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Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Which Way from here?

At the beginning of each day during services in synagogues and homes around the world several short blessings are pronounced before any other prayers are conducted. Amongst these blessings are particular paragraphs of interest including;

“My G-d, the soul which You have given within me is pure. You have created it, You have formed it, You have breathed it into me and You preserve it within me. You will eventually take it from me, and restore it within me in the Time to Come. So long as the soul is within me, I offer thanks to You, Lord my G-d and G-d of my fathers, Master of all works, L-rd of all souls. Blessed are You, L-rd, who restores souls of dead bodies.”

…continuing…

“And may it be Your will, L-rd our G-d and G-d of our fathers, to accustom us to study Your Torah, and to make us cleave to Your commandments. Do not bring us into sin, nor into transgression or iniquity, nor into temptation or scorn; and may the evil inclination not have mastery over us. Keep us far from an evil person and an evil companion. Make us cleave to the good inclination and to good deeds, and compel our inclination to be subservient to You. Grant us this day, and every day, grace kindness, and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who behold us; and bestow bountiful kindness upon us. Blessed are You, L-rd, who bestows bountiful kindness upon His people Israel.

May it be Your will, L-rd my G-d and G-d of my fathers, to protect me this day, and every day, from insolent men and from impudence; from a wicked man, from an evil companion, from an evil neighbor, and from an evil occurrence, from an evil eye, from a malicious tongue, from slander, from false testimony, from men’s hate, from calumnious charges, from unnatural death, from harsh diseases, and from misfortune; from the destructive adversary and from harsh judgment; from an implacable opponent, whether or not he is a member of the Covenant; and from the retribution of gehinnom (hell).”

The prayer is said for the soul, for the things that are not tangible, the abstract and unknown. If one considers carefully what is actually being said, word for word, it becomes evident, once the soul is consciously called into focus, that the forces about which the prayer is most concerned are those of the dark side, the evil forces whether directly targeted or delivered by a carrier. This prayer is said in the morning time when the G-d in His merciful state shines His countenance upon us as we ask;

“and may the evil inclination not have mastery over us. Keep us far from an evil person and an evil companion. Make us cleave to the good inclination”.

Here the objective is clear and the request is straight forward; keep evil away and make us cleave to the forces of good, which we may not be able to consciously identify. If this statement came true, evil thoughts would be rejected and good thoughts promoted by our cleaving. Through this we would know the thoughts to which we ought to focus our attention. This then becomes the object of our thinking through the day whenever we think of anything, two questions should come to mind either prospectively or retrospectively;

Was it from the side of evil?
Was it from the side of good?

So long as we identify the source of our thoughts we will begin to manage our thinking so that our thoughts can be dominated by that side, which we choose to be dominated by. These thoughts are translated into prevailing actions, which over time will begin to modify the way we function.

Most people have experienced a concept referred to as ‘synchronicity” – this occurs when events appear to happen by apparent coincidence, particularly when things appear to be too coincidental. Then a simple explanation won’t suffice and one is left to ponder the reasons why the events occurred in such a specific manner. Could there be a meaning behind the events? Could there be a message? What should I do? In fact many people follow instincts at junctures like these where all their retained pragmatic logic gets shifted aside for the more esoteric logic, which is simply a reaction to the events they just experienced or is it?

Events like these are occurring all the time, but it is only the rare occasion that one consciously recognizes the synchronicity and only because at that moment the conscious mind happens to be in sync with the soul. Most times the intellectual ‘noise’ is too great for synchronicity be consciously noticed. Although it will continue to occur, without recognizing this phenomena decisions directed by free choice absent of this higher state of consciousness, may be squandered because of a simple lack of awareness and sensitivity.

One of the most important messages is that people build a greater awareness of the energy forces of G-d and the spiritual realm in which they occur so their perspectives can be elevated on the ‘wings of eagles’, the guiding forces that are constantly being sent through your soul to your sub-conscious and conscious brain. An awareness of these is the starting point for a journey to the inner realm where a holistic comprehension of each decision you face through each thought that comes to you can be better understood.


At the highest point of morning prayer the Daily Amidah, an ancient prayer that was once mediated over 3 times each day for 2-3 hours where each and every word was carefully concentrated upon such that rolling prayer continued throughout the day, there is a section as follows;

“Let there be no hope for informers and may all heretics and all the wicked instantly perish; may all enemies of Your people be speedily extirpated; and may you swiftly uproot, break, crush and subdue the reign of wickedness speedily in our days. Blessed are You, L-rd, who crushes enemies and subdues the wicked.

May Your mercies be aroused, L-rd our G-d, upon the righteous, upon the pious, upon the elders of Your people Israel, upon the remnant of their sages, upon the righteous proselytes, and upon us. Grant us ample reward to all who truly trust in Your name, and place our lot among them; may we never be disgraced, for we have put our trust in You. Blessed are You, L-rd, the support and security of the righteous.”



In this prayer we see that all righteous people are being prayed for, people of all nations, a unifying message that seeks to create a unifying prayer for G-d to strengthen all of us.

It is becoming increasingly clear as we develop a full perspective that the purpose of our lives has become distorted by intellectual noise spoken of earlier. The noise is prevalent because of the good and evil factors discussed and it continues to prevent our clarity of purpose to be revealed, or does it?

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