By Rabbi Dr. Douglas Goldhamer

Alef Meditation #2

SO THAT WE ARE A CHANNEL THROUGH WHICH THE ENERGY OF DIVINITY AND HUMANITY FLOW IN BALANCE.

  1. As with all meditative exercises, it is important to do your meditations in a room where you have created your ―Small Sanctuary,‖ your miat meek-dash. It‘s also important that you do this meditation with kavvanah , knowing that God is all around you.
  2. Sit in a relaxed, comfortable upright chair with both of your feet planted firmly on the floor.
  3. Sit relaxed, breathing slowly in and out with your eyes closed. Be conscious of your breathing.
  4. Look at the letter Alef . See how it is composed and made up of a vertical Vav and two Yods, an upper Yod and a lower Yod.
  5. Look at the letter Alef on your page. Study it. With your eyes closed, imagine the letter Alef much larger than on the page. It encompasses the complete room. The Alef is made of two colors—purple and green, the colors of the healing angel Rafael. The vertical Vav is purple, the two Yods are green.
  6. Visualize the purple and green Alef – it‘s huge and encompasses the whole room.
  7. Look at the lower Yod. Visualize it. It is our physical world. Receive it. Walk into it—don‘t be afraid. It is filled with green energy. Receive its energy. This is the energy of Nefesh Behamit, Lower Reality, or our world, our universe, our physical universe, the green earth and the seas and the sky, all the stars and the galaxies. As you receive the energy of the Lower World, our world, know that there are spiritual worlds that correspond to our physical world. The worlds of Yetzirah and Briah. These are the worlds of Angels and souls. Receive the energy of these worlds into your soul also. Perhaps you can see the healing angel Rafael here with his green and purple wings. Stay in this lower world Yod. Receive the vibrations of our universe, physical and spiritual, within your soul.
  8. Now visualize the Vav that separates the Lower Worlds and the world of God. This is like a veil that separates our consciousness from God consciousness. Receive its energy. Visualize its purple energy. This is the energy of TIFERET, the energy of Balance, balancing the energy of the Lower Worlds with the energy of the Upper Worlds.
  9. Now, float up into the upper Yod, Higher Reality. Visualize it and receive it. Receive the energy of Nefesh Elohit,the Celestial World of God, the world of Atzilut. Dissolve your ―I‖ into the ―Greater I.‖ Become one with the One. Feel completely connected with the One. Feel the consciousness of the Higher Yod. Feel your consciousness attach to the Higher Consciousness. The energy of the Lower Worlds and the energy of the Higher Worlds share the same color green, because both are really one. Enjoy feeling connected with the ONE. Completely receive the energy of the Upper World of Atzilut. This is the world of God Consciousness.
  10. When you are ready, float down into the Vav. Enjoy receiving the healing Purple energy of Vav, and when you are ready again, float down into the lower Yod. See its green color. Know that even though you are in the Lower Yod, you are part of the Upper Yod.
  11. When you leave the Lower Yod, and you step back, you will see the whole Alef. The only true reality—look at the Alef. Meditate on it with its purple Vav and two green Yods; know that the Alef is an expression of God‘s Unity and God‘s balance within you. As you look at the Alef, meditate on the oneness of the spiritual and the physical and know that your consciousness and God consciousness are One. As you visualize the Alef from the outside with its diagonal purple Vav and two green Yods, know and intuit and feel that your Upper Reality and your Lower Reality are in balance. Remember a healthy person is a person whose sense of Divinity and sense of Humanity are in balance. When God breathed the breath of life into us, we became both human and Divine at the same time. The Alef represents this dichotomy within us, just as Dr. Dresher‘s gertel reminds him that the human being is a channel that unites and separates heaven and earth. The Alef reminds us that every one of us is a channel through which the energy of Divinity and humanity flow in balance.