Loving Radically

In his seminal book, The Real Name of God, Rabbi Wayne wonders how it is that throughout all Sacred Literature, God is called by so many different names, and he searches through the Hebrew Bible to find the “real name of God” amongst the myriad ways God is called in the Tanach. (Spoiler Alert: Rabbi Wayne, with the help of a number of Chasidic Masters and Talmudic Sages, does find it — right there, in plain sight.) You’ll have to read the book if you want to find Anochi, the great I Am Presence. 

But it’s best to begin at the beginning: The word Elohim, literally is the plural of god, and means gods. It was used as a name of God throughout the Hebrew Bible. The first three words of Genesis, the beginning of the Hebrew Bible, are B’reshit barah Elohim. Most texts have translated this as “In the beginning, God created…” and then the text describes the six days of Creation. 

But the mystical translation sees the verb, barah, meaning created, in a more literal way. And so the mystical text, the Zohar, and also Rabbi Wayne’s translation of these first three words, are rather, “In the beginning, God created the Elohim…”

Danny Matt, the great translator of the Zohar, the mystical Book of Splendor, translates Elohim as palaces. Rabbi Wayne translates Elohim as offices. What this means then, is that the first “thing” God created (knowing that God was going to subsequently create everything else in Creation) are the Elohim — the places where Human Beings could come and find God. As in, if you want to talk to God, in the old days of Zohar, you would go to the palace to find God. In the world now, you would go to God’s office to talk to God — like going to the White House to talk to whoever the President is. For Rabbi Wayne, the word Elohim is not just the place, but the “office” of the President, as in, there was President Washington, and then President Adams, and then President Jefferson, and so on. 

When you go to the palace or the office to find God, you are able to actually connect with God, because when you go there, your frequency is raised, and God’s energy is tamped down enough to enable connection, without your being incinerated by God’s normally infinite energy. The Elohim, the meeting places, operate like the locks of a canal, which, little by little, raise the water level under your boat, while lowering the water level coming from the other side, so that eventually, the waters from the two different levels can meet and your boat can smoothly sail across.

In other words, the Elohim are the connecting places, the Sacred Spaces, the holy places in which you can feel and experience the Presence, and have intimate conversation (or as Rabbi Wayne described it, “Pillow Talk”) with God. Rabbi Wayne described these “meeting places” as the places in which God and Humankind kiss. 

You can feel the uplift of your Soul expanding, of your vibration raising, of your heart opening in wonder and love — when you walk into one of the Elohim: when you experience the awesome beauty of Nature, when you feel the majesty of gorgeous stained glass and great angel-covered vaulted ceilings, when you are transported by the fragrance of sweet incense and flowers, when magnificent music lifts you out of your small self and carries you into the infinite and eternal…

And so, the first “thing” God creates in Genesis are the Elohim, so God, and all the Realms leading to the creation of Human Beings, can always be intimately connected. 

Thank you for listening to my simple words of explanation, so that we can find ourselves on the same page together. But of course, you really want to read the beautiful poetry of Rabbi Wayne’s Soul, as he introduces us to Divine Pillow-Talk. Here for you, is the opening to his final and most amazing book.

Ellen, continuing the work of the Elijah Minyan

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Radical Loving

Let’s pretend that one fine spring evening, we are walking our dog in the green, green grass of a lovely park among the stately trees and the wildly beautiful flowers. A cool breeze softens the heat of the day. 

And, there — walking the Divine Dog, Fido — is God.

Awe-struck and a bit intimidated, we, nevertheless, want to be polite and friendly.

“Good evening, God,” we might say. “Fido is looking very fine tonight, and You, God, You are looking very well.”

“Good evening to you, My precious children. How are you?”

“Just fine, God, just fine. Thank You for asking. And, how are YOU?”

“Well, My children, let Me tell you. I Am very proud of you. Much of the time, I rejoice in you. You are doing a great job as My companions on Earth. 

“You discover, and invent, and make, and shape, and develop, and sustain, and partner with Me, building a continually evolving and enlivened Earth. With the animation of your minds and spirits, your imagination, ingenuity, and the dedicated work of your hands and hearts, you enhance, enrich, enlighten, and ennoble the Earth. 

“You can be — and very often are — kind, caring and compassionate, grace-ful and elegant, just and good. When you touch hearts and hands with each other and when you embrace all that I have taught you, you move Earth toward its ultimate perfection.”

