First or Last?

by Rabbi Shias Taub

Contrary to popular misconception, the Jewish New Year of Rosh
Hashanah does not celebrate the creation of the world. It celebrates
the beginning of G-d's relationship with human beings.

You see, this Wednesday night, September 8, 2010 at sundown, will be
the precise anniversary of the day that G-d created Adam and Eve.

The Torah says: "For six days G-d made the heavens and the earth and
all that is in them, and on the seventh day He rested." But of all
those six days, the one that G-d singled out to be His anniversary as
Creator is not the actual first day that the acts of creation were
begun but the day on which He made the human being.

Now, the first human being was called Adam. The Hebrew word for earth
is "adamah" and Adam means literally "from the earth." As the Torah
tells us, Adam was actually made from the dirt.

On the other hand, the name Adam is also related to the word "edameh"
-- "I will be G-d-like."

So which is it? Are we dirt or are we Divine?

Is there such a thing as Divine dirt?

It seems that the secret of being human is that we are the highest of
the high only when we embrace being the lowest of the low. Just like
we were created last of all the creations, and yet, it is only on the
anniversary of the day that we came into existence that G-d celebrates
creation.

It's sort of like the cycle of the year. You've got to get all the
way down to the very end in order to have a new beginning.

Rabbi Shais Taub
http://www.chasidicthought.com

A NEW YEAR

It's September, and it's my turn to contribute to IOCC. On the Jewish calender, we happen to be just eight days away from a new year. Rosh Hashanah (which this year begins at sunset on September 8, 2010) is the anniversary of Creation. It is a time for renewal and a time for taking stock.

In recovery, we are familiar with the major inventory of the Fourth Step and the continued "mini-inventory" of the Tenth Step. It is interesting that in the Big Book, the way it describes the Eleventh Step meditation is also as an inventory of what's to be done during the day ahead upon arising and of how the day was actually spent upon retiring.

In the days leading up to the New Year, we Jews have a custom of doing a yearly inventory.

When I look back at last year, I see a lot of changes. Notably, our family moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (where we had lived for six years) and relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Soon after that, we were blessed with the birth of -- thank G-d -- our fourth child, a daughter named, Chaya Mushka (which literally means "the spice of life.") Professionally, the nature of my work has changed quite a bit and I am now more focussed on writing and speaking all over the world as opposed to staying in one place and building a community. On a very exciting note, my book entitled G-d of Our Understanding: Jewish Spirituality and Recovery from Addiction is due to be released next month. (I will, G-d willing, post more about the book later.)

All of these changes are blessings. Change is life. But change can be scary. And that's why we rely so much on G-d so that we may have the "courage to change." When we remember to let G-d do His thing, and we just focus on doing our thing, then change becomes much more fluid, much more peaceful. In other words, life's gonna change regardless. How I deal with change is all in my head.

Indeed, the Hebrew word Rosh Hashanah which literally means "Head of the Year" also means "Head of the Change" since the words for "year" and "change" in Hebrew are so closely related. This Rosh Hashanah, I ask G-d to help me have a "head of change" -- a head that is able to deal with the movement of life and not get entrenched in what makes me comfortable now or how I want things to be. Having a head of change also means being able to quickly let go of opinions that I fought so hard to hold on to. I ask G-d to give me the maturity to realize when my outlook has been wrong and to quickly, gracefully move way from old ideas and thoughts.

And I ask to be able to see what it is that I can change in the world around me. Although "fixing" has gotten us into so much trouble in the past, there's a whole lot that we can fix, too. I can be of use to others. I can make someone's life better. Not because I have the power to change things for other people but because G-d who has all power sometimes chooses me as His agent to bring help to a fellow human being.

May your new year be full of new things and may you enjoy every minute of it.


Rabbi Shais Taub
http://www.chasidicthought.com

A PRAYER FOR YOU

Holy Spirit, Lover of All Life, how good it is to take a moment to recognize that God is all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful. That the Mother Father is everywhere present in Its fullness at every point in existence right now. God always has been and will always be.

I know this Being has full expression as each and every one of us. I know we are all made in Spirit’s image and likeness and that it is our birthright as children of the Mother Father to have all good as our lives.

I claim only that which is good for all of us. That as we come to a place of conscious contact we experience the God of our own understanding in a way that is perfectly clear and supports us on our recovery journey. We accept the unlimited power of the One Life to refresh, revitalize and renew our minds, bodies and souls so that we live full out clean and sober in service to the most high. Those who see us, see the Goodness that sent us.

I accept this word as already done by the Mother Father before I even thought to communicate it; such is the generosity and giving-ness of the Holy Spirit to us all.

So I let go and let this word of spiritual growth in recovery be, for the Creative Intelligence knows what to do as each of us and does it in ease and grace right now as our recovery experience. And we let it be. And so it is. Amen.

Peace and prosperity, Gail

TRANSFORMATION EXPRESS

Once you begin a spiritual practice or devotion such as visioning you begin to experience a few things that may be upsetting if you do not know what is happening. What’s happening is called transformation.

Visioning is a practice that puts you squarely on the transformation train. Hold onto your seat!

First the good news; conscious transformation is what we all need to be about. Now, the better news; you can let your vision pull you to higher ground living or you can resist transformation and let the pain push you to higher ground. I choose to be pulled by vision. Here are a few tips that may help to keep your seat on the transformation train and allows vision to pull you:

If you begin to feel as if life as you know it is coming undone, that’s good. It means you are doing the spiritual work on the inside to change how your life out pictures. All that is happening is your old paradigm has become too small and like the chick in the egg, you are bumping up against the walls of the now too small paradigm. It’s okay. Keep your eye on your vision and let the changes be.

