It’s all in your mind!

You control your body, your mood, your energy level and your healing with your mind.

Recently at a Talk called “The Key to Your Mind” by Dr. Peter Reznik, he demonstrated the power of thought.

The Power of Truth – the Lie Detector

He requested a volunteer. David* raised his hand reluctantly and was chosen. In front of the crowd, Dr. Reznik said “stick out your arm.” He did so. “I will try to push it down with two fingers.” He did not succeed.

Dr. Reznik said “Say ‘My Name is David'”. The volunteer, telling the truth, did so. Dr. Reznik tried to push down David’s arm with two fingers, without success.

Dr. Reznik then told him “Say ‘My Name is Peter.'” The volunteer, telling a lie, did so. Applying the same force, Dr. Reznik tried to push down David’s arm with two fingers, with success.

Telling the Truth, David was stronger. Telling a lie made David weaker.

The Power of Positivism

Dr. Reznik said “Think of a pleasant experience”. The volunteer did so. Dr. Reznik tried to push down David’s arm with two fingers, without success.

Dr. Reznik then told him “Think of a negative experience”. The volunteer did so. Applying the same force, Dr. Reznik tried to push down David’s arm with two fingers, with success.

The obvious lesson is – telling the truth and thinking positive thoughts makes a person stronger.

Mental Exercises

Dr. Reznik conducted four exercises to allow a person to determine their mental state.

One was for a person to imagine he or she turned into a tree. After taking some deep breaths and closing their eyes – they imagined themselves as a tree. He asked what kind of tree they were, what was the background, how deep were there roots. Analyzing the answers he was able to roughly determine their state of thought.

A Second Exercise was for people to imagine they were in a box. He asked – What happened? Many said – they broke out of the box.

A third exercise was imagine that one captured a Yellow Leaf in their hands. He asked what happened after they let go of the leaf. Many answered.

Another question was to imagine themselves trying to escape from a cave – yet a rope was attached to them.. They were asked “Who is holding the rope.” This demonstrated how a person can determine their impediments.

I guess the maxim “don’t worry, be happy” has some validity to it.

*Name Changed

Don’t judge yourself based upon what others say.

Some will say you are nice. Some will say you are bad. Don’t judge yourself based upon them.

As is obvious with most UN resolutions against Israel they have nothing to do with reality. Really. If I were to say that Joseph Kilgour was the first President of the US (POTUS) because I saw a film with him acting as the first president, you would say ‘that is nonsense’. Changing history to support your agenda is also nonsense. Perhaps the theory that the UN is made up of Aliens that seek to dominate the world is also true? Once you inject lies into a discussion – anything goes.

So what’s a person, annoyed by the biased resolutions, to do? Complain? Condemn? Protest? All are mostly a waste of time. You will not get someone who has a grudge against you to change, unless they are a special person. You will not get them to change. Your efforts will be in vain.

better to use this anger as momentum to change yourself. The point is to not benchmark yourself based upon others. Like the popular saying goes – sticks and stones may break bones but names will never harm me. Yes. If you don’t take them to heart.

There is an expression in French that says “The Dogs Bark and the Caravan Passes.” I don’t determine my self worth based upon others. I don’t determine my goodness or the opposite based upon others. I have a higher standard to use as a guide & a benchmark – the Torah.

A Nation that Dwells in Solitude

We should really say thank you to the UN. For they remind the Jewish people of the Torah Verse:

“כי מראש צורים אראנו ומגבעות אשורנו, הן עם לבדד ישכון ובגויים לא יתחשב”
“I see him from atop the rocks, I behold him from the hills – this is a nation that shall dwell in solitude, and will not be counted amongst the nations” – Bamidbar / Numbers (23:9)

When we only are concerned about our spiritual perfection as guided by Torah – we won’t need to be concerned about what others say. When we are doing right in the eyes of G-d, we don not need the approbation of the nations – we live according to the standards of a Higher Authority.

Living the Torah Standard – to emulate G-d – we become the Light to the Nations. Living to emulate the nations – we become the derision of the nations – as seen by the UN votes, the Nazis, etc.

The Messages of G-d

G-d sends us messages every day. The messages are sometimes – Tsunamis, Acts of Terror, UN Resolutions against Israel, Hurricanes. The point is to decifer the messages to improve ourselves. If we hear the message – we need not that it be repeated or said louder.