What a compliment from God!

“Thank You, God,” we say. “Thank You very much. We are so glad that You are happy with us.” 

“Yet…” says God.

What??? 

When God says “Yet,” it is usually not very good news. 

Our hearts seem to skip a beat and our stomachs begin to churn. 

“Yes, God? What is it?”

“Come,” says God. “Let’s sit on that bench over there. We’ll talk some more.” 

“My dear, dear Ones,” God continues, “it breaks My heart to say this, but sadly — oh so sadly — I may have to admit that the Angels might have been right. Far too often, I have been disappointed over your foolishness and folly. And I have wept bitter tears. 

“Look. Look at the stunning beauty of this park — grass, trees, flowers, the placid lake, the chirping birds, the hopping bunnies, the squirrels with their fat, little cheeks. And all the good folks, walking their dogs, chatting with each other, laughing and having a sweet evening. Does it remind you of anything?”

“Well…” we say slowly, not quite understanding what God is asking. “Well…”

“Oh, My precious children. How easy it is for you to forget. Not that I blame you, for you are just caught up in the rules of living on this Earth. But, if you dig deep, deep into your soul’s memory, you will remember that this is what it was like when you were in the Garden. Beauty. Harmony. Tranquility. Companionship. Love. Paradise. Eden. 

“That was our beginning together. 

“I created you all to be one big human family — connected and unified in purpose; loving each other and Me. 

“I made you, I created the essence of your human nature. I know you. To help you live on Earth with each other, I gave you a set of simple rules for human behavior, and told you the consequences of following or of violating that code. 

“I gave you Eden on Earth — the place that was to be a perfect home for all of you. 

 “Yet, you shattered Paradise. You separated from Me and disconnected from each other. You split into thousands of fiefdoms, spread out to myriad places on Earth. And it was not long before your foibles and flaws, and failings and faithlessness, began to fill the Earth.

“Despite human sensibilities toward the good, the evil inclination often prevails. You can be petty and petulant, harsh and cruel. You lie, and cheat, and deceive, and steal, and murder. You demonize and marginalize “The Other” — anyone who is different from you. You fight for wealth, and power, and prestige, and territory. You can be hate-mongers and war-mongers. You can wantonly devastate and blithely destroy. 

“Your disconnection and separation from The Other — and from Me — has brought you pain, anger, and hatred. You have played out your enmity with The Other so often that your individual and collective blood cries out from My Earth on which you spilled it. Your guilt shouts out from the lands you have denuded, and the skies and waters you have polluted.

“‘Woe to My creatures who ignore My Teachings…’

“Instead of always elevating the human spirit, you so often crush it.            

“You fail to nurture and nourish your inherent greatness.

“Sometimes, you try to rationalize and explain away your behavior. At other times, you are thrown to your knees by the consequences of your transgressions against the best that you know that is within you.” 

Our heads bow and our eyes fill with tears.

What have we done? What have we done?

How have we made God so deeply disappointed in us?

How have we ravaged and wrecked God’s glorious world?

This is how God sees us?

This is how God feels about us? 

“We’re so sorry, God. We’re so sorry. We didn’t mean it to be this way. We didn’t mean to offend You or make You sad.

“What can we do? What can we do to fix what we have broken, to make it all better? What can we do to make You happy with us again?”

God looks at us with such kindness and concern. For even in sadness and anger, God is always benevolent and loving. With Divine chastisement comes Divine comfort. God catches our tears and enfolds us in Divine Love. 

So, God says, “My sweet and precious children, you are wise and you are strong. In your heart of hearts, you know what is right. And you know that there are ways to fix what is wrong, ways to become the very best you can be, ways for you and Me to save our beautiful Earth before it is too late.”

Dusk begins to fall as we sit on the bench with God, and the cool breeze begins to turn a bit chilly. Are we shivering because of the change in the weather, or because of what we are hearing from God? 

We wait…and wait.

And, then, slowly, God begins to speak. again. 

“In days of old, and, surely, these days, your ‘theme song’ seems to be, ‘My God’s better than your God.’

“But that is absolutely impossible!

“There is only One God. 

“Me. 

“I Am the Creator and Parent of each and every one of you. 

