Start Today

 

 

A Sage once encountered the prophet Eliyahu.

 

In our combat this will be our watchword: Today.

 

We will consider only the present moment.  The moment that we are living now is the only one that counts.  This is our life.  If we allow the past to crush us or the future to intimidate us, what will remain of our present, of our life? 

 

Let us cast off the bad memories, let us dispel the obsessions of tomorrow.  Why overrate an unknown period?  Who knows what changes time will bring and whether in the next moment all our plans will not be disrupted? 

 

Salvation comes when we least expect it, and the most complex problems are frequently resolved by sudden and unexpected events.

 

Let us concentrate on the present and we will find our task far lighter.

 

Who asked us to move mountains?  Who told us to make long-term plans?  No one, if not our imagination which troubles us with its false problems.  What God asks of us is to hearken to His Voice Today.   If we dispel the echoes of the past and the fears of the future which interfere with this Voice, we will hear it tell us what we need to do this very moment.

 

There is a time for everything, and the present moment will be the best time to do what we are bid: we will not postpone it till tomorrow!

 

By knowing our level and our place we will be able to reflect on what is accessible to us with reasonable efforts. This way we will avoid letting our mind roam in spheres that are far too elevated:  too much oil causes the light to be extinguished.

 

Just as every person is unique, every place has its distinctive feature, and every time its exceptional contribution. The Zohar teaches us that there is no day without light.  Each instant is new; it presents a unique contribution that can be experienced and discovered only if we concentrate precisely on this time.

 

However, a barrier separates us from this light, these clouds hide the sun’s rays from us.

 

Sometimes we are so busy that we forget the goal: we live without remembering the purpose of life, to what we must orient ourselves to live a truly successful life.  To avoid lapses of memory, one must give one constant reminders.  Two methods serve to rouse our goal so that every action can be properly orientated.  They are: the general and the specific.

In general it is our onus, immediately upon opening our eyes when we awake in the morning, to remember the extensive meaning of life: to prepare ourselves for the World to Come.

 

Then, during the day, we will try to instill this awareness, to remember it in each specific action.  We will achieve this by examining every thought, every word and every action that God leads us to accomplish today.  With this reflection, we will apply ourselves to deciphering the message that God is sending through these circumstances.  There is no such thing as chance:  every situation has a very precise meaning designed to enable man to rise towards perfection. God restricts His infinite power to the smallest details of our lives on earth to call us or to recall us to the goal.

 

The simple acceptance of this principle as one of the bases of faith will already enable us to be attentive to events, to watch out for the message.  Then, gradually, we will become more lucid, and we will be able to detect valuable indications, answers or calls in seemingly unimportant events. We will feel ourselves being guided.

 

Arriving at this moment one should avoid the stumbling-block of exaggeration, of over-interpreting things, analyzing everything in minute detail, even when this involves venturing into domains which are beyond us.  Sense of proportions and steady practice of meditation (as we will see later) will allow us to find the right balance.

 

When we lose our place, when we go back down one or several levels, we should know that this is God’s will.  He has made us fall so that we will renew ourselves and make finer efforts to draw close.  At such times, the solution consists in erasing the past and starting over as if this were the first time in our lives that we heard words of Torah.  This is the great rule: start today!

 

It is through belief in himself that man will be able to pull himself up.  He will be able to bring about in himself the spiritual awakening by connecting to his own Messianic essence, his heavenly roots – and this, no matter how great his fall is.  We merely have to commence the dialogue with the divine element within us.

 

Do you want to know who has a part in the World to Come?  Observe whether he is already truly happy in this world!  

 

Indeed, how would it be possible to find one’s place and be in harmony in this world, without having connected first to the Beyond?   

 

 

(Used with permission from COURAGE by Israel Isaac Besancon. Published by Shir Chadash Publishers).