A neighbor shall no longer be defined by material attributes but by our innermost connection to the Creator. We are all human beings. We all matter. We are all of One.

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Every story in the bible contains the message for us to “love each other.”

This week, we are invited to listen from a place of love and understanding, a conscious choice available to us in every human interaction.
Drawing inspiration from the portion of Ha’azinu (meaning “listen”), the first sentence opens with a request to the heavens from the prophet, Moshe, to listen as he speaks; he follows this with an appeal to the earth to hear his utterances. I was immediately struck by the distinction he made between listening and hearing and also where he chose to direct each request.

It was almost as if he were prepping the celestial bodies to receive and act on his words—a clear reminder to the reader of the power of our words. Just as the world was created through word, so too is every word of ours recorded under the sun in our world of creation.

Ask and you will receive.

The second priority was the earth’s hearing—a totally different function than listening. As we understand it, hearing is a psychological experience deeply rooted in the individual’s perceptual frequency. No two people hear and perceive the exact same things; therefore, our hearing is not foolproof. In order to connect to our own heavenly consciousness, we must learn to hear beyond our five senses. This also helps us to see people for who they really are (mindsight is also 20/20).

Seek and you will find.

What we listen for, we will hear—for good or for ill. Our listening says more about us than it does about what we hear. If we, as listeners, experience love internally (both self-love and the love of GOD), we tend to listen to all on a loving vibration; as such, everything we create as a result will reflect the love we hold for ourselves. Hurt, hate, and fear work the same. We all must come to terms with the idea that we also create people and things as we listen to them

How can you expect love from anyone if you don’t experience it within and for yourself? How would you even recognize it?

True, thoughtful listening requires an open heart; the student must prepare a space and when the student is free and clear the message will appear.

Knock and the door will be opened.

The Sages teach that some messages will show up like strong winds and torrential downpours of rain to those who have earned the capacity to absorb a great deal—Seekers of hidden meanings and sacred wisdom reserved for the strong. Other messages can be as soft as rain drops nurturing dry soil, covering the mustard seed that needs to evolve into the tree. We are all at different stages in our individual journeys.

Regardless of where we’re at in life, we can all learn to give pause and connect with our higher selves before speaking. In that moment, we can see the ALL as so much greater than our grandest idea of what love is: immutable and supportive on a mighty throne. Just before the beginning of every task, in times of great difficulty, when we can’t comprehend how all the “broken” pieces can possibly fit together into the abundant lives we are here to live, we must learn to take our moments before we speak and listen.

In these moments, we’ll realize that higher connections and consciousness are the true keys to the kingdom of Heaven.

Love is the way.

Action steps:

1. Identify at least one way in your own life in which you are negatively creating people as you listen to them.
2. Carve out at least one moment this week in which to pause and listen from a place of loving vibration. Create a space for the teacher to appear to the student in your heart.
3. What are you listening for? Do you listen for goodness, or do you listen for ill will? Reflect on these questions, in writing or in meditation.

Polarity lives in everything; nothing and no one exists on the physical plane in just one way.

We are all ever-evolving, complex beings holding a myriad of (conflicting) thoughts, feelings and experiences inside us. We cannot truly know someone until we acknowledge this first and then choose to love them anyway. Our strengths are directly connected to our “weaknesses”; there is no separation there. Just as a magnet gains its powers of attraction from its opposing poles, so too, do our “opposite” aspects thrive off each other and ultimately make us who we are. To love one side is to love the other. 

The difficulty is in determining which side is in operation at any given moment. As my godmother has taught me to ask myself in times of trouble, “Is this your higher self?”

Reconciling our opposing natures is confronting; it requires a day to day practice of awareness and discernment. Otherwise, we find our relationships with others and ourselves in constant turmoil. We are like the twins (Esau and Jacob), born to two loving parents, embodying two seemingly opposite extremes from the womb. Pregnant, the mother noticed activity in her belly every time she would come into contact with different stimuli in the environment. Loving and humble vibrations would elicit a reactionary kick from one twin, while the complete opposite would inspire movement from the other. 

