Musings from the Yeshiva
I have been thinking a lot recently about the old New Age maxim that we create our own reality. This is a thought form that has existed in many guises throughout history, but hit the global collective conscious in the 60s. The only problem is that we didn’t really create are own reality – all the wonderful energy that went into this seems to have been somehow either misplaced or re-directed into the desire to create the reality of acquisition. Either way, the concept has been nagging at me recently and demanded my consideration.
As one who has struggled my entire life with at times paralyzing amounts of self criticism, I have to lay my own challenge to the maxim. On the one hand, the idea of creating one’s own reality is freeing. It means that once we begin the process of challenging and questioning with the hope of living a conscious life-- as opposed to the birth-default mode of living life purely through the will and pattern of tribe/family/faith into which “chance” brought us—we may have the possibility of willing or imaging ourselves out of the various bondages we find ourselves in. On the other hand, when – as is the usual case – we wake up and find that the bondage has been shifted and renamed rather than obliterated, the temptation to give up on the imaginings is high.
These thoughts are of course nothing more than a horrifyingly simplistic jab at a huge topic. Acknowledging that, let me try bringing in some thoughts from Jewish mystical perspectives and see what happens . . .
One of the great revelations of Lurianic Kabbalah was to describe a two-way affective relationship between the unknowable eternal aspect of G-d (Ayn Sof) and man. The system, admittedly simplified, says that creation is a continual process that manifests more clearly (from humankind’s perspective) as it moves through the archetypal manifestations of G-d – the Sefirot – until at last the full emet (truth) of G-d is hidden behind the physical constructs and shapes of this world that make this world accessible. In essence, if we were able to see the truth of G-d – that is, G-d not hidden on the other side of created physical reality – there could be no free will. Free will is predicated on not existing on the same level as G-d. To put it another way, if we define G-d as pure truth and we were undifferentiated from this pure truth we would not be able to do anything other than that which was defined by pure truth. Once we separate – create a boundary – put something into a shape -- it can act outside of pure truth since it is no longer a part of nothing-more-than-pure-truth.
In the Lurianic cosmology, a result of this process of creation was that an aspect of G-d, the Shekhina – G-d’s presence and the archetypal sacred feminine – was forced into exile. Put another way, in the same way that humankind cannot fully “know” G-d and still be a unique creation, in order for an aspect of G-d to be accessible to creation (present within the boundaries of creation) G-d had to separate an aspect of G-d’s self from G-d’s self. This way of imagining G-d, then, is also key to understanding the answers to Theodicy within mystical Judaism—the distance and separation from G-d that allows for creation also then allows creation to be corruptible—things wear out, break down, become diseased, and through the necessary agency of free will move either closer to or further away from the unknowable Ayn Sof.
A core principle then of Lurianic Kabbalah is that prayer and sacred duties (the mitzvoth) with the proper focus and intention (kavanah) act to re-unify G-d with G-d’s self. An imperfect light from the eternal perfection of the unknowable reaches humankind fractured.
Luria’s revelation, put simply, is that as G-d influences us, we as well influence G-d. This should not necessarily be understood as the equivalent of casting a spell or praying for a new bike, but rather as performing sacred acts – in Jewish tradition epitomized as Torah, Avodah (prayer and sacred effort), and Gemilut Chassidim (acts of loving kindness – ethical behavior – works.) This can be seen very abstractly, for example, as focusing within specific prayers upon the unification of G-d (the details of which deserve a different post.) It could also be understood psychology—daily attempting to reconcile the parts of ourselves that we hide from ourselves and others (Jung’s shadow) in order to create a unified (individuated) whole. It can also, however, be understood very practically. Think simply of the emotional difference of the experience of someone letting you merge in bad traffic and someone making a great show of not letting you merge, although it gains them little more than 5 seconds of drive time. What happens in your body and thoughts and emotions in each experience or any other analogous experience? What are you more likely to do or how are you more likely to behave in each incident and in the moments that follow? And then the people that you affect – what are they more likely to do and pass on to the next with whom they physically or energetically interact? Now take that to the realm of what we pass on in yet more resonant events – raising of children, mourning with the bereaved, celebrating with bride and groom, making sure that in wealthy nations people with no health insurance have access to the healing resources of that wealthy society . . . pass it on, pay it forward – which tangible life activities and focuses and intentions within that activity “unify” society – ourselves – G-d? There really doesn’t have to be anything mystical about this.
So back to the original thought. . . .
Although I may be ultimately limiting myself, and I certainly leave room to change my mind on this, let me try this formulation: We are able to create our own reality within the larger framework of a world that needs healing and unifying. Or—we create our own reality within the limitations—seen and unseen—known and unknown—that we place upon ourselves through not forgiving, through blaming others, through not living in the present, by acting destructively, by not being self-aware, by not acknowledging that the other is as important in divine reality as we are, by creating the “other” in the first place . . .
I think I am trying to say that within the contemplation of my own continuous and numerous failures, the waving of the magic wand and the thought in the morning that I “create my own reality” is not an answer. The answer is, creating my own reality means more clearly seeing the larger reality without illusions – without myself getting in the way. In Jewish tradition, this means working through Torah, Avodah, and Gemilut Chassadim to break down the barriers between me and G-d (that is to say between me and those around me as well as me and the unknowable source.) In practical life that means I create my own reality be everyday participating in the unending act of creation—living each day consciously and deliberately within rational ethical acts that pay forward the constructive rather than the destructive.
