Choosing Life In A World Preoccupied With Death

MyLife Essay Contest

An Application of Chassidus-Based Mindfulness

“I put before your today life and death…choose life.”
— Deuteronomy 30:15 and 30:19

“We are going to win because they love life, and we love death.”
— Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, 2004¹

The Torah is called “Toras Chayim”, “a teaching for living”. Originating with G-d Himself, it is the only true source of what is intrinsically good and evil. The Torah commands us to “choose life”, yet we live at a time in history in which the specter of death in its most barbaric forms faces us daily. That we are commanded by G-d to choose life over death means that we have both the ability and the mission to do it.

This essay discusses a three-fold structure provided by Chassidus and the application of that structure to enable mankind to overcome death with life. Life and death are more than the presence or absence of a heartbeat or a brain wave. As the song goes, “He not busy being born is busy dying”². The lyric refers to the pain of an unfulfilled life, of living in a state of psychic/soulful confinement, captive in one’s comfort zone, imprisoned by one’s own habitual ways of viewing reality, entangled in the dark straits of the animal soul.

The method is an application of the three dimensions of “Knowledge” as explained in Chassidus³, each of which is associated with a specific anatomical domain, namely:

1. “Hakora”/”Recognition” – Brain: Understanding the Torah-true meaning of life and death as viewed through the lens of Chassidus; recognizing that we have a choice whether to choose life or to choose death;
2. “Hargosha”/“Feeling” – Heart: Taking to heart the human need to go beyond boundaries, to connect with the infinite and the consequences (personal, societal, and global) of disconnect;
3. “Hiskashrus”/“Connecting” – Body: Binding oneself to the source of life through action, the performance of mitzvahs. Hiskashrus is the point of it all – we really know something only by doing it.

“Knowledge” in Hebrew is “Daas”. “Daas” as explained in Chassidus is seated in that part of the mind which connects insight and understanding with feeling and action. “Daas” is the state of mind tied to action. This is a transformational definition of Mindfulness. As currently understood and practiced⁴ in the world, Mindfulness is aimed solely at changing certain states of mind. Chassidus-based Mindfulness, Mindfulness rooted in meditations on the inner meanings of the Torah, is designed to “turn over the world”⁵, extending knowledge into actions which transform the world into a goodly and G-dly abode⁶.

In practice, the order of immersion in each of the three dimensions of “Daas” is not important. For some, “hakorah”/recognition/understanding is the entry point. For others, “hiskashrus”/doing is the place to start. In fact, the latter is the approach we took as a people in accepting the Torah: “Na’aseh v’nishma⁷” — “We will do and [then] we will understand.⁸”

“Hakora”/Brain — Recognition
Chassidus has the potential to fascilitate a paradigm shift, opening our minds to new and liberating ways of understanding reality. To realize its potential, learning Chassidus must be approached not as a subject matter but as a practice, a discipline for training the mind’s eye to recognize reality’s underlying G-dliness.

We need to recognize that how we see things is up to us. The world presents itself as material, physical; paradoxically, there’s more empty space in atoms than there is substance. Choosing life as explained in Chassidus⁹ starts with recognizing that the appearance of things masks their underlying life-force called G-dliness. The appearance of a thing is a lifeless shell; the underlying life-force is G-dliness.

We also need to recognize that death has been given the ability to overwhelm us, in order to stimulate our powers to overcome it. We can eradicate death with life. By connecting with the source of life — the side of holiness — we drain death — the “other side” — dry¹⁰.

We need to absorb Chassidus.

Implementation:

A) Individual: connect with people whose spiritual level you wish to attain, read and tell stories of Chassidim; make/attend Chassidishe fabrengens; create fixed times for learning Chassidus with a teacher and in chavarusa – approach learning Chassidus as you would approach mastering any other discipline for self-improvement.

B) Societal/global: create a media lab to nurture and implement world class multi-media artifacts which embody the heart and soul of Torah; exploit whatever technologies (apps, films, spoken/written-word, etc.) are available for most powerfully communicating Torah-true, life-based values; create a curriculum for life and implement it in secular schools from kindergarten through college¹¹.

“Hargosha”/Heart — Feeling
We were born as a people when we left Egypt. The Hebrew word for Egypt, “Mitzrayim”, means also limitations, constraints, boundaries. Feeling the soul’s longing to break through boundaries is going out of Egypt. Leaving the Egypt of the soul is redemption, really living.

Implementation:

A) Individual: seek out art, music, film, which express the natural drive of the soul for G-dliness; listen to holy music called niggunim; practice crying out to G-d in prayer – learn the Hebrew language of prayer and contemplate the inner meaning of the words in the siddur as explained in Chassidus; establish fixed times to pray with the same commitment that you may establish fixed times to exercise.

B) Societal: fulfill the Rebbe’s directive for a campaign to establish a moment of silence in U.S. public schools.

“Hiskashrus”/Body — Doing
Connectedness is the core of Chassidus-based Mindfulness, the purpose of which is to bring G-d down to earth in our every action and interaction with the world. This is achieved through the mitzvahs of the Torah – the word “mitzvah”(commandment) is rooted in the word “tzavtoh”, which means “connection”¹². Doing mitzvahs connects us directly with the source of life.

Implementation:

A) Individual: Develop the practice of mitzvahs; learn what they are and practice them regularly: daily giving of charity, acts of kindness, visiting the sick, putting on tefillin, eating kosher, the practice of family purity including immersion in a mikvah; weekly lighting of Shabbos candles; — there are 613 ways to connect with true life. The commandment to “choose life” offers countless opportunities to connect with G-dliness: choose between kosher foods based on their health-related qualities, not simply based on their taste; make relationship choices based on Torah-based life-goals, not simply because of mutual attraction; make career choices which provide benefit to others, not just to make a living; educate your children in the ways of the Torah.

B) Societal/global: The Torah teaches that all of mankind can connect to true life via the seven mitzvahs commanded to all. Fulfill the Rebbe’s directive for a campaign to teach the seven mitzvahs globally.

The erosion of the recognition of the world’s G-dly foundation is the root cause of individual, societal, and global illness. Restoring this recognition (“hakora”), taking it to heart (“hargosha”), and continually connecting with it (“hiskashrus”), is the cure.

Regular sustained practice of chassidus-based mindfulness creates life¹³ and health in our individual lives, in our relationships and endeavors, ultimately enabling the victory of life over death, repairing the world to a state of cohesiveness, harmony, order, peace, and unity in which “knowledge of G-d will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea”¹⁴ and “death will be swallowed up forever”¹⁵.

As with any method, there must be metrics of its efficacy. The measure of this method’s value is its ability to empower individuals (and as a results societies, and ultimately the world¹⁶) to reveal that they are in fact made in G-d’s image¹⁷, embodying His attributes. Successful implementation of this method on the individual, societal, and global scale envisioned herein requires a strong business plan, which — although not within the scope of this essay — must be developed. The business plan will describe a cost-effective approach to discover, influence, foster, and assist existing projects as well as to launch new ones.

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