Subconsciousness keeps a warehouse of things already done. Why it does this no one knows. Perhaps this will explain why a thing suddenly appears as if from nothing completely in place with everything necessary to sustain its existence all around it. It reminds me of a quick pick system that is used in modern warehouses where the ticket comes in and a package is all ready to go within moments because it is sitting in a bin al ready to go. The only thing left to do is to put a label on this package and send it off immediately. The same kind of dynamic is at work during all communications between conscious and subconscious mind. Training to think in the subconscious is the subtlest force that we will ever encounter. Below the level of thought where we may readily access information is the subconscious where information resides eternally. The question then becomes how we may touch or connect with this inner deepest level of being? The following are suggestions in terms of how to approach such a task.

Keep within the focus of your perception and penetrate deeply the hidden depths beyond. Ride then inside of the latticework of expressions that come your way knowing that every path transcends the other and all directions emanate and lead to Hashem. Hashem represents the subconscious mind. In order for the subconscious mind to act effectively it must be cleansed of all impurities. When the subconscious mind acts effectively we are led into the Promised Land. The Promised Land represents our hearts desires. It represents the resultant of the focus of our conscious mind.

The red heifer sacrificed at the beginning of Parsha Chukat represents the seed of purity meant to purify the subconscious mind. Every offering is to Hashem, to the subconscious mind. The laws of purity that follow all pertain to this cleansing of Subconsciousness. These sacrifices were never meant to be realized in actuality. Their inner mystical meanings once lost could not be maintained by the physical act itself. You see the original purpose of Torah continues and that is to teach man to reach continuously the Promised Land of his heart’s desires. Hashem remains as a symbol of Subconsciousness and man’s relationship in terms of what his conscious mind is focusing upon. If we look at it in this way the mystery becomes all too clear.

This same theme of the spiritual connection between the conscious and subconscious is continued during the waters of Meribah incident. The conscious mind is filled with doubt and the answer is given in the subconscious mind or by Hashem to bring forth the waters from the rock. What are these waters? They are the thoughts of certainty that lead to the Promised Land and slake our thirst for the completion or demonstration of our dreams come true. Moses makes a mistake or misinterprets what he hears from Hashem. He was told to speak to the rock. What is this speaking to the rock? It is a further explanation of how the conscious mind properly communicates or connects with Hashem. It is through thought which then seeds and builds within Hashem. When Moses who represents the conscious mind strikes the rock and brings forth the water he demonstrates his power or the power of the ego. While this brings the water of nourishment to Israel it does not teach them about the connection to Hashem. Moses in a sense has limited the power of connection and this is why he neither he nor Aaron are able to enter the Promised Land. Both of them rebelled against the word of Hashem taking on the power for themselves instead of teaching that every connection to Hashem is through thought and not the power of the ego.

Next on in this parsha they are trying to pass through these hostile lands however despite being willing to pay for their passage they must fight their way through. Why couldn’t Hashem simply open up a passage for them free from strife? One reason is because the people are inconsistent with their faith and haven’t learned how to speak to Hashem themselves. Moses leads them but cannot let go of his ego. Still the voice of the people manages to get through to Hashem who delivers up their enemies to them. Who are these enemies? They are the various versions of doubts that keep us from following the true path of our heart. We have to fight our way through just to connect with Hashem and even then it is a struggle as the ego seeks to hold on to its position. Once again the people are frustrated by lack of water. What is this water? It is the water of right thinking that lays out the pathways to the Promised Land before them. The result of their misuse of thought in terms of Hashem is that Hashem bites most of them like a viper. In essence their doubtful thoughts are what turn out to destroy them. It is only when Moses puts up the serpent of brass that the people their thoughts are brought back to the holy way and all who see this serpent of brass live that were once bitten by the serpents. Thoughts are either promoting life or destruction. Life will triumph over chaos and destruction that is why seeing Life they were born again taken from the hands of death. Finally partaking of this new life they come to Beer where Hashem once again fully in connection with Israel offers the waters of consciousness providing nourishment to their doubt ravaged souls. Once they leave here Israel cannot be stopped no matter what their doubts previously were. All are vanquished before them. They move forward now with a renewed purpose for their consciousness has been restored by the waters of Hashem.

Summary: Thoughts become renewed through connection with Hashem. Hashem is a symbol for the subconscious mind that responds to our conscious expressions. These conscious expressions have as their purpose unity and not the raising of one part of consciousness over another as the ego would try and subvert the mind into a belief that it is separate from Subconsciousness. I become that which I am. Hashem contains our true nature all we need do is but listen. Although we use the name Hashem or the subconscious to describe the operations taking place there really can never be any name for this simply because it is defined each moment by our thoughts and the quality and intensity of our connection with it. The only reason to ascribe any qualities to it at all is because we want to personify its presence in order to bring it nearer to our understanding of it. Keeping in this vein of discovery we deepen our awareness of it every time we seek it in our thoughts or through Torah study which is really just another tool for awakening ourselves to it. As a creative process it only becomes that which we believe it will become. The trick is our belief that turns out to be the connecting link between our understanding of it and the jumping off point where the ego must be left behind. You see the ego cannot believe in it because this would mean the ego could no longer run the show. Belief in it signifies a sense of merging with it accepting its demands and its rewards. It demands attention to it because without this attention our lives become chaos and it rewards us with the images that we’ve been sending into it as prayers that may only take their shape through its particular attribute of grace. This grace is the meaning of ‘the image and likeness of us’ taken from Genesis. Even though it is all powerful and indeed G-d like it cannot act unless it is given something (our thoughts and emotions) to act upon. Consider where the steady course of your life lies and then recognize that this course leads you to and through it as a drop of rainwater merges with the ocean to become a part of its flow.

B’H”

Mark