I love being Jewish. I get to question everything, maybe even have no faith at all!
Anyway, one often hears about “Higher Power”, particularly in Recovery circles. Many have a really negative or uncomfortable reaction to this. I guess it’s like, “how in the hell am I supposed to abase myself to something I can’t see or even verify indirectly?”. Well, I’ll cover that in a different post.
Now, I just want to think about God, Adonai, YHVH, Elohim, ad infinitem.
I’m very happy davening and interacting with that/those guy, guys or entities in Synagogue services. There was always something icky and scary about “God” in Christian services, even in my favorite, the Episcopal Church. He just seemed to want to follow me everywhere and make me feel inferior. Being observant and pious as a Jew, however, feels very comfortable. I maybe wish I could explain that, but I really can’t.
Now, what abut when I feel like I really need a hand on my shoulder, an ear to listen, healing, or someone to mediate and exalt my relationship/s with others and the world around me? Or, when I need to express and release my inner strengths? Who/what do I sense when I meditate?
Two expressions come readily to mind/heart: Shekinah (”Holy Spirit”); Holy Guardian Angel. Shekinah feels to me to be watery/airy, transcendant, pervading, animating and animating all; the aspect of God that is very real, accessible and all but tangible, usually described as feminine. The Holy Guardian Angel seems very similar, but expressed in Western Yoga, i.e. Golden Dawn and other mystical schools, as the closest manifestation of Kether in Malkuth. This is most often, in my experience, described as feminine, too. To me both wear many guises and have infinite names and are as close as breath or heartbeat.
Well, I suppose being Jewish is not at all different from being a Pagan panentheist. YMMV.
Bill
