the birthday of the world

I recently listened to an On Being episode featuring Rachel Naomi Remen in which she tells the Hebrew story of “the birthday of the world.” I'd like to share her story with you, and I encourage you to listen to the full episode:

“So this is the story of the birthday of the world. In the beginning, there was only the holy darkness, the Ein Sof, the source of life. And then, in the course of history, at a moment in time, this world, the world of a thousand thousand things, emerged from the heart of the holy darkness as a great ray of light.

And then, perhaps because this is a Jewish story, there was an accident. And the vessels containing the light of the world, the wholeness of the world, broke. And the wholeness of the world, the light of the world, was scattered into a thousand thousand fragments of light. And they fell into all events and all people, where they remain deeply hidden until this very day.

Now, according to my grandfather, the whole human race is a response to this accident. We are here because we are born with the capacity to find the hidden light in all events and all people, to lift it up and make it visible once again, and thereby to restore the innate wholeness of the world. This is a very important story for our times, that we heal the world one heart at a time. And this task is called “tikkun olam,” in Hebrew — 'restoring the world.'

Tikkun olam is the restoration of the world. And this is, of course, a collective task. It involves all people who have ever been born, all people presently alive, all people yet to be born — we are all healers of the world.”

When I heard this story, I felt a sense of clarity about my dharma in the world - to work in partnership with individuals and communities to heal our connection to the world, reclaim our ancient wisdom, and to reveal our inherent wholeness. Yogic philosophy says that wholeness is our natural state. This wholeness hasn’t been lost, but rather forgotten. And this forgetting is fundamental to understanding the suffering of the world. 

The ancient philosophies (Vedanta and Samkhya) that are the foundation of yoga and Ayurveda both tell a similar story about the light of the divine (which some may call the cosmic intelligence, the universe, God, Goddess, or pure consciousness) existing within each of us. These philosophies explain that the light of the divine becomes obscured, and the yogic path is a path of uncovering this inner light. It is through our sensory impressions (what we consume and process through our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin) that we begin to see ourselves as separate from each other, our environment, and the divine. Our experiences in the world cause us to identify with our ego-self and to forget our inherent divinity and belonging. Our task is to remember the truth of our own belonging, and to see the divine light in ourselves and in all beings. 

The beauty in this wisdom is that we are not fundamentally flawed. There is no sin to overcome, no impurity to cleanse, and no wound to heal in order to recognize our wholeness. We don’t need to pass a test, prove ourselves, or seek the right knowledge because we already have this wisdom within. 

Ram Das said, “Treat everyone you meet as if they are God in drag.” My invitation to you over the next few weeks is to practice seeing yourself and all beings as divine. What might shift in how you spend the currency of your attention, how you nourish your body/mind/spirit, how you think/speak/act towards yourself and others if you were treating yourself as a divine being? What might shift in your relationship with others if you looked at all beings as divine? As Dr. Remen asks, “How would I live if I was exactly what’s needed to heal the world?”