This week's energy

Whenever I make a donation to Raising Malawi, my teacher Yehuda A. reminds me to do it with the right consciousness. The consciousness of bringing light to the world to help not only the orphans of Malawi, but children everywhere. This light is not limited.

At the same time, when I've shared my frustration with him about not raising enough money -- empty promises, providing a service to someone with the agreed to, but unmet expectation of receiving a donation for charity in return -- he reminds me to let it go. That $1,000 or whatever it was going to be wouldn't have helped much anyway, because the person giving it would only be giving it with the consciousness of making a donation of money. And money, we well know, runs out.

There are two reasons I haven't sent around an email blast lately in another fundraising attempt:

1. I am careful not to fall into the easy trap of focusing more on my goal than on what my goal is about

2. I am not asking for 'money', but rather the higher consciousness of a giving energy, and that's hard to explain when you hold your hand out.

I am meeting with a new group soon to do some brainstorming for fundraising, but as you can see, these are big criteria.

Of course, the door is always open. If you find yourself reading this post and getting that consciousness I'm talking about, then I do ask you to click the donate link above and drive some energy into this movement. When you do, let me know how much so I can include it towards this goal :)

Since the time of Creation, a different energy is revealed each week. This energy gives us information, knowledge, and support to tap into so that we can grow and change. All this knowledge is revealed in the Zohar, the ancient, sacred text of Kabbalah. The Zohar decodes the Torah’s hidden meanings so we can understand the spiritual significance of its messages. Quite simply, the Zohar is our manual for life. It helps us understand the laws of the universe so we can live in harmony with them – all for the purpose of finding fulfillment.

Every week, my friend Rachel B. from New York sends me notes from some of the lectures that teachers have given over the years. Here is Michael Berg, a Kabbalah teacher at the LA Center with a more spiritual explanation of the energy of this week.

THE PORTION OF PEKUDEI: THE POWER OF THE "GOOD EYE"

In this week’s portion the Torah recounts the process of the building of the Tabernacle. The Torah carefully counts and sums up all the exact measurements of the materials used, and of all the parts built.

This raises an interesting question. The Talmud[Ta’anit 8b] and the Zohar both state, “blessings do not rest upon things that are counted and measured”. Paradoxically here at the building of the Tabernacle the Torah goes to great lengths to count and measure everything. How can we reconcile these two things?

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichov[In his book Kedushat Levi] answers this conundrum by explaining that there are two types of “looking”. One type is like that of the Evil prophet Bilam, of whom it says, “anywhere he looked, a curse would come upon it”[Zohar Chadash 68a]. Bilam had the quintessential “evil eye”. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak explains how and why this evil eye manifested: “Whenever this evil person looked at something he detached and separated it from the supernal source of the source of life. He desired, and therefore focused on the physical object. The object was important to him but he did not look at the power of Hashem, blessed be He, which is inside the object.”

This truly is an amazing lesson. The Kabbalists teach that everything in this world is imbued with the Light of the Creator. As a matter of fact it is the Light of the Creator that sustains every thing in this world. It is also the Light of the Creator that gives everything its positive features. It is the Light off the Creator within that makes food tasty, flowers beautiful and pleasantly smelling, and this is true of everything in this world. When we enjoy something we are actually enjoying the sparks of the Light of the Creator that are within it.

Here Rabbi Levi Yitzchak teaches us that we have the ability to actually influence the connection of everything to the Creator. When we look at something and desire only it, and do not think of the Light of the Creator that is within it, we separate it from the Light of the Creator. This very common thought process devoids the object of the Light of the Creator.

This is the true meaning behind “evil eye”. The scary realization is that you do not have to be an “evil” person to bring about “evil eye”. Unfortunately we all do this albeit unconsciously, often, without realizing the consequences.

This explains why wherever Bilam looked “a curse would come upon it”. For he would consciously focus only on the physical object thereby separating it from the Light of the Creator. Once this occurred, once it become void of Light then darkness and curses automatically came upon it, for wherever there is no Light the is darkness and curses.

This also explains why the Zohar and the Talmud say, “blessings do not rest upon things that are counted and measured”. For when a person counts something, money for instance, he is focusing on the physical object alone, thereby unconsciously separating it from the Light of the Creator, the source of all blessings.

Conversely there is also a positive looking and counting. When a person looks at something but thinks and focuses not on the object itself but rather on the Light of the Creator that is within the object, he strengthens its connection to the Creator, to the source of all blessings. Through this consciousness he connects it to its supernal source and draws to it blessings and a flow of Light from its supernal source. This is the explanation of the verse, “your eyes are like pools of blessing, by counting.”[Shir Hashirim 7:5] For, when a person gazes with this consciousness, his eyes become like pools and wells of blessing even when something is counted.

This why in this weeks reading the counting was not a problem. Further it filled the Tabernacle with more and more connection to the Creator the source of all blessings and this is because Moshe who certainly had the above consciousness was the person who was counting.

This is again a lesson for us to utilize always. Whenever we look at, enjoy, or eat something we should never lose sight of the fact that it is the Light of the Creator that is within that gives the enjoyment. With this constant consciousness we can draw more and more Light and blessings into it.

It should be clear that this lesson is all encompassing. Let us use one more important example. When we look at children, whether they are our own or not, we should consciously think that their beauty their joy and their Light is of the Creator. By doing this we strengthen their connection to the Creator, and fill them with more and more Light. What a beautiful concept.