If this is your belief, you have erred, and not only regarding imagery and thought. Do not be so sure that even your senses are entirely physical. After all, you have never seen the sense of sight nor ever heard the sense of hearing. You have only sensed those things that sight sees or hearing hears. But once you are removed from the object that is seen or the sound that is heard, your sense of sight or hearing disappears. You do not sense them. And so in truth, why assume that the sense of sight itself is physical and can see nothing but physical things? Perhaps it is capable of seeing everything, including nonphysical things—but since you only bring it physical things, you have habituated it only to use its physical sight.
I have elsewhere spoken of how “the wisdom of a man illuminates his face” (Ecclesiastes 8:1). Everyone can recognize whether someone else is intelligent or foolish, pure or coarse. Such sight is not physical, for whether someone is intelligent or foolish, pure or coarse, does not affect his features.
At every stage of a person’s ascent, there exists the stumbling block of an inability to transcend habit. No matter how much we may want to explain reality to such a person, no matter how much we might wish to enlighten him, it is difficult to successfully bring him to realize that truth is the opposite of what his eyes perceive. His habit elicits a sort of hidden stubbornness in his heart that does not allow him to shift by a hair’s-breadth from his original conceptions.
How can we raise such person beyond the earth? When he hears words such as these, words that contradict his habitual experience, he thinks and exclaims, “What is this man talking about? Is he saying that this world is not physical and that I myself do not know who I am? This man of the spirit person is mad!”
Essentially, what you lack is the ability to expand your thought to pure mindfulness, stripped of physical form and image. You demand of every thought that arises in your mind a physical form and image, since you are habituated only to these types of thought. If this does not appear, you do not even recognize what you are experiencing as thought.
In truth, I am not saying that imageless thoughts never arise in your mind. They do. However, our consciousness possesses a critical filter that screens and checks all of our thoughts. Any thought not similar to this-worldly existence appears to that filter as counterfeit, and it pursues this thought and wipes it out of your mind.
For instance, although thoughts of impossible things arise in a child’s mind, such as that he can fly, and so forth. They do not enter an adult’s mind. The filtering faculty that has grown within him evaluates this thought and compares it to the things of this world that he can see and hear. So efficiently does it expel and deny any counterfeit thought that it seems to him that the thought never even entered his mind. This filter is so developed and has such influence on his mind that it blocks and intimidates any counterfeit thought from crossing the doorsill of his consciousness. He does not even sense this filtering faculty. Instead, it appears to him that these thoughts simply don’t occur to him.
And now in regard to our topic, it is not that you do not have any thought stripped of physical form. Such thoughts do arise within you. But since the filter in your mind is habituated only to thoughts with form, it chases away any pure thought. Since you do not even sense this filtering faculty, it seems that no formless thought or imagination exists within you at all.
In truth, however, once a person is convinced that a true thought cannot resemble a this-worldly image, and once he has expanded and broadened pure thought within himself, when such a thought arises in him, he thinks, imagines and sees in accordance with the state of holiness and throne of glory of the root, the place from where his soul is hewn. He is not bothered by a lack of physical form and thus his filter does not block his thought.
However, when he starts to analyze this experience, asking “What am I thinking and seeing?,” he has already descended, and he can no longer understand himself and his previous thought. This analysis is a return to comparing his every thought to the thoughts and forms of this world.
בִּכְלָל יֵשׁ לְהִתְאוֹנֵן עַל שֶׁהָאָדָם כָּל כָּךְ שָׁקוּעַ בַּהֶרְגֵּל שֶׁלּוֹ, עַד שֶׁאֵינוֹ יָכוֹל לְעָזְבוֹ.
Pure Mindfulness
It is deplorable that human beings are so immersed in habit that they are unable to break free.
וּכְשֶׁהוּא מֻרְגָּל לִרְאוֹת רַק דְּבָרִים גּוּפָנִיִּים בְּמַחְשַׁבְתּוֹ דּוֹמֶה לוֹ שֶׁהַמַּחֲשָׁבָה גַּם בְּעַצְמָהּ גּוּפָנִית וְחוּשִׁית הִיא.
When a person is habituated to see only physical things in his thoughts, it seems to him that thought itself is a physical and sensory phenomenon.
