Eye to the Infinite (revised) – A Torah Guide to Jewish Meditations: How to Increase Divine Awareness.
A Compendium of Meditations and Techniques, adapted from the Writings and Teachings of the Masters of Kabbalah and Jewish Theology.
The book & this post Copyright © 2014 (Aharon Rubin) – serialized on the Mystical Paths blog
Part Two: Introducing Jewish Meditation
Chapter One: An Overview (cont.)
Layers
of Consciousness
To appreciate what happens
when we meditate, we need to analyse the various levels that combine to make up
our consciousness and the various levels of the soul. For millennia, kabbalists have described stages of the
mind that have recently become popular terms in psychological parlance, archetypal
states of development such as the expanded or super consciousness, the “inner child,” the left and right brain, the inner and outer mind, the reptilian
brain, etc.[1] Before
embarking on this tour of human consciousness, it is imperative to
first properly define consciousness, as here lies the crucial
difference between the secular psychologist or neurosurgeon’s view, and
that of the enlightened scholar.
Consciousness
is not
brain-induced. For all its astounding complexity, the brain is not to be held responsible
for our self-awareness and feeling of individuality. Consciousness, per se, is
the realm of the Neshomoh (soul), the G-dly spark: the אני ANiY - our“I”, is from the אין (AYiN). Though the brain is in charge of our cognitive interaction,
it is merely the outer shell, the Neshomoh‘s tool, the wiring; the Neshomoh is the power-box providing
the current. [2]
To enable
us to interact effectively within the World of Action, the Neshomoh is given
material trappings, the brain, emotions and the five
senses, through which it might exercise its vitality. However, far from being
enhanced thereby, the Neshomoh is restricted and afflicted by the (physicality of)
its corporeal tools, until such time that a person manages to purify and
uplift those physical vessels, through constant application to holiness and Mitsvos. The Neshomoh then becomes
the Ba’al HaBayis, the
owner of the person’s consciousness; its physical trappings become transformed to something
other than physical, to support the unbounded spirituality of the G-dly. Until
then, we need to try to access the Neshomoh-consciousness before it is
constricted through the various veils of corporality.
The
mystics write that a revelation of one’s own Neshomoh - the Neshomoh speaking
to the person while in a normal state of consciousness - is one of the highest
levels of Ruach
HaQodesh and holy enlightenment.
Though that
level is beyond most of us, it should be possible to plumb the depths of our awareness
and finely tune spiritual our sensitivity, so as to become more in touch with
the soul’s
Bas Qol, its
inner voice.
[1] See Peirush HoRa’avad, Sefer Yetsiroh, Chap. 1. Sha’ar HaKavonos [Gate of Meditations], Derush
Tsitsis
and Derush Pesach, Eits Chaim,
Derush HaDa’as.
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