The conscious level, which most people have to various degrees, is our ability to learn and reason within the physical environment in which we life. A baby learns to walk…falls…and then develops a protection mechanism like cushioning a fall with hands.
"This in turn sinks into the sub-conscious level and passes from conscious thought to unconscious thought. In this way, many of the things we learn as we grow start at the conscious level and sink to the unconscious level of instinct.
"The subconscious doesn't have the ability to communicate verbally, nor does it reason. Yet it is the rock foundation upon which we, as beings, are built.
"The conscious level is our decision making level; it includes verbal and non-verbal communication, writing, and culture. This level determines, to a great deal, the mythology of who and what we are and gives us the ability to choose our path.
"The super conscious level, on the other hand, is realized by only a few. It is the ultimate expression of empathy…giving and receiving energy from all that is around without taking or hording anything for oneself. It is the ultimate communication in which we can get a glimpse of the unity of all things.
"It cannot fully be attained by meditation, since meditation requires introspection which is division. Nor can it fully be attained by prayer, since prayer, either verbal or non-verbal, uses language. So even prayer is limited by a rational conceptual framework . No, the highest level is empathy with all things…losing the self in the all.
"This is the beginning of the next step in human evolution.At this stage all created forms of matter; animal, vegetable, and minerals such as rocks will once again be in deep communication. This stage is called "the revelation of the Messiah."
It is the stage of super-consciousness for all human beings.
Friday, November 23, 2007
The Teacher to David: Why We Were Created
I once asked the teacher why we were created and I was blessed to get his answer:
In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth. So that is the first sentence in the Book of Genesis which is about the beginning of the world.
But consider, for a moment, why Genesis, the first book of the Torah or Bible, begins with the second letter in the Hebrew alphabet rather than the first? Wouldn't it be logical for the creation of everything to start with the first letter, which is aleph?
I said, yes, that would sound logical.
He said, "The reason for the aleph א is that it is open on all sides, meaning it is the symbol of an expanding and contracting universe. Consider the big bang theory. The constant expanding and contracting of all, which is called in the Kabala, גדלות can be translated as greatness as well as expansion. It's opposite called צמצום or collapsing, or folding in onto itself, is also necessary for the expansion of the universe and has been going on for all of eternity.
The Torah starts with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet ב and there is a small dot placed inside the letter to the left. But it is blocked above, blocked below, and blocked to the right. Remember that Hebrew is written from right to left which indicates two things.
One, that our reality was created within the expansion and contraction of all things for a purpose.
Two, do not look to the past for answers or above or below. Look only forward since time is a linear 6,000 years set aside from eternity, which is timeless.
Three, the dot indicates that there were worlds or realities that came before and it is sufficient for us to understand this without trying to explore concepts outside of our reality.
Therefore, as you have learned before, we must concentrate on the time reality made available for us, which exists within and yet is apart from eternity, in order to repair the primordial soul, which we spoke about earlier.
"And after this period of time, what will become of us?" I asked.
"We will have fulfilled our destiny." He smiled, and would say no more at that time.
In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth. So that is the first sentence in the Book of Genesis which is about the beginning of the world.
But consider, for a moment, why Genesis, the first book of the Torah or Bible, begins with the second letter in the Hebrew alphabet rather than the first? Wouldn't it be logical for the creation of everything to start with the first letter, which is aleph?
I said, yes, that would sound logical.
He said, "The reason for the aleph א is that it is open on all sides, meaning it is the symbol of an expanding and contracting universe. Consider the big bang theory. The constant expanding and contracting of all, which is called in the Kabala, גדלות can be translated as greatness as well as expansion. It's opposite called צמצום or collapsing, or folding in onto itself, is also necessary for the expansion of the universe and has been going on for all of eternity.
The Torah starts with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet ב and there is a small dot placed inside the letter to the left. But it is blocked above, blocked below, and blocked to the right. Remember that Hebrew is written from right to left which indicates two things.
One, that our reality was created within the expansion and contraction of all things for a purpose.
Two, do not look to the past for answers or above or below. Look only forward since time is a linear 6,000 years set aside from eternity, which is timeless.
Three, the dot indicates that there were worlds or realities that came before and it is sufficient for us to understand this without trying to explore concepts outside of our reality.
