Open Secrets

Thank you for inquiring after my health. I am simply aging, I suppose. The tiredness is part of the process. I had hoped it would pass, but if anything I am getting weaker rather than stronger. But not too weak to write to you, my friend.

It is quite clear to me that my last letter ended where it should have begun: what are you to do if you wish to walk inward? Maybe I am beginning to ramble in my old age. Or maybe I am just not so eager to tell you everything and risk the end of our conversation. Nevertheless, what indeed are you to do to walk inward?

What I am about to share with you is so simple, so commonplace, and so much a part of your upbringing as a Jew that you will be surprised that it forms the heart of this inward walking. Several times each day you recite the Sh’ma, the central affirmation of our tradition: Sh’ma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad: Hear, O Israel, the One Who Is All Is God, This One Is One. (Deuteronomy 6:4). You then continue with the following: “And you shall love the One Who Is All with all your heart, with every breath, with all you have. And these things that I command you today shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them carefully to your children; you shall speak of them when you sit at home, when you walk on the road, when lie down, and when you rise up. Bind them on your hand, keep them before your eyes. Write them on the doorposts of your homes and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:5-9).

Can you see in this paragraph of Torah the secret to lech lecha? Can you see here what you are to do to till the soil of Neshamah and allow it to breathe the breath of Chayyah? It is simple: to listen and to love. This is the core of my spiritual practice: I listen and I love.

Of course I can almost hear your confusion: What about Shabbat, kashrut, the Holy Days? These are dear to my heart and part of my life, but they are not the key to the inward walking that we spoke about last time. We both know people whose Neshamah is hard as ice and yet who carefully observe the Sabbath. To move inward from Neshamah to Chayyah we need a special practice, and this passage of Torah reveals it to us. Let me explain.

First, what does it mean to listen? When a loved one asks to speak with you about something important, something precious to her, how do you listen? With your whole being. You turn away from distractions. You focus your attention. You quiet the chatter in your own mind in order to make room for the concerns of another’s mind. This is true listening. And more: When you listen in this way you do so without any idea of what you will hear or how you will respond.

This is important to realize, my dear Hershele. If you already know what you will say to the other, there is no need to listen. All you need do is wait for an opening so you can say what you intended to say regardless of what the other is saying to you. This is not listening. When you listen you do so without preconceptions. Do you see how this connects to our earlier discussion of lech lecha? You are to move inward and free yourself from what you know in order to respond freely to what the other is saying.

So listening requires self-emptying, the quieting of the Neshamah. I will tell you how to do this in a moment. First let me continue with my thoughts of the text itself.

Who is the Israel addressed here? Is it just the Jews? I do not think so. Torah is given through the Jews to the world, and must address more than our people alone. Yisrael means one who struggles with the divine—yisra El. And that can mean people of any religion and none. So the Torah is speaking to all who seek God and says to them: Listen!

And if you listen, what will you hear? The unity of God as All in All. This is what is meant by “God is One.” Not that God is singular rather than plural; but that there is only one reality and that reality is God.

Listening, then, reveals the absolute shlemut of God. But now what? Can you stay in that place of listening, which is Chayyah? Can you stay in Chayyah and not return to Neshamah? On the contrary, when you truly hear, realize, and know that God is all in All, you naturally return to the world of Beriah, the world of competing Neshamahs because this too is God. Hearing the oneness of God returns you to the world of Beriah, the everyday reality of seemingly separate things, and the Neshamah consciousness that accompanies it. You know that all is God, even Neshamah, so there is no need to reject anything, especially Neshamah. So you return, but you return changed.

Here is how you are changed: The Sh’ma is followed by the next sentence, v’ahavta, “and you shall love.” We are used to reading this as a command: You must love, but how can God demand love? Love is a feeling and feelings are uncontrollable by the will. They come and they go, and there is not much we can do about them. Demanding that we feel one way all the time is to ask of us the impossible.

So what is the meaning of “You shall love”? It isn’t a command, it is a consequence. Do not read “You must love”; read “You will love.” In other words, if you listen and hear the unity of God as all reality, then you will love God as all reality and all reality as God.

This is the transformation of Neshamah. This is what happens when Neshamah is tilled by spiritual practice: You engage the world with love.

You feel the unity of God in your heart. You teach your children and all children the nature of this love. You speak of it when sitting, walking, lying down, and getting up. These are the four basic postures of any human being, meaning that this love will shape all of your doing in the world. The doings of your hands will reflect the quality of your listening by expressing the depth of your loving. Your face will radiate love as a jewel radiates light. And then there is this business about the doorposts and gates. So wonderful!

What are the doorposts? The pillars that allow you to enter from one room to another in your home. Each is to be marked in a way that reminds you to listen and to love. This is the purpose of placing a mezzuzah on each doorway of those rooms in which you live. Think of this: Place a mezzuzah on the doorpost of the kitchen and make sure that love is the main ingredient in the food you cook. Place one on the bedroom doorpost and remember that true intimacy comes from listening. Each room has its sacredness; honor it with listening and loving, and help remind yourself to do so by placing a mezzuzah on its doorpost.

And what of the gates? The gates are where you meet the rest of the world. You home is for intimates and friends, the gates are for strangers. Only once does Torah say, “Love your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:18), but “Love the stranger” Torah says dozens of times! (for example, Leviticus 19:34). It is not so difficult to love those close to us, but our natural reaction to the stranger is fear. Torah challenges us to replace fear with love, and to remember to do so you must imagine each encounter as a gateway to love and place a mezzuzah on that moment to remember to listen and love.

I hope you are following me in this, Hershele. It is so important that you see what this inward walking can do. And now let me explain how to do it. The point is to listen. To listen you must be comfortable and quiet. Find a comfortable place to sit. Do not cross your legs or your arms, but sit upright with your feet flat on the floor and your hands resting palms down on your thighs. Close your eyes. Breathe at whatever rhythm your body needs to breathe. Don’t move. Now listen.

What do you hear? All kinds of noise, I am certain. This is not a problem. The problem arises if you allow yourself to become distracted by the noise. Here is how to avoid that distraction.

As you breathe in, say to yourself Sh’ma. As you breathe out, say to yourself Yisrael. Breathe in Adonai; breathe out Eloheinu; breathe in Adonai; breathe out Echad.

That is all there is to it. Breathe and recite the Sh’ma. Slowly you will center into a quiet place where the noises within and without do not capture your attention. In time you will find that the space between inhalation and exhalation lengthens. You are not holding your breath, but you simply have less of a need to breathe. Your breathing slows and softens, and with it your mind does the same. When you reach this place there is no need to recite the Sh’ma. Just breathe and listen. Just listen and love.

If your mind wanders, return to the recitation of the Sh’ma. When you are quiet again, be silent.

There is a wonderful teaching in Psalms that captures the essence of this practice: “Be still and know I am God” (Psalm 46:10). To be still is to listen, to listen is to know, to know is to love. Do this twice a day for at least half an hour each time and you will find your Neshamah softened by Chayyah and your life transformed by listening and love.

B’Shalom