Thursday, November 15, 2012

Being in the Present: 2a

Hisbodidus is synonymous with תמימות, being completely with Hashem. Rashi on the verse "You should be complete with Hashem your God," comments "walk with Him with completeness. Look towards Him and do not seek the future. Rather, whatever He brings upon you accept completely and then you will be His and in His lot."

"Do not seek the future," the point is that we need to connect to the present and not to escape to the future. There is no such thing as thinking about the future. After all the future is non-existent and how can one be in something that doesn't exist yet? Really, all thoughts about the future are thoughts about the present. The person is contemplating the future based on his present assumptions of what the future will be. Where he really is, is in the present. This is analogous to contemplating infinity. The finite mind cannot grasp that which is infinite. How can infinity be bound? Rather it is a finite view of infinity. So too are current thoughts about the future.

This is the meaning of not seeking the future; a person needs to live in the present. Be completely in the present; in the moment. The more one runs to the future, the more one is entering the mindset that he can actually control the future. He is missing something now so he connects himself to the future when he assumes he will have it. By thinking in that way he is escaping the current reality, rather than immersing himself in the "now" and seeing what "now" requires of him.

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