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A student's notes from Michael's classes
You are invited to enjoy tastes of some of Michael’s teachings, through notes taken at various classes. Different teachings will be posted throughout the year, G_d willing.
PURIM
On Purim, the tables are turned. Everything is reversed.
We thought we were done for, yet everything flipped, and those who would put us to death were put to death themselves.
Because everything is reversed today, we put on costumes. We become who we are not. We put on masks. Disguises. And Who taught us to wear disguises?
That's right, God. The Omnipresent One who hides behind disguises of all kinds. The One who comes into our world in the form of concealment.
We're not ourselves tonight. In fact, this is the best time of the year to embarrass ourselves. We tend to live our lives, and we have a very clear definition of who we are, a set pattern of how far we go. But tonight that pattern may change. Things are reversed.
Because everything is reversed today, we put on costumes. We become who we are not. We put on masks. Disguises. And Who taught us to wear disguises?
That's right, God. The Omnipresent One who hides behind disguises of all kinds. The One who comes into our world in the form of concealment.
We're not ourselves tonight. In fact, this is the best time of the year to embarrass ourselves. We tend to live our lives, and we have a very clear definition of who we are, a set pattern of how far we go. But tonight that pattern may change. Things are reversed.
Years
ago Miriam and I were living in Denver, and I was doing so much teaching, traveling around a lot. I came home mostly
to rest. But I knew people there, in my community. Many people enjoyed the music I played. So Miriam and
I decided to rent a big hall so I could give a concert. We sent flyers out all over the place, to many different groups.
When the day came for the concert -- and we had something like five hundred seats to fill -- how many showed up? About
ten. They couldn't even fill the front row.
And there I was, with this very warm feeling rising in me. It did not feel good. It was the ego melting. Well, I gave the concert. My audience was so kind, they clapped very loud to make up for the empty seats.
So it was a good learning for me. When we get that warm feeling of embarrassment, when the ego melts, it's a very good thing. It makes a new space inside. A space that can now be filled in a new Way. A space that would not have been there otherwise because we are so busy keeping our structure together. Keeping together who we think we are. Constantly reinforcing ourselves with our habitual thinking and our personal pattern.
It's a good thing to go a little wild and embarrass yourself tonight. It's a way to break that pattern of who you think you are. Purim teaches that we are not our usual selves. We now have the chance to lose our habitual pattern, and just get happy.
Our ancestors were able to put away their cares and celebrate far better than we do today. I'm sure they would look at us tonight and say, 'you call this happy? Just getting together with food and music?' They knew how to really celebrate. Nowadays we have too much to think about -- we're tied up in so many ways. We don't really relax.
It's so easy to find reasons to be sad. There must be a thousand reasons we could name. But tonight is not for that. Tonight is for losing that kind of judgment. Let's just get happy.
Purim, as we know, is a time of special blessing, personal blessing for each of us. But this year, let's offer blessing to someone other than ourselves. Think of someone you know, someone dear to you, who could use some help, and hold them in your mind for blessings tonight. Maybe someone else will hold you, but that is not a concern for now. Just think of the ones you would like to bless, and let that flow. Those who are fully evolved feel such an abundance of life, their blessings flow to others, not to themselves.
To really get to the root of Purim and the way to happiness, we need to go back to the Garden of Eden. What were the names of the two trees in the Garden?
That's right, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Here on Purim we are commanded to not know what is blessed or cursed. We release that Tree of Knowledge.
But what happened to Adam and Eve? They had a beautiful place. They had the Tree of Life to eat from. They could have lived there forever, immortal. What happened? They ate from the Tree of Knowledge. Right after that, what did they know?
They were naked. Nakedness was not important until that moment. They judged themselves naked, less than they were a moment before. Less worthy. Separated from God.
So God covered them with skins, says the Torah. Some sages say at this point he gave them bodies -- in this context "or" is read as "flesh" by most scholars. He covered them with skins or bodies and banished them from Paradise, which was now guarded by flaming swords.
We had a chance at Paradise forever, and what did we trade for that? Clothes. We traded Life for clothes. We're still attached to clothes and status. If we have only one set of clothes, we always keep them on, even if they're rags. Most of us have more clothes and want even more clothes -- we don't want to be seen in the same outfit two days in a row. It's no accident that our closets are so huge; we need more space to handle all these clothes.
Clothes represent our limitation. In fact our basic layer of clothing is the body. The body is clothing. It's not who we really are. Someday we'll take it all off.
As we are living in this body, we can only see a little and hear a little of our true reality, of Who we really are. If we could see and hear things beyond this world, we wouldn't be in this world.
Sages say that the more layers of clothes we wear, the further we are from God. Here in Arizona we may wear a T-shirt and shorts. In Siberia you wear many layers.
But our 'clothes' are of our own making. I have all my books and my degrees, my important career. I know more than anybody else. We have our ways of saying that we know what everything is about. We have it all under control, or so we think.
