It used to be that the soul fought with the body, until one conquered the other by force.
Then the Baal Shem Tov came and taught a new path: The body, too, could come to appreciate those things the soul desires.
In the place of self-affliction and fasting, the Baal Shem Tov showed his students the way of meditation and joy. Every need of the body, he taught, could provide a channel to carry the soul high.
Picture on top Every need of the body can be a channel for the divine,
Wonderful!
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Shifting from 'Me' (body) to 'We' (soul) is the Right Path (to Norbert Steiner)
Until recently we felt each of us to be an independent individual. We built a society that allowed everyone to succeed on their own, even when that success came at the expense of others. 'Experts' wrote books and gave courses how to be assertive, how to influence others to get what you want, to compete against others and win!...etc.
This is 'ego-mode' or the way we used our nature or the 'body' (as Baal Shem Tov, and kabbalists express it).
Now G_d is hinting to us through the global connected world, that this approach which did give us the energy to advance technologically etc. has exhausted itself.
We need to reconstruct all our systems and processes based on a new way of collaboration and mutual responsiility for each other.
We need to teach connectivity, collaboration, sharing and mutual responsibility in schools & workplaces to put us all on the right path. Your therapist should study how to teach the masses to adapt to a connected world. Crises will force world to change
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For Norbert It also contradicts many well studied findings of positive psychology. I wonder how happy your therapist is. Reply
Am I going the wrong path? (to Brenda) I see a Jewish therapist who tells me that I think too much about others and not enough about me. She believes that my parents' experiences in the concentration camps prevented them later from expressing their own feelings and/or respect and notice their children's feelings. Therefore, as she believes, do not think about my own feelings and desires enough to feel successful. That seems contrary to what you seem to say. Reply
Essence of the Work continued (for Natan, Newton,Ma)
Natan - Apter Rav Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote about the partnership between G_d and Man and His presence among them (His Shekina).
As I explained in my response to you in "Essence of the Work", when a group of kabbalists or people gather together and bond in brotherly closeness they draw the 'Holy Shekinah' - that is G-d's presence dwells between all of them. G_d reveals His Love withinn that special gathering of people.
This is our work to move away from self-love to love of others and then G_d is felt to live among us. (Heschel called this the 'Transcendence of Man)
This is our preparation for entry to the Spiritual World - a devine level of higher existence for us.
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Essence of the Work - response for Natan, Newton,Ma
In our world G_d gave us the feeling that we are separate people. This is the 'evil inclination'. This causes all the hatred, wars and negative feelings towards each other.
The Kabbalists discovered that if they try and feel that they are connected as one mind and heart, G_d helps them overcome this evil inclination towards each other. His Light or Power connects them.
Then they lose that connection and have to try and overcome a stronger force preventing them from feeling unity and love for each other... The Power of G_d's Light connects them again...and the process repeats until they are able to keep this bond forever. This is the feeling of a spiritual world.
Those who have a desire to connect like this will teach this method to all humanity. This is their responsibility and the sooner the better for all.
Otherwise G_d will force us by unpleasant wars and crises to reach the goal of feeling and treating others as if they are part of you.
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question and response to Brenda I am the grandchild of a Kabbalist from Apt (the Apter Rav, R.Heschel, is buried next to Baal Shem Tov's Ohel) and try very hard to understand. I grew up in post-Holocaust Vienna when there was no organized Jewish schooling, and find the usual wording of scholarly discussions difficult. Whenever anyone quotes anything it just opens more questions and confusion. Is there anything that just says what a particular Rabbi meant to say? Reply
Rebellious body cells What I wonder about is that if every cell in our body has intellegence and is a spark of Hashem-- another of His creations -- then why do they sometimes rebel and try to kill their host. Whatmis the point of them trying to destroy the temple within which,they live? Reply
The Divine Tool (For Natan, Ma)
G_d is pure Love of others.
