Posted May 12 2008
Taking My Mind for a Walk
One day, Mayer, my chavruta wondered out loud about how a prophet could identify that a particular event he saw would happen in the future; after all, the information that he was accessing was most likely coming from a “place” beyond the boundaries of time.
His question began a stream of consciousness that led me to remember a question that had once occurred to me: Can a gilgul (reincarnated soul) go back in time? When your soul leaves your body, it is most likely beyond the boundaries of time. If that is so and it decides to come back in order to fix something it left undone, why do we assume it will come back during a time that is further along the linear timeline from it’s death? And if it can go back in time, some of the people we are in contact with could have souls from our relative future. My soul might be from the relative future.
This thought led me to think: What do I mean when I say ‘my soul?’ Who is this ‘I’ that possesses the soul? Aren’t I my soul?
Then I started thinking that my relationship with my past is the closest I will come to experiencing death. When I look back at my past, it appears static, done, as I imagine my life will look to me after I die.
This then led me to think that nothing is really static. Although a table appears solid and static to me it is really made up of atoms, which are themselves made up of nuclei that have electrons whizzing around them. Glass is a liquid and is flowing in cosmic slow motion. Even my past only has the appearance of permanence. It is changing based on the continuing effects of those past actions and can change if I repent wrongs committed.
All of that thinking about souls got me to thinking that the soles on my shoes were wearing thin and I really needed to buy a new pair.
That led me to wonder when that last time I had a good, juicy, pear was.
That led me to get hungry, which led me to get up and look in the fridge for something to eat. When I got there I couldn’t remember what I was looking for.
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