With Passover now winding down and the counting of the Omer about to push into week two, I’ve been reflecting on what it means to be alive. Specifically I’ve been thinking about the role that intention and perception seem to play in how our lives are experienced both individually and collectively. I’ve been thinking about how although everyone has free will at our disposal, many of us are all too often willing to give it away to our subconscious fears and prejudices instead of putting it to better use.

This is certainly something that I’m guilty of in my own life and I realize that it all too often causes huge and unnecessary difficulties both personally and professionally. I also realize that I’m far from being the only one who goes through this kind of thing because I see it around me all of the time. I suppose part of the problem is the cynicism and me first attitude which permeates modern Western culture. I also believe that a large part of it is because many of us are never taught how to truly appreciate life and the opportunities which come our way, including things like our family and friends. Even sadder is the fact that many of us have also never learned how to actually allow ourselves to be appreciated by others.

Much of this sort of thing is rooted in how we go about perceiving the world we inhabit and our interactions with it. We all have histories and few of us have made it into our adult lives unscarred. We’ve been betrayed and we’ve betrayed other people, we’ve been punished and we’ve punished. All of these experiences collected and stored in the memory banks of our minds, sometimes even to the point of becoming debilitatingly soul crushing.

In my own life this has often led to a vicious cycle where my own pain and suffering becomes a skewed perception of the world which is void of gratitude and therefore allows me to act and treat others as I’ve been treated. What is truly unfortunate about this sort of thinking when it happens is that, it creates a perceptual blindness that prevents us from seeing G-D and the holiness of life. So instead of seeing G-D and beauty in the world along with all of the shit and fucked upness, we only see the shit and fucked upness, which is hardly something that promotes a sense of gratitude, blessing or the Divine.

Ultimately although our experiences are what they are and it would be disingenuous not to acknowledge painful ones as being just that. It is however how we think about and perceive such experiences which is at the root of our problem. Having said that it is also the only place where a solution to our pain, suffering and pessimism lies.

As Jews (spiritually committed Jews) I don’t believe we have the luxury of resting in a negative and pessimistic world view. Having said that I also don’t believe we need to view the world through rose-colored glasses in a way which prevents us from seeing the messed up shit that surrounds us.

What I do believe is that as a people with a belief in G-D and a commitment to our messianic mission (however such things are defined) we have a responsibility to cultivate an appreciation for all that can be. Part of that means developing our minds in away which allows us to live in the reality of the world, while at the same time being able to see and appreciate the divine, in order to elevate and sanctify ourselves and all of creation.

Because of my faith in G-D with all that entails I find it mind-boggling that many of us often bitch and complain daily, dozens if not hundreds of times yet many of us give little if any thought to reciting a few blessings let alone a hundred. I guess we’re just too busy getting aggravated stuck in traffic, we don’t like the way someone says something to us or doesn’t say something to us. I mean think about it how many times in a day do you think or say to yourself “I hate this” or “I don’t like that” about someone or something. How often do we take the kindness and goodness that comes our way for granted, often never really appreciating it and that’s only if we notice it at all?

Interestingly when I’ve had conversations with other Jews (note: most of whom come from liberal streams) on the issue of daily prayer I often hear that it’s so very hard to do. Sometimes people tell me this is because it’s too much of a time commitment and other times they tell me it’s simply because there’s no value in such ritual. Often when I bring up the Jewish tradition of saying 100 Blessings a day people look at me like I’m crazy, because who has time or even the inclination to spend one’s day doing something like that.

Okay I will admit I was one of those people who originally thought engaging in such practices was nothing more than halachick bullshit and red tape but not anymore. I still don’t do these things fully but I increasingly see their significance and relevance as part of a postmodern liberal, progressive Jewish spiritual context. I don’t believe that we are halachickly bound by such instructions in any orthodox sense of things. Nor do I believe that we have been “commanded” by some judgmental G-D figure to engage in these activities. Rather I see them as important pieces of Jewish spiritual knowledge, which have evolved as a way to help us elevate ourselves closer to G-D both in thought and deed. That’s not to suggest that because I don’t view them as being directly given to us by G-D they are somehow meaningless empty rituals because they are in fact quite the opposite. They are powerful ever-evolving vehicles infused with the spiritual energy of the Jewish people, stretching all the way back through our history.

The way I see it ritual is something we are all engaging in every day whether or not we know it and if we aren’t reciting 100 Blessings daily, we are at risk of falling into in that other ritual practice of reciting 100 Execrations in its place.

Every time one relives a painful memory or engages in a daydream where someone or something is being belittled or judged negatively this a form of ritual. We are engaging in negative rituals every time we complain about the one piece of food on our plate that isn’t to our liking instead of appreciating what is tasty and delicious about the meal or the effort that was put into it. We are engaging in a negative ritual every time we focus on how someone has let us down instead of all of the ways that they’ve been there for us in the past. Last but not least we are engaging in a negative ritual every time we focus on our own flaws without considering our gifts and strengths as well.

I suspect that most of you who are still reading this very long post can agree that engaging in such negative thought patterns and behaviors is potentially damaging. In fact I would wager that many of us know people who frequently engage in such negative behaviors and don’t consider them to be happy or fun to be around.

With the above in mind it becomes difficult to make the argument that rituals such as daily affirmations, prayers, meditations or visualizations however they are used are nothing more than useless rituals.

If you think about it every time you complain about the food on your plate you’re engaged in a ritual that is the polar opposite of a meal blessing. When you mentally contemplate or visualize about something you don’t like or a negative experience, it is a form of meditation. And every time you needlessly criticize someone or something it is a negative affirmation much like a prayer.

Okay it’s not exactly fair to suggest that if we’re not engaged in appreciating our blessings it must mean that we’re putting the hate on everything and everyone around us. This is not an all or nothing sort of thing but it is something too important to be left unexamined. I believe that if most of us were to take the time to explore this aspect of our lives, we would come to realize that there’s much room for improvement and that in fact we’re probably already reciting something a hundred times a day, if not more.

As Jews we all know that we have been given a purposeful life along with free will and with that comes a great responsibility. Each of us is born with our own unique set of strengths and weaknesses and we all have to contend with our Yetzer HaTov and Yetzer HaRah. So bearing this in mind maybe the question isn’t really about whether or not one has the time to recite something a hundred times a day. Maybe the question is really to figure out, whether one as a Jew wants to be the kind of person who falls into reciting 100 Excretions a day, or instead wants to be the kind of Jew who strives to recite 100 Blessings?

After all as Jews we know there is no salvation and anything that happens is at least 50% up to us.

Be well

Oh and if you’re interested in taking up the tradition of reciting 100 Blessings a day, here’s a nifty little Reform resource to help get you started.

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