Make Your Life a Sanctuary for G-d

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called “Make Your Life a Sanctuary for G-d.”In short, everything we do in life should be great, but not for our greatness. Everything that we do should be done with passion and determination, but not for our sakes. We are only here by the loving grace of G-d and for as long as He wills it. In our time here, we need to act in a way that means something beyond our finite, selfish mortal selves and instead be selfless for the purpose of our Creator.

If you lived your life for G-d, for good, and for a greater purpose, then your inner spiritual legacy will live on beyond your years and even your name. If you build a sanctuary for G-d, it will have holiness and permanence not only in this world but, more importantly, in the next.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Can Love Be Blind?

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called “Can Love Be Blind?”As long as in this material world, the body hides the soul of the person, then love can never be fully blind because people cannot see the true brightness of the soul inside or realize the primacy of people’s spiritual inner selves without getting distracted by the physical aspects of the person, including attraction (which as we all know fades over time) and, of course, class, race, and ethnicity. Yes, physical/chemical attraction is an important part of intimate relationships, but at the end of the day, it’s what’s inside that counts, not only in this world, but for our eternal being and purpose.

(Source Photo: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-holding-a-lantern-7789180/)

Finding Truth in a Topsy-Turvy World

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called “Finding Truth in a Topsy-Turvy World.” 

In terms of seeing the world and life clearly, you have a choice of how to live. You can choose to endlessly chase meaningless material things and the next physical high, or you can live your life with a deeper understanding that this world is just a corridor to the future world, where the “breath of life” from G-d returns to Him for everlasting revelation and reckoning.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Last Kiss Goodnight

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called “The Last Kiss Goodnight.”

Certainly, every human being has the desire to live and goes about fighting for life. It’s part of our genetic makeup and our very survival instinct. Yet, we all know that the cycle of life brings us from the beginnings of infancy to growth, the maturity of adulthood, then decline, old age and ultimately death itself. Truly, we all know the end from the very beginning, and with that we can achieve a greater awareness that what’s good in living isn’t the materialism and chasing the next “high,” but rather the ability to choose to do good and to be on a higher spiritual plane.

Life is choice and having control over how we respond to life’s circumstances. Death is simply observing and being. Therefore, even if we merit being in the Divine presence in the afterlife, we still can’t actively help anyone, like those we love, any longer. This is why we want to merit life where we can continue to work on ourselves and help others. Thus, despite all the pain and suffering associated with life, it is more than offset by the opportunity to learn, grow, and transform our very essence in a purification process of our souls.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Shabbat: Time Vs. Space

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called “Shabbat: Time Vs. Space.”

When we choose to keep the Sabbath, we mark a day of the week in time, where we reject all the worldly pursuits of space and materialism in lieu of recognizing that there is a higher power, G-d Almighty, and that as Ahmari says ‘everything else is ephemeral and passes away with time.’

What we do to make things holy in time rules over what we do purely physically in space, that nothing but G-d is timeless, and everything material reverts back to its origins and is gone from time as if it never even was. In the end, we need to live our lives with the forethought that the spirit goes to the everlasting afterlife, but the body goes to the physical grave.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Feeling of Shaming

What’s it like to feel shame?

In this life, it’s having your head ripped around your body.

Then in the next life, it’s got to be a soul bared and stretched across the heavens and for all eternity.  

Punishment is revelation and the mark it undoubtedly leaves behind. 

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Without a Brain or Soul

Wow, so this is us without a brain or soul. 

A real skull, all hollowed out.

Sockets for the eyes, and a big hole where the nose goes. 

The ears are gone too. 

The skull is sawed open at the top, where the brain goes. 

Not much left of the rotting teeth. 

The soul is departed and is somewhere in the afterlife. 

This should go a long way to humbling any human being. 

What’s outside really doesn’t count for much, and what’s inside is everything. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Ghostbusters Mobile

Look what car I found today in Lancaster County.

The Ghostbusters Mobile.

The hood ornament is even a little ghost!

From the looks of the downtown, there very possibly could’ve been some ghosts around. 

Life and death are just a hairbreadth away. 

And when you die in one life, you pass over to the next. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)