The goal is not to force spiritual feelings [awe, love and joy], but to notice the patterns that naturally produce them.

The goal is not to force spiritual feelings [awe, love and joy], but to notice the patterns that naturally produce them.
Start with existence itself.
Existence is not self-explanatory. Everything we see depends on something else for its existence. If you keep following that question, eventually you have to ask why anything exists at all.

There has to be a Cause of existence, or nothing would exist.
That ultimate Cause is what I mean when I speak about the Creator as the Source of existence.

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Where can you notice intelligence and wisdom?

Then notice intelligence and wisdom.
Your eyes do not work alone. They work with your brain, nervous system, blood supply, muscles, and many other systems to allow you to see.

The same pattern appears throughout reality: many different parts working together within larger structures.
The human body is one example. So is an ecosystem. So is the human ability to learn, form relationships, make choices, and repair mistakes.

You do not have to understand the purpose of everything you see.
Simply notice how much order, function, and coordination exist.
The more patterns like this you notice, the harder it becomes to believe that the Cause and Source of existence somehow lacks intelligence or wisdom.

And you are not outside these patterns studying them.
Your own intelligence is part of the reality you are trying to understand.

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Where can you notice compassion in existence?

Then notice compassion.
You exist without having caused your own existence.
You can receive food, friendship, beauty, understanding, another day of life, the ability to learn, and the possibility of repairing a mistake.
Do not treat these things as automatic.

Notice that existence contains the possibility of goodness, relationship, growth, and repair.
That does not mean every experience is good. Human beings can use free choice to create terrible suffering.
But suffering does not erase the possibility of transforming what separation produces.

Based on a teaching of the Lubavitcher Rebbe about a Midrash, I understand working on a relationship with another person as something like bringing an atonement offering on behalf of the Creator for the suffering humanity experienced through creation [it means the Creator isn’t giving anyone a personal apology].
Human relationship work helps turn suffering into revealed goodness.
Instead of only feeling the pain created by separation, we can use awareness, boundaries, honesty, compassion, forgiveness, and responsibility to help transform separation into relationship.

According to Chassidus [Jewish mysticism], the Creator’s Essence is not defined by compassion.
The point is that He does not lack compassion.

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What does it mean that creation was a choice?

Then contemplate His free choice.
The Creator did not create because He was missing something.
Creation was a choice.
According to Chassidus, He chose that even the lowest physical reality, dust, could become part of His purpose and enter into a real relationship with Him.

Human free choice can be real because the Creator can give what He has.
He gave human beings the ability to make real choices instead of only acting automatically.

That also means cruelty is not an expression of Him simply because He gives a person existence.
He gives the ability to choose.
The cruel choice belongs to the person making it.

Your body comes from dust. Yet through that body, you can think, choose, care, express goodness, feel awe and love, and develop a relationship with the Source of your existence.

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What can you notice inside yourself?

Then notice something inside yourself.
Part of you wants comfort, approval, pleasure, safety, and control.
But another part wants truth, goodness, understanding, awe, love, and intimacy with its Source.

Why does part of you want something deeper than comfort?
Why can a human being recognize wisdom, care about goodness, and want to understand the Cause of existence?
That desire is also part of the reality worth noticing.

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Do you have to force yourself to feel spiritual?

You do not have to force yourself to feel spiritual.
Pay attention.

Notice that existence requires a Cause.
Notice intelligence and wisdom in the patterns.
Notice compassion in the possibility of goodness, relationship, growth, and repair.
Then ask what kind of Cause could produce a reality containing intelligence, wisdom, compassion, and real free choice while somehow lacking those things Himself.

The point is not that His Essence can be described as intelligence, wisdom, or compassion.
His Essence is beyond those descriptions.
But He does not lack them.

As you notice what creation expresses, awe, trust, and love can begin to grow naturally.

Intimacy grows through attention. You notice someone, think about what they express, develop trust, appreciate them, and choose the relationship through your actions.
Relationship with the Creator follows a similar pattern.

What comes after belief in the Creator?

Eventually, belief is no longer enough.
You want intimacy [real relationship].

You begin asking not only:
“Why does anything exist?”
But:
“What does existence tell me about its Cause and Source?”
And eventually:
“How can I know the Creator of my existence more deeply?”

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Related guides:
Why is suffering apart of creation? https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1F4vDAVBHf/
Billions of people have a misguided belief about the Creator: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AxdZngruQ/
Emotionally healthy beliefs of the world of souls
Every worldview has mysteries
#NextSelf #kabbalah #biblestudy

“The desire to feel deeper awe and love usually starts with learning what to notice.”