Purim, ( i don't mind and I don't care...) the gift of leaving the " Mind"

So in our world there is a lot of Mind

Purim gives us the opportunity to let go of the work of having to "know" everything, decide whether we like it or don't and whether it is good or bad.

Purim is a vacation from the Rational Mind, the mind dominated by post Garden-of- Eden thinking where everything is split into polarities of right and wrong,  good and bad and evil or holy. On Purim, we transcend the Rational Mind, we move to a place higher than "sachel", to a place where we can connect above the polarities, above the distinctions, where we can see that the source of everything is in fact G-d and therefore good.

Of course this doesn't mean that all of a sudden we can condone the evil in this world, the acts of terror and bigotry perpetuated daily or feel that how we act doesn't matter...., it's just that for one 24 hour period we are given an opportunity to look at our own lives, and what G-d has put in front of us, and relate to it in an attitude of total gratitude, knowing with our non -mind, that whatever Hashem does is good and we can  transcend our own definitions of what we think that is, and trust that if He has given that to us.... it's good in a way that we do not need to understand. 

We can take it further with the people we meet. Now once again, I am not talking about the machete brandishing terrorist who may want to do bodily harm to you or anyone else,  G-d forbid, but more about a fellow Jew who may have a particularly irritating quirk or personality... relate from the place of non -judgement... he or she is in essence all good, also created in the image of G-d  and Purim is an ideal time to practice seeing this good.

The Mitzvah on Purim is to get oneself into such an expanded state of consciousness that one cannot distinguish between blessing Mordechai( the hero of the Purim story) and cursing Haman (the villain) or cursing Mordechai and blessing Haman!! That is one of the central obligations of the holiday! One can only do this by going beyond the rational mind, to a place of trust and transcendence....

It is said that joy breaks through  all boundaries.... be happy and transcend the boundaries of the rational mind!

I bless us all that we should get to this amazing "place" in our consciousness this Purim,  and take from it the ability to look with Purim eyes at all the details of what Hashem gives us year round.

Taming the Monkey Mind in the Month of Adar

The Month of Adar, according to Jewish spiritual teachings was formed by the letter "Kuf". The letter kuf has a dual nature, it is the letter of holiness as the Hebrew word for holiness is "Kedushah" beginning with the kuf, but it also has an aspect of being related to some mischief -making as the letters used to spell out kuf with different vowels spell out the word "kof' which means monkey.

In the Purim story, the anti-hero of the whole Megillah is the bad and hateful Haman, a descendant of the tribe of Amalek who we are commanded to destroy. Amalek is no longer  the name of a particular tribe or specific nation of people, but now is more of a concept that we are duty bound to eradicate whenever we find it. The negative aspects of Amalek can be connected to breaking down its name into "Amal Kof", the mischief or work of the monkey.

What is the mischief of the monkey?

The numerical value of the word Amalek in Hebrew is equivalent to the numerical value of the word "Safek" which means doubt. When we doubt the value of our own self, or the value of our actions, or the value of our beliefs or when we doubt G-d Himself, we are being attacked by Amalek.

In teachings connected to Meditation, one often comes across the concept of  the Monkey mind, this most often refers to a mind that cannot calm itself down, that is jumping from one worry to the next. The work of "meditation" is to calm this monkey mind down, the method usually suggested is, to find a comfortable place to sit and then close one's eyes and settle down by finding one's breath and then focussing on the breath to enter into a more calm, focused or meditative state.

It is interesting to note that the word for Breath in Hebrew is 'Neshimah" which shares the same consonant letters as the word for the Soul, "Neshomah". When we can connect to our inner self, our soul, through connecting to our breath, we can tame the mischievous Monkey mind and separate from that self -doubting,  G-d doubting trouble maker and enter into a more truthful and calm relationship with reality.

Being able to tame the monkey-mind is a wonderful skill to acquire and can greatly enhance our doverning (praying) too... learning to focus and not give into to the distraction of the
"Amal-Kof".

Adar Bais is a great month to work on this....