אֲבָל לֹא בְּעִנְיַן הַדִּמְיוֹן וְהַמַּחֲשָׁבָה לְבַד טָעִיתָ, רַק גַּם בְּחוּשֶׁיךָ לֹא תִּהְיֶה בָּטוּחַ כָּל כָּךְ שֶׁהֵם גּוּפָנִיִּים מְגֻשָּׁמִים בְּהֶחְלֵט כְּמוֹ שֶׁאַתָּה חוֹשֵׁב, כִּי אֶת חוּשׁ הָרְאִיָּה שְׁמִיעָה וכו' בְּעַצְמוֹ עוֹד לֹא רָאִיתָ, רַק אֶת הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁחוּשׁ הָרְאִיָּה רוֹאֶה אוֹ שׁוֹמֵעַ, וּבְשָׁעָה שֶׁתָּסִיר מִמְּךָ דָּבָר נִרְאֶה אוֹ קוֹל נִשְׁמָע גַּם חוּשׁ הָרְאִיָּה וּשְׁמִיעָה יֵעָלְמוּ בְּךָ מִבְּלִי שֶׁתַּרְגִּישֵׁם וְתִּרְאֵם, וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ אֵיפֹא אִם בֶּאֱמֶת חוּשׁ הָרְאִיָּה בְּעַצְמוֹ גַּשְׁמִי וְאִי אֶפְשָׁר לוֹ לִרְאוֹת רַק דְּבָרִים גּוּפָנִיִּים, אוֹ שֶׁבִּיכָלְתּוֹ לִרְאוֹת הַכֹּל גַּם דְּבָרִים בִּלְתִּי גּוּפָנִיִּים, וְעַתָּה כֵּיוָן שֶׁהֵבֵאתָ לְפָנָיו רַק דְּבָרִים גּוּפָנִיִּים הִרְגַּלְתִּיו רַק בִּרְאִיָּה גַּשְׁמִית.
If this is your belief, you have erred, and not only regarding imagery and thought. Do not be so sure that even your senses are entirely physical. After all, you have never seen the sense of sight nor ever heard the sense of hearing. You have only sensed those things that sight sees or hearing hears. But once you are removed from the object that is seen or the sound that is heard, your sense of sight or hearing disappears. You do not sense them. And so in truth, why assume that the sense of sight itself is physical and can see nothing but physical things? Perhaps it is capable of seeing everything, including nonphysical things—but since you only bring it physical things, you have habituated it only to use its physical sight.
וּכְבָר דִּבַּרְנוּ מִזֶּה לָמָּה חָכְמַת אָדָם תָּאִיר פָּנָיו, וְכָל אִישׁ מַכִּיר לְפִי עֶרְכּוֹ בַּחֲבֵרוֹ אִם חָכָם אוֹ טִפֵּשׁ אִם אִישׁ זָךְ אוֹ גַּס הוּא, וּרְאָיָה זוֹ כְּבָר אֵינָהּ גּוּפָנִית כִּי כֶּחָכָם כַּטִּפֵּשׁ כַּזַּךְ כַּגַּס בָּשָׂר אֶחָד בִּפְנֵיהֶם.
I have elsewhere spoken of how “the wisdom of a man illuminates his face” (Ecclesiastes 8:1). Everyone can recognize whether someone else is intelligent or foolish, pure or coarse. Such sight is not physical, for whether someone is intelligent or foolish, pure or coarse, does not affect his features.
בְּכָל עִנְיַן עֲלִיַּת הָאָדָם יֵשׁ אֶבֶן נֶגֶף הַזֶּה שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לוֹ לְהִתְעַלּוֹת מִן הֶרְגֵּלוֹ, וְעַד כַּמָּה שֶׁנִּרְצֶה לְבָאֵר לוֹ וְעַד כַּמָּה שֶׁנִּרְצֶה לְהַחְכִּימוֹ קָשֶׁה לִפְעֹל אֶצְלוֹ שֶׁיֵּדַע שֶׁהָאֱמֶת הוּא הֵפֶךְ מִן זֶה שֶׁעֵינָיו רוֹאוֹת וּלְהֵפֶךְ הוּא מִכָּל הֶרְגֵּלוֹ, עַד שֶׁנּוֹלַד מִין עַקְשָׁנוּת מֻסְתָּרָה בְּלִבּוֹ שֶׁלֹּא יַנִּיחַ לָזוּז אֶת עַצְמוֹ כִּמְלֹא נִימָא מִיְּדִיעוֹתָיו הַקּוֹדְמוֹת.
At every stage of a person’s ascent, there exists the stumbling block of an inability to transcend habit. No matter how much we may want to explain reality to such a person, no matter how much we might wish to enlighten him, it is difficult to successfully bring him to realize that truth is the opposite of what his eyes perceive. His habit elicits a sort of hidden stubbornness in his heart that does not allow him to shift by a hair’s-breadth from his original conceptions.