So instead of giving !@#$%^&* for tat or becoming all ruffled because of the Anti-Semitism disguised as votes in the UN – become better. Take a Mitzvah. Say OK let me use this dissatisfaction of others in a positive way. Let me take upon myself another mitzvah. If I differenciate myself from the nations – by observing Torah & Mitzvoth – I won’t need the UN or the Nazis to remind me. I’ll take care of differentiating myself & G-d will take care of them.

There are two worlds. This world & the after-world.

A big difference exists between this world and the next apart from this being a physical world, while the next world is a spiritual world.

The difference is this world one works. The next one gets rewarded. The reward is great. There are many allusions to the two worlds in Pirkei Avot / Ethics of the fathers.

In this life we are to produce. To do. To build. For the good.

What is Good?

Your first question is : What is good?

That one can find by following the Torah. The Shulhan Aruch / Code of Jewish Law by Rabbi Yosef Caro for Jews and the 7 Noahide commandments for Gentiles.

But more than that one must do more than what is proscribed by the Torah. One must know and use their strengths to use to achieve their particular purpose in life –

In the Parasha / Weekly Torah reading of Vayeshev. And Yaakov Dwelt in the palce his father Sojourned… These are the descendants of Yaakov – Yosef was 17 years old …

The question the commentators pose is why does it start talking about Yosef’s story as the descendant of Yaakov / Jacob.

Rashi Answers: Yaakov wanted to sit in Serenity – kaftza alav rogzo shel yosef – the difficulty with Yosef (that he was lost from his father for 22 years) jumped upon him. G-d said “Is it not enough for the righteous to sit in serenity in the next world that they have to sit in serenity over here.”

Meaning – this is the world to produce. To do good for the world. If one is not producing, G-d sends messages to us.

These messages we hear every day. Maybe you overhear a conversation of people saying “Joe Smith” is dishonest. It might mean that you must look into your own deeds – if there is a bit of dishonesty in them. In Talmud Berakhot 63a it says “One who sees a Sotah in her degradation should remove himself from wine.” A sotah is a woman suspected of adultery – that may have come into temptation through drinking wine. Someone who sees this woman – should take a firm resolution to limit consummation of wine. One explanation why is because G-d is showing him this for he has a similar trait of falling to temptation – and he should take steps to curb himself of it.

G-d does only good. He does what is in our best interest. G-d sends us difficulties – not always to punish us – but to motivate us to produce or to follow the good path. If one follows the good path of Torah, and produces as much as he or she can – even through difficulties – G-d has no need to send difficulties to the person.

If one still feels they have too many difficulties they can always consult a friend, preferably who has daat Torah / Torah knowledge – who can lend a sympathetic ear.*

Once my uncle was angry at my cousin. He said to his father “I learned my lesson by your explanation – there is no need to punish me.”

Correcting ourselves – is proactive problem solving – you prevent the problems from even occurring.

I learned this lesson from past experiences. Now you have the knowledge that I had to learn through suffering.

Use it wisely.

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*Anyone who needs help should seek someone to talk with. If you have certain concerns and want the Torah perspective you can contact us – Jerusalem Life via email at info@jerusalemlife.com

I used to live in Geneva, Switzerland in a nice, quiet, quaint studio – not far from the Synagogue. The people were friendly. When just I got there, They gave me advice – where to shop, the Kosher Restaurants, the supermarkets, the tourist sights – the Jewish community. They told me about the transportation system. I learned my way around town.

But there was a certain store to avoid – they said. Their prices were high. There were other stores that were much more reasonable, but further away. So once in a while when I needed the goods they had, I would travel a distance to purchase the goods.

One day i became acquainted with the store. I found that it had good prices and good quality. The store owner was quite a friendly man as well. But when I finally decided it was worth the while to go to that store, it was too late. I was soon to be returning to the United States – for I finished the project for which I was hired.

I learned from that experience to not always believe what you hear. People exaggerate. People have biases, hatreds, bad experiences. What might not be good for them, might be good for you.

But more importantly – I learned in order to find truth you must seek it sincerely. Not just take everything as truth because someone said it. Yes take words of people with a grain of salt – unless you have complete faith in them.

If someone tells you something – investigate it thoroughly. I also learned that in Yeshiva. If it doesn’t make sense – delve deeply, until you find truth.

I heard that many people believed that the nutritional value of spinach was great because of its high iron content. Then someone discovered, that the German scientist, who did the study of spinach – misplaced the decimal point – instead of 3.5 mg of Iron, he wrote 35.0 milligrams of Iron.