As one who has struggled my entire life with at times paralyzing amounts of self criticism, I have to lay my own challenge to the maxim. On the one hand, the idea of creating one’s own reality is freeing. It means that once we begin the process of challenging and questioning with the hope of living a conscious life-- as opposed to the birth-default mode of living life purely through the will and pattern of tribe/family/faith into which “chance” brought us—we may have the possibility of willing or imaging ourselves out of the various bondages we find ourselves in. On the other hand, when – as is the usual case – we wake up and find that the bondage has been shifted and renamed rather than obliterated, the temptation to give up on the imaginings is high.
These thoughts are of course nothing more than a horrifyingly simplistic jab at a huge topic. Acknowledging that, let me try bringing in some thoughts from Jewish mystical perspectives and see what happens . . .
One of the great revelations of Lurianic Kabbalah was to describe a two-way affective relationship between the unknowable eternal aspect of G-d (Ayn Sof) and man. The system, admittedly simplified, says that creation is a continual process that manifests more clearly (from humankind’s perspective) as it moves through the archetypal manifestations of G-d – the Sefirot – until at last the full emet (truth) of G-d is hidden behind the physical constructs and shapes of this world that make this world accessible. In essence, if we were able to see the truth of G-d – that is, G-d not hidden on the other side of created physical reality – there could be no free will. Free will is predicated on not existing on the same level as G-d. To put it another way, if we define G-d as pure truth and we were undifferentiated from this pure truth we would not be able to do anything other than that which was defined by pure truth. Once we separate – create a boundary – put something into a shape -- it can act outside of pure truth since it is no longer a part of nothing-more-than-pure-truth.
In the Lurianic cosmology, a result of this process of creation was that an aspect of G-d, the Shekhina – G-d’s presence and the archetypal sacred feminine – was forced into exile. Put another way, in the same way that humankind cannot fully “know” G-d and still be a unique creation, in order for an aspect of G-d to be accessible to creation (present within the boundaries of creation) G-d had to separate an aspect of G-d’s self from G-d’s self. This way of imagining G-d, then, is also key to understanding the answers to Theodicy within mystical Judaism—the distance and separation from G-d that allows for creation also then allows creation to be corruptible—things wear out, break down, become diseased, and through the necessary agency of free will move either closer to or further away from the unknowable Ayn Sof.
A core principle then of Lurianic Kabbalah is that prayer and sacred duties (the mitzvoth) with the proper focus and intention (kavanah) act to re-unify G-d with G-d’s self. An imperfect light from the eternal perfection of the unknowable reaches humankind fractured.
Luria’s revelation, put simply, is that as G-d influences us, we as well influence G-d. This should not necessarily be understood as the equivalent of casting a spell or praying for a new bike, but rather as performing sacred acts – in Jewish tradition epitomized as Torah, Avodah (prayer and sacred effort), and Gemilut Chassidim (acts of loving kindness – ethical behavior – works.) This can be seen very abstractly, for example, as focusing within specific prayers upon the unification of G-d (the details of which deserve a different post.) It could also be understood psychology—daily attempting to reconcile the parts of ourselves that we hide from ourselves and others (Jung’s shadow) in order to create a unified (individuated) whole. It can also, however, be understood very practically. Think simply of the emotional difference of the experience of someone letting you merge in bad traffic and someone making a great show of not letting you merge, although it gains them little more than 5 seconds of drive time. What happens in your body and thoughts and emotions in each experience or any other analogous experience? What are you more likely to do or how are you more likely to behave in each incident and in the moments that follow? And then the people that you affect – what are they more likely to do and pass on to the next with whom they physically or energetically interact? Now take that to the realm of what we pass on in yet more resonant events – raising of children, mourning with the bereaved, celebrating with bride and groom, making sure that in wealthy nations people with no health insurance have access to the healing resources of that wealthy society . . . pass it on, pay it forward – which tangible life activities and focuses and intentions within that activity “unify” society – ourselves – G-d? There really doesn’t have to be anything mystical about this.
So back to the original thought. . . .
Although I may be ultimately limiting myself, and I certainly leave room to change my mind on this, let me try this formulation: We are able to create our own reality within the larger framework of a world that needs healing and unifying. Or—we create our own reality within the limitations—seen and unseen—known and unknown—that we place upon ourselves through not forgiving, through blaming others, through not living in the present, by acting destructively, by not being self-aware, by not acknowledging that the other is as important in divine reality as we are, by creating the “other” in the first place . . .
I think I am trying to say that within the contemplation of my own continuous and numerous failures, the waving of the magic wand and the thought in the morning that I “create my own reality” is not an answer. The answer is, creating my own reality means more clearly seeing the larger reality without illusions – without myself getting in the way. In Jewish tradition, this means working through Torah, Avodah, and Gemilut Chassadim to break down the barriers between me and G-d (that is to say between me and those around me as well as me and the unknowable source.) In practical life that means I create my own reality be everyday participating in the unending act of creation—living each day consciously and deliberately within rational ethical acts that pay forward the constructive rather than the destructive.
Comments
Hope you are well, my friend!