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Advanced Practice in Conscious Living I keep thinking about a certain Talmudic passage and how it pertains to Mussar practice – and my own in particular. Our Sages debated which one Torah passage best encapsulated all of Jewish spiritual practice. The first opinion was Shema Yisroel – our affirmation of the Oneness and non-duality of God. The second opinion was the verse, which begins: ve’ahavta l’re’acha – that you shall love your friend as you love yourself. The third verse was that the fire on the sacrificial alter must remain burning and never be extinguished, a puzzling verse, compared to the impressive preceding two. And yet, the rabbis concluded that it was this, the third verse that most captured the essence of all our spiritual work. That is, the fire of our spiritual efforts must remain consistent in its burning and never let up or take a break. The Path of the Soul course was a remarkable experience for me. We all want to improve and be better people. The difference here was that the adaptation of Mussar works into a methodology for personal growth and transformation. Taking maximal benefit from remarkable efforts of Alan Morinis required a lot of work (that is, if we took the affirmations, chevruta and va’ad work and journaling seriously). I was tempted to take a break after the course was completed. My yetzer ha’rah offered many perfectly acceptable and valid excuses. Happily, these were excuses my wonderful chevruta and va’ad members would not buy. Remaining consistent in the Mussar work (never letting the fire extinguish) is what cultivates gradual, at times barely perceptible, progress and change. Fascinating, that the Hebrew word for consistency is ekeviut – derived from the root ekev (heel). That is, persevering and simply continuing to put one foot in front of the next. The Mussar In Action course afforded me the opportunity to continue the work with my chevruta, work with my va’ad and most important, work on myself. Mussar In Action is all about taking the Mussar wisdom teachings, and bringing them to where it truly belongs – into the real world. In this course, taking on a volunteer project serves as the medium in which to observe and refine those traits being addressed. I’m excited about recent changes in the course. The primary text is a remarkable book, “Alei Shur”. Written by the Mussar giant, Rav Shlomo Wolbe, pieces in this course will be available in English translation for the first time. You can learn more about Mussar In Action and register for the course here. |
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