Increasing Wholeness

Elie Kaplan Spitz

Description

Combines Jewish tradition, contemporary sciences and world spiritual writings with practical contemplative exercises. Will help you balance and integrate mind, body, heart and spirit, reach out to the Divine, and be more fully present and effective in your life.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Bien-être émotionnel
• Bien-être émotionnel
• Philosophie et théologie
• Judaism
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 15 avril 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781580238304
• Langue: English

Extrait

Praise for
INCREASING WHOLENESS
Jewish Wisdom & Guided Meditations to Strengthen & Calm Body, Heart, Mind & Spirit
An inspired, intelligent book that will teach you how to have a meaningful meditation practice. The YouTube meditations are a special bonus for beginners.
- Nan Fink Gefen, PhD , author, Discovering Jewish Meditation: Instruction & Guidance for Learning an Ancient Spiritual Practice
I can tell immediately when I m in the presence of a great teacher, one who offers wisdom with nuance and maturity rather than clichés and truisms. Elie Spitz is my teacher. Becoming whole requires a whole practice-not prayer or reflection or mindfulness or study or intuition or movement, but all of them in balance. Elie Spitz seamlessly integrates a lifetime of spiritual seeking and wisdom into this remarkable guide for wholly living.
- Rabbi Mike Comins , author, Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do about It
Offers wisdom and guidance for absolutely everyone.
- Edith R. Brotman, PhD, RYT-500 , author, Mussar Yoga: Blending an Ancient Jewish Spiritual Practice with Yoga to Transform Body and Soul
A thoroughly contemporary guide to Jewish spiritual practice, drawing on Jewish sources as well as a wide range of teachings from many traditions. An easy and plain-spoken guide to techniques of visualization and guided meditation.
- Arthur Green , author, Judaism s Ten Best Ideas: A Brief Guide for Seekers
This inspiring work is a spiritual journey with wisdom and guidance to lead us toward a life of peace and wholeness.... A book to read and re-read, a book you will want to share with those you love.
- Rabbi Naomi Levy , founder and spiritual leader, Nashuva; author, Hope Will Find You
An excellent manual of spiritual practice.... Unmistakably Jewish, mature, reasonable and inspiring.
- Rabbi Lawrence Kushner , Emanu-El scholar, Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco; author, I m God; You re Not: Observations on Organized Religion & Other Disguises of the Ego
Wise and practical.... An eloquent reminder that it s not enough to talk about the truth: we must live it, day by day.... In these pages you will find the resources, both ancient and contemporary, that help us to live truth and choose love.
- Rabbi Shefa Gold , author, The Magic of Hebrew Chant: Healing the Spirit, Transforming the Mind, Deepening Love
There is no better guide than Rabbi Elie Spitz, with his sweet soul, practiced spiritual depth, and soaring mind. He has distilled his soul into this marvelous book, taking our hand and leading us to increasing wholeness.
- Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, DHL , author, God of Becoming and Relationship: The Dynamic Nature of Process Theology
Wonderful.... Sure to touch the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life and empower them to live their lives more fully and meaningfully.
- Rabbi Yoel Glick , author, Living the Life of Jewish Meditation: A Comprehensive Guide to Practice and Experience

