Ego, Separation, Klipah, Dualism

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“According to the Kabbalah, the theme of the soul’s journey is discarding the hard shell, the klipah, and breaking free from the ego. This process must happen. The question is, will the soul gather its own strength and choose to transcend the ego, or will the external stimuli of pain be necessary? The ego says, “It’s my life and I’m doing it my way.” Pain challenges that. It reminds us that there is a power beyond ourselves that we cannot ignore.” p. 122

Ego = dualism, separation 

Stephen explains that the term ego is loaded, too many resonances, battling everyone terms when we use it – stoics, Christians, psychologists, it means so many things and is not necessarily the perfect fit when discussing the self. When Rabbi David Aaron is talking about it, though, to me, it means separation.  I know this separation and the pain that he talks about that brought me to my knees, and which ultimately led to me transcending my “ego” and finally merging with His will.

“Ego is the illusion of having an independent self-separate from God.” pg. 124

“Pain is an alternative path, compassionately offered by God to help us transcend the ego and reach our highest goals.” or our highest selves pg 122

When we are met with pain/tribulation we have a choice as to how we respond. 

Endless Light by Rabbi David Aaron

 

 

Who are you around?

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“From good people you’ll learn good, but if you mingle with the bad, you’ll destroy a such a soul as you had.”

Musonius Rufu, Quoting Theognis of Megara, Lectures, 11.53.21-22

Geothe’s maxims: “Tell me with whom you consort, and I will tell you who you are.”

The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman

Mesillat Yesharim – Evil & Good Inclination – choice between self & other

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“The theory of Mussar that predominates in this commentary begins with an analysis of human consciousness, which is described as unfolding along an arc between the yetzer ha-ra and the yetzer ha-tov. These traditional terms, usually translated as “the evil inclination’ and “the good inclination,” delimit the field within which all human activities take place. However, in order to engage in a deeper exploration of wha Jewish traction might mean by these terms, we must define them differently. I would suggest that the yetzer Habra cannot be understood simple as evil in the conventional sense, based on the Rabbis’ assertion that “human beings were created with both the yetzer ha-ra and a yetzer ha-tov, and were it not for Torah the tater ha-ra would triumph over the yetzer ha-tov in all cases. Since the yetzer ha-ra is essential for normative human activities, i.e., those activities necessary to assure our survival in the world, we understand it to mean the material urge that complels us to survive in the world and to bend the forces of material nature to our will; it is the inclination to work for the self. Conversely, the yetzer ha-tov represents the equally innate inclination to please or to serve another. Thus, in every instance human beings are presented with a choice between the self (yetzer ha-ra) and the other (yetzer ha-tov).

Because the vicissitudes of everyday life can be so overwhelmingly difficult the meter ha-ra must be exercised with ever greater power and, like a muscle, its strength soon grows out of proportion to the strength of the tether ha-tov. With Mussar practice, however, we can reengage our yetzer ha-tov, our desire to sere another before ourselves, without denying the legitimacy of the yetzer ha-ra. The complex and incremental program of self-scrutiny and self-correction by which we can accomplish this is described in A Responsible Life, but is also reflected and referenced in Mesillat Yesharim. It consists of a daily heshbon, or accounting of the soul, that is conducted by reflecting on specific character traits, or midst, like order, patience, equanimity, and humility. This allows us to focus on specific interactions with other people and to evaluate our behavior in regard to them.

Mesillat Yesharim by Moses Hayyim Luzzatto

Modalities of Awakened Doing

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“The modalities of awakened doing are acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. Each one represents a certain vibrational frequency of consciousness.” pg. 295

“Not what you do, but how you do what you do determines whether you are fulfilling your destiny. And how you do what you do is determined by your state of consciousness.” pg. 294

A New Earth by Eckart Tolle

Enduring Tribulation to Live Nobly

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It is one of life’s highest rewards, a source of strength and inspiration to endure tribulation, to live nobly. The work on weekdays and the rest on the seventh day are correlated. The Sabbath is the inspirer, the other days are inspired. pg. 22

Rabbi Judah: “Life is likened unto two roads: one of fire and one of ice. “if you walk in the one you will be burned, and if in the other, you will be frozen. What shall one do? Walk in the middle.” pg. 46

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

 

Disconnection from the Body (Radical Wholeness)

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  • “Living in our heads, we feel separate from the body-and so we similarly feel separate from the world. We experience the world in a subject/object duality – on that estranges us from our environment and obliterates the companionship of the Present.”
  • “When we live in our heads, we experience them as the center of our intelligence.”
  • “Living in the head, we see the brain as the sole organ of our intelligence. So whatever has no brain is deemed incapable of intelligence.”
  • “When we live in the head, we feel the body as something we ‘have’.”
  • “Our disconnection from the body’s intelligence carries an implicit value judgment that it is inferior, not worth listening to, second class and incapable of worthwhile insights.”
  • “If how we relate to the body sets the stage for all other relationships, then how we relate to the world won’t fundamentally change until our relationship with the body does.”

pgs. 43-47

Radical Wholeness by Philip Shepherd

Sleepwalking versus Wakefulness

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“When we live our lives as sleepwalkers, our fate is as uncontrollable as our dreams. Sometimes we have good days (good dreams) and sometimes we have bad days (bad dreams). But only when we are awake and can see clearly are we able to respond rather than react to life’s challenges. Responding from wakefulness means to act with wisdom and compassion.”  pg. 5

We want to be brought into the “heart of wisdom”.

Jewish Meditation Practices for Everyday Life

by Rabbi Jeff Roth