The purpose

The purpose of a life lived in Torah is not the elevation of the soul: It is the sanctification of the world. Thus, every day we experience two sides of the same light. On one side, the light is like the land, requiring work to be made useful and to produce clothing, food, shelter. The other side of that same light is one in which we learn and pray. The first is the city, the second a wilderness. The first is communal, the second isolated. They appear to be in tension, but they are of and from the same light. They are the two parts of every one of our days. We can each begin our day in wilderness, with morning seclusion, prayer, meditation, and learning. But sooner or later we emerge from the wildernesss and move into the world of matters, of business, livelihood and labor.

What is really important?

There is so much work to be done. And so many thoughts race through my mind when I begin to think about what is important and what I think I need to do. The work that sits before me is in layers and at the surface feels like a hammer shattering my peace into pieces.

At the surface are my day to day responsibilities and activities. Some of them have value in expressing a greater good and others are simply habit. Get up, start working, optimize web pages, analyze traffic logs, return emails, make a to do list for the day, clear out spam, review case inquiries, play voicemails, meetings, ideas, follow up with work that others are doing, and so on. The mundane, day to day work to make a living and support a family. Many of us have our own version of this routine. How much of our time do we dedicate to such tasks. And how do we integrate these activities with a greater calling.

How, if all of the above is approached with the right mindset, can it be made holy. All of that "mundane" - that too is an expression of the Endless and Infinite One. So I can not simply say - why bother with it. Is it not the battle field upon which I stand? Because to simply go about it without recognizing that the work too is an expression of God would be to ignore one part of the miriad display of The Infinite. No, that daily work is as holy as silent prayer, if I will allow it to be so.

But, judging as I do, I ask whether that is time well spent or time wasted away from a "truer" calling and exploration into a higher self, the infinite self. A taste for a higher calling exists. The call comes from within. And then, I judge that those daily activites have less value, as I consider others that perhaps I think could offer more value. What about exercise and good diet for the body, what about study of Holy texts, what about the study of Hebrew and the opportunity that provides to directly study Torah. What about the practice of Yoga and meditation and a gateway to experiences that are beyond the mundane and that can help make the mundane Holy as well. What about prayer?

So a frustration emerges. One in which for that moment I feel the world being contracted and imperfect and unfixable. Emotions run from way to way and the mind keeps searching for an answer. And then there is another layer and another layer.

What about the idea that the world is infinite. That its fundamental nature is infinite. What about the reality of that? That it is all One, and all is an expression of The Infinite One. That I am of, from, and within The Infinite One. If there is an infinity, and since I believe that the basic nature of all that is knowable, and known and unknown and unknowable is infinite, and I believe that matter, time and space are creations of The Infinite One, then I can consider infinity to be more than an idea -- rather, I experience it as it is, as infinite with possibility, potential, body, mind, life, spirit and soul. I move beyond my narrow experience and into the Infinite experience. And within, of, and from that Infinitiy comes a hope, an expansion, and perfection.