Another tip - when in intense transformation, many of us feel like we are dying or want to… no worries. All that is happening is your old way is dying. Let it. When we elevate our vibration all things that are not in that higher frequency fall away. This makes room for the fresh and new. Look for it.

I support people to let go by burying the old ways in the field of prayer. In prayer, we thank the old for bringing us this far and embrace the new. Very soon after the “prayer memorial” session, spiritual sunlight floods our minds and senses and the joy of breaking through the old shell into a bigger experience of life sweeps over us. Do not take my word for this. Have your own experiences of growth, joy and a larger way of being. It is my joy to walk with you and support ease and grace in your transformation experiences. What a journey. Gail

The Visioning Process

A process about which we have been hearing a great deal these days is what has come to be known as Visioning. It differs from affirmative prayer in the following way:

Affirmative prayer (Spiritual Mind Treatment) is a proactive process where you move your consciousness to a place of acceptance for something you want to experience or acquire. It is a process for letting God, as Universal Law, know specifically what you want. Important questions, however, are: “Do I even know what I want?” Or, “Is what I want always what is best for me at this time?”

Visioning, on the other hand, is just the opposite. In this process you becomes centered in your intuitive mind, opening to God’s ever-present inspiration and guidance, and ask that God enlighten you on some need or desire. This is a conscious act of being open to the best God has for you.

The visioning process has been around for thousands of years and, in fact, probably predates the process of affirmative prayer. It is what Ernest Holmes is referring to when he said, “True prayer must be ‘Thy will be done.’” (Science of Mind,pg. 268) Or, where he encouraged us to daily say, “Perfect God within me, Perfect Life within me, which is God, come forth into expression through me as that which I am; lead me ever into the paths of perfection and cause me to see only the Good.” (Science of Mind, pg. 185)

Visioning, as we use the term, is similar to what many present-day Christian churches are calling Contemplative Prayer; and yogis, for thousands of years, have called Contemplative Meditation.

Following is a brief outline of one way for doing the Visioning process. It is simple, straightforward and enormously effective in helping you to gain clear direction for your life or the life of any endeavor in which you are involved.
● Center yourself in the silence and know that God, as love, surrounds and infuses you.
● Acknowledge the continual in-flow of Spirit expressing Itself in your consciousness as knowledge.
● Ask questions concerning that for which you are seeking knowledge, insight, inspiration or guidance.

Formulate your own personally meaningful questions or perhaps these typical questions that might be useful to you are:
●● What is the highest vision the Infinite has for (this project, event, situation, my life)?
●● What must be released to empower this vision?
●● What must be embraced or changed to empower this vision?
●● What else needs to be understood right now to manifest this vision?
●● Silently and confidently wait for the answers to come to you.
●● End your session with a short affirmative prayer and declare that the vision is already manifested.

It is useful to write down the insights, guidance and results you gain from this process, hold them in consciousness, and declare them completed. This is a simple, easy process that can help you transform your life. All you need to use it
effectively is to DO IT!

For group visioning, know:
● what you going to vision on.
● who the visioners are to be.
● who wants to vision.
● what shall be the frequency of the visioning meetings.
● what will be the follow up and implementation process.

Blessing your visioning journey,Gail

CREATE THE SPACE FOR VISIONING

There are many ways to go about doing our spiritual practices. All require the element of time. If my practice is yoga or self-mastery classes, I must take time, make time to show up. This is true of visioning. It is essential to create a space to experience a successful and satisfying time in our visioning practice. It is simple to do. I review my day to look for a natural pause in it or I can decide a time. The time of day often determines the physical space we are in. In morning we could be in the bedroom or garden, in the afternoon in the office or running errands, in the evening we could be in the den or the garage. Wherever we are at the time we decide to vision, the space should be quiet, private, and uninterrupted. We may need to ask people around us to not interrupt during this time. I have a small sign I hang on my doorknob at home or at work that says “IN SESSION”.

Once, I have set aside the time, place and feel confident that I can proceed uninterrupted in a reasonably quiet place, I can begin. Sit in a comfortable manner, have pen and paper handy (or your journal) and settle down. Set aside at least 15 minutes. Have the visioning questions close at hand.

What visioning questions? That’s next. Namaste’
Gail

A Fresh Facet to Meditation

Let’s take a moment to consider what might be a different aspect of meditation. It’s called visioning.


I learned visioning while becoming a licensed spiritual practitioner in my spiritual community. Each month there was an open community meeting to come and vision for our spiritual center. And later I learned that each ministry at that spiritual center had its own visioning meeting. Early on I caught on that to build my own life and ministry visioning is a valuable spiritual practice.


Visioning is an opening of our spirit to be in conscious contact with the Divine Idea of whatever we are visioning about. In visioning we court the presence to catch Spirit’s idea about whatever we are seeking or exploring. Every aspect on my ministry has been created by visioning. And it is to this spiritual practice that I give credit to the diversity and success of my life work.
Is there an aspect of your life you want to sparkle and shine? Let’s take that aspect to the visioning process and watch it grow.


Tune in again soon for how to create the space for visioning.
Gail
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Conscious-Contact/64237559102?ref=ts#!/pages/Conscious-Contact/64237559102?ref=ts