CONTENTS
Preface: Welcome to Increasing Wholeness
Introduction
Chapter One: Seeking Greater Wholeness
Try This
Identifying an Obstacle to Inner Peace
Breath, Eyes, and Mood
Epsom Salt Bath
Chapter Two: Body
Our Portal to the World
Try This
Uniqueness Abounds
Sensual Wakefulness
Walking Meditation
Shalom Meditation
Guided Meditation of Praise
A Blessing Practice
Blessings of Dawn
Body-Mind Calm
Chapter Three: Heart
Fueling Engagement
Try This
Quieting the Inner Drama with Touch Points
Receiving and Giving a Blessing
Corresponding with God
Harvesting Gratitude
A Daily Recitation of the Modeh Ani
A Quick Bibliodrama
Chapter Four: Mind
Alertness to Reality
Try This
Identifying Holy Moments
A Listening Exercise
Shema Meditation
Discerning Patterns and Directing Your Future
Intensive Meditation with a Focus on Mind
Chapter Five: Spirit
Intuitive Wisdom
Try This
Intuitive Answers
Conjured Sensuality
Intuitive Gifts
Hearing Your Calling
Experiencing Daily Prayer
YHVH Meditation
Intensive Meditation with a Focus on Spirit
Chapter Six: Hand
The Power to Touch
Try This
Baseless Generosity
A Tzedakah Box Practice
Prioritizing Charitable Giving
A Gemilut Chasadim Practice
Chesed (Compassion) Meditation
Writing an Ethical Will
Chapter Seven: Inner Peace
Balanced from Within
Try This
Walking in the Light
Looking Back
When at Peace
A Taste of Wholeness
Revisiting Obstacles to Our Completeness
Infused by Light
A Final Blessing
Afterword: Crafting a Practice
Try This: A Sabbath Retreat
Acknowledgments
Notes
Suggestions for Further Reading
Index of Practices
About the Author
Copyright
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PREFACE
WELCOME TO INCREASING WHOLENESS
T here is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), and yet wisdom beckons with fresh insight. Marie Syrkin, a professor of English at Brandeis University, once informed me, Only a few times a century does a person say something new. The art of speaking is to say the familiar in an unfamiliar way.
My goal is not to say something entirely new, rather it is to surprise you with ancient wisdom and imaginative insights that move you toward greater inner ease and effectiveness, offering you greater wholeness. By wholeness I mean a fuller sense of awareness of your inner life and greater integration and strengthening of the four dimensions of self: the physical, emotional, intellectual, and intuitive.
At our best, we may experience a taste of completeness infused with gratitude that prompts expressions of compassion and justice. At our best we are most alive: loving those around us and transcending our own personal needs, attuned to a caring, dynamic Presence intertwined with the whole of creation. The goal of this book is to enable you to live more frequently at your best, with inner peace while engaging with others.
Most people resist being told to change. And yet most of us would acknowledge that our lives are incomplete and that we live with an undertow of anxiety and reactivity. Most people would say, Yes, I seek greater wisdom and inner peace. But change cannot be compelled from the outside. The motivation needs to emerge from within, and therefore tools for gaining greater inner wholeness are precisely those that address our inner life.
This book recognizes that we are often preoccupied jugglers, fragmented in our attention. We are challenged to discern priorities and to make time for that which is most important, especially family, friendship, faith, and personal growth and well-being. We yearn to breathe with greater ease, to become more focused, creative, loving, and at one with the world.
To achieve greater equilibrium and effectiveness, our minds utilize two complementary capacities: the analytic and the imaginative. In a scientific world, the analytic is often elevated as superior, even as truth. Yet there are limitations to relying only on facts and logic. Imagination is needed for empathy, for creativity, and for making personal decisions, since what really matters to us is more intuitively known than calculated from a checklist. In the biblical description of Creation, God declares, Let us make adam [an earthling] in our image and after our likeness (Genesis 1:26). In the original Hebrew the roots of the two descriptive words are tzelem (image) and dimyon (likeness). Related roots are used in contemporary Hebrew for the words camera and imagination. A photograph presents an object as it is, although even then it is subject to changes in angle, light, and context. A painted portrait relies on the imagination of the artist in interpreting the subject by evoking what lies beneath the surface. A photograph and a painting of the same woman present very different perspectives-both of which contribute to an understanding of the subject. Albert Einstein, a master of the analytic, is said to have stated, Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. We use imagination to dream, to communicate, to play, and to discern priorities. We rely on the rational mind to measure, to solve problems, to evaluate, and to validate. Both modes of understanding are necessary for wholeness.
At the beginning of that Creation story, we are told that the world was originally in a state of tohu vavohu , Hebrew for chaos or unformed void. As the first act of Creation, God declared, Let there be light -and there was light (Genesis 1:3). This is not physical light, since the sun is only put into the sky on the fourth day. This light signifies awareness-thus, Creation begins with an articulated idea. After God s initial act, we are told, And God saw that the light was good (Genesis 1:4). Repeatedly, God surveys the unfolding of Creation and proclaims, It is good (Genesis 1:4, 10, 18, 21, 25, 31). Rabbi Simon Greenberg, a contemporary sage, emphasized that our sacred challenge is to appraise our world and to declare like God, It is good. To make such a statement is to read the daily newspaper and not to despair. To see through God s eyes is to pierce beneath the surface of uncertainty, stress, and even chaos. Inner peace comes with letting go of expectations that the world is perfect. With the combined light of analytic and imaginative awareness, we may perceive in the world an underlying unity and goodness.
Our worldview matters in fashioning a quiet place within. A key to quiet and contentment is the recognition that happiness equals expectations met . We may increase happiness by