Who's First?
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If we had been here first and then set the criteria for a very perfect Yahweh , certainly one of our requirements would be that He be logical and understandable.

But He was here first. As for logic, that came later.

Delight
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"Nothing is higher than delight," say the sages. All of Man's desires, musings and conniving, his every word and all his actions, all emerge from his sense of beauty, of pleasure, from his search for the most elegant and delightful.

As in Man, the microcosm, so in the Creation: The essence of each thing is the Creator's delight in it. When that delight shines through, all merges as one whole, a magnificent symphony in exquisite harmony.

And where is G-d's delight to be found? In the simple being who does good, turns from evil, desires peace and gets up and runs after it.

The River from Eden
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The objective of all man's toil in this world is to reach higher than his own mind, higher than mind at all. Not to a place where the mind is ignored, but rather, to its essence, to the inner sense of beauty and wonder that guides it.

"A river went out from Eden to water the garden." The garden is Mind, where all worlds begin. Eden is a place of delight beyond the garden, far beyond. Yet its river nurtures all that grows there. Adam is placed in the garden to discover the Eden flowing within.

Breaking Limits
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Everything Man is given comes in a finite package. Even the tablets Moses carried down from Mount Sinai were defined and bounded.

And so, when G-d saw Moses mourning over the broken tablets, He said, "Your powers were focused when you smashed the tablets. For now you will receive a Torah you may extend wider than the sea."

When Man fails, he shatters the treasures G-d has put in his trust. But then he cries and picks up the shards to restore what he has ruined. That is when he discovers that G-d Himself was hidden inside. He discovers the Infinite.

Lasting Peace
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Lasting peace is not created by intellectuals, for their minds are easily bribed from within and from without. Nor by those who follow their faith blindly, for at times their blindness wreaks havoc.

Lasting peace is the achievement of those who have made peace between the rigor of their mind and the simplicity of their faith. Their faith is firmly anchored beyond the whims of this world, and their mind sees clearly that proper results are achieved.

Yahweh  with the Oppressed
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Visit the prisoners and bring them some happiness. Even if they are guilty, even if, in your eyes, they deserve whatever misery they have. Bring them joy.

Yahweh  is always with the oppressed. Even if the oppressor is righteous and the oppressed is wicked, our sages tell us, Yahweh  is with the oppressed.

Dark Paths
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He could have placed streetlamps along all the pathways of wisdom, but then there would be no journey. Who would discover the secret passages, the hidden treasures, if all of us homed in straight for our destination?

Exchange Of Matter
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Especially with our people, it is impossible to separate between physical needs and spiritual needs. The spiritual transforms into physicality and the physical rises to become spiritual in a perpetual chemistry of exchange.

Heal the soul and the body is renewed. Heal the body and the soul is empowered.

Insider's History
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The history of humankind is not about the rise and fall of empires, their wars and their conquests. It is about a different sort of war, a singular one: The battle over whether the Creator of this place belongs here or in some heaven above.

That is the battle each one of us fights, and that is the story of all humanity's journey. And that is all that really matters. For that is all there is to any human being.

For You
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Everyone agrees with all the wonderful advice and ethics written in the books of the sages. Everyone agrees that this is the way to run your life. The only issue each one of us have is whether those words are truly meant for me, or for someone else in another time and another place.

If it is truth, it is meant for you, now, here.

Impossible
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He could have made a world that would look at itself and explain itself according to its own rules.

But He made a world with such rules, that according to its own rules it cannot exist. He wanted a world with wonder.

True Yearnings
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A man sits and yearns for a thing he should not have. The yearning in itself is good - a man who does not yearn is not alive. To live is to yearn. But the form this yearning has taken, this is death itself.

So the form must be crushed. Extinguished like the embers of an abandoned campfire in a dry forest. Once that is done, the inner yearning, the flame of life that burns inside, can be freed.

Faith and Reason
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Only a fool will toss out the inheritance of many generations. But one who does not make it his own through the power of his own mind remains a child. The wise person uses his mind to live by his faith.

