“Meditation, Judaism, and Self-Mastery”
Let’s reclaim our spiritual heritage!
Today’s Class Agenda:
We will start learning about Unification Meditation: experiencing Oneness with God by reciting the Shema.
We will also continue our study of Mindfulness, including the Fundamental Activities of Mindfulness.
Jewish meditation techniques we have covered so far:
Amidah: achieving consciousness of God through prayer.
Hitbodedut: becoming mindful through internal and external isolation.
Ruach Hakodesh (Enlightenment:) transcending the physical, through work on yourself.
Mantra Meditation – Hagah – quiet the mind for spiritual growth.
Contemplation: concentrating on a visual object.
Visualization: holding an image in the mind’s eye.
Current
Unification: experiencing Oneness with God by reciting the Shema.
Upcoming:
Blessing power: meditations to bring you closer to God through mundane acts.
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The “Refresher:” a simple yet effective move to regain emotional equilibrium.
Posture: structured and relaxed
Hands: forget ‘em
Feet: shoulder width
Shoes: okay, but better barefoot or socks
Pace: sssssssslllllllllloooooooowwwwww
Direction: backwards
Eyes: closed if possible
Unification Meditation: experiencing Oneness with God by reciting the Shema.
Rabbi Kaplan – “Jewish Meditation,” pp 122 – 131
The most ancient and important prayer
Words from Torah
More than a prayer
Not a mantra
Dispel forces of evil
Connect to God
Evil in a parable
Purpose of evil
Emulate evil
Chafetz Chaim
Declaration
Paradigm
Last words
Integral to davening
Meant to be a meditation
Significance of name Israel
Contending with spiritual
Meditative state
Recognize God
Our God
Shema ends
No plurality
Objection?
Who is higher – God or logic?
Understanding theological paradoxes
Love
Surrounding prayers and blessings
Commandment
Powerful meditation
Technique
Easier than Amidah
Say as part of service, or alone
Transcendence
World of Love
Peak experience
Love of God
Spelling of the word
Best practices for meditation
Bhante Gunaratana, “Mindfulness in Plain English,”
Mindfulness and insight meditation, pp 139 – 142
Both the goal and the means
Remembering
Reminders
Wholesome state of mind
Reject compulsion
Prevent hindrances
Non-attachment
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From Matt Furey: mind / matter
Fear is nothing but a mental image that is projected onto the screen of our mind.
Some fear is good for us as it prevents falling into a complacent state of over-confidence. Excessive fear, however, paralyzes us or makes us act irrationally, even ignoring our natural instincts.
When we encounter a fearful mental image, we have an opportunity to examine it. We can look at it objectively, then ask ourselves what the opposite of this image would be.
As soon as you become aware of what you are picturing when you feel a sense of fear, change the mental picture playing in the theatre of your mind to something that generates courage and confidence. In so doing, you feel a shift for the better and immediately begin to realize that your mental images govern your feelings.
You can interrupt the onslaught of fear and other negative emotions with deep breathing exercises – but ONLY if the deep breathing exercises are combined with mental imagery that shift your mind away from disruptive emotions.
To breathe deeply without a change in mental imagery might help you a tiny bit – but this microscopic change is negligible when compared to the MACROSCOPIC changes that instantaneously occur when you project “positive outcome” images on your mental movie screen.
Fear is only something when we make believe it is something.
Once we realize that we make ourselves afraid, that is when we can see that fear is nothing.
Here endeth today’s lesson.
Matt Furey
Steve Siebold, “177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class”
The World Class is Determined to Win, p 76
Check out our new website!
https://resource-room-for-jewish-meditation.com
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