By Avraham Chaim Apatow
The perfection of God consciousness (הדעת) is an aspect of the lungs because God consciousness and the power of the mind/brain comes by means of the oils of the body. For Intellect is enlightened like a candle by means of the oils of the body, and the lungs are that which elevate the oils to the mind/brain by means of the breath. Also the breath supports the existence of all the oils of the body, and this is the main thing that supports the Intellegence. Therefore the mind/brain is called soul, in the aspect "for it is the breath of God that gives man understanding."(Job) For the main thing of the mind/brain is God consciousness -- and this is developed by means of the breath, as stated above. And this is the aspect of "The soul of man is the candle of God,” (Proverbs) for the intellect is the candle that is enlightened by means of the oily fluids of the body, that supports and elevates it to the mind/brain by means of the breath of the lungs. And so this is the main support establishing God consciousness, by means of the lungs... (L.M. II, 8)
In order to understand this passage, we need to explain it in context and to clarify Rebbe Nachman’s key terms. Daat is the state of consciousness in which we see God's providence and wisdom directing all things. This is the perception of the world to come, when no longer will things seem both good and bad, all will be revealed as good.
In Rabbeinu's teaching this is not a time to wait for, but a goal that we need to strive towards. The purpose of life is to cultivate the ability to share in this vision. This is the vision of the True Tzaddik, this is the vision of Moshe Rabbeinu. This soul of Moshe and the True Tzaddik in each generation is the neshama klali of all Israel. Each of our souls is connected like a large family and the spiritual patriarch of the family of souls is the soul of the True Tzaddik. This is the soul of Moshe and in each generation there is an incarnation of a Tzaddik who brings this light into the world. Our work is to follow in the path of the teaching of the True Tzaddik and the more we come close to his purity and wisdom, the more we can participate in this light, because this light and wisdom is the spiritual heritage of each of us as the children of Israel. This wisdom is the Tzaddik's consciousness of God.
The remarkable thing about this Torah of Rabbeinu is that he says that God consciousness comes from the power of the lungs. In other words, this state of mind depends on physical aspects of our life.
This comment comes in the context of a Torah that discusses prophecy. Prophecy comes through the power of imagination. In order to share in the light of prophecy, one has to purify this power. However, in general, our imaginations are filled with the images of this world and its illusions. We are drawn by images of our desires for the pleasures and enticements of money, sex, and food. The world of advertising and media utilizes this desire to entice us through a multi-billion dollar industry that bombards the world with images. The work of a Jew is to free oneself from the influence of these three primary desires.
Rabbeinu explains in this Torah and others that this repair is done through the three festivals, Pesach being for money, Shavuot for sex, and Sukkot for desire for food. The main point is that each of our desires must be subordinated to a holy purpose, through wealth we elevate its power to give honor to God through building His dwelling, and serving Him there with the offering of sacrifices. Today this is done through prayer and the giving of charity. Shavuout we receive the Torah and this relationship is said to be like the marriage of man and wife. The pleasure of sexual unity is something that is to be santified through marriage which is also a building of a home where God's presence can dwell in our personal lives. In Sukkot we bless God for the bounties of the harvest and every time we eat we bless God for his kindness in sustaining our lives. The enjoyment of the physical world and its pleasures must be done in the context of our work to elevate the spiritual aspects of physical life back to their source by enjoying pleasure within the limits set forth by the Torah and for the purpose of connecting our lives with the Will of our Creator.
The images of pleasure and desire have the power to dominate our imaginations. When they do, their energy dominates our mental images which are created in our brains and then takes over our physical bodies. The desires heat up the lower elements of the body and they seek to use the energy of the body for their fulfillment.
In our body the head is the captain of our ship, and the fantasy images come to hijack the ship and use it towards the fulfillment of lower, animalistic desires. The ship has engines and these engines are fueled by gasoline. In our body, our engine is the physical organs and those organs are fueled by what Rabbeinu calls the oily fluids of the body. (As we know today, there are certain chemicals like serotonin that do fuel the brain.) The work of the Tzaddik is to purify the imagination of these "hijackers" so that the energy of the body can be directed towards holy purpose. This is done through the power of the lungs.
