Shining our Own Light – Body and Soul

The process of Geula is unfolding in front of our eyes.  When it is complete, something amazing will occur.  Instead of the soul giving life to the body, the body will give life to the soul.  Instead of receiving light from above, from the spiritual realms, we will be shining our own light from below.

Years ago, in other generations, people were focused on survival.  They didn’t need to bother themselves with forced exercise routines or investigating the latest health food fad. Sure, their bodies may have been stronger because the food was purer and basic existence required manual labor, but this was a way of life.  Nowadays, there is tremendous focus on the body, not for existence sake, but for maintenance, longevity, vanity and feel-goodness.

But looking at this body- focus through Geula eyes, we can see where this trend is leading.  Jewish sources teach that Hashem (G-d) desires to dwell openly in this physical world.  When we look at a tree now, we see a tree – bark, branches, leaves etc. but as the Geula unfolds, we will be privy to witnessing the divine life force of the tree – the actual spiritual energy that enlivens the physical thing that we call a tree.

Same with our bodies.  We are in the process of refining our bodies to the point that our bodies will reflect the G-dly force that is enlivening it.  What does it mean to refine our bodies?  When we give charity and do acts of kindness, we are using our bodies in service of others.   Our arms, fingers, legs, blood, ligaments, muscles etc. are elevated in spiritual service – one that looks and feels physical, but is divine in nature.

People are also starting to recognize the wisdom that exists within the body for healing.   In many instances, we do not need medicines or something external to free ourselves of aches, ailments and even some dis-eases. Dr Sarno is one doctor who is world famous in emphasizing that the ability to be free of pain lies in processing our emotions within our body.  Mind -Body Coach Abigail Steidley expands on Dr. Sarno’s work and details healing through many self-coaching tools – again emphasizing that the power to heal comes from within our own physical form – not depending on external means.  Dr. Berceli, with his Trauma Release Exercises, shows people how to heal the body of many of the traumatic horrors of war and other violations of the spirit.  Again, the only tool used is the body itself.

In this era of Geula, the world is refined enough that the spiritual is peeking through the physical.  We are seeing the amazing divine wisdom and power that exists within our bodies to heal ourselves physically as well as spiritually.  People are recognizing that we don’t neglect our bodies to discover the spiritual, that we don’t run away to the mountains and meditate to reach the highest heights.  Instead, we do meditate, but then we bring heaven down to earth by speaking what we learn and occupying ourselves in service to others. We walk labyrinths or do proprioceptive writing and then share our glimpses into the unseen realms with others so that we all can acknowledge the spiritual light within each of us.  We are revealing the inner sanctity of the physical, nurturing others with compassion and encouraging people to uncover their inner spark of divinity.

In this era of Geula, we are learning to shine our own light – each one of us an illuminating star on this physical planet.

Paying Attention to the New Perception

When we are blessed with the ability to see, we are also blessed with the ability to choose what we put our attention on.  Amazingly enough, there is the possibility of being “blind” to something right before our eyes. This is a blindness, not of the eyes, but of the mind.  It’s referred to as “inattentional blindness” or “perceptual blindness.”

Coined by psychologists Arien Mack and Irvin Rock, it refers to the lack of ability to perceive something in our direct line of vision because we are attending to something else.  A great example of this is in the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers. The brothers spent many years looking for Joseph and yet, when they stood directly in front of him in the palace in Egypt, they did not recognize him. How could this be?  We could just say that so many years had passed since they had seen him, but it’s pretty remarkable that not one out of the eleven recognized him.  The main Torah explanation given is that the brothers could not have imagined that this powerful royal figure was their brother, Joseph. They stood before him and yet, he was invisible to them. This is perceptual blindness which is a “ form of invisibility (that) depends not on the limits of the eye, but on the limits of the mind.  We consciously see only a small subset of our visual world, and when our attention is focused on one thing, we fail to notice other, unexpected things around us – including those that we might want to see.” SmithsonianMag

When the Lubavitcher Rebbe said “Geula is here, we just need to open our eyes,” we can infer that the Rebbe means to open the eyes of our mind in order to recognize a new reality.  When we choose to focus our attention on signs of Geula as defined in Torah prophetic sources, more signs are revealed.  As Martha Beck recalled in a conversation with a white water rafter that in order for him to steer his craft safely in dangerous waters, he places all his attention on the space between the rocks.  Where his attention goes, his power goes.  If he put his attention on the rocks, he would probably hit the rocks.

In the present moment, the process of Geula is unfolding before our eyes.  As described in Jewish sources, Geula is a time when:

“There will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor strife, because goodness will flow in abundance and all delightful things will be as available as dust.  The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d.” ( translated from Maimonides, Code of Jewish Law (1100’s)

So , we have a choice too.  We can put our attention on the “rocks” and see all the negative things in the world at large (especially if you watch the news, which mainly focuses on horror stories).  This choice will probably cause someone to hit the “rocks” – meaning, feeling a sense of despair.  But if we choose to place our focus on where we want to go – towards world peace, healing and abundance, then we will be filled with a spirit of hope and empowerment.  Putting our attention on the Geula and the signs of Geula brings strength to this reality.

