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101
pages
English
Ebooks
2012
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Publié par
Date de parution
20 décembre 2012
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9781580237055
Langue
English
We live in two seemingly incompatible worlds—rational and spiritual.
How can we keep our balance?
Like the dolphin who exists in both water and air, so must we learn to live and thrive in two conflicting worlds—the rational, material, everyday craziness of life versus the still, spiritual soulfulness of our deepest selves. Balancing the two—difficult as it often can be—is the key to our spiritual survival.
Through poignant stories, spiritual teaching and insights, Karyn Kedar shares with us the ways we can integrate the everyday—family, work, personal challenges—with our quest for deeper spiritual understanding. She helps us to decode the three “languages” we must learn to weave the seemingly ordinary and extraordinary together:
In graceful ways, Kedar shows us that by realizing the connection between the ordinary and the awe-inspiring, we can synchronize our hearts with the ways of the world and live with joy, a sense of calm and greater purpose.
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Imagining the Dance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Prayer:The Language of the Spirit The Iron Wings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Navigating the Heavens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Meditation on the Beach of Boca Raton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 And Then There Was Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Mystery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Communal Prayer: The Philosophy of the Minyan . . . . . . . . . 32 May the Words of My Mouth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Perspective:The Language of Thought Choice as a Spiritual Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Envision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Memory: Life Retold or Unlearned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Reflection, Then Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Lingering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Change for the Sake of Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 C O N T E N T S viii T H E D A N C E O F T H E D O L P H I N Meaning Searching for Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Shema: Listening Is the Language of the Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Yisrael: Struggling with Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad: All Is One . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Noticing the Invisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Passion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Divine Discontent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Mortality Demands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 About Jewish Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Publié par
Date de parution
20 décembre 2012
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9781580237055
Langue
English
To Talia, Shiri, and Ilan-my children My teachers of poetry, song, and sweetness
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Imagining the Dance
Prayer: The Language of the Spirit
The Iron Wings
Navigating the Heavens
Meditation on the Beach of Boca Raton
Grace
And Then There Was Light
Mystery
Communal Prayer: The Philosophy of the Minyan
May the Words of My Mouth
Perspective: The Language of Thought
Choice as a Spiritual Law
Envision
Memory: Life Retold or Unlearned
Reflection, Then Reaction
Lingering
Watch
Interpretation
Change for the Sake of Transformation
Meaning
Searching for Meaning
Shema : Listening Is the Language of the Soul
Yisrael : Struggling with Reality
Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad : All Is One
Noticing the Invisible
Passion
Divine Discontent
Mortality Demands
Notes
About the Author
Copyright
Also Available
About Jewish Lights
Send Us Your Feedback
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my husband, Ezra, and three children, Talia, Shiri, and Ilan, you are my teachers and the joy of my life. I promise I ll make dinner again, soon. To my parents, without the foundation of kindness, love, and enthusiasm you give so freely, I think I may have periodically gone mad.
To my writing circle, Steve Yastrow, David Gottlieb, Betsy Katz, and Lisa Fisher, for the creative synergy; writing is hard and lonely, and you all make it less so. To the Skokie Boulevard Lunch Club for hours of conversation, music, and mutual support. To the children who are watching us closely, Talia, Nurit, and Ari, Shiri, Levi, and Jonah, Ilan, and Noah. Pursue your passion, cultivate your creative energy, and never take no for an answer. You are loved.
To my spiritual guide, Carol Dovi, thank you.
To the Yastrow family. Mi casa es su casa , or was it the opposite? To Steve, for a constant exchange of ideas, creative passion, and a sense of frenetic urgency. To Arna, for intelligent calm, perspective, and gentle (most of the time) reminders of what is important to me.
To Mimi Dunitz, for laughter-always, no matter what, who, and where, laughter. You remind me that the sacred need not be serious. To Ellen and Sherry, for noticing and tending to the details. They say that God is in the details.
To Nan Goldberg, my editor, for her careful reading of the images and words. To Emily Wichland, managing editor at Jewish Lights, for her compassionate intelligence and kind professionalism. To the wonderful people at Jewish Lights for their encouragement and dedication to the mission of bringing light to the world. Thank you to Stuart M. Matlins, publisher of Jewish Lights, for backing his vision with the drive to make his dream a reality.
May the Eternal Spirit of the Universe always pursue me with that annoying itch that pushes me out of complacent thought and lazy habit. May the Divine Creator of All always nurture me with creative musings and holy encounters. I accept the paradox that has become my life with gratitude.
IMAGINING THE DANCE
I have never seen a dolphin on the open seas. I ve been to various aquariums and many a sophisticated aquarium, where dolphins splash and click as they perform tricks to delight the children. But that s not what I mean. I have never seen a dolphin on the open seas as she swims and dives and flirts, arching her body with a gentle superiority. Someday I will; I dream of it all the time. I imagine it will go something like this:
We are on a boat for what seems like a long time. The bright sun throws sparks and splashes of light against the tips of the waves. Perhaps a spray of seawater carrying one of those sparks stings my sunburned lips. Just as I bring a bottle of fresh water to my mouth, I pause slightly and squint into the distance. I can t tell where the water ends and the heavens begin. It is as if an artist, painting in oil pastels, used her thumb to smudge all distinctions on the canvas. Eternity, I think, must reside in a blurred line of blue. Suddenly the boat tilts with a wave, and close to its flank is the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. She lifts and arches out of the water and then submerges again. I gasp, holding my breath, holding the moment. All I can say is Did you see that? Did you see that?
