The Chasidic Truth of What Can Be, Unburdened By What Has Been
Tech Tribe Dispatch #261
💡 Think:
Too often we are held hostage by our assumptions - by our predispositions and beliefs that our past experiences, especially our mistakes, define who we are.
There is no repentance in Judaism.
Instead, we can find a lesson in understanding what can be, unburdened by what has been.
Our souls are bound with the infinite creator. At our core, in our essence, we are one with the Source of All Sources. Nothing material or spiritual is a barrier before G-d — as the Zohar says: "There is no place devoid of Him."
What then is the effect that causes us to feel a sense of estrangement from the divine? A dissociation with the all encompassing oneness of the Creator?
It’s ”what has been…” the barriers we’ve put up, the mistakes and grime we’ve schlepped ourselves in, the preconceptions and limitations we’ve placed on our transcendent essence.
As Isaiah declares, "Only your sins separate you from your G‑d."
Sin is an icky word for many Jews. It feels goyish. But sin in Hebrew is chet, it’s an appreciation of what we have missed. It’s the bonds of what has been.
Our sins —our shortcomings, our missteps, our mistakes— prevent us from recognizing the truth:
Namely, that sense of separation we may experience is only insofar as our perception. From the vantage-point of our essence, our Creator, we’ve always been whole.
Thus when we’re unburdened by vails we’ve placed on the divine, we can access..
“What can be."
True repentance, higher repentance, isn’t schlepping ourselves out of the quagmire… that can take place in an instant. True repentance is return, a life long journey towards our inner, truer selves… the potential for which we were created. The sense of joy in celebrating the good we can and will accomplish, and (re)connection with the sublime.
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