KosherTorah School for Biblical, Judaic & Spiritual Studies

Mind Building

by Ariel Bar Tzadok
Copyright © 2015 by Ariel Bar Tzadok. All rights reserved.

“Look! YHWH your God has given you the land. Rise up, possess! even as YHWH God of your fathers has spoken. Do not fear and do not be small.” (Deut. 1:21)

Want to become enlightened? Then expand your mind! This not going to be accomplished elusively through meditation. Meditation will give you insights, but insights, in and of themselves, are like dreams, or works of art; they are subject to never-ending interpretations. Real enlightenment comes about when we turn on the “lights” inside the mind, and bring clarity to the thinking process.

Turing on the internal cerebral lights is not an event, but rather it is a process. Want to become enlightened, really enlightened? Then cultivate your mind. Learn critical, analytical ways of thinking. It is this type of penetrating analytical thinking that can set one's mind free from delusional beliefs.

For thousands of years, the value of the analytical thinking was known to, and cherished by, the best of all ancient thinkers and mystics. The ancient Greek philosophers, the Jewish Kabbalists, the Talmudic Sages, Patanjali of India, Confucius of China, Maimonides, and mystic masters of all ages, and of all walks of life, equally shared this one value: they all cultivated the rational, intellectual powers of the mind, and used them to penetrate beneath the facade of things in order to discover the hidden truths concealed within all things in creation.

The philosophical Kabbalah is most often called mysticism, but this is really not so. Talmudic study is often considered to be the antithesis of mysticism, but this too is really not so. When we come to properly (and correctly) define terms like rationalism and mysticism, we discover that the great chasm that some think separate the two is really more like a thin line, if even that.

Many think that enlightenment comes about only as a result of a withdrawal of the mind from outside observations. Yet, the truly enlightened know that this is the opposite of the truth. Many think that rationalism is based exclusively on external observations, without any addition internal, intuitive input. This too is mistaken.

The human mind is a wondrous creation that is capable of so many different types of mental functions. Only when the mind is used in its totality does one discover the truths of both the external world, and the internal world. Truths are discovered both inside the mind, and outside in the world. This is one of the basic lessons of the Kabbalah, and the secret underlying the Kabbalistic teaching about the sefirotic mohin (brains).

Learn HOW to think, not WHAT to think. Hokhma enters into Binah, and penetrates it like sperm penetrates the egg. Once the intellect (Binah) is properly “fertilized” by inner intuition (Hokhma), the two work together to form complete, and accurate knowledge (Da'at). This is the “sacred triangle” of the Mind. In Kabbalah, this is called Yihud HaBaD.

Intuition and spirituality, without proper form and context, float around nebulously in the mind leading one to all kinds of mental, and emotional detachments from the real world. This is never good. Rationalism when defined as “all that exists is what is seen, and no more,” is blind to that which exists, but is presently out of site. Usually for the one who embraces this perverted definition of rationalism also embraces a fear of exploration. Thus this limited outlook is not rational at all, on the contrary, it is the definition of the irrational. It is equally, no good.

Intuition inspires, intellect confirms, the two together form the whole. This is the ancient secret, known to the masters of all ancient cultures, and schools, from around the world. This message needs no further elaboration.

One must take the message and “rise up and possess it.” Compare it to weight training in a gym. It takes only a few moments to learn the exercises. It takes months of hard work performing those exercises that leads to one becoming big and strong. As it is with the muscles of the body, so too is it with the muscle of the mind.

Build your minds. Make them what they are supposed to be: created in the Image of God.

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