The following is a meditative exercise designed to enhance one’s sense of purity. It can also be used to better relate to those around us, and to understand our interconnectedness as children of Hashem.
- Sit with your eyes closed, imagining that you have X-ray vision and can see inside yourself as if you were composed of transparent material. You may notice many small parts interconnected in your body.
- Look very closely, imagining that a subtle being is illuminated within. The light that allows you to see comes from somewhere deep inside and fills the body with a glow.
- Imagine your body many years younger than you are now. Notice that although the image of your body may change, the light that illuminates it stays the same. It is simply light; it does not change.
- Try to imagine yourself many years from now. Again, the body changes, but the light remains the same.
- Now imagine someone you love. Notice that their body is completely different from yours, but the light illuminating it is of the same quality as yours. Light is light.
- Practice this exercise with people you know and love, and with people you may not get along with so well. Again, the light will be the same as yours. You may find that the reality of sharing the same light affects the way you feel about these people.
- Complete this exercise a number of times until you have the image clearly within. Then, when you are on a public street, imagine that each person is illuminated from within by this light. You can say to yourself quietly, “Tehora he” (She – the soul within – is pure). You will eventually find yourself feeling an affinity for strangers. This is the purpose of the exercise: remember that we are all connected to the same source and therefore to one another.
This exercise can be found in Rabbi David Cooper‘s book, G-d Is a Verb: Kabbalah and the Practice of Mystical Judaism. Let me know if you found it helpful.
Set Apart 