“A Diet for a Little Planet – What they don’t teach you in Harvard Medical School.” is a book that talks about nutrition. It includes a  story about a Harvard professor – that spoke frequently about the dangers of cholesterol. One student found some of his words to be a bit off. He investigated, and found that this professor was paid off by a Cholesterol Drug company, to preach the dangers of cholesterol. This was the company’s way to assure future Doctors would prescribe their medicine.

Unfortunately, this is the story of most people in the world. They follow friends, a religion, fad, fashion, a philosophy, a way of life – until they die or if they pray to G-d/ Hash-m to find truth and make the proper efforts, they find out the truth.

Most people do not make the effort to find truth. They would rather follow the easy path of lies than pursue the challenging path of searching for truth.

The problem is is that only in this world can a person correct themselves. In the world of truth – Heaven or the next world – you will find out the truth, but it will be to late to correct. This world is the world to work to do good. The next world is to receive the reward for ones deeds.

Better to know the true path here than only once one gets above.

The Jews had to leave Egypt very quickly. If they had not left so speedily, they would have sunk to the 50th level of impurity. And then they would have never been able to get out of it.

Our sages say today we are on the 50th level of Impurity. So how are we to get out of it, if our ancestors would not have been able to get out? Today we have the Torah. In Egypt they did not have the Torah, so they would not have been able to get out.

Today – with sincerity, a yearning to find and a serious effort to search for truth, the Torah as a guide, wanting to do the True Will of G-d, & belief in oneself – one can achieve the true will of G-d.

This is why it says in pirkei Avot – “Make for yourself a Rabbi.” A Rabbi that you can trust. A rabbi that makes sense. A Rabbi that is like an angel. A rabbi that speaks truth. A rabbi that follows Torah.

Thus you’ll be one step closer. But always use rationality and logic as a guide. The Torah doesn’t want a person to follow like sheep. G-d wants you to think, question, ask, challenge to find truth.

You just have to be willing to lose friends, popularity, your old habits, to find it.

But in the end one will be happier. For living a life of truth is not like living a life of lies. Living a life of purity is not like living a life of impurity. Living purpose, has no comparison to living aimlessly.

Many people are lost. The first step to break out of their self imposed shell of life is to be dedicated to truth – regardless of the price it takes.

When you are true to yourself & true to G-d – then one finds meaning and happiness.

People who hate are not happy. People who envy are not happy. They find targets to vent their anger that they are not content with their lives. It is easier to hate than to think and do what is good.

G-d gives us freedom of choice to choose – if we will lead a meaningful and great life or a life of the shallow pursuit of pettiness and hatred.

The desire to find truth is the starting point to get out of one’s self-imposed shell.

The repair man called. “Please read me the error code on the Washing machine and the model and serial numbers” He seemed rushed and didn’t have time to come to check himself. “OK. that means there are two parts that must be replaced. I’ll order them and get back to you.”

That meant I had to drag loads of laundry to the laundromat. Put them in, take them out. put in dryers. Lug them back to the house – once a week. Every time taking 2 hours of my precious time.

After 3 weeks of the initial contact, the repair man comes. He inspects the machine and says “the water leading to the washing machine is almost off. That’s the problem.” He turns on the water and leaves.

All that trouble – weeks of going to the laundry to just turn on a faucet. I could have done it myself.

I learned two things. One is – If the repair man tells you to read him a code – tell him to come check it out himself.

Second is that – at times a person goes through all sorts of difficulties because there is a small matter missing from their life. In my case the small thing was that the faucet was not on properly.

In most people’s lives it is that – we overlook seeing the hand of G-d. Every thing that happens is for our personal good. A person loses a job. They complain. They criticize the boss. They condemn the company.

Hold on a minute. G-d was behind the fact that the person was fired. Maybe G-d has something better in store for you. Perhaps, he wants you to be careful not to work on Shabbat. Perhaps there was a misdeed that one did and now one is receiving their pay back. Perhaps, He wants you to not suffer in the hands of the new boss.

Many reasons. Don’t condemn. Look at the positive.

Emunah – the Small Attitutde Change –  Every thing G-d does is for the best. 

The missing ingredient in many a life is Emunah / Faith that every thing G-d does is for the best. This small attitude change, changes the whole picture. From being cloudy to sunny. From being miserable to being happy daily.