Therefore, as you have learned before, we must concentrate on the time reality made available for us, which exists within and yet is apart from eternity, in order to repair the primordial soul, which we spoke about earlier.
"And after this period of time, what will become of us?" I asked.
"We will have fulfilled our destiny." He smiled, and would say no more at that time.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
From the Teacher to David: On the Feminine and Masculine Aspects of Divinity
The Teacher said: All things are either matter or energy. Equally true, all things are either feminine or masculine; which is to say, connected with the right side or with the left side.
The unity of the divine is expressed in the indivisibility of the Name of Four Letters found in Hebrew (Tetragrammaton) ; the first two letters from the right being masculine and the first two letters from the left being feminine.
With the exception of Judaism, the world's religions have always either worshipped either the masculine (the right) or the feminine (the left), and, for the most part, still do. Those that prize mercy over justice worship the the left and those that prefer justice over mercy worship the right.
The Right is associated with Law and Justice. It is also associated with cold logic, and what can be cruel and dictating behavior. To pursue justice no matter what the price and without consideration of pain caused can cause terrible damage to a person, to a family, friends, and neighbors, to the world.
And alternately the Left which is associated with mercy and passion, if un-tempered, can cause terrible damage to a person, or a society by leaving evil influences unchecked by the tempering influence of law.
When there is a unity of feminine and masculine, left and right, we have creation: the balance between the two primordial forces creating the central line or axis from which energy can be drawn upon and transformed into matter; or, in other words, from which all physical objects are formed.
A misunderstanding of this function of unity has always led to chaos; Adherents of one side or the other clashing without combining,is the cause of intolerance, war, and persecution.
Peace and harmony occurs when the balance between the feminine and masculine is achieved in a total oneness.
The Teacher then said:
The perfect example of harmony between left and right, which is the harmony of God's four letter name in Hebrew (Tetragrammaton) is the joining of a woman and a man to create new life. The male and the female principles seek to balance their natures . That is why a perfect mate is called the soul-mate for life. All creation strives for harmony and unity.
The unity of the divine is expressed in the indivisibility of the Name of Four Letters found in Hebrew (Tetragrammaton) ; the first two letters from the right being masculine and the first two letters from the left being feminine.
With the exception of Judaism, the world's religions have always either worshipped either the masculine (the right) or the feminine (the left), and, for the most part, still do. Those that prize mercy over justice worship the the left and those that prefer justice over mercy worship the right.
The Right is associated with Law and Justice. It is also associated with cold logic, and what can be cruel and dictating behavior. To pursue justice no matter what the price and without consideration of pain caused can cause terrible damage to a person, to a family, friends, and neighbors, to the world.
And alternately the Left which is associated with mercy and passion, if un-tempered, can cause terrible damage to a person, or a society by leaving evil influences unchecked by the tempering influence of law.
When there is a unity of feminine and masculine, left and right, we have creation: the balance between the two primordial forces creating the central line or axis from which energy can be drawn upon and transformed into matter; or, in other words, from which all physical objects are formed.
A misunderstanding of this function of unity has always led to chaos; Adherents of one side or the other clashing without combining,is the cause of intolerance, war, and persecution.
Peace and harmony occurs when the balance between the feminine and masculine is achieved in a total oneness.
The Teacher then said:
The perfect example of harmony between left and right, which is the harmony of God's four letter name in Hebrew (Tetragrammaton) is the joining of a woman and a man to create new life. The male and the female principles seek to balance their natures . That is why a perfect mate is called the soul-mate for life. All creation strives for harmony and unity.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Food and Spirituality
Part of my definition of spirituality is a consciousness of what we eat and what we think when we eat and our emotional state when we are eating. People who are highly sensitized can feel the vibrations of food when they eat and long after they eat. They can also feel the emotions and intentions of the person who cooked the food.
I was studying yogic philosophy of living and health--ayurveda--and my teacher, an ayurvedic doctor told us this story of a man he knew. The man was a very kind and compassionate person who took care of his ailing father. Though his father could be rambuctious and demanding, his son never became irritated with him and never short-tempered. But one day, when the old man started complaining about his son's lack of love for him, the son burst out in anger. "After all I've been doing for you all these years? This is how you pay me back? You take care of yourself!"
