Today as we celebrate the Yahzeit of the seventh Lubavicher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson of blessed memory I wanted to share some thoughts about Mashiach, and keeping our hearts and minds focused upon Hashem.
It is like I have been saying all along. You have to get with the program, get yourself onboard. There is no other way for this to be accomplished except by persistent effort on the one hand and a marked degree of letting go on the other hand.
When you pray know to who it is you are directing your prayers to. Consider that Hashem already knows the answer to your prayers and is already there to help you. Because Hashem is continuously bring the world into being it must also be true that your prayers are also constantly being brought into being.
You are connected to the world around via your perception of the way things are. This perception is by no means static unless you fight to maintain it so. Of course if you do decide to resist necessary change all kinds of perceived problems come into play as a result of this status quo. Think about it. By definition all prayer is a call for a change in the status quo. We wouldn't be asking unless we were seeking a different outcome out of life.
What does Torah and Kabbalah have to say about this? Plenty!
The Alter Rebbe of blessed memory says this about creation in Tanya Chapter 11.
The flow of this power and this life-force is called by the name of the “Utterance” and the [combination of the] letters [that constitute the Biblical phrase], “Let there be light.”
The light is our awareness of the connection with Hashem. It is what is continuously flowing through us.
Tehilim 25: 5 Guide me in Thy truth, and teach me; for Thou art the God of my salvation;
for Thee do I wait all the day.
What is the truth of Hashem? It is be surrounded by good outcomes. In other words our lives and thoughts have to revolve around Hashem. We do this through our prayers that seek good outcomes, our actions that demonstrate mitzvoth and tzedakah and our watchfulness that keeps onboard with Hashem during every moment of the day .
Tehilim 105: 5 Remember His marvelous works that He hath done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth;
We are to be mindful of the works of Hashem so that we come to live in expectation of and in fulfillment of all of his marvelous works and wonders.
Tehilim 105: 3 Glory ye in His holy name; let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
When you surround yourself with 'good' then rejoicing becomes a natural state of being. What Hashem is showing us is that all is good. As stated in the opening part of this article we need simply to 'get onboard' with Hashem.
Tehilim 105: 8 He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations;
What is this covenant? It is the realization that as we think good thoughts we experience good. This is natural law much like gravity. Our good thoughts connect us with Hashem because by definition Hashem is all good in exactly the same way 'good' is described in the opening verses of Bereshith. This is what Torah is teaching us that the world came into being as 'good.'
Good therefore is our natural state of being. Everything that we read about in Torah after the sin of Adamah and Chevah is about a return to this state of being which turns out to be nothing more than a state of mind. Indeed when Kabbalah speaks about Mashiach it is about returning our consciousness to this prime state of being.
What is more amazing is that while we speak about a return to a previous state of mind it is more accurate perhaps to speak of finding something previously lost that has suddenly become found.
It turns out that Mashiach is not something we are waiting for. Mashiach exists within each of us so that when the proper keys are inserted within Mashiach opens without.
Persistent effort means always reaching for Hashem. Letting go means once you are connected all is good and Hashem leads the way.
Food for thought! B"H
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Comments
Very good, Grasshopper. Very good.
The Abrahamic religions are but different flavors of the same story.
The evolution of the soul in it's realization of "God".
Religion has colored the meaning in the way a child colors a coloring book, so you have to use a little personal bondo to fill in the gaps.
To actually realize the divine, the prayers stop.
There is nobody left to pray to...
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