Here’s just a few signs that I’ve noticed recently:

When I see The Global Meditation for Compassion – over 500,000 people in over 100 countries choosing to shift the consciousness in the world toward compassion, I recognize Geula.

When I see and participate in KickDarkness.com, where people are participating in GIVING to strangers and doing random acts of kindness, I recognize Geula.

When I hear of a call to non-predatory leadership from horse specialists Linda Kohanov and Koelle Simpson, I recognize Geula.

When Martha Beck trained master coaches emphasize an attitude of “no competition” because each individual has their original medicine to share in service with others, I recognize Geula.

When I read in People magazine about individuals who change from work clothes into super hero clothes to deliver food to the homeless, I recognize Geula.

When I open up to emails from Louise Hay with the heading “You are a Natural Winner,” I recognize Geula.

My list can go on and on because I love opening my eyes to seeing Geula in the world.  Let’s encourage one another to put our attention on this beautiful process unfolding and truly tip the world fully into Geula.

Enjoy this video of the Maccabeats – it shows the power of choice we can all make in our lives when we pay attention to what truly matters.  Check out the “Open your Eyes” message!

“Open your eyes…the time of Geula has arrived.” ~ Lubavitcher Rebbe

In the 1700’s, Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement, brought into the world teachings to usher in the Geula, the peaceful, abundant time foretold in Jewish prophecies. He would travel with his students by horse and carriage to share words of wisdom and love to uplift the poor and simple Jews of Eastern Europe. They had suffered terribly from the pogroms, and the Baal Shem Tov brought deep compassion and care for their broken bodies and spirits.

His inspiring teachings and tales have been passed on and are very well known in the Jewish Chassidic communities of today. Some of his most famous lessons are contained in a letter  where he describes his encounter with the soul of Moshiach. He had a vision, in which he entered the supernal chamber of the Moshiach and posed the question “When will the Master come?” and Moshiach answers “By this you shall know: In the time when your teaching will become public and revealed in the world, and your wellsprings will burst forth to the farthest extremes…”

I believe those teachings ARE becoming public, and these are further revelations that the time of Geula has come. It was in the early 90’s when I first immersed myself in the Baal Shem Tov’s wellsprings in a woman’s yeshiva (Jewish school) in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. At that time and place, the Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke often and passionately to his Chassidim, encouraging us to “open our eyes” to see that the world is already revealing the Geula.

A few years ago, a secular Jewish man began to learn the practices of the Chassidic movement. He was a gifted singer and quickly rose to fame as Matisyahu. One of his incredible talents was to create lyrics from spiritual Chassidic concepts and weave them into reggae/rap beats. His song, “Bal Shem Tov”* reveals the Rabbi’s supernal vision and conversation with the Moshiach. Two hundred and sixty eight years after the Baal Shem Tov experienced this vision, his teachings are literally, not only public and revealed, but bursting forth through speakers at a modern day concert.

A more surprising revelation came for me one summer afternoon, in the midst of my Martha Beck coach training, as I was listening to a teleclass. The teacher ended the class with a legend of the Baal Shem Tov, my mouth dropped open in awe of the moment. It’s one thing for me, as a Chassidic Jew to hear teachings of this venerable sage in my religious circles, but to hear his tales being shared over the telephone during a life coach class given by a non-Jewish woman from Canada — that’s totally Geula revelation.

Whether I’m listening to the Baal Shem Tov’s wellsprings pulsating out of my iPhone or hearing his wisdom shared through a teleclass, my eyes are opened to the dawn of world peace.

As I rolled out of bed at the early hour of 4:30 am, I quickly mumbled “Modah Ani”, my morning gratitude prayer, before my feet hit the floor. But I didn’t feel like it.  For at the same moment that I felt gratitude to G-d for restoring my soul within me and gifting me another day of life,  I felt grumpy and tired. Upon returning from out East, my internal clock remained fixed on New York time, though my sleep-deprived body was here in the midwest.

As an orthodox-chassidic Jew, I arise every day with the “Modah Ani”  prayer : “I offer thanks to You, living and eternal King, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; Your faithfulness is great.”  While sleeping, 1/ 60th of my soul is recharged in the higher worlds. Upon awakening, I offer gratitude to my Creator for not only returning my soul to my physical body, but having faith in me to transform this lowest of worlds into a dwelling place for infinite light and goodness.

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My family and I just returned to the Midwest from a visit to Crown Heights, Brooklyn.  We were following in the tradition of Lubavitch chassidim ( my particular sect of Orthodox Judaism) by celebrating my son’s bar mitzvah in the main synagogue, famously referred to as “770”.

The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the chassidic movement, teaches that nothing is coincidental and everything is divinely orchestrated from Above — even the swaying of a blade of grass in the wind.

Thus it should not have been surprising to me that I was standing on the corner of Kingston Ave, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. And yet, every time I think about the significance of these names in connection to 770, the Rebbe’s Headquarters, I’m awed once again.

Moshiach represents kingship in the world — the Kabbalistic attribute of Malcus. According to mystical Judaism, the role of Malchus is to bridge and unite the higher, spiritual worlds with the lower, physical world. This is to enable the ultimate revelation of G-d down below, with us during the time of the final redemption (Geula). And that’s why it’s astounding to me, that the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who has dedicated his life to this very process, established his headquarters here.

