If I understand your final question, you have already wrestled your faith and have already counted down to three. You aren't wrestling Hashem, I think the wrestling is about wrestling the things that stop us from being totally in sync and being able to appreciate that everything comes from a single Source. Shabbat Shalom
The dual nature of the human being is clear from Genesis 1:26. The human is a 'composite' of 'manifest'-- ie. physical embodiment ( 'Demut' ) and 'hidden' -- ie. spiritual 'Shadow' ( 'Tzelem' ). We are each called to bring these two aspects into complementary and consistent relation. To quote Leonard Cohen from 'Book of Mercy'...'Blessed be the covenant of love between that which is hidden and that which is revealed.' For me, personally, this is a way to understand what the wrestling is all about. Discussed quite beautifully by R Moses Cordovero in the introduction to his book, 'The Date Palm of Deborah' ('Tomer Devorah'). See: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/253628?lang=bi/
I guess once we stop wrestling, we lose. It's very easy to lose focus on the how, why and from where. We pump out our chest when success finds us and pray for help when success knocks on the wrong house, over and over. I'm still trying to fully understand and my wrestling, I find myself sliding down rungs and sometimes I'm able to take a step up.
Life is not easy.
But maybe if we realize that we must keep on wrestling those thoughts that can pull us down and how other thoughts can raise us up, maybe that's the answer.
It's one thing to intellectually understand death, especially our own death, it's all together another thing to actually accept it... and to embrace it as a beautiful necessity. GOD must be in death too, no?
You elegantly raise the profoundest questions, Peter! You probe into the very meaning of our reality and existence beyond the ephemeral… And we, the self-centered beings that we are, begin to examine our own wondrous life— eternally beyond our capacity to understand, know or control.
With regard to the infinite depth of each infinitesimal moment in the context of the continuity of time and its significance as 'G-d-Time', one gets a hint of an answer from the book called 'Ecclesiastes' in the English, and 'Qohelet' (meaning 'preacher-man'-- roughly--in the Hebrew. who is traditionally thought to be the author of the book--King Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba ), the greatest of the wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible--IMHO. Particularly in Chapter 3, in which the writer, 'Qohelet', realizes the profound difference between the discontinuous physical time of the finite human-- that the Greeks called 'Chronos' which is typically translated as 'Season' ('Zeman' in the Hebrew) in verse 3:1, and the infinitely deep time of the infinite One-- that the Greeks called 'Kairos', which is the translation of '(designated) Time (for every purpose under Heaven)' in verse 3:1 ( 'Eit' in the Hebrew ). Of course, this first section of Chapter 3 of Qohelet is the basis for the lyrics of the Pete Seeger song 'Turn!Turn!Turn!' made famous by Roger McGuinn and the Byrds--reach is really a gospel-folk song of very deep meaning. For a more in-depth interpretation, see the magnificently illustrated book 'Qohelet. Searching for a Life Worth Living' (Baylor University Press, 2023 ) illustrated by Debra Band with a profoundly insightful commentary primarily contributed by Menachem Fisch, together with Debra Band. And for the question of the fundamental distinction between a physical desire that can be satiated, and a metaphysical desire that can never be satiated but nevertheless calls us to act, see the book 'Longing for the Other. Lévinas and Metaphysical Desire' by Drew M Dalton, published by Duquesne University Press, 2009.
I view the Shema as the 'Panenethistic Credo'... extremely important. The Transcendent and the Immanent are One. How so? By way of the 'Third' key name of HaShem--one that HaShem indicates to Moses at the Burning Bush--Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh--I shall become that which I shall become--the continual flow of time in which each moment has infinite depth, all the way down.. Time is the Medium through which the Transcendent and the Immanent become One..., the One outside of Space-Time and the One inside of Space-Time are both One.
Then isn't wrestling with G-d, wrestling with oneself if G-d is in everything and everybody? IDK if it's because I learned the Catholic catechism, but I just accept that the miracles of life and existence--in body and soul--are givens. To me, the wrestling involves striving for goodness and enlightenment, finding one's purpose, and staying with it. Faith is tough.
If I understand your final question, you have already wrestled your faith and have already counted down to three. You aren't wrestling Hashem, I think the wrestling is about wrestling the things that stop us from being totally in sync and being able to appreciate that everything comes from a single Source. Shabbat Shalom
When one becomes aware of their dual nature, as I surely have, they understand that the wrestling never ends. Shabbat Shalom Freddy.