He gave us the opposite nature of self-love. Kabbalists call this quality the 'body' or more specifically the 'ego' - our inclination for self-gratrification and inability to connect with others unless for our benefit.
G_d gave us this nature opposite to His since we are only able to sense Pure Love from it's opposite.
This is why we need the ego as "help made against him" Through this tool we will be able to sense what pure love is.
This is the work for us to use the ego as help to transform it into aiming it's use towards others in a system of harmony between us and G_d.
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This quote from R. Schneerson seems like an introduction to a piece of wisdom without the wisdom itself. Standing by itself it asks many question but provides no answer. Reply
Sounds for good What is harmony without a friend. Reply
"Every need of the body, he taught, could provide a channel to carry the soul." What I see is are more openings into a further growth for the spirit. Reply
For Tzvi Freeman (Re: For Brenda) Physical Body versus Nature of Body
Certainly, the physical body is G_d's handiwork - a divine example how nature works in it's corrected form - every cell and organ in this divine system work harmoniously to give & care for the other-They work in bestowing upon the other.
"While man's very essence is only to receive for oneself. By nature, we are unable to do even the smallest thing to benefit others" (Baal HaSulam, "A Speech for the Completion of the Zohar")
However, "The body is born with a nature of self-love, which is disparity of form from the Creator" (Rabash Article 13)
"...as our sages wrote (Kidushin 30b), "The Creator says, 'I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice.'" That creature develops[works] until he loses all remnants of self-love...and he performs all his actions only to bestow, so even the necessity that he receives flows in the direction of bestowal" (Baal HaSulam, Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah]
May the Light in the Torah reform our nature.
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For Brenda The body is not evil. The body is G‑d's handiwork. It is the sense that "I am my body" that leads to evil. Reply
I have taken on the habit today of saying a blessing after using the restroom. Praising Gd for His healing of the flesh and for His infinite miracles. I think this speaks to blessing Hashem for even the smallest of organisms in our bodies.
I would also want to mention that there is a use for our evil inclination, or our yetzer hara. It is when we do not keep it in balance that our yetzer hara becomes a problem not only for us, but more importantly, we end up hurting others we encounter, or even those we have yet to encounter, or whom we may never encounter...balance is key.
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Working Against our Nature
The Kabbalists define the "body" as the evil inclination - the desire for self-gratification from the pleasures, gifts, joy etc that we are blessed with.
If we "work" with these blessings that we receive with the intention to pass them on to others, we learn how to return the blessings as joy back to the Creator.
They say this is "work" because it is effort against our nature to give freely.
By taking just what we need and then passing the treasure on we transform our evil quality ("body") to G_d's quality to create our soul, our "temple".
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Re: Fast If, by that time, the moshiach has not come and rebuilt the Temple, we're still going to have to fast on Tisha B'Av. But on days of the year when we are not obligated to fast, we can accomplish the same by putting the body's energy into good things, steering it away from doing, saying or thinking the wrong things, or unnecessary things. Reply
The body is in need of love I know that every cell in my body is infused with a spark of Hashem and I thank them daily for generations of service to Hashem for keeping the temple (the body intact). Recently, someone told me: "Why do you thank the servants?" -- meaning the cells. Is it wrong to thank Hashem's small but intelligent servants. Reply
Fast As we approach Tisha B'Av I have the feeling this article is about the subject of fasting. But I can not figure out at all. Just know I am supposed to bring my body under subjection somehow but no idea what it means in relating to the soul. May HaShem help me. Reply
1) The Divine IS, and Expresses in One Soul, One EGO. One MIND. He is REAL, and rules all made.
2) You think that you are, that you are your soul, your ego, and your mind. All packed in to your body.
3) This takes place because you name and identify with names you learn as if one with the actuality you sense, using your body/brain within its limitations. That becomes your reality.
4) Concentrate until you can realize that words/names are not the actuality you identify with. Your mind will relax and be still. Then your senses sense something beyond, and everything “lights up”.