The First Adam

Gen 1:27: The first Adam was both female and male, bi-gendered, whole, integrated, one.

Our Legacy

Our legacy is not money, power, buildings, or books, but rather the core energy that we release from ourselves into the universe.

Find Your Own Rhythm

To live in rhythm is to dance to the beat of the Source. Find your own rhythm; it’s like no one else’s.

Conformity and Community

Conformity means a bunch of individuals forming a collective ego, an I. Community means a bunch of individuals building a whole that transcends the individual “I”s (egos) and creates a collective higher self.

Not Only Humans Are Persons

A “person” may be human, but a “person” may also be another life form, including other animals and plants. The world is filled with persons we don’t even realize are there.

Search Your Core

Search your core. There you will find genuine stories.

The Unique You

There are lots of I’s that are the same, but there is no You other than You.

Concealing Yourself

You are what the I conceals.

Each Person Under a Banner

Num 1.52, “Each person under his or her banner”: Each person is uniquely himself and herself.

Love Your Neighbor

Lev 19:18: “Love your neighbor as yourself” actually reads in Hebrew: “You shall show love to your neighbor as you would (show it to) yourself.” In other words, love is not simply a feeling state, but also an act of doing.

Body and the Self

The more you are aware of your body, the more you feel the energy that shapes your greater self.

The I and the Source

Meditation, study, dreaming, praying: moments when time and the I depart and the Source enters.

Letting Go of Your I

Ironically, when we let go of our I, we feel a deep connection to others and understand Lev 19.18: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Our Accomplishments

Our accomplishments belong as much to others as they do to us.

So Small

So small in the vastness of the universe am i, yet complete and whole.

Stepping Outside of Your I

Stepping outside of your I gives the Source room to enter.

Holiness and the I

To be holy is to no longer focus on the I (Lev 19).

Energy

Energy is what makes us who we are. That energy never disappears and is never destroyed.

The I and the You

The “I” does not refer to the same person as the “You.” The “I” is a navigator who helps us operate in the world. The “You” is a spark of light that is love and wisdom itself.

We are the Antennae

We are the antennae that transmit the Source’s signals: art, beauty, ideas, knowledge, justice, truth, love.

Where do We Find You?

Where do we find you? Inside your body running the software? Outside your body plugging you in? No. “You” are not anywhere, because “you” is not an object taking up space, but an energy flowing through space, time, and beyond.

The I Disappears

Lost in the moment, I disappear. Time melts into eternity.

The Genuine You

When your I recedes, you make room for your genuine You.

Compassion

We all have wounds we carry around with us. Awareness of this should make us much more compassionate to one another.

Time Melting

We have millennia between us, you and I. Feel the centuries melt as time recedes.

Our Greatest Accomplishments

Our greatest accomplishments are invisible to the eye, but felt by the heart and mind.

History in our Cells

Each person contains the history and memory of the species and the planet in his or her cells.

Humans are Earth Beings

Humans are earth beings (Gen 2.7), created from millennia of terrestrial DNA. To connect with our bodies is to connect with our primal origins.

Sparks of Light

Everything and everyone has a spark of light. We are here to learn to see it.

Humility and the Self

Humility does not shrink the self, but expands the self until the self erupts into sparks of fire.

Authentic Energy

No matter where we go and with whatever people we are spending time, we carry with us the authentic energy that makes us who we are.

We are Energy

We are energy, body and soul, a stream of light in the body and soul of the universe.

Symbols and Meaning

Symbols are the path to meaning. They help makes us human. They allow us to connect to one another and to the universe.

Symbols

Symbols express the core of who we are.

Learning from each Person

There is always something to learn in every place and from every person.

Love Your Neighbor

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” “Yourself” is not your I, but your divine spark, the authentic you. (Lev 19:18)

Crackling Fire

The crackling fire inside you is your passport.

You and I

You and I: Where does one end and the other begin?

