Experiencing the Divine:
A Practical Jewish Guide
by Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira
(the Pieseszner Rebbe)
translated by Yaacov Dovid Shulman
1. Experiencing the Divine
The Composition of This Group
One: Overcoming Our Forgetfulness
Two: Working Upon the Mind
Three: The Need to Strengthen Mindfulness
Four: Exercising Mindfulness
Five: The Importance of Thought and Imagination
Seven: From Image to No-Image
Eight: Thought and Feeling
Ten: See God in Everything
Eleven: Strenthening Holy Feeling
Twelve: The Spiritual Nature of Reality
Thirteen: Becoming a Person Who Sees God
Fourteen: Bringing Ourselves to Perceive Godliness
Fifteen: Truth and Sincerity
Sixteen: Overcoming Idleness
Seventeen: Beyond the Intellect of This World
Eighteen: Music - Revelation of the Soul
Nineteen: Proper Self-Evaluation
Twenty: A Child of the King
Techniques and Theory
Twenty: A Child of the King
Our ultimate goal is to transform ourselves so that we are no longer a maidservants=s child but the child of the king, so that in our service of God we move closer to Him, from behind the millstone to the King=s palace and His Throne of Glory. In other words, not only will we serve God, but we will become servants; not only will we act in a holy manner, but we ourselves will become holy.
Everyone can evaluate himself in the following manner. After any service of God, look within yourself, and say, AI prayed, learned Torah, or whatever. Do I now feel a spirit of purity, even the slightest? After my service of God, are my thoughts, desires and feelings even slightly different from the desires and thoughts I have after my exposure to the world and its impulses? And right now, do I feel any yearning for the state of mind I was in while I was praying and serving God? Do I feel a pain in my heart that I have now drifted so far from the purity and supernal beauty that I had caught a glimpse of in the midst of my prayers?@
If you do see all this and are pained, that is a sign that your divine service was acceptable to God, and that your body has been sanctified by that service. If not, you have erred in your assessment of all your spiritual attainments (heaven forbid). But even if the latter is the case, do not grow discouraged. If the medicine has not worked, gird your loins and grow even stronger in your service of God.
