By Rabbi Lazer Gurkow
We live in self-imposed Such people think everything revolves around them. If two people are chatting, they think it is about them. If they are in a crowded room, they think everyone is looking at them and noting their imperfections. If they broadened their scope and let others in, they would not live inside themselves; they would be free. But they can’t.
There are those whose horizons encompass the entire nation. For every question they ask, is it good for the Jews? These people don’t live inside themselves. They are concerned for the needs of a nation. Then you have the Universalists, whose concerns are global. The environment, the economy, the community of nations and its geopolitical balance are constantly on their minds.
After there come physicists whose spheres of interest expand to the entire universe. They study the planets and map the stars, and contemplate the distant galaxies. They are not limited to the here and now; they live in an extraordinary time space continuum.
Yet all these spheres are still limiting. In truth, the vast universe is like naught compared to the aural and visual, the tangible and intangible, grace, grandeur, beauty, and love. Compelling, exquisite, and inconceivable.
This is the realm of angels, souls, and mystical energies. It is not a distant whimsical space, it is right here—a deeper dimension of our reality. Our tools can’t measure it and our sensors can’t discern it, so we pretend it doesn’t exist. But it is very much here.
On this dimension, our world is insignificant; there is forgiveness, light and inspiration, purity, and peace. There are no shortcomings, faults, discord, bickering, separation or separateness. It is the realm of the one. The one and true G-d.
We could deny it like the self-absorbed fellow who foolishly assumes only he exists in a crowd. Such grandiose fantasies don’t reward, they destroy. They wear our spirit and leave us bereft.
Accepting that it is real, enables us to tap into it. When we are pure, peaceful, and inspired, we can tap into our endless capacity for forgiveness. When we feel mundane, we can be inspired by its presence. It is there, it is the deeper dimension of our reality, and we can access it.
Let’s not be like the person who is afraid to let others in and lives inside himself. Let’s open our minds and hearts to our inner consciousness and tap into the spiritual dimension.