The Music Recital Award Certificate
A girl came home smiling. She had won the musical recital contest. She was proud. She told her parents. A guest was at her home. He said – “Wow. that’s impressive. Can you also play for me to show me that you really won?”

“No.” She replied. “Why Not?!” the man asked.

“Now that I have my certificate saying I won, I don’t have to prove myself over and over. You want me to play for every skeptic that asks me. I don’t need to! I already proved myself once!”

At times a skeptic of Torah says – “if G-d exists let Him make a miracle in front of me.” The answer: G-d does not need to prove himself to every skeptic. He “proved” Himself already once when he appeared to millions of witnesses – when all the Jews heard Him speak at Mount Sinai.

Finding the Wisdom of G-d in Nature

If one observes nature – one will understand the unimaginable wisdom of G-d. In fact G-d knows the past present and future. We know he knows the past & present – how about the future? See prophesies and codes of the Torah that predict events that were to happen in the future of the Torah’s writing.

So G-d will not change his mind. The Torah that he gave – is the Torah that we observe. It does not change. All future situations are accounted for in the Torah. There is a law for a particular situation – ie, using electricity on Shabbat, Driving a car on Shabbat, etc.

Miracles Don’t Make a Faith
Thus new situations or even miracles or supposed miracles do not phase us. A miracle does not change the Torah. Even if a thousand people did a thousand miracles we do not change our belief in the Torah. Our belief in G-d remains the same. Our Torah law remains the same. Our obligation to observe it remains the same.

Arthur C. Clark, said “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I add or indistinguishable from miracles. We are not phased from miracles or advanced technology. We are not phased from science that may seem to contradict Torah, for we know that G-d’s truth is ultimate truth.

Some examples – the Torah says in the Talmud (Tractate Berakhaot) the amount of stars in the universe. Science of several decades ago said the numbers of stars were vastly less than the number of stars of Today’s science and the number stated by the Talmud. A person from that era might have beeen in doubt about the veracity of the Torah’s number. But if he waited till today, he would have seen that the numbers of stars estimated by today’s science is approaching the nuber found in the Talmud. The Torah gives the amount of time in a Synodic Month of the Moon. Science has recently come up with the same exact time as the Talmud, known over 3,300 years ago.

Rambam says in his laws of Messiah:

And don’t think that the King Messiah needs to do wonders and signs and create a new reality in the world or resurrect the dead, or similar things. This is not the point (of The Messianic redemptive process). For Rebbe Akiva, the wisest of the Mishnaic sages, was the “weapons bearer” of The King Ben Kuziba (aka Bar Kochba). And he said concerning him (Ben Kuziba), that he was The King Messiah. And all the sages of the generation were in agreement until he was killed due to his sins. Since he was killed they (then) knew that he was not (the Messiah). The sages did not request from him, neither a sign nor a wonder (i.e. miraculous actions). The main thing is that the Torah and its laws and statutes are everlasting forever and ever, and we do not add or subtract from them….

The Jews saw first hand G-d transmitting the Torah directly to them. Millions of witnesses experienced and heard the giving of the Torah by G-d at Sinai.

We do not need any more signs. Even if others make miracles , that is irrelevant to our belief in G-d and the Torah . G-d already “proved” His authenticity and the authenticity of His law – the Torah – when He gave it to the Jews at Sinai.

In G-d’s law, the Torah, He says He will never change His chosen people, for another. he says He will never change His law, the Torah. He will not add to His law, and He will not subtract from it.

The 5 books of Moses – the Written Torah – contain all His laws. He needs no other works as amendments.

The only thing that is needed is another work to explain His laws. This is the Oral Torah, that was given to Moses at Simai. It is now called the Talmud.

Once the Rabbis from the Talmud were discussing a Jewish Law. One rabbi said if the law was according to Him a certain miracle should occur. The other sages dismissed the miracle by saying, we do not decide on laws with miracles. The sage continued providing miracles. Until He said if the law was like him, let a Heavenly voice declare that he was right. And a voice from Heaven said he was right. But the sages said we do not decide based upon a heavenly voice, we decide based upon the principles stated in the Torah. That day G-d laughed and said “My children were victorious.”

Once the Torah was given miracles do not sway us from the principles or the observance of the Laws stated in the Torah.

Logically, it doesn’t make sense rationally that G-d changes His “mind”. He is Omniscient – He knows all the past, present and future.

Thus, since we know G-d changes not His mind, we don’t change ours either.