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January 17, 2003
Get ready to be amazed
The Talmud recommends we say 100 blessings a day.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Judaism is a system for maximizing pleasure," according to
Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld, author of The Art of Amazement: Discovering
Judaism's Forgotten Spirituality. Seinfeld, who lives in California,
was in Vancouver earlier this week and he shared some techniques
for finding inspiration in the mundane with a capacity crowd at
the home of Rabbi Ilan and Mrs. Dina Acoca of Congregation Beth
Hamidrash.
The Art of Amazement is basically a guide book for transforming
a material life into a spiritual one. The way in which this is done
is through meditation, "for to live a life of amazement requires
a kind of mental discipline and practice that may be called meditative,"
writes Seinfeld. His book includes the philosophical background
necessary to approach Jewish medidation, as well as exercises that
will help the reader approach life in this fashion.
On Saturday night, Seinfeld's excitement about his topic was clear
and he seems to practise what he "preaches." You got the
feeling, even as he sat there quietly waiting for his lecture to
begin, that he is barely able to contain his enthusiasm and that
he's ready to break out in joyous laughter at the least provocation.
Seinfeld engaged the audience immediately, asking them to imagine
the most beautiful sunset they had ever seen; to visualize the colors
and remember the feeling of calm or timelessness they may have experienced.
The art of amazement, he said, is to have that feeling of "wow"
not only at such obvious transcendental moments as a sunset, but
to experience it throughout your daily routine. This ability is
achieved by eating, drinking, working, loving, etc., with the awareness
that the experience is an intimate encounter with the Infinite.
Seinfeld spoke in great length about the Infinite; a concept that
he said "is a problem because we have finite brains."
Nonetheless, he tackled it by posing a thought experiment. If the
Earth were the size of a basketball, the biozone – the region
that supports all life – would be about the thickness of a
sheet of paper, so the Earth is enormous from that perspective.
However, the volume of the Sun is some one million times that of
the Earth, and our Sun is only one of some 1011 (100 billion) stars
in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and the Milky Way is only one of 100
billion galaxies ... and we still aren't close to grasping infinity,
said Seinfeld. And lest you think of the Infinite only in terms
of immensity, Seinfeld noted that there are some 1022 atoms in one
cubic centimetre of matter. The Infinite has no internal or external
boundaries, he explained, it is everything, everywhere, all the
time.
One conclusion from this observation is one that Abraham supposedly
made generations ago, that everything in the universe is not created
for the Infinite – since it lacks nothing – but is indeed
for us, for our pleasure. What's needed to become an expert in this
realm is time. We need to slow down, said Seinfeld. He then handed
out two orange slices to everyone and asked them to eat one of the
pieces as they normally would. With the second piece, he gave what
he called "a lesson in orange appreciation."
The first step, said Seinfeld, is to look at the orange slice, to
notice its texture, its different colors. If you were an alien,
would you know which part to eat? he asked. Citing the fact that
an orange is at least 90 per cent water, he pondered the question
of why all that liquid doesn't just pour out when you hold the flesh-side
down. He discussed how the orange came into being, focusing on the
link between the piece of fruit and the Infinite.
"Do you realize what a precious thing you're eating?"
he asked.
The next step is to smell the orange, he continued, and, finally,
to take a slow bite, letting the orange roll over your tongue and
really tasting its flavor.
"Judaism says that we should eat our food with that type of
concentration for every bite we eat, for the rest of our lives,"
said Seinfeld, adding that this applies not only to food but to
everything we do in our lives.
One way in which Judaism facilitates this appreciation is through
brachot (blessings or, as Seinfeld prefers, meditations),
which connect the action or moment to its source, the Infinite.
Seinfeld pointed out that there is a brachah for almost any occasion,
from eating fruits or vegetables to meeting an amazing secular scholar
to hearing exceptionally good or bad news. The Talmud says we should
say 100 blessings a day, said Seinfeld. He then challenged the audience
to start with one brachah and say it at least once a day for one
week, and to notice how it affects their lives. Add another after
that, if you like, he concluded.
The Art of Amazement can be ordered from Banyen Books and
Sound, which is moving to 3608 West 4th Ave. (at Dunbar) this Sunday.
They can be reached at 604-732-7912.
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