The Shema teaches the mind what to notice so the nervous system can begin to feel awe, pleasure, and love.
“Listen, Israel: G-d [The Creator] is our Lord, G-d is one.”
According to Chassidus, belief in one Creator means more than believing that one Being created the universe.
It means that all of reality is an expression of one Divine Source.
This includes mystery, but every way of understanding reality includes mystery.
Believing that countless connected patterns of wisdom come from one infinite Wisdom is more reasonable than believing they appeared without a source.
That means the many parts of reality are not disconnected accidents.
They are different expressions of one wisdom behind them.
The world contains countless people, objects, forces, emotions, and experiences.
Each has its own form, character, and purpose, but they are not expressions of separate sources.
They are different expressions of one Creator.
No created form contains or defines the Creator Himself.
He is beyond every form, limit, and description.
Yet His wisdom, goodness, and desire can be recognized through the patterns of creation.
The One beyond everything is the same One we discover within everything.
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But an expression can remain unnoticed.
The mind opens the way to spiritual pleasure because we can only feel the meaning of what we are willing to notice.
Meaning is not only an idea we understand.
It can become a real emotional experience: the sense that life is connected, guided, and part of something greater than us.
That felt sense of meaning is pleasurable.
The mind recognizes the connection, and the nervous system begins to feel that connection as real.
The Creator’s wisdom and goodness can be expressed throughout life, but we feel the pleasure of recognizing them only when we are willing to notice them, think about them, and take them seriously.
Deep thinking trains the mind to recognize the wisdom, goodness, and purpose being expressed through nature, Torah, relationships, meaningful events, unexpected help, and the unique design of each part of life.
The more we allow ourselves to notice, the more these patterns begin to connect.
**Meaning becomes pleasurable when the mind notices a deeper connection and the nervous system begins to feel that connection as real.**
As meaning becomes emotionally felt, recognizing the Creator stops being only a belief.
It becomes a source of pleasure, awe, and relationship.
This allows us to recognize two patterns of pleasure.
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The first is the pleasure of Divine goodness taking form.
We experience this pleasure when the mind notices connected patterns of wisdom, goodness, and purpose, and their meaning becomes emotionally felt.
This can happen through nature, beauty, relationships, Torah, unexpected help, and the unique way each part of life has been designed.
When these patterns appear deeper, more connected, and more filled with purpose than we can fully understand, we begin to sense infinite wisdom being expressed through creation.
That awareness awakens awe.
We realize that the Infinite Creator is here right now, that His wisdom is greater than our understanding, and that our choices matter before Him.
Awe begins a relationship because the Creator is no longer only an explanation for why the universe exists.
His presence becomes personally important to the way we live.
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The second pattern is the pleasure of recognizing that the Creator is infinitely beyond every form through which He is expressed.
No amount of wisdom, beauty, love, or goodness within creation can contain His true greatness.
There is pleasure in what can be understood.
There is also pleasure in recognizing that its Source will always be greater than anything the mind can understand.
The mind recognizes both the wisdom it can understand and the mystery that points beyond understanding.
The nervous system can then feel wonder, humility, and pleasure before a greatness that cannot be contained by thought.
At first, these can feel like two different pleasures.
One is the pleasure of recognizing the Creator through the forms and patterns of life.
The other is the pleasure of recognizing the unlimited Creator beyond every form and pattern.
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But the Shema says, “G-d is one.”
The wisdom expressed within creation and the infinite wisdom beyond creation are not two separate realities.
They are two patterns through which we experience one deeper pleasure: the pleasure of recognizing the one Creator.
That is why the next verse says, “And you shall love G-d.”
Awe tells us that the Creator is here, that He is infinitely greater than us, and that our choices matter before Him.
When we also recognize that His infinite wisdom expresses goodness and a desire for relationship, awe begins to awaken love.
The Creator is not only beyond everything.
He is also expressing His wisdom and goodness within the life we are living.
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That love includes joy in the goodness already revealed.
It also includes sadness and longing because His goodness can always become more deeply revealed within us, within our relationships, and throughout the world.
The sadness does not oppose the love.
It comes from the love.
Love appreciates the goodness already expressed, while longing desires to see that goodness expressed more openly and completely.
The more deeply we recognize His infinite wisdom and goodness, the more pleasure we feel in what is already expressed, and the more we desire to see His goodness revealed more openly.
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Related guides:
There is an element of surrender within faith.
Faith says: “Stop assuming that your current understanding is the measure of reality.”
It replaces the mindset of “Reality must fit what I already understand” with: “Reality is greater than my present understanding.
Let me keep studying, reasoning, and learning to notice more.”
Through reasoning, we can recognize connected patterns of wisdom throughout creation and begin to understand that the world is not made of separate, disconnected realities.
Its countless forms are expressions of one Creator.
"Meaning is not only something you understand. It is something the nervous system can feel as pleasure."
For more guides to spirituality, visit: Why is there so much suffering in the world if the Creator needs us and what is light a metaphor for? What happens in the world of souls? What does it mean the Creator has pleasure through creation?Explore the NextSelf 2026 Index and 2025 Index.
They organize the core ideas on awareness, compassion, boundaries, and how they build real relationship and responsibility with The Creator.
All information is for educational purposes only.