31. The Silence Behind The Mask

During these strange and uncertain times, we often find ourselves wearing masks while among others. While they may present a challenge or a nuisance at first, these masks offer a unique opportunity for personal and spiritual growth: the ability to connect with others through a deep soul connection, as well as develop an intimate relationship with the Divine. This meditation guides the listener through this silence behind the mask.

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome to Guided Jewish Meditations.

My name is Eliezer.

We find ourselves getting used to a new reality,

A reality of masks and social distancing,

And one fraught with challenges of solitude and anxiety.

It is during these times that the necessity for making time for meditating and for developing a connection to the divine is increased.

It is in a state of deep connection to the divine that solace is found from the pain and anxieties of this new reality of life when a rare moment of clarity presents itself,

One where no questions exist.

These states of mind can only be found through the connection of the soul,

Forever connected to the source of all.

As the world grapples with the new realities that have manifested themselves in our lives,

A new opportunity has presented itself as well.

The mask we are now required to wear in so many places may seem like an unwelcome nuisance,

And indeed they can be.

But within the mask lies a unique opportunity for deep personal and spiritual growth.

Today,

We will explore this opportunity.

We will meditate on the deeper meaning of the mask,

On the moments of silence it offers us,

And on the new perspectives on life we can gain from wearing them.

Please find a quiet place to meditate.

You should feel safe and relaxed.

Please silence any devices you don't need and allow yourself the opportunity to disconnect yourself from this physical world for just a little bit.

It is a wonderful gift you can give yourself,

One that can change your life for the better.

Sit or lay down,

Slowly close your eyes,

And begin breathing deeply and evenly.

As you breathe in,

Slowly fill your lungs,

And as you feel your chest expand,

Prepare yourself to shed any feelings of anxiety or pain from your consciousness.

Then exhale and release all this pain and anxiety,

Leaving you free of negative energy and full of divine light.

Continue breathing this way,

Further removing any negative feelings,

And further relaxing your body and mind until your entire state of being is fully relaxed,

Ready to begin your meditation.

Take a moment to slowly clear your mind of all thought.

Allow the threads of thought that float throughout your consciousness to slowly and gently evaporate into thin air,

Into the black void of your mind,

Leaving it clear and still.

Continue meditating with a clear and still mind for a short while.

You open your mind's eye and find yourself walking through a busy airport terminal on your way to your gate.

The terminal is filled with people of all genders,

Age,

And color,

A potpourri of human life filling the air around you.

Every person in the airport,

Including you,

Is wearing a mask,

A sign of the times,

A thin tenuous protection against disease and pain.

As you arrive at your gate,

You see that your flight is delayed and you take a seat at one of the empty seats within the gate.

Taking a deep breath,

You look around and allow all this life before you to enter your mind and soul.

It is a new kind of life,

One where every person seems to reside in their own little world,

An island unto their own,

Every person hiding behind their mask.

Life continues on,

But it is not the same as it was before,

As the carefree innocence of going about the day has been replaced with a sense of worry and foreboding of the great unknown of what tomorrow will bring.

You continue meditating on the life all around you,

Every masked person around you,

An entire world unto themselves,

Alone just as you are behind the mask you wear.

You continue to meditate on the life all around you,

Every masked person around you,

Alone.

As you scan the faces in the crowd,

Your eyes lock with those of an elderly woman,

Her eyes protruding above her masked face,

Sitting a few rows before you.

Gazing into her crystal clear eyes,

You begin to see an invisible smile form beneath her mask.

It is a kind smile,

Full of compassion and love,

As it spreads from ear to ear,

With her eyes shining forth with shimmering light.

You find yourself being drawn into these eyes,

The wisdom beneath them shining forth and reaching your mind and soul,

Unable to look away,

A voice materializes in your heart,

One that resonates with a deep wisdom that stems from a long life lived well.

Look around you,

The voice says to you,

Behind every mask around you lies an entire life filled with dreams and hopes,

Joys and pain,

Prayers and disappointments.

Every life is a precious gift from the creator of all,

Every person's life a unique set of circumstances,

Precisely measured and created just for him or her.

Every pain is real pain,

Every joy just as true as yours.

As this voice reverberates within you,

You close your eyes in the middle of this vast terminal and allow the deep insight of these words to penetrate your mind and soul.

Continue meditating on them and recognize every person behind their mask as real and vulnerable as you are,

In need of love and support,

Friendship and respect,

A human life behind the veil of the mask.

Okay?

