Waiting for a Date Night

Dress shoes polished, waiting patiently in my closet, for the chance to be flaunted,
My pressed styled shirt untouched, waiting for the night which it will be worn and appreciated,
Ideas, beliefs and aspirations, thought through and rehearsed, waiting for the chance to be heard and responded to.


Cafes, restaurants and intriguing places, found, checked out and documented, now waiting to be experienced with another............
Places that are tasteful and private, yet not uncomfortably so,
Places that say I have the sensitivity, ability and class to find a spot that meets the unique requirements needed for dating in the "Shidduch world."  


References called, Shadchanim met, 
Prayers composed and bequeathed,
Prayers recited and reiterated time and time again.


All while waiting for a date night to come........


Waiting for the chance to wipe the dust of my dress shoes which has steadily collected while I wait for suggestions to be maid and ideals to collaborate,


Glancing at my pressed shirt and wondering when will be worn, next week, next month, ever? or should I just wear it today; now, and leave the planning alone for awhile?


Finding the courage to believe that the darkness doesn't imply that there is no hope, 
That the loneliness doesn't mean that there will be no light,  
The darkness only suggests that the light hasn't reached me yet, 
The light is making its way towards me,
Steadily, 
Each day coming closer, hoping that I keep attracting her light by waiting optimistically for my date night to arrive. 


This is waiting for a date night.











   

Drugs, Torah and Eretz Yisrael

I have always wondered what would drive a person with a relatively stable life, family or career to get involved with psychedelic drugs. Why would somebody flirt with substances which can eventually shake or destroy the life they experience, and limit as well hamper to an extent their future potential and ability to function in today’s modern society. (To a lesser degree I am discussing marijuana use as well). What would make a person willing to push aside reason and cultural taboos for the benefit of a "trip" or “experience”? What would probe someone into playing with the delicateness of their psyche, without any guarantee of a positive outcome? Why is the idea of experiencing a new reality or state of being so alluring, addictive and intoxicating?

I believe the answers to these questions lay within the deepest part of the human experience. The answers leads us to humanities deepest desires, aspirations, and goals, as well as our burning need and search to find fulfillment in our lives.We are all capable of feeling that there is more in our lives or reality than what meets our eye. People are constantly touched by stories of spiritual achievement, morality and dreams for a better future. These stories touch a part of our reality which is deeper than the physical, deeper than what our physical senses can appreciate or experience.  

When a person's life revolves around, and is motivated by, "superficial" experiences and the constant pursuit of "instant physical pleasure"  they may begin to subtly feel that they are missing part of the depth and beauty that life "somewhere" has to offer. Many times the trudgeidy of daily life; the mere consistency of one’s experienced reality and awareness's can make even the most comfortable and desired life, unfulfilled and non-enjoyable. When ones entire reality constalates around the "physical" or "superficial" plains one may feel an acute lack in their lives. One begins to feel that they can experience and become more. This pain and need to connect to something more, something deeper, and something more alive can compel even the most complacent individuals out of their comfort zone, in the desperate attempt to fill the void that their lifestyle has created. One will desperately attempt to refined their spark of life and find a more expanded dimension of reality. The need to connect to the depth and spirit of life can convince hardened cynics that their is more to life than their penthouse window overlooking the Manhattan skyline had to offer.

 It is at this moment of desperation that even the most, level headed, responsible, un-hippy like individual, would entertain taking drugs, not as a way to oppose social norms and beliefs but as a opportunity to experience a deeper, new, and more expanded part of themselves. What is intoxicating is not the drug itself but the chance to leave the confides of the stagnant reality that they have built and lived in their entire lives. What is intoxicating is the chance to develop; maybe become more sensitive, more aware, and understand and experience reality in a more expanded way. The attraction is a combination of leaving the blandness and uninspiring reality that is experienced now, however comfortable it may be, and entering a new reality which offers new awareness's and ways at perceiving reality. This attraction is so compelling that it can coerce one into risking the balance of their psyche and unsatisfied lives for the potential of finding a new expanded reality .

 The desire to develop and reach higher more expanded ways at viewing, interacting and experiencing the world is at the core of a healthy human being. As alive healthy human beings we feel frustrated and unfulfilled when we know that there is more that we can become and experience.  The feelings and frustration's that create the desire to take psychedelic drugs are not problematic, on the contrary they are signs of life and life’s power to motivate growth and change, the issue is only the means of dealing with these painful frustrations and feelings of unhappiness.

I deeply feel that Torah in all its depth, is the medium that one ideally should embrace to overcome these frustrations. Torah can help alleviate the frustration and depression which comes when one only encounters the "physical" reality and its limiting perspective. Torah is designed to help someone on their road to new discovery of themselves and the world around them. Drugs might temporarily alleviate the emotional issues that caused the drug use to begin with, but in the long term, they will only darken and even further limit the world, life and reality that one originally lived in. Using drugs one might succeed in perceiving a expanded view of life or reality, but because it comes at the expense of real process and development there are shortcomings. The drugs will have to block out and desensitize parts of one’s reality and short cut the user to new consciousness.


 Torah is the pare dime that one uses to naturally infuse life and depth into one’s life. Through integrating Torah into one’s life, one begins to slowly and naturally alter their reality into a more expanded, dynamic, alive, and fulfilling experience. The result on the experiential level might appear similar to that of experiencing psychedelics but they are worlds apart. The latter needs to negate and break ones reality in order  to achieve an experience of expanded consciousness. Torah however, is able to enliven and deepen life by slowly making one aware of the truth behind reality without having to negate or destroy it. The power of Torah is that it can lift us up out of the trugidness and at sometimes blandness of our daily life and self perceived realities by helping us connect to something bigger than our previously perceived reality. The only question is, do we have the courage to look for that extra underlining spirit of life, in our conscious realities?  Can we feel the extra sense of purpose, in our realities, or can we only approach that expanded state of touching the depth of life, by escaping our realities and limitations?

Torah, when approached correctly, can add to life an intoxicating feeling of, depth, expanded perceptions and escape from the confides of mere physical reality.  The land of Israel which is a physical manifestation of the holiness spoken about in the Torah gives as well, to the one's privileged to tread on its surface, the surreal feeling of being one step out of the confides earthly living. Without drugs or external inhibiter's the air and land of Eretz Yisrael is able to cure one from experiencing the blandness of life. The land of Israel imbues her residence with the magic which rolls freely and tangibly in her hills, cities and plains. So many people have passionately experienced the uplifting, addictive and sensual feelings which Eretz Yisrael manifests and imbues into its  inhabitants. 


The question again that remains is: "Are you prepared to recreate your conscious physical reality into a new, expanded, magical  reality, by letting the light of Torah and EretzYisrel permeate into your life?