By Chana Rosenblatt
Why understanding of mind will only bring a person closer to Torah and God.
In my mind, Torah is form. An understanding of a spiritual connection to God is a formless experience – outside of the form. We experience it from an inner place that is intangible and can’t be expressed in a tangible way.
When someone is struggling with Torah, Judaism or God, his experience is in the form. When someone comes to learn about mind and the 3 Principles, they come to a realisation through their understanding that their struggle is not coming from the form; it’s coming from an inner part in them – which is a lack of connection to the bigger picture, to spirituality, to God. By them realising this, they realise that the form does not need fixing. Because the answers are within the formless.
And therefore, when I’ve understood the Principles, it doesn’t matter to me the way in which I’m living my life in form – because constantly what’s driving me is a wisdom that is coming from an inner part of me that is connected to the formless.
When you touch a part in a person that is true and real and deep, as a religious Jew, when you get quiet and to a place that touches the soul and you experience a profound sense of connection to a spiritual being, you look at Torah as a form, a format almost, a guide we believe from God as to how to live a life that will help you access the formless through the form – because we live in a world of form and need that. So when you get in touch with your own wisdom, with truth, as a religious Jew, you realise that the form of Torah is there to help you come to a place which is formless, not take away from it.
As human beings, we get lost in a world of form and the Torah is there to keep us focused and guide us.
Pesach is a time to focus on freedom; Shabbas is a time to remember the bigger picture. If you go through Torah, you see in form, an expression of the formless. When you realise that, you see that Torah enhances that, doesn’t take away from it. Torah is no longer an obstacle, rather a way to get to a higher place of being, which we could easily lose track of in such a world of form.
