Recently I was talking to a friend of mine who is a homeopath and he was lamenting how difficult it is to explain to people, friends even, how homeopathy works. For those who don’t know, and in a nutshell, homeopathy works by diluting a substance until only its energetic essence is left in the water. The patient takes this dilution and it interacts with the patient’s energy body (spirit) which in turn influences and heals the body. At least this is my understanding of it. And this is a very different healing modality compared to the western healing modality.
Today I was part of a discussion concerning birthrights. We were discussing how Yakov (Jacob) stole the birthright and blessing from his brother. One of the people in the discussion was saying that birthrights are an ancient practice that have no relevance in today’s world. I tried to point out that from a western world-view, this might be true, but from another point-of-viewing, it still has validity. I won’t go into the argument; suffice to say, the person who said birthrights have no relevance did not budge from her position.
These two stories illustrate something I have been struggling with recently: how can I (or anyone else for that matter) persuade somebody to try to see something from a different point of viewing. Let me explain what I mean by this term and how it is different from a point of view.
A point of view is something that a person has. Today I have a liberal point of view. Everything I see, I see through the same lens a liberal person does. Tomorrow, however, I might change my point of view to a conservative one; in which case everything I see will be through the same lens as a conservative person uses.
A point of viewing is not tied to a person. Rather, it is the direction from which a person looks at something. One point of viewing is a liberal point of viewing. Another point of viewing is a conservative one. And it is possible for me to observe something from both points of viewing, which would allow me to gain a greater perception on what I am looking at.
The problem that both my homeopath friend, and I were having (in the beginning of this post) is that we had different points of viewing than the people we were talking to, and we didn’t know how to get those other people to at least consider looking at the topic from a point of viewing different from the one they were accustomed to.
Ok, so why am I bringing this up in a Conscious Torah blog? Because the Judaism, the Jewish family tradition, makes no sense from a western point of viewing. From that point of viewing, it certainly looks male-centric and hateful with a jealous and vengeful god. However, this family tradition of the children of Yisrael/Yakov is not a western tradition. It is a shamanic tradition, and hence needs to be viewed through a shamanic, earth based, energy/spiritual point of viewing. This point of viewing would allow one to see the birthright as something passed on to the firstborn because the firstborn extends beyond the parent. For example, Avraham is the embodiment of loving-kindness. His first born, Yishmael is loving-kindness taken to an extreme. His second son, Yitzhak (and second sons in general), reflect the opposite path, which in this case would be strictness and discipline. So, now it makes sense for the firstborn to get the birthright to continue the work of the previous generation. And this point of viewing also shows a tradition that value women as highly as men are valued… or to put it more accurately, female/yin energy is as important as male/yang energy is. Equal and not the same. And god is a loving god, who helps us understand when righteous indignation is appropriate, and when it is right to stand up for oneself and when mercy is called for, and when to let cause-and-effect run its course.
I hope I have been able to share with you a taste of a different point of viewing. And I hope you out there can help me find a different point of viewing that allows me to help others see a different point of viewing. I give me thanks in advance.
About the Author
Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.