The Bonds of Self

09 Jul 2026 - Random

“Living in ‘the presence of God’ [or, in the Spirit] does not mean that we have lost self awareness; we are just too busy being alive to bother reflecting on ourselves. We are so focused on living that we do not have any leftover awareness to remind us that we exist. We are not aware that we are doing anything, because all our consciousness - even the part reserved for self-reflection - is busy being alive. We are so fully present, unbounded, and un-self-aware that we are not even aware we are present.”

…

“Arthur Green and Barry Holtz, speaking of Hasidic prayer, observe: ‘One should be so absorbed in prayer that one is no longer aware of one’s own self. There is nothing for such a person but the flow of Life; all one’s thoughts are with God. One who still knows how intensely one is praying has not yet overcome the bonds of self.’”

…

“Not egotism but self-reflection is the enemy. This is because being in the presence of God [or, in the Spirit], by definition, requires all our awareness - especially and including that part of awareness we ordinarily set just over our shoulder to tell the rest of us that it’s us. Self reflection, in other words, prohibits awareness of God.”

Quotes taken from pp. 103 and 106 of God Was in This Place & I, i Did Not Know (2016), by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. Buy here

[Parentheticals added by me]