The Sepher Yitzirah describes the three primary regions of the body corresponding to three elements. The head is fire, the lungs are air and the stomach is water. When the lower element is heated up, the water boils and this creates physical desires for food and sex. The breath comes to cool these desires so that the fire of the mind can be directed beyond physical desires towards holy purpose and the fulfilling of God's will.
The head is created from fire
The belly is created from water
and the chest from (created) from breath
decides between them. (S.Y. 3:6)
The chest or as Rabbeinu says, the lungs, are the power that makes balance between the two extremes of fire's heat and water's coolness. The lungs and the power of breath or nishima are the rythym of the body that determines our emotional state and the quality of our soul (neshama).
When the imagination is purified, the energy of the body can be used to illuminate the power of intellect. The lungs generate air which cools and calms the body, bringing it into a state of harmony and unity. Then it can elevate the energy of the body in a proper way to fuel the inelligence like a the oil of a lamp fuels the candle's wick. And thus, Rabbeinu quotes Shlomo HaMelek, "The candle of God is the soul of man."
When the intellect is powered by the energy of the body, and the light of the pure intellect is free to shine, the light it radiates is the light of God. God's candle is always shining because its light is the light of our soul, as Shlomo HaMelek says. When that light is directed towards physical desires, we lose awareness of the Godly nature of consciousness. But when we work to free our souls from the traps of the world, the light of Godly consciousness that is always present is revealed. This is the power of meditation and the purification of the breath of the lungs -- for the purification of nishima (breath) is the key to the purification of the neshama (soul).
The culmination of this process is the expression of the Godly light of the intellect through the purity of breath in voice, and the praise and prayer of the Holy One Blessed Be He. Rabbeinu says that voice is an aspect of the river flowing through the Garden of Eden nourishing its trees. And so our purified bodies, minds and souls express themselves in the holy name of single, double, triple and quadruple that the Tikune Zohar tells us is the song of redemption, the name of 72. 72 is the gematria of chesed, love. The Shir Chadash Rebbe Nachman says is the new song that reveals the everpresent love that fills the world. Rabbeinu teaches us that this Holy name of God is in partnership with the name of the Tzaddik who reveals the perfection of Godly consciousness so that we can all behold the splendid wisdom and love of the Creator in every moment and breath of life.
The perfection of God consciousness (הדעת) is an aspect of the lungs because God consciousness and the power of the mind/brain comes by means of the oils of the body. For Intellect is enlightened like a candle by means of the oils of the body, and the lungs are that which elevate the oils to the mind/brain by means of the breath. Also the breath supports the existence of all the oils of the body, and this is the main thing that supports the Intellegence. Therefore the mind/brain is called soul, in the aspect "for it is the breath of God that gives man understanding."(Job) For the main thing of the mind/brain is God consciousness -- and this is developed by means of the breath, as stated above. And this is the aspect of "The soul of man is the candle of God,” (Proverbs) for the intellect is the candle that is enlightened by means of the oily fluids of the body, that supports and elevates it to the mind/brain by means of the breath of the lungs. And so this is the main support establishing God consciousness, by means of the lungs... (L.M. II, 8)
In order to understand this passage, we need to explain it in context and to clarify Rebbe Nachman’s key terms. Daat is the state of consciousness in which we see God's providence and wisdom directing all things. This is the perception of the world to come, when no longer will things seem both good and bad, all will be revealed as good.
In Rabbeinu's teaching this is not a time to wait for, but a goal that we need to strive towards. The purpose of life is to cultivate the ability to share in this vision. This is the vision of the True Tzaddik, this is the vision of Moshe Rabbeinu. This soul of Moshe and the True Tzaddik in each generation is the neshama klali of all Israel. Each of our souls is connected like a large family and the spiritual patriarch of the family of souls is the soul of the True Tzaddik. This is the soul of Moshe and in each generation there is an incarnation of a Tzaddik who brings this light into the world. Our work is to follow in the path of the teaching of the True Tzaddik and the more we come close to his purity and wisdom, the more we can participate in this light, because this light and wisdom is the spiritual heritage of each of us as the children of Israel. This wisdom is the Tzaddik's consciousness of God.
The remarkable thing about this Torah of Rabbeinu is that he says that God consciousness comes from the power of the lungs. In other words, this state of mind depends on physical aspects of our life.