I have never seen that moment, but I have named it. I call it the dance of the dolphin. It is a dance that is both beautiful and essential. It has grace and eloquence.
The dolphin dances because to survive she must live simultaneously in two elements that are seemingly incompatible. She must live in both water and air, and she must dance between the two.
She dances because she is commanded to from the moment of her creation. She dances because her instincts are pure genius and they are the source of her survival. She dances, and as she does, we watch in awe, every time, never tiring of the spectacle. She dances, and we learn.
We learn that we too must live in two elements that are seemingly incompatible. We must live in the rational world while earning a living, making a name for ourselves, providing for our loved ones, our feet planted firmly on the ground so as not to stumble. And yet it seems we must also live in the world of the spirit, finding our center, searching for meaning, giving without regard for receiving, reaching beyond reason, creating, while not tripping on the ground beneath our feet. We should never lose the feeling in our souls. And to survive, to live with joy and a sense of calm and purpose, we must dance between the two.
We must learn the dance because life at its best is the seamless integration of all aspects of self: worlds seen and worlds experienced, the world of doing and the world of being. We must dance between our physical needs and spiritual needs because the human experience demands that we eat and that we be nourished. We must sharpen the rational faculty and strengthen the intuitive. We must be strong and yielding, protecting and vulnerable. Life, at its greatest, is like the dolphin s dance. It possesses beauty, power, and grace.
The dance is an arch between contradictions.
We have been taught the laws of the rational world, to believe what is physical and logical, to distrust what is unseen, inconclusive, illusive. We have been encouraged to think, to analyze, to accomplish, to make as much money as possible, to read a good book, to place a napkin on our lap. We have learned to be socially acceptable, to get along, to reach for success. Rarely are we encouraged to yearn, to dream, to recognize our passion, to live our passion, to rely on our intuition. Seldom does a parent whisper into the heart of a child that he is a creative, beautiful being made in the image of God. It takes courage, skill, and self-reliance not to fear the unfamiliar language of the Great Mystery. Have we learned to decipher its code?
In 1973 I had a dream that stunned me. I was studying Hebrew on a kibbutz in an intensive class, which was designed to immerse us in the language during classroom study, work in the fields and factories, and our social time with our Israeli friends. Every waking hour we heard Hebrew and were urged to speak it.
For me, the study was difficult and tedious. My days and nights were filled with grammatical rules, awkward sentence structure, limited vocabulary, and simple thoughts. Until one night. It must have been about four months into the seven-month program when it happened. I had a dream entirely in Hebrew. I woke up excited and ran to tell my friends that I had crossed the river to competence; I had reached a new plateau. They shared in my excitement and asked me what the dream was about. I stared backed at them speechless; I realized that I d had an entire dream in Hebrew and I hadn t understood one word of it. Did you understand it at the time? my friends asked. I don t remember, I answered. Skeptical, they turned away, and we went to class.
The dance immerses us in the language of two worlds. Just as the ordinary matters of life require a language, so does the extraordinary world. We must develop a vocabulary that expresses wonder, engages our fears, describes our sense of holiness, and whispers God s name in all the richness we yearn to experience. The dance will help us become fluent. When I wake and while I sleep, whether I am feeling sharp or weary and bored, as I dream and as I envision, I want to understand as best I humanly can.
Like the dolphin, we have been commanded to dance from the very moment of our creation. We begin with Adam and Eve (or Chava, as she is called in Hebrew). They live in a story that establishes essential archetypes. Adam and Chava are warned not to touch the Tree of Knowledge, the Tree of Life. The tree is pleasant, and it is in the middle of the garden. Three questions tickle the rational mind: If they are not to eat from the tree, why create the tree at all? And if creating it, why make it pleasant to see? And if making it pleasant, why place it in the middle of the garden?
This is what I call the ultimate set-up, the wet paint theory at work. There is a bright red shiny bench in the middle of a park, with a sign on it that says Wet Paint. Most people see the sign and touch the bench. Adam and Chava were not exceptional; they were us. In this Garden of gardens, the beautiful tree in the middle, the tree whose fruit contains all essential knowledge and whose juice is life itself, is created as a set-up for what transpires.
Touch the fruit and you shall surely die. They touch, they eat, and they live. They live but they are punished, or so it seems at first glance. Adam must work the land and Chava must bear children.
But it is here that the dance begins. Adam must work the earth; his name in Hebrew means earth. Chava must bear children, and in Hebrew her name means life. They do not die; instead they live to become who they were always intended to be. Adam symbolizes for us an essential grounding, sustenance, bread from the earth, fruit of the vine. He is the sym