The Spiritual Practice of Unifying the Name: Marc Gafni

The central mantra of biblical practice, or of the biblical spirit, is a daily meditation on the unity of God. Its single requirement is that it be recited with hands covering eyes. Because it is only with eyes closed that we no longer see the world of distinctions and differences. Only then do we appreciate the fact that the boundaries between us are but illusions. For we are one and all is one. This is the meaning of the universal religious epigram “God is One.” We close our eyes in order to let drop those screens that so distort our perception and prevent us from being pleasured by the soul print of our beloved.

When something is far from you, you have to open your eyes really wide to see it. As it gets closer you squint your eyes; when it gets really really close, you close your eyes. Closing eyes is when we see way beyond seeing. Close and Close are the same word. Closeness — intimacy — higher vision — is all when we close our eyes. That’s why when we recite the lovers prayer in Hebrew liturgy – which affirms that all is one and interconnected — we close our eyes.

It is also why, when making love —in the moment of rapture in that moves us beyond sexual seeing to lovers union- we close our eyes. For the Hebrew mystic Cordevero the Lovers Prayer achieve is erotic Union with Being precisely in the same way sexual love achieves erotic union with the beloved. The highest perception of loving is the realization that I am part of God.

marc gafni
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