This comment comes in the context of a Torah that discusses prophecy. Prophecy comes through the power of imagination. In order to share in the light of prophecy, one has to purify this power. However, in general, our imaginations are filled with the images of this world and its illusions. We are drawn by images of our desires for the pleasures and enticements of money, sex, and food. The world of advertising and media utilizes this desire to entice us through a multi-billion dollar industry that bombards the world with images. The work of a Jew is to free oneself from the influence of these three primary desires.
Rabbeinu explains in this Torah and others that this repair is done through the three festivals, Pesach being for money, Shavuot for sex, and Sukkot for desire for food. The main point is that each of our desires must be subordinated to a holy purpose, through wealth we elevate its power to give honor to God through building His dwelling, and serving Him there with the offering of sacrifices. Today this is done through prayer and the giving of charity. Shavuout we receive the Torah and this relationship is said to be like the marriage of man and wife. The pleasure of sexual unity is something that is to be santified through marriage which is also a building of a home where God's presence can dwell in our personal lives. In Sukkot we bless God for the bounties of the harvest and every time we eat we bless God for his kindness in sustaining our lives. The enjoyment of the physical world and its pleasures must be done in the context of our work to elevate the spiritual aspects of physical life back to their source by enjoying pleasure within the limits set forth by the Torah and for the purpose of connecting our lives with the Will of our Creator.
The images of pleasure and desire have the power to dominate our imaginations. When they do, their energy dominates our mental images which are created in our brains and then takes over our physical bodies. The desires heat up the lower elements of the body and they seek to use the energy of the body for their fulfillment.
In our body the head is the captain of our ship, and the fantasy images come to hijack the ship and use it towards the fulfillment of lower, animalistic desires. The ship has engines and these engines are fueled by gasoline. In our body, our engine is the physical organs and those organs are fueled by what Rabbeinu calls the oily fluids of the body. (As we know today, there are certain chemicals like serotonin that do fuel the brain.) The work of the Tzaddik is to purify the imagination of these "hijackers" so that the energy of the body can be directed towards holy purpose. This is done through the power of the lungs.
The Sepher Yitzirah describes the three primary regions of the body corresponding to three elements. The head is fire, the lungs are air and the stomach is water. When the lower element is heated up, the water boils and this creates physical desires for food and sex. The breath comes to cool these desires so that the fire of the mind can be directed beyond physical desires towards holy purpose and the fulfilling of God's will.
The head is created from fire
The belly is created from water
and the chest from (created) from breath
decides between them. (S.Y. 3:6)
The chest or as Rabbeinu says, the lungs, are the power that makes balance between the two extremes of fire's heat and water's coolness. The lungs and the power of breath or nishima are the rythym of the body that determines our emotional state and the quality of our soul (neshama).
When the imagination is purified, the energy of the body can be used to illuminate the power of intellect. The lungs generate air which cools and calms the body, bringing it into a state of harmony and unity. Then it can elevate the energy of the body in a proper way to fuel the inelligence like a the oil of a lamp fuels the candle's wick. And thus, Rabbeinu quotes Shlomo HaMelek, "The candle of God is the soul of man."
When the intellect is powered by the energy of the body, and the light of the pure intellect is free to shine, the light it radiates is the light of God. God's candle is always shining because its light is the light of our soul, as Shlomo HaMelek says. When that light is directed towards physical desires, we lose awareness of the Godly nature of consciousness. But when we work to free our souls from the traps of the world, the light of Godly consciousness that is always present is revealed. This is the power of meditation and the purification of the breath of the lungs -- for the purification of nishima (breath) is the key to the purification of the neshama (soul).
The culmination of this process is the expression of the Godly light of the intellect through the purity of breath in voice, and the praise and prayer of the Holy One Blessed Be He. Rabbeinu says that voice is an aspect of the river flowing through the Garden of Eden nourishing its trees. And so our purified bodies, minds and souls express themselves in the holy name of single, double, triple and quadruple that the Tikune Zohar tells us is the song of redemption, the name of 72. 72 is the gematria of chesed, love. The Shir Chadash Rebbe Nachman says is the new song that reveals the everpresent love that fills the world. Rabbeinu teaches us that this Holy name of God is in partnership with the name of the Tzaddik who reveals the perfection of Godly consciousness so that we can all behold the splendid wisdom and love of the Creator in every moment and breath of life.