“Listening”

“The Kabbalah teaches that the Holy may speak to you from its many hidden places at any time. The world may whisper in your ear, or the spark of God in you may whisper in your heart. My grandfather showed me how to listen.”

How wonderful it was that the little girl Rachel had her grandfather to teach her how to listen. Having him present at such a young age helped prevent her from having to undo so many beliefs that many of us develop as we grow, beliefs that cause us to move away from trusting, or even understanding, the sacred part of ourselves. Rachel had the benefit of growing up with a refined ear, making it so she not only learned how to listen, she didn’t have to unlearn how not to hear.

So let’s use our time together in this class to help each other listen. In doing so, we’ll honor the “god spark” in each of us. To start, work to define how you can “show your presence” in this class. In a virtual setting such as this, posting to the website and reading what others have written are how we do this.

That being said, please give yourself permission to be human. Begin by honoring your own “god spark” which means being kind to yourself. As those of you who have ever been involved in my “Practice of Kindness” class know, being kind to yourself is the basic premise of the class. Each week simply refines that premise, expanding the concept of what is your “self” outward. So read what you can. Post when you can. Understand that doing either helps each of us get more from this class.

With that in mind, I’d like to us to consider that we are a single entity, like each finger is part of something greater called a hand. Individually we are students. Together we are a class. Just like a finger can act independently, so can each of us. But each independent finger, regardless of what it does, is part of the hand. Connected by this class, we are one.

Link to Book: “My Grandfather’s Blessings”