At birth, the first and oldest is described as “fully developed” while the younger comes out grasping the older twin’s heel. The deeper meaning here is that as soon as we think we’ve fully developed, there will always be someone on our heals willing to do way more. We also kill our opportunity to evolve as there is no room to further develop what is already "fully developed". So, how do we evolve? By recognizing that our lowest points are the same as our highest. There is no separation. The new opportunity is directly connected to our old accomplishment - coming on its “heels,” as it were. They are the same, just positioned at different degrees on our own individual life poles.

As the story of the twins unfolds we see so much strife, self-betrayal and exile stemming from the perceived separation.  All of which may have been avoided had they both recognized their level of impact and individual strengths, considered working together as a whole, as opposed to seeking their individual agreements in separation.

What would the world be like today had both nations fully integrated? 

What would your world be like if you integrated the "opposing nations" within yourself?

We ALL have the same destination. Separation is just an illusion.

Action steps:

1. Identify polarities that exist for you.
2. Offer a prayer of thanks for these “opposing” poles. Ask God and the Creator for the guidance to integrate these dual natures. 
3. The next time you notice these “opposite” poles seeming to be at odds with each other, pause and breathe into that feeling. Ask yourself what is truly in conflict here. Ask yourself how you might bring these two poles into harmony, how they might work together.

Life was good in the days of Noach. Perhaps too good.

That era ushered in the first recorded affluent society. But rather than turning toward the benevolent source energy and codes of honor they followed to attain that abundance, the beneficiaries collectively turned away.

They separated from the Source and became corrupt in their dealings with one another. As the Cohen Hagadol would later proclaim,

“How
hard it will be for those who have money to enter the kingdom”…

Cohen Hagadol

It is said that back then humans possessed enormous physical strength, lived for hundreds of years, and children always outlived their parents.

There was no suffering, no bitter seasons, and the earth produced sufficient harvest on a forty-year schedule. It was a time of affluence, but
that’s not the same thing as harmonious - a lesson which we are all still learning to this day.

It’s easy to lose sight of how good we have it when everything we have is good! The work is in understanding that greater levels of abundance are only channels for greater levels of sharing.

Hoarder energy (modern idol worship) is designed to slow down the network.

Valuing things that are created over the one who created them is certainly enticing. I sometimes cringe at the thought of having to go back to “square one" in order to create something greater than myself. It would be much easier to keep my focus on what I’ve accomplished, been given and become than to connect to the source again in order to create more. It’s harder when you already think life is good. We might fall in love with, worship and want to stay in that goodness - all totally understandable, from a worldly perspective. But there is always more to get when the source is endless.

We must never think that goodness is good enough. Complacence is not neutral; it is destructive.

We must raise the bar and leave it at greatness for the next generation of leaders. In the case of Noah, I can’t say whether or not he understood what it meant to be great, but He was described as “righteous in his generation.” He was a prophet who feared GOD and remained fiercely obedient in a time of great distraction, he was careful about whom he kept company with, and he focused on overcoming his own natural impulses. It may not have been the popular way, but it was necessary in the fulfillment of his purpose, as he would eventually set sail over troubled waters others were made to drown in.

The hardest part about moving in GOD’s own image is cultivating understanding and awareness of our human nature.

We were made part earth, and so will always be susceptible to earthly
influences. As we take control of our earthly bodies and impulses, we too find favor in fulfilling our life purpose. Just as Noah did. And even that wasn’t enough.

He still had to go out and build that ark.

The Sages say it took Noah 120 yrs to construct that ark “for himself”, indicating that civilization at a time of extreme affluence was given a whole lifetime to turn it all around. As always with GODLY matters, grace before judgement. We can all be more conscious of the recurring instances of grace we’ve been given in this lifetime and all the earthly abundance we experience every single day as a result, before we pass our judgement.

Being obedient may get us chosen, but greatness is reserved for those in the game of extraordinary service.

Action items:

1) Ask yourself: Where have you forgotten the creator and prioritized the creation?

2) Commit to a week without complacence. What happens when you consciously orient yourself toward greatness over goodness?

3) What would it mean for you to “build the ark” in your life right now. What is your ark?