For as long as I can remember, I have felt a connection to a metaphysical reality greater than myself, a transcendent reality if you will, but I could never put my finger on what that really meant.  When I engage in or witness a religious practice, I sadly, have not felt a higher presence. I feel the value of community and the power of being a part of something greater than myself, but the presence of G-d ? nothing like that for me. I have struggled greatly in my life to feel the connection between religion and spirituality because to me, spirituality implies the mind body dichotomy or the separation between the soul and body . I suppose that spirituality is the personal subjective dimension of religion, but i just hadn’t found the link, hard as I tried and hard I have tried !

The ongoing discipline involved in transforming the coarser energies present in the human soul into more subtle pleasing ones has been quite a task for for a girl like me.  Am I living up to the promise and potential of a human life ?  I am hungry for transformation , truth and enlightenment, for myself as a woman and even more so as a mother, but where is the link ?

Sometimes, if we are lucky, or listen with intention, our heaviest burdens can be lifted in an instant.

As I sat in the waiting room of my optometrists office, I picked up a parenting magazine and blindly flipped through the pages.  I came across an article about the power of religious teachings to guide us in every generation.  Listed were questions that rabbis like to ask school aged children:

What is the most important moment in jewish history ?

“The giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai?”

“no”

“The parting of the Red Sea?”

“no.  right now.  The most important moment in Jewish history is right now”

Sometimes one word can jump off the page and grab you to make a change.  This was my moment.  It had nothing to do with Jewish history, although Judaism was the vessel in that moment. I realized answers are not necessarily needed in spirituality or religion, even if there are insurmountable questions before them. I realized that I could help the mystery of spirituality unfold without impeding the beauty of the mystery.  What is needed is love and intention.  Love of G-d, love of life and love of the journey.  That, I have plenty of.

Vanessa Barnett

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