A Conversation with a Jewish Healer and Mystic

Student:

It seems to me that yin-yang theory is idol worship. The idea of taking two entities/powers and putting them together to make "one" is saying that "we," man, are in charge. Further this implies that there are "two" equal and separate entities that become one. In reality there is only ONE, and He is all. There is only G-D. This would mean that the theory of yin-yang goes against monotheism. I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

Ol' Wispy Beard:

1. Complete monotheism exists only in Judaism, and maybe in Islam correctly applied. (Also, there are individual righteous gentiles -- a lot of them in India -- who understand this also.) You are correct about that, according to my understanding. HOWEVER --

2. Chazal tell us that the Egyptians understood the unity of El-him, that is, the unity of the created world with its Creator. In Egyptian mathematics no fraction was allowed to exist unless it had a numerator of 1. So 23/451 would be broken down into a series of added fractions with numerators of 1. The purpose of this sometimes cumbersome exercise was to keep the mind focused on unity as they understood it. What they did not understand or experience was the higher unity of the yud-key-vav-hey.

   My spiritual path opened consciously when someone said to me after an all-night party many years ago, "You see, 2 is not 1 + 1; 2 is 1 divided in half. This is because there is only one 1." This comes from Egypt and expresses the unity of El-him. What Joseph brought to Egypt was the conscious connection to the higher unity, the transcendent Divine that unifies the lower unity (in which creation is based) not on fractionation but on divine Will. Once the connection with Joseph and the higher unity was unnecessary for Egypt's survival, Joseph was forgotten and the Jews were enslaved -- enslaved to a consciousness based on materiality and egoism. The Rebbe says in a Sicha that all idolatry is based on self-centered behavior instead of action as an expression of G-d's Will. The Egyptians were idolatrous not just because they worshipped idols, but because their motivations were self-centered. (Look at the colossus of Ramses.) A person worships idols because of what they think the idol can give. If we worship Hashem for the same reason, we are still being idolatrous, though in a highly 'spiritual' way.

3. The unity of El-him is not idolatrous in its essence, but it can easily lead to idolatry because it is connected to our vision from here below, and thus to our needs and imperfect understandings. As long as Pharaoh understood the unity of El-him, he could appreciate and understand the need for Joseph and his vision of the higher unity that completes the lower.

4. The Yin-Yang symbol has a circle around the whole thing, symbolizing oneness. It is the western tendency to separate complimentary opposites that causes a perception of Yin and Yang as separate rather than just distinct and complimentary. The ancient Chinese did not make this mistake. They, like the Egyptians, also had a perception of the unity of El-him. The reason that Asians feel that westerners do not understand Yin and Yang is because of this tendency of the western mind to split everything into pieces. (In Asia, India provides the experience of the higher unity, but still falls into idolatry, a spiritual self-centeredness, because historically it has not understood the lower unity of El-him.)

5. Complete monotheism is the experience (!) of the unity of the unities. (See the Chabad siddur on page 133 during Ma'ariv for Shabbos.) In fact the Shechinah is G-d's unity here below (feminine) parallel to the Holy One, Blessed be He, who is One above (masculine). This is as close as we can get from our perspective. From G-d's 'perspective', none of this has any real reality.

6. Yin and Yang are a way of speaking about things in a dynamic manner. What you are concerned about is exactly right. If we separate these from each other and make them whole realities in themselves, then we can slip easily into an idolatrous mode of thinking where we are looking to see what we can get out of existence instead of how we can express G-d's will in existence.

7. Anything powerful is dangerous. Torah itself wrongly learned and selfishly applied is the most dangerous thing imaginable. Just before the Baruch she'amar on page 30, we say "For the sake of the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, with His Shechinah, to unite the Name yud-kay with vav-kay in a perfect union in the name of all Israel." And just before Yishtabach on page 41, we say "The Lord will be King over the entire earth; on that day the Lord will be One and His name One." That is, the 'lower unity' is in a sense a subset of the 'higher unity' and we need to always remember this because these cannot be separated. If we remember this always, then we can use this world and its resources as a means to express G-d's will in a world that can deny it. We can use cars, horses, plants, yin-yang, even Egyptian mathematics and geometry as creations ultimately of Hashem to be used only as He sees fit.

Student:

Why doesn't the Jewish tradition have a symbol like the yin-yang to represent the lower unity and the upper unity?

Ol' Wispy Beard:

The Yin-Yang symbol is a subset of the Magen David. They are both based on the fact that the hexagon is the first figure to be created in a circle. (The side of a hexagon has the same length as the radius of a circle, so when you create a circle you create its inscribed hexagon at the same time. Both the "Magen David" and the Yin-Yang symbol express this. Also, the so-called "Tree of Life" in Kabbalah expresses the Masculine-Feminine polarity most elegantly. In fact, the Jewish vision (if we can limit it to such a term) is very 'sexual', a constant play between him-ness and her-ness. Also, as Jews, we are disinclined to make pictures of ideas or spiritual concepts. This last reason is why the Magen David has never been used widely as a symbol of kiddusha, and why the "Tree of Life" symbol in Kabbalah is only used very reluctantly.

Student:

[Q based on item 1] I read from some commentators that the Arabs where reverting back to paganism, with their worship of the murderous suicide bombers and the glorification of their actions. It seems like no one but the Jews can hold on to monotheism for any extended period of time.

OWB:

Maybe so.