In 1940, the building 770 Eastern Parkway, was purchased as a home for the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson. After his passing in 1950, it transitioned into the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters under the leadership of our current Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. It is fitting that the Rebbe resides in a community called “Crown Heights”, and is surrounded by streets with names such “Empire”, “Crown”, “Union”, and “Kingston”. The Rebbe’s personal residence is on “President Street” in the center of the neighborhood.

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We have all heard the powerful message of “random acts of goodness and kindness” — we have seen this from self-help books to bumper stickers. But for many of us, the practical implementation may seem daunting — how do we do this? Where do we begin? Well, the folks over at #KickDarkness (KickDarkness.com) went out and showed that being kind and spreading goodness can be easy and effective.

The idea is brilliantly simple – randomly hand out two quarters to individuals passing by — one for them to keep, and one for them to pass on.  The video below captures the beauty of what such a simple act — a smile, a coin, or a kind gesture — can achieve. The surprise and pleasure of giving and being given to, the transformational smiles, the recognition that love can be both powerful and meaningful in the smallest of gestures. The disillusionment of the veil of separation that divides us, exposing the divine truth that we are all on the “same team”, we are all one, we all have each other’s back.

In 1991, the Rebbe stated to CNN reporters that “Moshiach is ready to come now. It is only on our part, to do something additional in the realm of goodness and kindness.”

#KickDarkness reveals how easily this can be done.

His name was Angel. I had a difficult time understanding his thick East African accent, but this much I understood.  He was the second angel I had met on my journey. The first one had accompanied me on the plane. I don’t remember her name, but her gentle demeanor and life lessons left me with a sweet aftertaste. 

So did Angel’s.

Before I traveled to Portland, Oregon for a life coaching conference, I had set the intention that I would be “escorted.”  I had never used that term before, but in playing with affirmations and intention setting for years, it seemed like a fun experiment.  

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During the ride way home on a recent family road-trip, our youngest decided that she no longer wanted her hot-dog & hamburgers. Unfortunately, this decision was made after she had already finished eating them about half-hour prior. Not consulting us and taking matters into her own hands, we were forced to make an emergency stop at an off-the-beaten-path shopping mall for some paper towels and wipes.

While fishing out some clean clothes for my daughter from the back of the car, a gentleman approached me and called out “Moshiach Now!” I practically banged my head on the trunk roof hanging above me as I quickly turned around to see who on earth could possibly be making such an obscure reference in the middle of a small town in Indiana. Continue reading →

I’m amazed by the amount of inspiration I can receive through my upstairs window.  I live in West Rogers Park, Chicago, a pseudo city/suburb of the windy city, and my window faces a quiet street.  But all kinds of stuff happens out there, whether it’s two squirrels fighting over one nest in my lone tree or a man who quickly passes by every afternoon pushing his little white dog in a stroller.

Yesterday morning, a large truck stopped for a few minutes across the street, directly in view from my window.  It was a black truck with a huge yellow smiley-face sticker planted next to the words NO BOUNDARIES.  NO BOUNDARIES incorporated.  I smiled and got curious about what lesson I could learn from this interesting “message.”  I say “message” because the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement, taught that everything in this world is a lesson for our divine service.  After I Continue reading →

I have a bright yellow flag on my house. And not just on my house, but on my car and on my pocketbook and on my jacket. It is a bright yellow Moshiach flag. It brings me tremendous joy because of what it represents. Amidst the bright yellow, the word Moshiach is emblazoned. As explained on this site, the word Moshiach is hebrew for Messiah, and it carries with it the Jewish prophecy of the time of Geula (Redemption): “when this world will become a place where suffering, war and jealousy cease to exist, a world of physical and spiritual peace and prosperity, permeated with the awareness and knowledge of G-d” (Mishneh Torah, “Law of Kings,” 12:5).

Recently, I put out finch feeders to attract the bright yellow birds. Until this morning, there have only been brown sparrows feeding and, as cute as they are, their plumage just does not scream joy like the finches. (Yes, I know, only the male finch has the bright yellow feathers, but if you have an issue with this — take it up with G-d. If it had been up to me, I definitely would have distributed that beautiful color equally among the sexes.) As I sat at my desk with my fingers in midair, contemplating the content of my first Moshiach blog post, a bright flash of  yellow caught my eye. My first sighting of a finch! Yes, it is definitely Spring in Chicago! I felt such a surge of joy race through my body. How fitting that the color of the flag, a flag that carries the prophetic message of individual and global peace, is one of illumination. Let us continue to bring the light of awareness to our inner lives and our outer lives by doing as the Rebbe, MHM, told a CNN reporter in 1991, “It was printed in all the press in all the countries. Moshiach is ready to come now, it is only on our part to do something additional in the realm of goodness and kindness. At least a little more, then Moshiach will come immediately.”

An act of kindness can be a kind word to a child, or a dollar to a person in need — whichever act you choose today may be just the one to usher in the full revelation of G-dliness into this world.