וְאֵיךְ נַעֲלֶה אֶת אִישׁ כָּזֶה מִמַּעַל לָעוֹלָם וּבְשָׁעָה שֶׁשּׁוֹמֵעַ דְּבָרִים כְּגוֹן אֵלּוּ שֶׁמַּכְחִישִׁים אֶת הַהֶרְגֵּל שֶׁלּוֹ חוֹשֵׁב הוּא בְּלִבּוֹ וּמַכְרִיז מַהוּ אוֹמֵר שֶׁזֶּה הָעוֹלָם אֵינוֹ גֶּשֶׁם, וְעוֹד זֹאת שֶׁאֶת עַצְמִי אֵינִי מַכִּיר, מְשֻׁגָּע אִישׁ הָרוּחַ.
How can we raise such person beyond the earth? When he hears words such as these, words that contradict his habitual experience, he thinks and exclaims, “What is this man talking about? Is he saying that this world is not physical and that I myself do not know who I am? This man of the spirit person is mad!”
זֶה עִקַּר הַחִסָּרוֹן, שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לוֹ לְהַגְדִּיל אֶת מַחְשַׁבְתּוֹ לְמַחֲשָׁבָה טְהוֹרָה בְּלִי צִיּוּר וְדִמְיוֹן גּוּפָנִי, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁמִּכָּל מַחֲשָׁבָה שֶׁעוֹלָה בְּמוֹחֲךָ אַתָּה דּוֹרֵשׁ דְּמוּת צִיּוּר וְדִמְיוֹן גּוּפָנִי, יַעַן שֶׁאַתָּה מֻרְגָּל רַק בְּמַחֲשָׁבוֹת כְּגוֹן אֵלּוּ וְאִם לָאו אֵין זֶה מַחֲשָׁבָה אֶצְלְךָ.
Essentially, what you lack is the ability to expand your thought to pure mindfulness, stripped of physical form and image. You demand of every thought that arises in your mind a physical form and image, since you are habituated only to these types of thought. If this does not appear, you do not even recognize what you are experiencing as thought.
וּבֶאֱמֶת לֹא שֶׁנּאמַר שֶׁאֵין עוֹלָה בְּךָ מַחֲשָׁבָה בִּלְתִּי בַּעֲלַת צִיּוּר כְּלָל, עוֹלָה הִיא, רַק כֵּיוָן שֶׁבְּדַעְתּוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם יֵשׁ בָּהּ מְבַקֵּר שֶׁמְּבַקֵּר וּמַגִּיהַּ אֶת כָּל מַחְשְׁבוֹת הָאָדָם, וְאוֹתָהּ שֶׁאֵינָהּ דּוֹמָה וּמִשְׁתַּוָּה לִמְצִיאוּת הָעוֹלָם נִרְאֵית בְּעֵינָיו לִמְזֻיָּפָהּ וְרוֹדְפָהּ וּמַשְׁמִידָהּ מִן מוֹחוֹ.
In truth, I am not saying that imageless thoughts never arise in your mind. They do. However, our consciousness possesses a critical filter that screens and checks all of our thoughts. Any thought not similar to this-worldly existence appears to that filter as counterfeit, and it pursues this thought and wipes it out of your mind.
כְּמוֹ שֶׁרוֹאִים שֶׁבְּמוֹחוֹ שֶׁל הַיֶּלֶד עוֹלוֹת גַּם מַחֲשָׁבוֹת אִי אֶפְשָׁרִיּוֹת לְמָשָׁל שֶׁיָּעוּף בִּכְנָפַיִם וכו', וְהַגָּדוֹל שֶׁכֹּחַ הַבִּקּוּר אֲשֶׁר בְּמוֹחוֹ נִתְגַּדֵּל אֵין מַחֲשָׁבָה כָּזוֹ בָּאָה בְּמוֹחוֹ מִפְּנֵי שֶׁכֹּחַ הַמְבַקֵּר שֶׁנִּתְגַּדֵּל בּוֹ מַשְׁרֶה אֶת מַחְשַׁבְתּוֹ וּמַעֲרִיכָהּ עִם דִּבְרֵי הָעוֹלָם שֶׁרוֹאֶה וְשׁוֹמֵעַ, וְכָל מַחֲשָׁבָה מְזֻיָּפָה מְגָרֵשׁ וּמְכַחֵשׁ עַד שֶׁדּוֹמֶה לוֹ לְהָאִישׁ שֶׁלֹּא בָּא כְּלָל וּכְלָל בּוֹ, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁכָּל כָּךְ נִתְגַּדֵּל בּוֹ כֹּחַ הַמְבַקֵּר וְכָל כָּךְ מֶמְשַׁלְתּוֹ עַל מֹחַ הָאָדָם עַד שֶׁהוּא מוֹנֵעַ וּמַפְחִיד אֶת כָּל מַחֲשָׁבָה מְזֻיֶּפֶת לִדְרֹךְ עַל מִפְתַּן מַחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ, וְהָאִישׁ אֵינוֹ מַרְגִּישׁ אֶת כֹּחַ הַמְבַקֵּר רַק דּוֹמֶה לוֹ שֶׁמֵּעַצְמוֹ אֵין מַחֲשָׁבוֹת הַלָּלוּ בָּאוֹת בּוֹ.
