Garments of the Soul
by Rabbi Rami Shapiro.
There are three Garments of the Soul, three ways in which the Divine enters into the world: thought, word, and deed. We are born with all three, but over time they become soiled and need refining. We refine thought through study, prayer, and contemplation. We refine words through right speech, taking care to use words that heal and not harm. We refine deeds through acts of loving kindness. This is what Simcha Bunem, one of the Hasidic rebbes, knew instinctively, and what he sought to demonstrate to the learned rabbis who came to visit his father.
So often we are captivated by the magic and mystery of spiritual attainment. We imagine that spirituality leads beyond this world of ordinary doing to a pristine land where everything material is spiritualized. In this imagined world thought and words take precedence over deeds, and we begin to discount doing even in the everyday world. This is a major failure in spiritual maturity. The world to Come is this very world free from illusion of separate selves and the inherent selfishness such and illusion perpetuates. Thought, word, and deed are not three separate Garments, but one Garment with many layers. Thought leads to words, and words lead to deeds. If the thoughts are tainted with selfishness the deeds will be poisoned with greed. But the way to cleanse the thought is not to think, for that is simply more of the same. To cleanse the inner layer you must begin with the outer. You will know God by doing godly.
BLESSING:
The Absolute Oneness of God is all there is and I recognize this Oneness as Life. I know we are the intention of Good manifesting in the universe. We are the Beauty that erupts from the eternal stillness Itself. Children of perfect Love, Power, and Intelligence.
Acknowledging that intention determines the nature of the essence of everything we observe how Nature - God - works and we begin to work in like manner. Never considering any task complete until we have carried the experience to some final outcome of Beauty, whether material, spiritual, intellectual, or emotional. Having been born in the womb of harmony in the Universe we can only demonstrate the Beauty of Infinite's completeness. Just as we are beautiful because we perfectly express original thought, all that we are kindly expresses the same. The nature of a holy Spirit in continual pulsation affirming the Whole. We are the bridge of Light in creation. We are the great principles of Beauty from the All-Spirit developing lives of Living Power now and forever.
Being thankful for this gift of truth, and with the Power of Spirit I release these words upwards to the heavens, and the Infinite Mind, knowing it is done to us as we believe. Joyously thanking God, and so it is.
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