The Awakening

So I’ve been in Israel about 22 days now and things are…fine! J It’s crazy to think I’ve been here almost a month…seems like the time is racing past and I still have so much that I want to do. Two week ago was the week of Pesach (Passover) and thank god we can eat bread again. I am grateful and so blessed to have had the time to spend such amazing traditional holidays, with such tremendous people, but The Quest must continue. Our physical states may have holidays, but our spirits do not, and now it is time to play catch-up.

The point of this blog is not to gripe about my “inaction” for the past month, but to talk about an amazing conversation I had with an amazingly wise man, a guru, if you will. I spent 4 days with a good friend and his family in a Western Israeli suburb. My friend’s father is what they call “A Religious” here in Israel. A religious man who keeps kosher, wears a kippah and a “tallit katan” (a poncho-like garment with a hole for the head and knotted fringe hanging from 4 corners) everyday, with a long beard and fantastic white curly hair coming only from the sides of his head. On this night, the last night of Pesach, after our Hag (holiday) dinner, we sat around the table conversing and he explained to me the reasons why he turned his life back to religion.

 “It is sometimes hard to know how to be a good person, but when there is a God and a Holy Book…a guide to follow, it makes life much easier to live”

As a non-religious person I first thought to myself “COP-OUT!” Keeping this exclamation to myself, of course. But then the comment was made that “all religions are the same.” I leaned in, having believed this for some time now. Be it God, Jah, Ala, or any of the many gods any religions praise at any given time, these figures are spirits. Energies, not in human form, rather created or discovered to guide us to live by the Golden Rule…theoretically. This belief or faith in a higher power is imperative to the survival of many people in a world where humans seem to be left to their own devices. It can be a very confusing and seemingly purposeless world without something, or someone to believe in, so religions were created, and are still observed and followed today.

The conversation started with an analysis of romantic relationships, with an emphasis on coping with disagreements and hardships. “When you are A Religious, it isn’t just the two of you in the relationship…there is also God,” my friend’s father explained. He went on to tell me that now, there’s not only a disrespect for the institution of marriage, but there is also a great deal of ego in today’s society…apparently this is an international problem. The Ego says, “I’m right and you’re wrong…I’m leaving!” When, in fact, “right and wrong” is completely ineffective, where a proper, mature adult response would be to find a solution through compromise or a widening of communication to better understand any situation.

According to my friend’s father, True Love cannot happen until after marriage. Once you take those vows, and make that promise to be there for each other before the eyes of God, you now have an obligation…and not just to yourselves, but also to God. And with this obligation (especially with one being solely based on blind faith) it is much easier to Make It Work. To excuse the Ego of it’s futile duties and to be open and more “user friendly” with the partner YOU have chosen.    

The conversation didn’t end there. It broadened to the responsibilities that we also have to ourselves. Again, in a generation with a large lack of respect, including for oneself, it is very easy to be “a slave or a prisoner” to the world around us. The pressures and over-stimulations of today that make us feel that we MUST run faster and jump higher to break even. “I heard we have to dance AND sing AND act AND play a musical instrument…They don’t call it Performing Arts for nothin’…” Yes, I did just quote FAME: The Movie. My friend’s father gets encouragement from God to take time, slow down and listen to his heart. He has created a comfortable, quiet space inside of himself for God to come in and give him the answers he needs, and the peace he asks for in every prayer, 3x a day. I believe that it is imperative for all of us to create such a space inside of ourselves. It doesn’t necessarily need to be for God, but if that’s what get’s you to a place of ease with minimal stress then do it! It seems to have been working very well for my friend’s father and his wife. For me, having ME in that space is all I need to want to be an overachiever of Good, it’s finding the time to nourish my inner self that can get a little difficult, but getting back on that fallen bike is much easier to do when you see the effectiveness in the glimmer of a wise man’s eye!

The Awakening has begun!!!