Preface
All human beings on a spiritual path share certain core struggles in common, chiefly the birth from an ego-based existence to a spiritual one. Different spiritual paths rooted in different paradigms have different ways of perceiving reality and thus have different ways of navigating the maps that they construct upon these perceptions and revelations for this ultimately unitary aim. This series of volumes, rooted in the spiritual tradition of Traditional Torah1 and drawing on its Kabbalistic2 expression will explore particular ways that the human spirit is inhibited from reaching its potential. We will in this volume specifically explore Kabbalistic meditations for healing the soul of Anger.
As the reader like the author is no doubt somewhat versed in the concepts, language if not experience of contemporary psychotherapies it would be wise to at first share a perspective delineating the distinction between how Traditional Kabbalah approaches the healing of the spirit from how many psychologies approach the healing of the spirit.
In a brush stroke, Psychology’s perception of human anger is horizontal whereas Kabbalah’s is vertical. Psychology observes man in the phenomenal world from a human perspective and thus develops different limited and relative understandings of where anger originates and how to effectively deal with it or prevent it. Thus, regardless of whether one believes that anger is the result of classical or neo-classical psychodynamic causation, cognitive distortion, archetypal identification, somatic disposition, behavioral conditioning or biochemical imbalance these perspectives while each relatively legitimate share from a Kabbalistic vertical perspective more in essence, in common than apart.
Kabbalistic healing is not in any way a denial of psychology’s ideas nor a total skepticism of the helpfulness of its techniques for helping a person that are based upon them. Traditional Kabbalistic healing for the contemporary seeker is however, an opportunity to build on where appropriate, yet ultimately transcend Psychology and Psychotherapy. True Kabbalistic healing3 views anger from the vantage point of ultimate spiritual truth. Not the spiritual truth of mortal men or women but The Spiritual Truth of God and the infinite wisdom of Torah and Kabbalah. Kabbalistic healing is thus Post-Post-Modern as the Kabbalist poet fittingly says, “The end of action was first in thought.”4
In Kabbalistic healing we are seeking to understand what is the spiritual root of Anger? We thus seek ultimate spiritual roots not local origins, mental mechanics or even spiritual psychology and we correspondingly rely on unique techniques of healing that address these ultimate spiritual roots.
Kabbalistic healing thus shares more in common with Eastern based systems of personality transformation although the paradigms that distinguish them are so different that Kabbalistic healing cannot be compared in any real sense to the self-described healing of the ego that can occur through Buddhist, Hindu, Yogic and Taoist spiritual traditions.
Another feature of Kabbalistic healing is that once the seeker is readily prepared it need not necessarily take long durations of time to have a powerful effect. I have taken the time to present these materials because I have become astonished by their spiritual power and immediacy. When sharing my experiences with others of working with these meditations they have encouraged me to make these practices available to them. Although I am far from a believer in quick fixes and panaceas I nevertheless encourage the reader to experiment even skeptically with these meditations never losing sight of the belief that, ”The salvation of God can come in the blink of an eye.”5
Shalom Shalom,
Zecharyah Tzvi Goldman
Introduction
Before we introduce a traditional Kabbalistic meditation for healing anger, it would be wise to first introduce the classical Torah position regarding the legitimacy or non- legitimacy of anger as a human emotional expression. Then we will compare the Torah’s view of anger with that of Gestalt Therapy Theory and in addition to classical Zen Buddhism. Further, by way of introduction, we will view the rabbinical and Kabbalistic perspective as to the consequences of anger upon the human soul. With this foundation laid, we will explore a Kabbalistic meditation for the healing of anger at its root. Lastly, we will explore Hassidic teachings on the subject of anger. Overall, you will walk away with unique insights into this difficult emotion and some new methods for healing.
