[Jewish] [Mindful Torah] Psalm for Sunday: Psalm 24, Verse 4

[Rabbi Steven Nathan]

Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who has not raised up their
soul to emptiness and has not sworn deceitfully.
This verse refers to the question in verse 3: "who may ascend God's
holy mountain and stand in God's holy place?" In last week's commentary
I wrote that we all have the ability to "climb God's holy mountain" and
to stand in holiness. In other words, we each have the ability to be
present with the Divine if we are mindful. Verse 4 gives another answer
to the question, though I see it more as a further explication.
Again, each one of us has the potential. We each have holiness and
Divinity within our souls. But in order to truly experience holiness in
the moment we need our actions and thoughts to be "pure." I do not read
this as in anyway saying that we should judge which thoughts and
actions are to be labeled as "pure." Rather, I believe that most, if
not all, actions can be seen as pure and holy if they are done with the
intent of connecting us with the oneness of the universe and not with
the intent of separating us from the Divine in the world and attempting
create a duality. The verse teaches that we must each raise up our soul
by acting in a way that is consonant with what the soul, the Divine
within, is saying to us. We can hear this message by quieting our minds
and simply paying attention with our hearts.
However, if we focus on that which is ultimately empty and vain and
claim that we are doing holiness then we are "swearing deceitfully." We
are deceiving ourselves by claiming that we are acting in a way that
brings compassion, goodness, beauty and holiness into our world, when
in actually we are simply following the ego and acting in a way that
serves only ME. We are acting in a way that perpetuates the myth of
separateness, of duality and the self. The ego excels in convincing us
that what is actually self-centered action is instead for the
betterment of the world and in service to the Divine. So watch out and
pay careful attention to the true message of your soul!
By being mindful we can avoid these traps and do that which lifts up
our soul to holiness and connects the soul to its source. When we act
this way, then we will certainly find ourselves standing on holy ground
on "God's holy mountain". And that is where we are all meant to be.





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Posted By Rabbi Steven Nathan to Mindful Torah at 5/16/2010 02:14:00 PM
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