Student:

[Q based on item 2] This story plays it self out through out history with the culmination of the concentration camps. The camps, according to Rabbi Kessin, were a place where desire controlled everything with no intervening conscience. If a German wanted to do something he did it: Kill, rape, steal, whatever. Humans reigned supreme. The Jews brought conscience to the world. Joseph (the only person called "Tzaddik" in the torah) was a person who controlled his sexual desire, the ultimate in expressing G-d's will, brought to Egypt the idea of G-d's Will active and accessible in creation. It is interesting that almost all idol worship, including today's pagan new-age movements, almost all contain debased sexuality and self-centeredness. It is interesting also that many new age movements use Ancient Egyptian spirituality.

OWB:

This isn't surprising because most people are only interested in their own "experience", not in finding G-d's Will. "I can do what I want" is the bottom line even in the spiritual search. The History books are wrong about Western civilization. It does not begin with Greece; it begins in Egypt. But ironically, this is also the womb of Jewish nation-hood.

Student:

[Q3]If Paro connected to the truly divine, how could he have slipped. What could be any more pleasurable than being connected to the source of ALL. Who would give it up? I once read that an orgasm makes one feel connected to the universe. At the moment of climax the self disappears and the person feels as if he is one with the all. If an orgasm is so pleasurable imagine cleaving to the Divine.

OWB:

[Q3] The problem was, as I interpret it with my little pea brain, that Pharaoh understood the need for the higher unity through his perception of Egypt's needs and his own. He did not experience it directly or understand the reason for it ultimately. For that he would have had to actually join Joseph instead of making him his Prime Minister. Cleaving to G-d ain't so easy.

Student:

[Q4] Would a yud inside a circle be a good sign. The divine will inside creation. The idea of Yin Yang seems like the tower of Babal. We could put 1 + 1 together to make 1. If WE create harmony and balance then We have wholeness. The Taoist believe in the circle of creation and nature. They seem to be stuck in the dimension of nature, never transcending into the spiritual but always fearful (and trying to manipulate) the dimension of the occult (the intermediate level between divinity and nature).

OWB:

[Q4] Didn't I say that? That's the problem with the lower unity without the higher (and as India shows us, the higher without the lower). We try to get the power for ourselves instead of giving ourselves to the Power. Also, there is spirituality in Nature. The Animal Soul (the Nefesh) can also experience spirituality, particularly in human beings. Our dog thinks Shabbos is the most incredible thing since beef, but she is not choosing it in the sense that a human being, particularly a Jew, does.

Student:

As a healer how can one make use of this knowledge.

OWB:

Ultimately, the only health is in G-d's Will. But most of us are nowhere near that. Read the first part of Tanya for an understanding of this from a more psychological point of view. True healing is always a spiritual issue, though we may use various techniques from the 'lower unity' to try to nudge it along.

Student:

If it's all just a nudge, does it matter what kind the techniques (of course assuming they are safe and non-harmful) we use? I feel I need a shift in the way I practice. I feel the need to incorporate authentic spirituality into my practice. But how do I do it and still maintain my medical practice.

OWB:

Spirituality is an attitude more than anything else, the ability to see what G-d wants in a particular interchange. It's not just a nudge from our perspective. Yes, it does matter what techniques we use when, but this is a whole other topic. I'm introducing an approach on the website. Go to the Coaching to Wholeness page and there is a link in the healing section to a discussion about systems of healing. You'll get the idea.

Student:

[Q4 CONT] You say higher unity and lower unity. To me higher unity means G-d. Lower unity is everything else. The lower, it seems to me encompasses:

1. Nature: nature at its unified glory is pretty "spiritual," Can I guess that the American First nation (Indians) where at the pinnacle of such understanding. Being one with nature is "spiritual" but from a Jewish perspective its still in the realm of nature. Cool things happen when a person is "in touch" with nature.

2. Angels & Dimensions of other cool stuff: This is the area where the Torah says stay away. It's not evil its the place where the greatest confusion occurs. Its where a guy with powers can manipulate "stuff" to make change in the dimension of nature. Its still not G-d/"upper unity." The point I would like clarified is, is this the "upper unity" the Egyptians and Indians possess. To me, this seems still lower unity. Only G-d is "upper unity" and only the Torah knows how to get there.

OWB:

[Q4 CONT] Well, maybe not quite. My understanding is that G-d is everything: lower, higher, middle, inside, outside, etc. The "lower unity" is G-d in Nature and the upper realms of Nature (the created realm) are included in this. Anything created is Nature. The "higher unity" is G-d unconcealed. The consciousness of That (to use the India Indian expression) can penetrate into the lower unity at times, but usually only by ignoring the created world, the lower unity. That is why non-Jewish spirituality is basically a get-out-of-here spirituality. What Torah does is to open the possibility through the mitzvahs of bringing the direct reality of the higher, transcendent unity into the created lower world, and lift the latter up to the former. This is the inner meaning of the Magen David, the intersection of the two triangles. As the Alter Rebbe says, each mitzvah is a direct, unconcealed expression of G-d's Will. That is why the mitzvahs have the capacity to transform the world. My understanding of non-Jews is that while they can be good and creative, only non-Jews born through klipa noga (and individual non-Jews can be, if I understand correctly) have the transformative capacity of a Jew. Bach might be an example. On a collective level, however, only the Jewish nation has been given this ability and potential. (This, by the way, is why we have to be so careful about labeling all non-Jews as inferior spiritually.)

Student:

Thanks.

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