For instance, although thoughts of impossible things arise in a child’s mind, such as that he can fly, and so forth. They do not enter an adult’s mind. The filtering faculty that has grown within him evaluates this thought and compares it to the things of this world that he can see and hear. So efficiently does it expel and deny any counterfeit thought that it seems to him that the thought never even entered his mind. This filter is so developed and has such influence on his mind that it blocks and intimidates any counterfeit thought from crossing the doorsill of his consciousness. He does not even sense this filtering faculty. Instead, it appears to him that these thoughts simply don’t occur to him.
וְעַתָּה לְעִנְיַן דִּידָן לֹא שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ מַחֲשָׁבָה נְקִיָּה מִן הַצִּיּוּרִים הַגּוּפָנִיִּים, עוֹלוֹת הֵן בְּךָ, רַק כֵּיוָן שֶׁהַמְּבַקֵּר שֶׁבְּמֹחֲךָ מֻרְגָּל כָּל כָּךְ רַק בְּמַחֲשָׁבוֹת עִם צִיּוּרִים, וְרוֹדֵף וּמְגָרֵשׁ הוּא אֶת כָּל מַחֲשָׁבָה טְהוֹרָה מִמְּךָ, וְאַתָּה שֶׁאֶת כֹּחַ הַמְבַקֵּר אֵינְךָ מַרְגִּישׁ כַּנַ"ל דּוֹמֶה לְךָ שֶׁאֵין שׁוּם מַחֲשָׁבָה וְדִמְיוֹן בִּלְתִּי מְצֻיָּר וְנֶאֱחַז בְּצוּרָה גּוּפָנִית נִמְצָא בְּךָ כְּלָל.
And now in regard to our topic, it is not that you do not have any thought stripped of physical form. Such thoughts do arise within you. But since the filter in your mind is habituated only to thoughts with form, it chases away any pure thought. Since you do not even sense this filtering faculty, it seems that no formless thought or imagination exists within you at all.
וּבֶאֱמֶת הָאִישׁ שֶׁנִּקְבַּע בּוֹ כְּבָר שֶׁמַּחֲשָׁבָה אֲמִתִּית אִי אֶפְשָׁר לָהּ לְהִתְדַּמּוֹת לְצוּרַת הָעוֹלָם, וְגִדֵּל וְהִרְחִיב בּוֹ אֶת מַחְשָׁבָה הַנְּקִיָּה, אָז בְּעֵת עֲלוֹת בּוֹ מַחֲשָׁבָה זוֹ חוֹשֵׁב וּמְדַמֶּה וְרוֹאֶה לְפִי מַצָּבוֹ אֶת הַקְּדֻשָּׁה וְאֶת כִּסֵּא הַכָּבוֹד שֶׁל שֹׁרֶשׁ וְחֹצֶב נִשְׁמָתוֹ וְאֵין צוּרָה גּוּפָנִית חֲסֵרָה לוֹ וּמוֹנַעַת אֶת מַחְשַׁבְתּוֹ.
In truth, however, once a person is convinced that a true thought cannot resemble a this-worldly image, and once he has expanded and broadened pure thought within himself, when such a thought arises in him, he thinks, imagines and sees in accordance with the state of holiness and throne of glory of the root, the place from where his soul is hewn. He is not bothered by a lack of physical form and thus his filter does not block his thought.
וְרַק אִם רוֹצֶה הוּא לַחְקֹר אַחֲרֵי מַחֲשַׁבְתִּי מָה אֲנִי חוֹשֵׁב וְרוֹאֶה, חֲקִירָה זוֹ נְפִילָה הִיא, וְאִי אֶפְשָׁר לוֹ לְהָבִין אֶת עַצְמוֹ וְאֶת מַחְשַׁבְתּוֹ וְדִמְיוֹנוֹ הַקּוֹדֵם. כִּי מָה הִיא חֲקִירָתוֹ זוֹ אַחַר מַחְשַׁבְתּוֹ אִם לֹא שׁוּב בִּקּוּר וְהִתְדַּמּוּת הַמַּחֲשָׁבָה אֶל מַחֲשָׁבוֹת וְצִיּוּרֵי הָעוֹלָם.
However, when he starts to analyze this experience, asking “What am I thinking and seeing?,” he has already descended, and he can no longer understand himself and his previous thought. This analysis is a return to comparing his every thought to the thoughts and forms of this world.