Reprisal
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Do kindness beyond reason.

Defy terror with beauty.

Combat darkness with infinite light.

Change
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That which can be grasped will change.

That which does not change cannot be grasped

Wellsprings
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Only pure water can purify. The further you wish to take that water, the deeper your wellspring must be. Those who wish to reach to the very outside and enlighten and purify that place, they must reach deep into the womb of truth.

The Neck
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Between the head and the heart lies a narrow passage called the neck.

This is to our advantage, so that when the heart rushes in frenzy over its desires and its fears, the head can still observe from its perch above the rapids and direct the heart back on course.

It is also to our disadvantage, because the head must speak very loud and clear to make itself heard to the heart so far below.

Nameless
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High upon her precipice, the soul is nameless, for she has no form - she will be whatever she must be.

Peering below, beneath the clouds, she perceives a faint shimmering of her light in the deep, wet earth. There she finds form, and she calls it a name, and she is called when that name is called, for she says, "This is me."

But it is not her. It is only a faint glimmering of her light within the frame of a distant world.

The Path Of Light
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When He made the world, He made two ways to repair each thing: With harshness or with compassion. With a slap or with a caress. With darkness or with light.

And He looked at the light and saw that it was good. Darkness and harsh words may be necessary. But He never called them good.

Even if you could correct another person with harsh words, the One Above receives no pleasure from it. When He sees his creatures heal one another with caring and with kindness, that is when He shines His smile upon us.

Working Lessons
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If all the world is a classroom and all of life is a lesson, then certainly your profession and workplace are included. After all, He has unlimited ways to provide your livelihood. The fact that He directed you to this way of life means there is something inscribed there specifically for your soul.

Wise Contraptions
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When the telephone was first introduced, a wise man was asked, "What can we learn from this contraption?"

He answered, "That which is spoken here is heard there."

So they asked, "And from the telegraph?"

He replied, "Every word costs."

"And from the train?"

"One minute of hesitation and you could lose the whole journey."

Infinite & Intimate
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Does Yahweh then laugh? Is He so vulnerable as to cry over failure and rejoice in success? Does He that brings heaven and earth into existence truly love with the passion of a frail human being? Can the Infinite Light feel regret, just as a creature trapped within the tunnel of time?

But Yahweh desired Man with all his struggles. The proof: We are here. And Yahweh looked down from His lofty realm beyond love and laughter and passion and remorse, down into this thought of a human being, and He said, "Shall he then be alone in his place and I in mine? Is this oneness?"

So He arranged a meeting place, in the boundless emotions that are the fabric of Man's soul and are reflected within the bowels of the Infinite Light. So that in love and laughter and compassion and awe and beauty, Man and Yahweh could find one another, and neither would be alone.

Spiritual Disdain
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As spiritual beings in a material world, we engage it in a posture of descent, in compromise, with a lessening of light. That is why spiritual people disdain all interaction with this world, and strive to minimize it at all costs.

Yet the Torah provides an interface with the world that is more Yahweh-dly than the soul itself. How does it accomplish this? By unlocking the spark of Yahweh within each thing.

Trust Over Hope
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Trust transcends hope, as the space beyond transcends the atmosphere below.

When the mind clings to a thread of hope, it is anchored to earthly bounds. The thread snaps, and the mind looks up and sees nothing more than the open sky. All limits are gone.

That is Trust: When you stop suggesting to your Maker what He should do. When you are ready and open to surprise and miracles.

Pushed From Behind
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We are told there is nothing limiting us, no force that holds us captive other than a fiction of our imagination. But what, then, of the forces of nature, the limitations of a human body, the hard reality we smash ourselves against while trying to walk through walls?

Yes, they do exist. But they are not what they seem to be. As your soul pulls forward, they pull her inward, towards her deepest, strongest self.

Seeding Change
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Just as a tiny seed awakens the infinite power of life hidden within the earth, so a thought  buried quietly in the ground can ignite an explosion of infinite light. Charged with that power, all the world is changed.