The dual nature of the human being is clear from Genesis 1:26. The human is a 'composite' of 'manifest'-- ie. physical embodiment ( 'Demut' ) and 'hidden' -- ie. spiritual 'Shadow' ( 'Tzelem' ). We are each called to bring these two aspects into complementary and consistent relation. To quote Leonard Cohen from 'Book of Mercy'...'Blessed be the covenant of love between that which is hidden and that which is revealed.' For me, personally, this is a way to understand what the wrestling is all about. Discussed quite beautifully by R Moses Cordovero in the introduction to his book, 'The Date Palm of Deborah' ('Tomer Devorah'). See: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/253628?lang=bi/
I guess once we stop wrestling, we lose. It's very easy to lose focus on the how, why and from where. We pump out our chest when success finds us and pray for help when success knocks on the wrong house, over and over. I'm still trying to fully understand and my wrestling, I find myself sliding down rungs and sometimes I'm able to take a step up.
Life is not easy.
But maybe if we realize that we must keep on wrestling those thoughts that can pull us down and how other thoughts can raise us up, maybe that's the answer.
I don't know.
It's one thing to intellectually understand death, especially our own death, it's all together another thing to actually accept it... and to embrace it as a beautiful necessity. GOD must be in death too, no?
Everything means everything. And most importantly, beyond any semblance of "things," whether material or spiritual. Thanks DYZ!
Yes, we all wrestle with God. And we all want to love and be loved and, if blessed, see that love passed on from generation to generation.
Already another book! Very much looking forward.
You elegantly raise the profoundest questions, Peter! You probe into the very meaning of our reality and existence beyond the ephemeral… And we, the self-centered beings that we are, begin to examine our own wondrous life— eternally beyond our capacity to understand, know or control.
Shabbat Shalom dear Stella!
Okay Peter, now I'll be thinking about a minnow's blood vessels all night... thanks a lot :)
Ha! Me too. I've found there's not a lot of blood to be reckoned with!
With regard to the infinite depth of each infinitesimal moment in the context of the continuity of time and its significance as 'G-d-Time', one gets a hint of an answer from the book called 'Ecclesiastes' in the English, and 'Qohelet' (meaning 'preacher-man'-- roughly--in the Hebrew. who is traditionally thought to be the author of the book--King Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba ), the greatest of the wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible--IMHO. Particularly in Chapter 3, in which the writer, 'Qohelet', realizes the profound difference between the discontinuous physical time of the finite human-- that the Greeks called 'Chronos' which is typically translated as 'Season' ('Zeman' in the Hebrew) in verse 3:1, and the infinitely deep time of the infinite One-- that the Greeks called 'Kairos', which is the translation of '(designated) Time (for every purpose under Heaven)' in verse 3:1 ( 'Eit' in the Hebrew ). Of course, this first section of Chapter 3 of Qohelet is the basis for the lyrics of the Pete Seeger song 'Turn!Turn!Turn!' made famous by Roger McGuinn and the Byrds--reach is really a gospel-folk song of very deep meaning. For a more in-depth interpretation, see the magnificently illustrated book 'Qohelet. Searching for a Life Worth Living' (Baylor University Press, 2023 ) illustrated by Debra Band with a profoundly insightful commentary primarily contributed by Menachem Fisch, together with Debra Band. And for the question of the fundamental distinction between a physical desire that can be satiated, and a metaphysical desire that can never be satiated but nevertheless calls us to act, see the book 'Longing for the Other. Lévinas and Metaphysical Desire' by Drew M Dalton, published by Duquesne University Press, 2009.
I view the Shema as the 'Panenethistic Credo'... extremely important. The Transcendent and the Immanent are One. How so? By way of the 'Third' key name of HaShem--one that HaShem indicates to Moses at the Burning Bush--Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh--I shall become that which I shall become--the continual flow of time in which each moment has infinite depth, all the way down.. Time is the Medium through which the Transcendent and the Immanent become One..., the One outside of Space-Time and the One inside of Space-Time are both One.
👍
Then isn't wrestling with G-d, wrestling with oneself if G-d is in everything and everybody? IDK if it's because I learned the Catholic catechism, but I just accept that the miracles of life and existence--in body and soul--are givens. To me, the wrestling involves striving for goodness and enlightenment, finding one's purpose, and staying with it. Faith is tough.