Two rivers take you home: One flows with bitter tears of remorse,
the other with sweet tears of joy.
For most of time, the principal path of travel was the bitter one. Only once soaked in those bitter waters could you rise to embrace your G‑d with joy.
But now we have experienced more than our fill of pain. That which our people suffered in lands across the ocean has purged every stain, bleached every garment of our souls, refined us and lifted us high.
We have cried enough bitter tears. Now is time to return with joy.
Maamar Margalia B’Fuma D’Rabba 5746. Blessing on Erev Yom Kippur 5750.
What we don’t notice is that there is no passing of time other than our imaginary “connecting” of the “pictures” formulated from the sensory report of the brain. This “video” in color and sounds (not to mention smells and tastes) records and suggests the final picture as a moving final report that stimulates our memory and emotions. We remember this subconsciously and file it all away symbolizing our experience, or egos. But since the memory is not the living moment, the ego is sometimes defined as a circle surrounding and protecting nothing.
As we go through the “present moments” we tend to suffer more or less as we try to control and enjoy rather than suffer as we experience our separated life. We gain “experience” and learn to “let go” until we are freed from fear and the need to control. This doesn’t have to happen at “death”, but instead any of us can live free of control, and allow the “Author” of it all to live your life with you, always freely.