Faith As A Mind-Move
"Faith is what I call a mind-move, a radical shift in awareness. The expression 'a leap of faith' is so true. Faith is not something we can arrive at by a careful, step-by-step process. It is not something we can square with our intellect. Faith does not make sense, nor does it feel safe. It is what takes us further after the questions that can be answered logically have been exhausted. To have faith, we must let go. Faith is like swimming the backstroke, reaching above and behind is into an unknown we cannot see. Faith is like driving forward with only the rearview mirror as a guide."
— Jewish With Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice
We Are Theotropic Beings
"I believe that we are all theotropic beings. Just as the sunflower turns toward the sun and we call it heliotropic, I believe that all beings are theotropic: we grow naturally toward God."
— Jewish With Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice
The Practicality of a Householder Religion
"Judaism has often been called a householder religion. World religions like Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism all had their own monastic or ascetic traditions, urging the best among them to renounce worldly concerns in the pursuit of the holy. The problem is that neither a priestly elite nor a class of monks has to take responsibility for how the world is run, for planting in spring and harvesting in fall. Judaism, on the other hand, insists that we elevate our everyday lives to the sacred. Most of the mizvot are aimed at ordinary people in ordinary situations. Even rabbis are encouraged to learn and practice a trade, get married, have children — to have a strong stake in the business of life.
"What we see when we look around us depends on the glasses we're wearing. If we look at the world through the spectacles of a householder, the first thing we notice is what needs doing, what needs fixing up. The laws of the Torah were concerned that the courts be impartial, public thoroughfares be safe, lost and stolen property returned, slaves treated properly, the poor taken care of. A householder religion can play a crucial role in the physical stewardship of the planet, for our spirituality is not ethereal or otherworldly but rather grounded in that very stewardship."
— Jewish With Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice
The Two Winged Soul
"There is a basic notion that every soul has two 'wings.' These 'wings of the soul ' are Love and Awe. When the soul is free, fresh and open, and available for inspiration, it flies on these two wings. With one wing it is hard to fly; you must have two."
— Wrapped In a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of the Hasidic Masters
Making Love is a Good Deed
"The Sabbath is for lovemaking. Making love is the ideal model of the relationship between God and God's people. In the right conditions, it is a holy act. When our intentions are to give love as well as receive it, and we consciously interact with our partner in a dance of mutual caring, lovemaking is a mitzvah, a good deed."
— First Steps to a New Jewish Spirit
Walk Your Mammal
"Our mammal has to walked. It's the responsibility of the 5 or 10 percent of us that is our human being to take care of the mammal — which means to feed it, clothe it, rest it, see that it mates every once in a while, and all the other things that are the natural needs and functions of the mammal part of us.
"Too many people neglect their mammal because they think the care will take so much time and effort, or they tell themselves they'll do it later, at some future date when they're under less stress (from work or relationships) and have more time. This is false-thinking. Taking care of you mammal does not have to take much time — five minutes of exercise before you eat breakfast is a step in the right direction. Just like your dog, your mammal has to be looked after every day."
— First Steps to a New Jewish Spirit
Spiritual Eldering
"Spiritual eldering has benefited from all this exploration. It draws liberally on the breakthroughs in consciousness that we have made in the past three decades. It also depends on the shift from the old, otherworldly spirituality to the new celebrational spirituality that heals the split between spirit and matter and that affirms the sacredness of life on Earth. This attitude enables us to harvest our lives and to bequeath a legacy to the generations that follow us."
— From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Profound New Vision of Growing Older
