This video was recorded during a visit to Israel last year.
A Window of Opportunity
I had the privilege of speaking with Rabbi Marc Philippe of Temple Emanu-El of Miami Beach today about the recent shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. I am involved in a musical Kabbalistic project with the Rabbi, and others, that will hopefully bring more peace and harmony in the country.
I asked the Rabbi about the future for all Americans and if the current hostile environment will ever change. By the way, before arriving in Miami, Rabbi Marc was located in El Paso. How is that for a coincidence?
Rabbi Marc wrote the following piece as a response to my question.
“Darkness again”
Mass shootings bringing death, suffering. Also disbelief, anger, helplessness, fear, despair, all terribly negative emotions.
I won’t tell you anything new by saying negative emotions are not healthy. If maintained, we know these emotions will create some type of dis-ease, psychological or physical. Whichever the dis-ease, it will be highly contagious because negative emotions affect everyone around.
This is how negativity -or evil- gains strength. Can we turn this around?
Mysticism teaches that every word, every action creates an entity. Not a physical one, but a spiritual one. This is how powerful we all are, because each of these entities -spiritual beings- has an effect in our physical world. They are pure energy. We can’t see them, but they strongly influence the world we live in.
It is easy to understand that some words or actions will create beings of Light, while others will unfortunately create beings of darkness.
Our emotions have the same power. Negative emotions, such as the anger and the words of anger that are said or written after a mass shooting, create beings of darkness and have the terrible effect of giving strength to the evil that already exists in the world.
Are we stuck in a spiraling vicious circle? Actually not at all.
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When the world seems the darkest, there is in fact a window of opportunity. If you find yourself in a dark cave, a small match, a tiny flame has the potential to illuminate the entire place. Likewise, in a time of darkness, a small act of kindness has the potential to illuminate the entire Universe. If you decide to embark on a personal “random-act-of lovingkindness” campaign, YOU have the potential to bring about a new paradigm. You have the power to counteract the darkness that is being brought. Don’t ever underestimate what you can do, it is a super-power. Your positive emotions, words and actions will bring the energy that the world needs for peace.
DigiDame 