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The Practice of Kabbalah: Meditation in Judaism

by Steven A. Fisdel

Chapter 2 Biblical Imagery and Spiritual Paradigms

pp.20-22

A good example of a meditation designed to help one through the process of overcoming obstacles

would be the story of Elijah in the cave. According to biblical narrative, Queen Jezebel ordered

Elijah's execution and he was forced to escape to the wilderness. Upon arriving there, he sought

refuge in a mountain cave and spent the night. In the morning God called to him out of the cave.

When Elijah emerged, he witnessed a series of ferocious storms. He endured storms of wind and of

fire. After a while, Elijah realized that God was not present in the storms. He did not sense God's

Presence in either phenomena. With that realization, the storms ended abruptly and were followed

by an earthquake. The Earth shook violently, shattered rocks, and uprooted trees, yet Elijah did not

hear God's voice in the earthquake and it subsided. Elijah knew that God was not there either. At

that point of cognition, Elijah hears a still small voice within himself and understands that here iswhere God is to be found.

The story very accurately reflects the sages of obstruction one may go through learning to meditate

and seeking God. The first stage, reflected by the wind storm is doubt. The initial experiences of

meditation can often bring one into realms of consciousness that are not the normative ones we are

familiar with. One can be plagued by both doubt and uncertainty.

Questions arise. Is what I am seeing another dimension of reality or is this my own imagination?

Have I made a breakthrough or am I hallucinating? Am I simply losing my mind? How do I know

that this is not just my subconscious garbage? Until one learns to shut down the ego, close off the

thinking mind, and accept intuitively what is being experienced, no further progress can be made.

Should one overcome doubt, the fire storm is unleashed. The fire storm represents the onslaught of

pain. The purpose of the fire is actually twofold. Doubt has shaken out old belief system. It has

cracked it, if an individual has passed through the doubt. However, resolving the doubt has not

destroyed the old, unproductive world view. Only through the fire, the full experience of the pain

caused by the subconscious acceptance of a distorted view of one's life and experience, is the

damaging, old belief system destroyed.

The fire is the process of the phoenix rising. Out of the ashes emerge hope and rectification. Yet,

one must walk through the flames to reach this point. Pain destroys the barriers to spiritual growtherected by illusion. Pain is also the consequence of the illusion's demise. When old belief systems

are destroyed, the immediate effect is emotional turmoil. Long-suppressed emotions crash to the

conscious surface. The truth has to be faced. Pain is the consequent reality. This is the pain of

healing. Skin may burn or itch or throb in pain as the tissue is regenerating. It is necessary, but it

will pass.

Once beyond the pain, one encounters the earthquake. That is fear. One realizes that what one

experiences in meditation is very real in its own right, fear can set in. It may be fear of the

unknown, fear of letting go, fear of losing oneself, or fear of the truth. Regardless of the form, this

is also a formidable barrier.

Fear is the greatest and most pervasive obstacle a human being must ever face. Like the hydra, fear

has many tentacles. Like a chameleon, it takes on many different colorations and weaves itself into

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the very fabric of our emotional environment. It can dominate one's life in ways so subtle and so

hidden they are imperceptible to normal waking consciousness. The higher one ascends, the more

that has been concealed becomes apparent. Once exposed, it must be faced.

As in life, so in meditation; the greatest obstacles to overcome is fear. Walking through the fire of

pain leads to the earthquake of the soul. The old structures, the old buildings, the old, cherished

belief system that for so long contained one's view of reality, are destroyed first. That is followed bythe breaking open of the very ground on which the foundation of one's beliefs were laid. Out of the

chasms that open up erupt the pent-up energies that lay deep beneath the surface.

First, the flood of fears is released. Then, connection is made with the most primal of forces, pure

energy of existence itself. When a person reaches this level, that of pure Life Force, unadulterated

by fear and superimposed beliefs, then one hears the still, small voice within. One hears the whisper

of the Soul.

The way past any of these obstacles is through the process of riding them out. On way to do

precisely that is to replicate in meditation the experience of Elijah. By meditating on fleeing to a

cave and spending the night, on hearing God c\ll you out of the cave, and by riding out the wind, thefire storm, and the earthquake, through experiencing whatever needs to be felt, one is carried

through the process. The result is: the obstacles are removed.