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"Kavannah for Living" - Unit 3
Directing Thought/ Davenning
(If you miss a study unit along the way,
you can access the materials in the Kavannah for Living Archive: archive.)
B’rucheem haba’im, chevrah. Welcome to the
conversation!
Prelude:
Adbusters magazine ran a campaign that said "Your average American can
identify 1,000 corporate logos, and under 10 plant species."
One result of living in a world which is saturated by images is that we have added
demands on our attention in nearly every sphere of life. The images of contemporary
culture generally tell us to be younger, or richer, or more carefree, or obsessed, or
secure or adventurous than we already are.
For the most part, we successfully filter or block the mass of information coming at
us. But this takes great discipline. Many times we fall prey to feelings of stress, of
being overwhelmed, that such a society loads on us. To quote Reb Zalman, "All of a
sudden the part of our minds which are reptilian take over, and we find ourselves taking a
defensive stance toward everything we encounter."
"Directing thought" is not a technique that asks us to retreat from the
world, but rather a way of reminding ourselves of the purpose of the day’s
activities. Rabbi Yitz Greenberg once said that the traditional morning prayers are like
"stating your personal mission statement each day."
This idea of a personal mission statement has been used in a rather rudimentary way by
various self-help gurus. And while many have benefited from the numerous affirmations and
meditations that they have written to elevate self-esteem, there is often something more
that needs to be said.
The traditional Jewish "mission statement" works by going beyond self-esteem.
In it we remind ourselves of both our gratitude to be alive another day, and of the shared
communal responsibility, the covenant, that we are part of.
After your morning shower or stretch, somewhere in the transition from getting dressed
to beginning work, you may not have time to ask "What am I doing with my life?"
But that is precisely the question that needs to be confronted. The Hebrew poets who first
wrote prayers for the morning hours, answered this daily question by expressing both a
deep sense of wonder for simply being alive, and a claim of responsibility for the day
before them. "Grant us this day grace, mercy, and kindness", they sang,
"keep my lips from lies, and open my heart to wisdom" they chanted.
Many continue to sing their words, and have a fixed time devoted for prayers and study.
But this practice requires great discipline. It is difficult, and maybe even
counter-intuitive, for most people to direct their thoughts in this way each morning.
We ask: Can you make an appointment to engage in heartfelt prayer?
In Jewish thought, the idea of having a fixed time to pray each day has been in
contention for a good 2,000 years. In Mishnah Berakhot 5,1 we read "don’t make
your prayer a matter of fixed routine – it should be heartfelt…" Adding to
this sensibility,
Rabbi Eliezer once said that "if a man prays from the text and adds nothing from
his own mind, the prayer is not proper." Talmud, Berakhot 28a.
With sensitivity to the balance between spiritual discipline and spontaneity, we
suggest that you experiment with "directing thought" through prayer, song,
meditation, or silence each morning. Here are a few insights from the tradition to keep in
mind as you create your personal spiritual discipline.
"Neither levity nor indolence, neither austerity or wordliness, must be our mood
in prayer but joy springing from very love of communion." Talmud, Berakhot 31a.
According to some the eyes should look down for kavannah, but others said "they
should look up!" Still, others said "Eyes down, mind up!" Talmud, Yebamot
105b
THE RITUAL:
Create a space in your home and mark it with a mizrach which points to the
direction of Jerusalem. Set aside a moment in which you can sit or stand and review the
following three questions:
- What does the world need?
- What am I doing today?
- How are the two related?
You may wish to write a meditation or poem that will aid you in addressing these
questions.
You may also experiment with the prayerbook, designing different menus for your
davenning. A lite menu for example, may hit on the highlights below. A four-course meal
might include all the traditional prayers, some psalms, and some study. The titles listed
before the prayers below are intended to reflect the psychological and spiritual states
that underlie each part of the davenning. You may wish to create your own titles and as
you create your own menus.
 | Affirming life – Elohai Neshama she natata bee tehora hee |
| Evoking words of kindness – Ahavat Olam bayt Yisrael |
| Stating the One-ness in all things - Shema |
| Expressing communal and personal needs - Amidah |
CLAL © 2000
Commentary by Reb Zalman:
A person needs to have an inner life. Many people think that you need special training
for this – esoteric and difficult meditation processes, or absolute stillness of
mental and emotional activity. For a Jew the experience of "Holy Longing" dveykut
--is all that is needed. If your holy longing isn’t going outward, it turns into
all sorts of destructive addictions, workaholism included.
We read in Deuteronomy "Ataem heemartem, atah heamarti." If
the word "to speak" is understood as deriving from the Latin "dictum",
then we can understand that "to speak" is related to the word
"addiction" From this I can do a drash-- I can understand he-emarti
in Deuteronomy as "We are addicted to God, and God to us!"
We are ‘theotropic’, just as a sunflower is heliotropic. And this is in
"B’chal derachecha" all our ways . Just as a watchmen making the
rounds checks in at various places, and leaves a stone turned to mark the spots they
checked, in the middle of the day, we need to check in with all the parts of our lives. B’chal
zeman ayt le chal chayfetz For everything there is a time and season, tamid
tehilato remembering God, placing ourselves in the devykut connection.
What is the opposite extreme?
Nefrad is the opposite- seperated. In seperation the ego becomes an obstruction, it
becomes an "eved" a slave, In deveykut your ego is "banim" we
are like children.
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