#PracticalTakeout 1: Fear Not Your Madness
From Meditations For The Passover Seder - Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson
Every Sabbath we sanctify the day by blessing and drinking a cup of wine. On Passover, one glass will not suffice. During the Seder, every Jew is instructed to drink four cups of wine (or grape juice if you are forbidden to consume alcohol) to celebrate freedom.
Wine, an intoxicating beverage that is at first concealed within the grape, represents the deeply concealed chaotic forces lingering within the human psyche. This inner “madness” or “lunacy,” that dimension of our soul that is infinite, wild, unrestrained, is known in the Kabbalah as the “lights of Tohu” (chaos), that comprise man’s primal and basic personality.
When you tap into this part of yourself, you can metamorphose your life and change the world. But we have been trained to fear our power, to shun away from our destiny, to suppress our atomic energy!!!
The first step to freedom is to embrace, rather than reject, your madness. You must learn that if your intoxicating “wine” is channeled in a moral direction, it can sanctify the world more than anything else!!!!
Passions. From Finding Your True Passions in Life
The Meaningful Life Center
How can you find your passion in life?
You need only look inside yourself: You already have it; you only have access to it. Your very soul is a passionate ball of fire — a burning flame waiting to be released. Like a pilot flame, your passionate, fiery soul needs to be fanned so it manifests in your life. When you release your fire (some call it your inner child, some call it your soul), the flame inside you grows stronger.
How do you get the fire going?
Start by getting to know yourself well. Find out what makes you tick. Nurture your inner self and your inherent passions will begin to emerge. The more you feed and fuel your inner flame, the more your passions will come alive.
Exiled Passion
Even in the worst cases of apathy, the “pilot” passion is still there, though it is concealed or displaced — in “exile.” It is diminished, but it still burns. It simply does not have a way to manifest. One problem that “exiled” passion creates is that since the passionate soul naturally wants to express itself and surge forward, without healthy outlets people will look for unhealthy places to express that intensity in ways that are destructive to self and others, such as gambling, drugs, inappropriate relationships and other addictions.
Channeling Your Passion
The challenge for you, and for every one of us, is how to channel the inherent intensity of your soul into something healthy and eternal. For example: The passion of intimacy can be channeled into marrying your soul mate and building a purposeful life together. Sexual passion is not bad; it actually is a very sacred form of energy — the issue is where and how you direct it. Another example: You might have a passion for football or other sports. (B.L. Perhaps it may be appropriate for you to engage in these activities with mindful restraint because you are too intense, and engaging in sports lightens the weight of your energy so that you can better serve Hashem?) Also, Can you channel that passion for action, competition, teamwork, and scoring points into building something that will leave a positive mark on the world?