Speak of redemption:
I do not speak this way of sin and punishment. I dream of the Messianic age, of the time of redemption, of what and how to herald in the World to Come. And that in order to do that, we would need to balance the soul and the body so that they would no longer be separate – heralded by the need to incorporate the masculine and the feminine elements of our being – to bring back the Shechina from her exile when the 2nd temple was destroyed. But now we need to create this space in our own beings, and join together to create this place, the 3rd temple, the one I call the Temple of Truth, each one of us being the bricks with which this temple is fashioned.
What we still need to create this, what can inspire us, are the great stories, not only of the Torah, but of the Tanach, the greater narrative that surrounds each one of us. From these stories we learn that each one of our lives is a great story.
End of Days
If we truly believed that this is the “end of days”, that the time of global transformation is happening and that Armageddon is knocking on our doors, would we really continue to behave as we do? For, surely, we know that if we continue to act as we always have, nothing will change?
If you knew that you were about to die, would you continue to behave in the same manner as you do right now? Where you have lulled yourself into believing you will live forever, or if not forever, that you will not die, not now? Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a week, or a month, or a year, or even ten – just not now?
If you were told that you were about to die, would you not ask why me? Why now? You would say, “I still have so much to do…”
So I ask, “Are you doing that which you have to do before you die? Are you doing those things that you have not yet got around to doing? Those important things? And why are you not then doing them, right now?
Meaning
We imbue meaning into other’s lives, because we are afraid to face the meaningfulness or lack thereof our own lives.
How can we really expect those who have not lived a normal life, who have not participated in the normal activities of life, to lead us to paradise? Our leaders reach a level of existence which is available only to a very few, and yet we look to them to answer the questions that we, the plebeians, face? That is not their challenge, on the contrary, their purpose is, once having achieved, to maintain their place of privilege and position.
For instance, the Dalai Lhama has not lived a life that most of us have or will live. He has not been married, nor had any love affairs; no children, no corporate job – yet we revere him as a being of greater wisdom than most of here possess. Thus in the end, he becomes a form of spiritual entertainment, a projection of our own spiritual insecurities. Perhaps if we imbue his life with meaning, it will make my life more meaningful.
Often we make our bodies, our very existence, a place of disharmony and chaos. Thus our souls are petrified to return to the body, and often hang halfway out of it. Thus we need to coax it back in, by sitting quietly in meditation, by mantras and prayers and not with a cup of coffee, or a joint, or other crazy stuff.