“I Am God. There is nothing else. 
I form light and create darkness. 
I make peace and create evil. 
I, the Source and Substance of All do this.'’

“I Am the Everything of the Everything, the wholeness, the totality, the Oneness of the universe — male and female, father and mother, light, and dark, and shadow, us and other, justice and compassion, pain and comfort, sense and nonsense, good and evil, anger and tranquility, indifference and passion, joy and sorrow, tragedy and triumph, right and wrong, yes and no, conflict and harmony, war and peace, vengeance and incredible love, life and death, and life eternal. 

“There is nothing that is not Me.

And, I know you intimately and intensely.

“Before I created you in the womb, I selected you;
Before you were born, I consecrated you.”

“So, I tell you:

“Your two different genders are just a practicality, so that you can be ‘fruitful and multiply.’ Otherwise, men and women are equally human, equally My children.

“Your sexuality is your choice. I Am All, and All is of Me. Every one of you is created in My Image. I do not care how you express your Being-ness. 

“Your so-called ‘different’ physical traits and characteristics mean nothing. Your differences of skin, or eye, or hair color mean nothing. Your science has taught you: 97% of the makeup — what you call DNA — of all people of Earth is exactly the same.

“Your physicality, your inherent capabilities, your perceived strengths or weaknesses, are immaterial. The place where you came into this Earth, where you were born — with your ethnicity, family, religion, culture, economic situation, and politics — makes little difference in who you are at your core.

“How do I know all this? 

“When I created you, I made each one of you a perfect human being. I do not make mistakes. 

“I gave you the whole Earth as your collective home. 

“It is you who have imposed any perceived differences on each other. When you needlessly — and incorrectly — place separations between you, you set up false boundaries and bitter confrontations. 

“Know this, My children. Know it well: 

“I love you all — fully and equally.

“You are all My children.

“I do not play favorites.

“I love you all.”

“Even though they may seem so different, each religion that you invented as your pathway to Me is nothing more than a reflection of the time, place, culture, politics, and social circumstances in which a particular religion was born and began to develop.

“In each era, I gave you a collection of myths, legends, fables, stories, codes, ways of living, and — most of all — ways to love.

“To the Hebrews, I gave the Bible. 

“To the Christians, I gave the New Testament. 

“To the Muslims, I gave the Koran.

“To the people of the East, I gave sacred ideas and great epic myths.

“To the indigenous peoples of all places, I gave tribal tales.

“All of these holy texts came through sages who were My messengers.

“Wisdom is wisdom. It does not belong to any one faith or religious community. It belongs to the universe ­— to all times and all places and all peoples.

“Yet…” says God, “you all misunderstood. You all perverted My intent. 

“Historically — and for many today —My religious guidebooks are seen not as cumulative, but as superseding the previous.

“You think that the Hebrew Bible is superior to the codes of the ‘pagans’ who came before the Jews. 

“Christians think that the New Testament is ‘replacement theology’ of the Hebrew Bible. 

“Muslims think that the Koran is superior to and supersedes both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

“Your theory is that newer must be better, that newer revelation is better than older revelation, that I choose a new group to receive the newer, better teachings, and thus that new group must be superior to the older ones. 

“Throughout your history — and now — for some who believe this way, it was and is not enough to claim theological supremacy over both the ideas and the people who proclaim them, but ­— because of your sincere belief that what you have is so much better than what has been ­— you want to force your beliefs on others.

“This has led to your theological, ideological, cultural, and political warfare; crusades, racism, nationalism, fundamentalism, radicalism, inquisitions, holy wars, pogroms, gas chambers, genocide, and worldwide terror — with the current threat of nuclear annihilation hovering. 

“It has led to the disruption of the sacred relationship of human beings and Me as co-creative partners on this Earth. Our Earth cannot be healed, built up, and perfected while some are trying to tear it down through their own egoism and selfishness.

“Your sage so rightly said, ‘When you make your particular religion your God, you lose the God of your religion.’

“Your sense of supremacy and triumphalism is poisoning the world.”

“The absolute, universal truth is: No group’s book, no group’s interpretation of Me, is superior to any other. 

“Surely, there can be wide differences in beliefs and practices, in geographic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, and, some would even say, in genetic characteristics, that are passed through the generations. 

“What you call ‘religion’ came into being to be a vessel, a vehicle, for people to join together to relate to Me — a power greater than you understood, and to attempt to find your place and purpose in the universe. 

