RESTORING THE WORLD TO WHOLENESS

Winter, 2010 East Meets West
Guest Author: Joel & Michelle Levey

RESTORING THE WORLD TO WHOLENESS - From Joel & Michelle Levey "As the wish for balance not just for ourselves but for all beings awakens in our hearts, we participate in a profound teaching from the Kabbalah on restoring balance. This is called "tikkun ha- olam," in Hebrew, which means, "repairing the world." Tikkun means to mend or repair. Outwardly, tikkun is associated with social action that has the goal of improving the world. But inwardly, in the esoteric traditions, tikkun is the sacred innerwork of mending a broken world and restoring it to wholeness and balance through spiritually developing the love that carries us beyond our separate self. Tikkun is regarded as the highest, most profound purpose of our life. This activity to restore balance and harmony in our world is closely akin to the Buddhist notion of bodhichitta, "the spirit of awakening," which holds that at the heart-core of every living being is a universal impulse to fully awaken to the wholeness of its potentials and to serve others in their awakening. This is the universal yearning to reduce suffering, cultivate harmonious relations, and find dynamic balance. The work of repairing, rebalancing, and awakening is an inside out job. It is said that every tiny bit of restoration of wholeness within ourselves directly contributes to the restoration and awakening of all beings and of the whole world. The impulse of every movement toward healing, every moment of mindfulness, every act of kindness we generate within ourselves, is directly shared or transmitted to support the emergence of that potential within each and every living being. That's because the more deeply and completely we are balanced within ourselves, the better equipped we are, and the more natural it is, for us to reach out and nurture the emergence of greater harmony in our world. As our awareness and sensitivity increase, we recognize that certain situations in our life or world are intolerably unproductive, toxic, or destructive. This helps to strengthen our resolve to get healthier; resolve conflicts; put a stop to abusive violence in our relationships; and become an advocate, activist, or celebrant of noble causes that expand the sphere of balance and harmony to our world and to the lives of others. The following image can help you to bring this idea more alive. Imagine that you are standing on a mountain top on a still, clear, dark night. In the sky around you are an infinite number of jewels linked together in a subtle network of light. Imagine now that as you light a little candle, instantly its light and warmth is reflected in each and every one of the jewels surrounding you. Not only that, but each of the jewels is also illumined by the light that is reflected in it from all the illuminating jewels. It is a fantastic and inspiring sight. Now imagine that as you light up a moment of mindfulness within you, the light of that mindfulness "lights up" all living beings. Likewise, if within yourself you awaken or light up a moment of love, gratitude, wonder, joy, forgiveness, that impulse immediately lights up within all others. The transmission is effortless, immediate, heart to heart. Each of the jewels in the net is lighting up all of the other jewels, giving rise to waves of excitement, waves of sympathy, waves of gratitude, love, or blessings. In each moment that we are awake, we can feel what is reverberating within ourselves and we can respond in a way that lights up the world in either a weird or a wonderful way. Mindful moment to mindful moment from the very core of our being we contribute to the balancing and rebuilding of the world in wholeness, or contribute to the fear and confusion. In moments of distraction, when mindlessness sets in and we lose our balance, the momentum of habit and countless impinging forces propels us. In moments of self-remembering, when we awaken to mindfulness, we at least have a choice. As we learn to recognize and repair the rifts and imbalances in our own life we reestablish wholeness within ourselves. As our internal repair work deepens, we are better able to reach out--inwardly and outwardly--and repair the world around us. As we focus the flow of our dynamic being more into balance, and dissolve the rigid boundaries that separate us from our wholeness, we restore the world to balance. These aren't just nice ideas, this is descriptive of the way things are. Our journey toward balance is one of awakening in order to bring more lucid, loving, radiant, presence into our world. This is very deep tikkun." -- Excerpted from Joel & Michelle Leveys books - Living in Balance; Luminous Mind; and Wisdom at Work Winter chill and darkness getting to you? Time for a life-affirming change? Come nurture your spirit at The Sanctuary on the Big Island of Hawaii a Zone of Peace and natural beauty. Gather some friends, surprise your family, or come alone. If you are interested - please give us a call to confirm your dates 808-889-0056 For more information visit: http://KohalaSanctuary.com

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