Thursday, June 11, 2009

Baal Shem Tov: "push away his hand"

"Everyone has times of expanded and constricted consciousness," said the Baal Shem Tov, "but one can also reach levels from which one does not fall. When a father wants to play with his little child, he hides his face with his hand, and then shows his face to him-- doing this again and again. But the father's pleasure is even greater when the child is clever enough to push his father's hand away, so that it no longer conceals his face. God's glory fills the earth and there is no place where He is not present. When it seems that He is absent, He is merely hiding His face from you. But if you know that He is hiding, there is no more concealment. If you truly want the game to end, and to see Him always, push your Father's hand away to see His face."

--from "The Daily Maggid" email from Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum; you can subscribe to his list for free, or explore his website.

1 Comments:

At 9:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's an idea inspired by your blog post (where God is to be thought of as Parent) and adapted from a lovingkindness meditation in Christine Robinson and Alicia Hawkins' new book, Heart to Heart. The original meditation suggests saying the following 3 times, and then replacing the word "I" with "you" while thinking of a friend.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be well.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
May I be happy.
But what about also replacing the word "I" with "You" while thinking of God? Then we'd have the this meditation:
May You be filled with loving kindness.
May You be well.
May You be peaceful and at ease.
May You be happy.
Amen.

 

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