Judaism and Social Action IV

One further positive on government:  the environment.  If we didn’t have federal mandates, Lake Erie would still be burning, chemical and other toxic waste producing companies would be doing more damage to our soil and water, I and lots of others would be suffering from more severe asthma-induced air pollution (I’m personally still waiting for more restrictions on air particulates–it would help me to breathe), we’d continue to enjoy the benefits of DDT in our food, etc.  Sometimes the mandates are too strict (I’ve seen that with our own small family property in the Boston area), but all in all I prefer to be able to eat, drink, breathe, and live on a healthy planet.  If you want it the other way, take a look at Love Canal and other similar locations:  that’s what we have to look forward to without government “improvements.”

Again, government (WE) sometimes does the job well and sometimes badly.  That doesn’t mean we should either rely on government or remove it, but frankly we need to look to ourselves and ask ourselves what we’re doing wrong or not doing at all.  It’s up to us.  Government ineffectivenss, impersonalness, and bloat are just smptoms of our own attitudes and behaviors.

Judaism and Social Action III

An email response to a friend of mine:

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A couple of points.  You’re right.  There is a distinction between government-sponsored social action and social action in a Jewish context.  But the distinction is NOT between “government” and the “individual.”

For one thing, “government” is composed of individuals–just like you and I, they’re members of our communities.  There is no “us” and “them” (i.e. goverment and people).  That’s an illusion.  The government is “us”; if we don’t like it, that’s our problem, and we should elect new reps who will change it (obviously campaign finance reform may be necessary, but that’s ultimately in our hands too).  Posing government as some kind of demonic bogeyman is just another form of scapegoating.  It tries to fob off our problems on some other entity or group of individuals.  It’s another component of the victim mentality prevalent in Western culture.  Usually we think of ethnic groups as engaging in the discourse of victimiziation, but those who blame the government for all of our ills do exactly the same thing.

Government does good things, and government does bad things.  It built our highway system.  The Voting Rights Act allowed African-Americans to vote in the South.  It gave us the GI Bill of WWII, which allowed a whole generation of GI’s to attend college and buy homes and helped to produce the modern American economy from which we still benefit.  For all its faults, affirmative action and diversity have produced work forces that include women and minorities–I think of universities where I have worked, and I know that they would look very different without the pressure of government (probably hardly any women or minorities).  Of course, government does bad things as well.  Look at our tax code.  Look at the huge bureacracies.  Look at the welfare system.  Look at the Post Office.  Look at the mess we have for an educational system.  In the end, what government does well and what government does badly simply reflects on US.  Good or bad, in the end we are responsible.  Instead of blaming government or the “system,” we need to take a good, hard look at ourselves.

As to Judaism on social action.  Judaism does not view individuals as completely separate from their communities.  That’s why at Yom Kippur we atone for sins that we ourselves as individuals may not have committed.  And Judaism always views indidiuals as part of a larger Jewish community.  And the rabbis wrote the Mishnah, Talmud, and Responsa for the express purpose of governance.  They always envisioned a Jewish society in which these laws (civil, criminal, and religious) would run a nation.  That’s because Judaism isn’t solely a religion, but also a culture, a people, and a nation.  It’s both indidivual and group.  The two go together.  Tzedakah, etc., are OBLIGATIONS that Jews have both as indviduals and as a community.  The rabbis viewed those who did not do their share not only as making an individual error, but as disturbing the harmony and well-being of the larger group and even the cosmos.  And there were penalties when such behavior got out of hand.  I’m not personally a big fan of a rabbinic government, but, when we refer to the rabbis, we should be clear:  THAT’S WHAT THEY THOUGHT.  It’s fine to emphasize the individual over the group (though I myself prefer a more balanced and integrated approach), but in any case that’s not how the rabbis thought or think even now in Israel.

The individualism that some in our country emphasize reflects a very different tradition from the rabbinic one.  It’s a wonderful tradition that has helped to make our nation what it is today, but (in my opinion) it owes more to the Enlightenment than to any earlier religious traditions.  As for myself, I believe that we can exist both as individuals with our own personal goals and needs and as members of larger communities with whom we share group commitments and oblgations.  It’s always a balance, but that’s the challenge we have to acknowledge and face.

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