No sooner had he finished his outburst, then he was overcome with remorse. Why did he speak this way and what made him to do it? He began to think about what he ate the day before, and suddenly it occured to him that he had eaten in a restaurant. He went to the restaurant, found out the identity of the cook, and spent the next days finding out as much about the cook as he could.
On his last day of detective work, he made a discovery which in once sense was shocking but in another not suprising at all.
The cook had been released from prison three years before after having served time for commiting a murder.
I was studying yogic philosophy of living and health--ayurveda--and my teacher, an ayurvedic doctor told us this story of a man he knew. The man was a very kind and compassionate person who took care of his ailing father. Though his father could be rambuctious and demanding, his son never became irritated with him and never short-tempered. But one day, when the old man started complaining about his son's lack of love for him, the son burst out in anger. "After all I've been doing for you all these years? This is how you pay me back? You take care of yourself!"
No sooner had he finished his outburst, then he was overcome with remorse. Why did he speak this way and what made him to do it? He began to think about what he ate the day before, and suddenly it occured to him that he had eaten in a restaurant. He went to the restaurant, found out the identity of the cook, and spent the next days finding out as much about the cook as he could.
On his last day of detective work, he made a discovery which in once sense was shocking but in another not suprising at all.
The cook had been released from prison three years before after having served time for commiting a murder.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
What is Spirituality and What It is Not 2
If my definition of spirituality is not communicating with spirits, by way of pendulums, tables-tilting, seances and mediums....
If my definition of spirituality is not using mind control to free a parking space in Manhattan, or imagining a mouse running before a cat's nose so strongly teh cat runs after the mouse...
If my definition of spirituality is not gongs and chakra bowls and chimes and crystal and all the beautiful things sold in new age stores...if spirituality is not other-worldly, projecting ourselves into higher worlds, speaking to angels and devils and disembodied beings, what then is spirituality?
I believe spirituality is here and now, in this world and nowhere else. It is in everything we do. It is the life we have been given and what we do with that life, every single little thing. It is what we eat and how we eat and what we are thinking and feeling when we eat. Feeling the miraculous life force in food nourishing us as we eat is for me the beginning of a spiritual state of being. When we eat unwholesome food, and feel it clog our minds and spirits, this is also the beginning of spiritual awakening. Spirituality is being alive, deeply alive and attuned to the miraculous forces all around us and within us.
Spirituality is our very thoughts. It is the very quality of our mind. If we think about perfecting ourselves, tuning our instrument ever more finely we are making a step towards becoming the spiritual creatures we were meant to be, god-like human beings on a beautiful and blessed earth.
I know I sound like little Miss Know It All. But really, spirituality is in the hard day to day banal, boring difficult things--dealing with other people, with husbands, wives, family and friends. I fail in most of these little sacred things every day.
If my definition of spirituality is not using mind control to free a parking space in Manhattan, or imagining a mouse running before a cat's nose so strongly teh cat runs after the mouse...
If my definition of spirituality is not gongs and chakra bowls and chimes and crystal and all the beautiful things sold in new age stores...if spirituality is not other-worldly, projecting ourselves into higher worlds, speaking to angels and devils and disembodied beings, what then is spirituality?
I believe spirituality is here and now, in this world and nowhere else. It is in everything we do. It is the life we have been given and what we do with that life, every single little thing. It is what we eat and how we eat and what we are thinking and feeling when we eat. Feeling the miraculous life force in food nourishing us as we eat is for me the beginning of a spiritual state of being. When we eat unwholesome food, and feel it clog our minds and spirits, this is also the beginning of spiritual awakening. Spirituality is being alive, deeply alive and attuned to the miraculous forces all around us and within us.
Spirituality is our very thoughts. It is the very quality of our mind. If we think about perfecting ourselves, tuning our instrument ever more finely we are making a step towards becoming the spiritual creatures we were meant to be, god-like human beings on a beautiful and blessed earth.
I know I sound like little Miss Know It All. But really, spirituality is in the hard day to day banal, boring difficult things--dealing with other people, with husbands, wives, family and friends. I fail in most of these little sacred things every day.
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