How do you look at someone through the Tree of Knowledge? It's all about how you define yourself and them, who's more important, who's better in whatever way you're looking at it. It's a way to separate and categorize. It's a way to bring yourself higher, in your mind. It's judgment. It's good and evil.
How do you look at someone through the Tree of Life? Well, you're alive and I'm alive. Life fills us from the same Source. We're alive! It's amazing. This is Life. It's simple.
You can hear the little girl laughing in the front room right now. She's in the Garden -- she hasn't left it yet. She's eating from the Tree of Life.
We're adults. We think we know how it all works. But we don't.
We tend to feel we are the best. Our community is best. Nobody's as lucky as we are. We're smarter, wiser. We have the best answers, we think. That makes us feel good. But it separates us from others.
And there I was, with this very warm feeling rising in me. It did not feel good. It was the ego melting. Well, I gave the concert. My audience was so kind, they clapped very loud to make up for the empty seats.
So it was a good learning for me. When we get that warm feeling of embarrassment, when the ego melts, it's a very good thing. It makes a new space inside. A space that can now be filled in a new Way. A space that would not have been there otherwise because we are so busy keeping our structure together. Keeping together who we think we are. Constantly reinforcing ourselves with our habitual thinking and our personal pattern.
It's a good thing to go a little wild and embarrass yourself tonight. It's a way to break that pattern of who you think you are. Purim teaches that we are not our usual selves. We now have the chance to lose our habitual pattern, and just get happy.
Our ancestors were able to put away their cares and celebrate far better than we do today. I'm sure they would look at us tonight and say, 'you call this happy? Just getting together with food and music?' They knew how to really celebrate. Nowadays we have too much to think about -- we're tied up in so many ways. We don't really relax.
It's so easy to find reasons to be sad. There must be a thousand reasons we could name. But tonight is not for that. Tonight is for losing that kind of judgment. Let's just get happy.
Purim, as we know, is a time of special blessing, personal blessing for each of us. But this year, let's offer blessing to someone other than ourselves. Think of someone you know, someone dear to you, who could use some help, and hold them in your mind for blessings tonight. Maybe someone else will hold you, but that is not a concern for now. Just think of the ones you would like to bless, and let that flow. Those who are fully evolved feel such an abundance of life, their blessings flow to others, not to themselves.
To really get to the root of Purim and the way to happiness, we need to go back to the Garden of Eden. What were the names of the two trees in the Garden?
That's right, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Here on Purim we are commanded to not know what is blessed or cursed. We release that Tree of Knowledge.
But what happened to Adam and Eve? They had a beautiful place. They had the Tree of Life to eat from. They could have lived there forever, immortal. What happened? They ate from the Tree of Knowledge. Right after that, what did they know?
They were naked. Nakedness was not important until that moment. They judged themselves naked, less than they were a moment before. Less worthy. Separated from God.
So God covered them with skins, says the Torah. Some sages say at this point he gave them bodies -- in this context "or" is read as "flesh" by most scholars. He covered them with skins or bodies and banished them from Paradise, which was now guarded by flaming swords.
We had a chance at Paradise forever, and what did we trade for that? Clothes. We traded Life for clothes. We're still attached to clothes and status. If we have only one set of clothes, we always keep them on, even if they're rags. Most of us have more clothes and want even more clothes -- we don't want to be seen in the same outfit two days in a row. It's no accident that our closets are so huge; we need more space to handle all these clothes.
Clothes represent our limitation. In fact our basic layer of clothing is the body. The body is clothing. It's not who we really are. Someday we'll take it all off.
As we are living in this body, we can only see a little and hear a little of our true reality, of Who we really are. If we could see and hear things beyond this world, we wouldn't be in this world.
Sages say that the more layers of clothes we wear, the further we are from God. Here in Arizona we may wear a T-shirt and shorts. In Siberia you wear many layers.
But our 'clothes' are of our own making. I have all my books and my degrees, my important career. I know more than anybody else. We have our ways of saying that we know what everything is about. We have it all under control, or so we think.
How do you look at someone through the Tree of Knowledge? It's all about how you define yourself and them, who's more important, who's better in whatever way you're looking at it. It's a way to separate and categorize. It's a way to bring yourself higher, in your mind. It's judgment. It's good and evil.
How do you look at someone through the Tree of Life? Well, you're alive and I'm alive. Life fills us from the same Source. We're alive! It's amazing. This is Life. It's simple.
You can hear the little girl laughing in the front room right now. She's in the Garden -- she hasn't left it yet. She's eating from the Tree of Life.
We're adults. We think we know how it all works. But we don't.
We tend to feel we are the best. Our community is best. Nobody's as lucky as we are. We're smarter, wiser. We have the best answers, we think. That makes us feel good. But it separates us from others.
Eat from the Tree of Life instead, and let Life pour in.
With gratitude to Diane Stallings for summarizing Michael’s Purim
teaching of 2/27/10 for us.
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