“In their purest form, your organized religions can be enlightening, embracing, sweet, uplifting, and inspiring.

“Yet, perversely, organized religion can be rigidly fundamental, confining, stifling, and punishing. 

“Belief in Me — a relationship with Me — does not have to come through a religious system. It is a spiritual connection, a journey into My World of Spirit, the pathway to a personal, intimate loving relationship between you and Me.

“Every belief and faith community and the rites and rituals and ceremonies you form are right for you. Come with words; come with chant; come with dance; come with silence. You are all on the same journey — from Me to Me. Actually, there is great beauty in the different ways you walk the pathway, build the bridges, and make the journey. I appreciate them all. 

“I do not care what you call Me. Call Me God; call Me Adonai; call Me Jesus; call Me Allah; call Me Vishnu or Shiva; call Me the Buddha; call Me by any of the hundreds and hundreds of names you have given Me. 

“In a family, one child may call the male parent ‘Dad’; another may say ‘Pop’; still another, ‘Father’. One may say ‘Mother’; another ‘Mommy’; another ‘Mama.’ It does not matter, for each is referring to and addressing the same one parent. It is the same with Me. Call me what you will, but know that there is only One Me — the One God who is your One and Only Parent. 

“You are all My children. I love you all. 

“And I hope that you will love Me.

“Most of all, I hope that you will learn to love each other.

“There is much more that unites you as My children than divides you.

“Bigotry, racism, misogyny, nationalism, xenophobia have gotten you nowhere. Hatred, violence, terror, genocide, and warfare have torn apart your Earth. 

“The pathway to supporting the Earth is healing her woundings, and affirming your places as My co-creative partners; to be in full consciousness of Oneness. 

“Your shared humanness means that you are all united in origin, purpose, and destiny. What happens to One happens to All. 

‘“The only way to get it together is together.’

“I Am the One God.

“There is this One World in which we exist.

“You are One — children of Me — the One God. 

“You — We — are One.

“All is One. One is All.

“Understand: Oneness — human unity does not mean ‘sameness.’ Our world’s richness comes from the dazzling tapestry of the ways that you live and become. There is so much to celebrate in your unique world-views and experiences. 

“As I do, you too, can see the worth and beauty in diversity, and, at the same time, celebrate the unity of humankind as children of the One God. You can cherish your magnificent uniqueness, and you can respect and honor the wondrous significance of all humankind.

“True Oneness is the shared journey of unity and harmony, peace and love. 

“Love.

“Love is all there is.

“All is Love. Love is All.

“Do you understand, My precious children? Do you understand?”

With hearts overflowing and eyes filled with grateful tears, we nod, “Yes. Yes. We understand. And we will embrace Your sweet and loving teachings.”

And right there — on that park bench — God leaned over and hugged us. 

“There’s one more thing that I want to tell you before I get back to overseeing the rest of the universe,” says God.

“I Am asking you to accept My gift. Every day, every moment, I give you the gift of My continuing revelation. It is My way of speaking to new generations, who have new languages, new learning, new wisdom, new experiences, new perspectives, new touchstones. 

“My core teachings are universal and eternal. Most all the new teachings I give over to you are the result of your ever-unfolding world, with all its diversity, all its challenges, and all its possibilities.

“You know and understand much more of our vast universe. You have uncovered so many of the mysteries. You have tamed so many of the uncertainties. Much more than your ancient ancestors and even your grandparents and parents, you grasp My Divine Design for you. 

“In your growth, you need new pathways to journey, new vistas, new directions, a new summons. You need to enhance and enrich the past with the power of the present and the promise of the future. 

“Please accept My continuing gifts not with any haughtiness or self-proclaimed superiority, but with the humility and joy of knowing that each revelation is another portion that I give to all of you as your inheritance as My children on Earth. 

“Remember: I love all of you. And I ask you to love each other.” 

With that, God got up from the bench, picked up the dog’s leash, and said, “Come on, Fido, let’s go.” 

And, turning to us, God said, “This has been wonderful. I’ve loved talking with you. You are My precious children. I so delight in you. 

“And, don’t worry. This isn’t the end of our little chats. We’ll talk again soon. 

“Remember: I love you — all of you. 

“Always. 

“All-ways.” 

And, then, God and Fido strolled off into the night.