We started the discussion of the topic of Physical and Spiritual by positing that the spiritual cannot be proved but only experienced. To that end we first pointed out how the spiritual, in the form of abstractions, is all around us; so that we live more within this world of abstraction than in the world of physical sensation. We then discussed other models of the spiritual - language, numbers and the like. It is particularly important for us, who live in the materialist milieu on 21st century America to define what we mean when we speak of the spiritual. We wanted to avoid defining the spiritual vaguely, as "that which is not physical". Making spirit depend on a relation to the physical denies the reality of the spiritual and puts its whole existence into question. Once we have a positive sense of what the spiritual is, rather than what it is not, we can begin to consider how it might be experienced. Only direct experience proves existence. In the current cultural climate, proving the spiritual is a Promethean task for there are so many contrary influences, assumptions and biases that we imbibed almost with our mother's milk. Having discussed the models, having at least began to see something, we can proceed to the essence of this series - direct perception, perception after which no doubts remain.
How does one have a direct experience of the spiritual? I am not as vain as to presume to know. What I can, however, do is to draw an analogy that many find helpful.
Almost everyone has, on some occasion or another, experienced moments of spiritual exhilaration. Such moments may be brought about by an experience, an encounter with great beauty, or a particularly intense emotional experience (walking away from near death, for example). It can be life changing. For most people, encountering the spiritual is an occasional occurrence, once every few years, perhaps once in a lifetime. Others, great musicians, poets, visionaries and leaders, are illuminated by frequent flashes of inspiration. The intensity of this experience is often remembered and always pined after. We might say that such moments represent a moment of transcendence out of the world of ordinary, everyday life to the World of the Spirit. It stands to reason then that one who can learn to spend more time on that level , who learns to live, or at least spend extended time, in THAT world, may begin too experience moments of even higher illumination that are analogous to the experience of Ruach for most of humanity. Just like most people have rare flushes of insight into the world of spirit, so do these individuals experience flashes of perception of yet a higher reality. If we allow that this analogy describes something real, we begin to have a glimpse, an inkling into the world of Ruach Hakodesh, great Rebbes and prophetic inspiration.
The key to becoming a resident of the world of Spirit is through cultivation of elevated emotions and feelings that are constituents of that level. How does one do so in practice? We will repeatedly return to this point.
The process begins by having a guide, a road map. Our tradition provides such a guide, and with this we can begin a life long process of spiritual growth. The classical Jewish view of the soul consists of the nefesh, ruach and neshama + (paralleling the four alomos Abia). For the purposes of the introduction let us posit that most people live on the level of Nefesh and its powers of ordinary everyday emotions and feelings, some good (pity, regret etc), some bad (anger, jealousy, etc). Ruach is the domain of elevated feelings: wonder, gratitude, joy, exhilaration, hope etc, as well as the domain of great music, poetry and feeling. The stepwise ascent along a progression is, of course, not unique to Judaism. Self actualization scales have been offered by psychologists such as Maslow and Erikson. However, without understanding the Jewish view of spiritual progression through life, much of what the tradition aims to say remains a canvass of disjointed jottings and swabs.
The aim of spiritual life is then learning how to live on the level of Ruach and seeking to experience flashes of the Neshama that are available there.
To continue...
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