by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook
I have no need to reject my inner demand to gaze at everything from the essence of my spirit.
At the same time, I am summoned to strengthen myself and broaden my perspectives, expressed in spirit and in deed, in accordance with the understanding that comes from outside myself: from friendship, mingling with others, reading books and other life experiences.
And afterwards, everything returns so as to be mixed into my very spirit, and I return to my inner gaze.
Chadarav
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
My Spirit Yearns to Burrow Into Its Inner Chambers
by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook
My spirit yearns to burrow into its inner chambers.
I struggle to draw matters forth from the light of the Torah and from the light of the world.
But I find that all the roots of these pure objects that I seek must be found in the depths of my own spirit, whose light is taken from the light of the Torah and from the radiance of the world.
If I return from the midst of Torah and from the midst of the world to my spirit, I increase my life-force when I then re-enter the chambers of the Torah and the chambers of the treasuries of the world.
And so every bright revelation is divided into three: that of the spirit, that of the Torah and that of the world.
“Speak, my tongue, your words, for all of [God’s] commandments are righteousness.”
Chadarav
My spirit yearns to burrow into its inner chambers.
I struggle to draw matters forth from the light of the Torah and from the light of the world.
But I find that all the roots of these pure objects that I seek must be found in the depths of my own spirit, whose light is taken from the light of the Torah and from the radiance of the world.
If I return from the midst of Torah and from the midst of the world to my spirit, I increase my life-force when I then re-enter the chambers of the Torah and the chambers of the treasuries of the world.
And so every bright revelation is divided into three: that of the spirit, that of the Torah and that of the world.
“Speak, my tongue, your words, for all of [God’s] commandments are righteousness.”
Chadarav
Thursday, October 2, 2008
How Can I Have Anything to Say to Others?
by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook
How can I have anything to say to others if I say nothing to my own spirit?
How can I express an opinion about the spiritual and physical world without first seeking a key to the treasures gathered within me?
“Gates, swing open,” I shall say to the chambers of my spirit, to my heart and to my “kidneys,” my source of counsel.
Chadarav
How can I have anything to say to others if I say nothing to my own spirit?
How can I express an opinion about the spiritual and physical world without first seeking a key to the treasures gathered within me?
“Gates, swing open,” I shall say to the chambers of my spirit, to my heart and to my “kidneys,” my source of counsel.
Chadarav
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
I Constantly Seek
by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook
I constantly seek that which is in the midst of my soul.
Outer servitude distracts my mind from that inner search, bringing me to seek in vain at the far-flung corners of the earth for that which has not been found in the depths of my spirit.
Chadarav
I constantly seek that which is in the midst of my soul.
Outer servitude distracts my mind from that inner search, bringing me to seek in vain at the far-flung corners of the earth for that which has not been found in the depths of my spirit.
Chadarav
Monday, September 29, 2008
I Must Speak of Myself
by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook
I must speak of myself a great deal.
Matters of my essential being must become extremely clear to me.
When I understand myself, I will understand everything—the world and life—until my understanding will reach the Source of life.
Chadarav
I must speak of myself a great deal.
Matters of my essential being must become extremely clear to me.
When I understand myself, I will understand everything—the world and life—until my understanding will reach the Source of life.
Chadarav
Sunday, September 28, 2008
From Within Myself
by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook
From within myself, from my wellsprings, I must always take the hidden treasures.
I am always connected to a holy suffering that results from my search for supernal perfection.
That search is never fulfilled. Indeed, it has no need to be fulfilled.
This is the nature of such ever-lasting yearning: its foundation is divine thirst. Nothing in the world can slake that thirst except that which it seeks: the on-going revelation and ever-growing experience of the thirst itself.
That itself is transformed into the source of all pleasure, into the platform for all spiritual delights, into the radiance of the Almighty.
Chadarav
From within myself, from my wellsprings, I must always take the hidden treasures.
I am always connected to a holy suffering that results from my search for supernal perfection.
That search is never fulfilled. Indeed, it has no need to be fulfilled.
This is the nature of such ever-lasting yearning: its foundation is divine thirst. Nothing in the world can slake that thirst except that which it seeks: the on-going revelation and ever-growing experience of the thirst itself.
That itself is transformed into the source of all pleasure, into the platform for all spiritual delights, into the radiance of the Almighty.
Chadarav
Friday, September 19, 2008
The Water in Which Faith Grows
by R. Nachman of Breslov
It is important to dig and find the water in which faith grows.
And that “water” corresponds to solution-oriented ideas, out of which faith grows.
This is related to the verse, “I will praise Your name, for You have done something that comes out of nowhere; solutions from afar, deeply faithful” (Isaiah 25).
Such solutions correspond to the depth of the heart.
In other words, when a person’s faith is damaged and it falls, when even crying out does not help him—i.e., not even a simply outcry without words—then a person has to cry out from his heart only, as in the verse, “Their heart cried out to Hashem” (Lamentations 2). In that case, only the heart cries out, without a sound, as in the verse, “From the depths have I called out to You, Hashem” (Psalms 130)—from the depths of the heart.
And the depth of the heart corresponds to solution-oriented ideas, as in the verse, “Deep waters are solutions in the heart of a person” (Proverbs 20).
And so, when crying out does not help because one’s faith has fallen, then one has to cry out from the heart alone, without a sound, only from the depth of the heat.
And as a result, the solutions are revealed, which correspond to “deep waters are solutions….”
And when such solutions are revealed in the world—i.e., when people know how to solve their problems—then faith grows. “Solutions from afar, deeply faithful.”
Likutei Moharan II 5:2
It is important to dig and find the water in which faith grows.
And that “water” corresponds to solution-oriented ideas, out of which faith grows.
This is related to the verse, “I will praise Your name, for You have done something that comes out of nowhere; solutions from afar, deeply faithful” (Isaiah 25).
Such solutions correspond to the depth of the heart.
In other words, when a person’s faith is damaged and it falls, when even crying out does not help him—i.e., not even a simply outcry without words—then a person has to cry out from his heart only, as in the verse, “Their heart cried out to Hashem” (Lamentations 2). In that case, only the heart cries out, without a sound, as in the verse, “From the depths have I called out to You, Hashem” (Psalms 130)—from the depths of the heart.
And the depth of the heart corresponds to solution-oriented ideas, as in the verse, “Deep waters are solutions in the heart of a person” (Proverbs 20).
And so, when crying out does not help because one’s faith has fallen, then one has to cry out from the heart alone, without a sound, only from the depth of the heat.
And as a result, the solutions are revealed, which correspond to “deep waters are solutions….”
And when such solutions are revealed in the world—i.e., when people know how to solve their problems—then faith grows. “Solutions from afar, deeply faithful.”
Likutei Moharan II 5:2
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