The Window- Parshat Noakh

Recently a friend of mine posted a tragic news story on Facebook, in which some horrible violence was done in the name of religion. My friend was so disturbed by it, he said that religion should be destroyed.

The Torah might agree-

This week’s reading begins with the story of Noah’s ark, and how nearly all life was destroyed in the Great Flood due to the corruption and violence of humanity:

“Vatimalei ha’aretz hamas-
“The earth was filled with violence…” (Gen. 6:11)

But is religion really the source of the corruption and violence today? Or is there something deeper that infects and corrupts religion?

One thing is for sure:

All premeditated violence springs from a particular story that the perpetrator buys into.

Without the story of how the “other” deserves punishment for being immoral, or is guilty of various crimes, is less than human, or whatever, would it be possible for premeditated violence to exist?

Of course, there are many wonderful things created by the narrative-making mind as well. In fact, without the fiction of mental narrative, you would not know what to do when you wake up in the morning. You would not even know your own name.

The problem is not narrative, but the confusion between narrative about reality and actual Reality. That confusion happens because most of us are almost completely unaware of what Reality actually is.

Without awareness of Reality, you are bound to look for Truth in your stories. But your stories, though they may be more or less accurate, are not the same as Truth.

What is Truth?

Truth is simply this moment.

It’s your reading of these words right now. It’s the breathing movement of your body, right now. A feeling arising, a thought occurring- it’s the ever-evolving fact of this moment.

“Vay’hi khol ha’aretz safa ekhat ud’varim akhadim-
“And the whole earth was of one language and unity between all things…” (Gen. 11:1)

In the present moment, before the mind splits Reality into pieces, there is only one this, and we are all here in this Oneness. In the present, there is no that.

But in our thirst for purpose and understanding, we tend to multiply our thoughts and ignore Reality. Not content with the Mystery, we want to feel like we know something, like we’re getting somewhere, like we have meaning:

“They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and burn them in fire.’ And the bricks were like stone…”

The word for “brick”- “L’veinah”- shares three letters with the verb “to build” (Bet-Nun-Heh). The first two letters, Lamed-Bet, spell Lev, which means “heart”, or “mind”.

The “Bricks”, then, are not just physical bricks. They are the building blocks for the stories we hold in our hearts and minds- namely, our thoughts and words.

Our thoughts and words are the most precious expression of our inner life. They form the landscape of who we are.

But when they substitute for Reality rather than point to it, when we become enflamed with a passion for being “right” rather than being open, they burn like fire and are dense like stone.
Exiled from the present moment by our multiplying of thoughts and words, we hope to find security by building our thoughts and words into towers of narrative: 

“Come, let us build a tower with it’s top in the heavens, and let’s make a name for ourselves…”

The word for “top” here is “rosh” which also means “head”. The word for tower is “migdol” which comes from the root that means “great”. We try to capture the Ineffable Greatness with our heads!

But there is a problem: there is no limit to the number of different and conflicting stories we create.

Sometimes I listen to people debate. I will listen to the conservatives and the progressives. I will listen to the theists and the atheists. Almost invariably, there is an unwillingness to hear the valid points of the other. Real communication is rare; it’s all just opposing stories, babbling at one another.

“Hashem said, ‘Let us confuse their language’... that is why it was called Babel…”

But there is another way.

In the beginning of our parshah, we are introduced to the savior of all life:

“Et HaElokim Hit’halekh Noakh-
“Noah walked with the Divine…”

The name Noakh comes from the root that means “rest”. It has a passive quality. And yet, this kind of rest is in motion; it “walks”.

The mind grasps after something solid, something static and secure, but the Divine (Truth, Reality) is not something static. The present moment is ever flowing, ever in motion. It cannot be made into a tower, an idol, or an edifice. So to “walk with the Divine” is actually to rest the grasping of the mind and relax into the movement of the present.

​After all, as soon as your mind tries to grasp this moment as something solid, the moment is already being washed away. The flood is constantly coming.

What will save us?

Only the quality of Noakh- the one who can rest into the flow of Reality.

“Make an ark of gopher wood…”

The word for “ark” is “teva”, which also means “word”. A word is a representation of something; it’s not the thing itself. So to rest in the flow of Reality, make your words of wood, not stone. Let them be alive, supple.

“A window you shall make from above…”

Let your words be open to the heavens, rather than trying to reach the heavens. Your mind cannot capture the infinity of the heavens!

But relax your mind open to this moment, and let the inspiration flow downward. Like the rains of the flood, inspiration washes away the old and dead towers of thought, but gives life to the mind that is open like a window.

The Kotzker Rebbe once surprised a group of learned men with the question-

"Where is God present?"

They laughed at him, assuming that he must be thinking of God as a limited being that would exist in once place and not in others. "Of course, God's Presence is everywhere! As it says, 'm'lo kol ha'aretz k'vodo- The whole world is filled with It's glory!'" (Isaiah 6:3)

"No," replied the Kotzker, "God's Presence is wherever you let It in." 

My friends- on this Shabbat Noakh, the Sabbath of Rest, may we relax free from the narratives that trap and divide us. May our thoughts and words be like open windows, permeable to the Presence of the Ineffable Present. May our species speedily grow into this wisdom and remake our world in the image of love, care and respect for all life.

Good Shabbos!
love,
​brian yosef

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