Finding God Everywhere

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מוֹרֵנוּ הַבַּעַל שֵׁם טוֹב אָמַר: כָּל דָּבָר וְדָבָר אֲשֶׁר הָאָדָם רוֹאֶה אוֹ שׁוֹמֵעַ, הוּא הוֹרָאַת הַנְהָגָה בַּעֲבוֹדַת הַשֵּׁם. וְזֶהוּ עִנְיַן הָעֲבוֹדָה, לְהָבִין וּלְהַשְׂכִּיל מִכָּל דֶּרֶךְ בַּעֲבוֹדַת הַשֵּׁם. 

Our teacher the Baal Shem Tov said: Every single thing one sees or hears is an instruction for how to be led in the service of the Divine. This is the essence of avodah – to comprehend and discern from everything a path in which to serve Hashem.  - HaYom Yom 9 Iyar, Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Shneerson 

This beautiful and radical teaching of the Baal Shem Tov has two different levels of meaning: on the surface, it’s saying that “everything you see and hear” is an instruction for your Avodat Hashem (service of God, or spiritual practice). If you look and listen carefully, you will receive a message from God about what you need to do – implying that everyone can be a prophet, at least in the sense of one’s own personal connection with the Divine.  

But look carefully – it’s actually saying something even more radical: not that within everything you see and hear is an instruction for your avodah, but rather, that whatever you see and hear can instruct you in how to be led in your avodah. In other words, the “seeing” and “hearing” themselves lead us into our spiritual practice. Why? Because “seeing” and “hearing” are forms of paying attention, and the essence of Avodat Hashem IS the act of paying attention!  

This is clarified by the next sentence, which says that the inyan – the essence or the point of Avodat Hashem – to find your Avodat Hashem in everything. With other endeavors this is not the case: when a doctor seeks to diagnose an illness, the point is not the seeking; the point is the diagnosis. When I have tech problems with my computer and I seek a solution, the point is the solution, not the seeking of the solution. But in this case, the seeking and the finding are one; the paying attention is itself the practice, and Everything we see and hear is “instructing” us in how to be “led” into this essential practice.  

This teaching is so clever because on the literal level, if we try to receive a message about our Avodat Hashem by paying close attention to everything we see and hear, then the effect will be that we become very attentive to the moment; we will become present. Then, once we are in this state of deep Presence, a profound shift begins to happen; the sacred Oneness blossoms into our lived experience, and we can recognize: this attentiveness is itself is the practice. Our Avodat Hashem is not something to do at some future time, but rather, this heightened alertness in the moment is the point. In Presence, we stand at Sinai once again; this is meditation. 

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