You As your meditation deepens,

You open your eyes and search for the elderly woman with the crystal clear eyes.

But she has vanished.

As you continue looking for her and realize she is gone,

You settle into your seat and begin to become more aware of the mask on your face covering your nose and mouth.

It is as if your mask is trying to reach into your mind sharing its essence with you.

With only your eyes and ears visible,

You become aware of the stark contrast between the four senses of your face,

Your mouth and nose covered,

But your eyes and ears uncovered and free.

Your sense of sight and hearing seems to have become more elevated,

Their ability to discern sights and sounds more refined as a deep truth reveals itself in your mind.

It is a truth that desperately wants to be heard,

One that you feel in the depths of your soul can change your life for the better.

Your power of speech is a weapon.

It is a weapon that can hurt and destroy,

That can wound and kill,

But also one that has the power to heal,

To soothe and to comfort.

A weapon so powerful,

It belongs only to the human race,

The only creature on earth able to speak.

As this truth reaches your mind and fills it with the power of your words,

You become aware of your ears uncovered in contrast to your mouth.

Your power to listen,

Accentuated and amplified through the mask covering your mouth becomes immediately apparent.

In a moment of deep and divine clarity,

You recognize the empowering lesson that is being taught to all of humanity,

That of the importance of being able to listen to others,

To empathize and to show compassion with those in need,

Simply by being there for them and listening to their words.

As you close your eyes,

You breathe in deeply and allow your mind to meditate fully on your ability to listen.

Continue meditating on the fact that your mask covers your mouth,

Yet your ears are free to do their divine function.

To be there for others with a listening ear and to offer love and sympathy to those in need.

To be there for others with a listening ear and to offer love and sympathy to those in need.

As your meditation intensifies,

You open your eyes and realize that the spiritual quality of the air before you has changed.

The eyes of all the people around you have begun shining as two divine beacons of light,

Two windows into their soul,

Open to all who are willing to have a closer look.

It is now,

In this busy terminal and in the middle of this busy gate,

That a deep understanding of humanity takes place in your mind and soul.

It is a realization and recognition that lies at the foundation of all of humankind,

At the very core of all that we are.

Every person,

Of every background and race,

Is in possession of the Divine Soul,

A unique connection to the Infinite Source,

An integral part of the Master Plan of the Creator of all.

To respect others despite your differences is to recognize that every life is infused with meaning and purpose,

That no two lives are alike,

And that each person has a unique mission to fulfill,

The mission of the perfection of the soul and in the process,

Perfecting the world as well.

You take a deep breath and begin looking at the eyes before you,

Hundreds of pairs of shining windows into priceless souls,

Each soul just as yours,

Connected with the Source of all.

Moving from person to person,

You become aware of the underlying power of the Divine nature of man,

Kept alive with a Divine spark of life,

Breathed from the deepest spiritual source of the Creator of all.

An experience of the camaraderie of mankind washes over you,

Billions of people following their journeys through life,

Everyone connected to the same Source.

Your meditation deepens your mind.

Your meditation deepens and you begin to experience a brilliant flash of light originating from your soul.

It briefly blinds your mind's eye,

Causing you to close them,

And as this flash subsides,

You open your eyes and find every person surrounding you frozen in time.

You begin to experience an ascension of your soul as it rises within your mind.

As you breathe in deeply,

You close your eyes and behold before you a path of radiating bright light,

A Divine path that begins in and with your soul and reaches beyond into the Source of all that exists,

The one that unifies all and controls all.

You contemplate this path and recognize within it an opportunity to connect with the Divine,

To leave your body behind,

And to allow your soul to carry with it onto this path into the unity of all.

As you begin moving along this path,

You experience a warm patch of Divine air descending upon your nose and mouth.

As it settles on your skin,

You feel it expand across your lower face,

Beginning above your nose and extending to beneath your chin,

As a Divine mask of shimmering light materializes on your face in your mind's eye.

It covers your nose and mouth,

Leaving only your eyes and ears to remain uncovered,

And as you breathe in through this mask,

You experience the warm light of the mask entering your lungs,

Infusing your entire body with this light.

Continue meditating on this experience,

The slow,

Deep breaths of your lungs as it carries air in and out of this mask,

And allow it to completely relax you,

Ready to complete this meditation.

It is now,

At the deepest point of this meditation,

That you become aware of a secret voice,

A voice emanating from the depths of your soul.

It carries within it the urgency of someone who loves you beyond words,

And who wants you to recognize the opportunity that lies at the fingertips of the entire world.

The voice says,

It is now,

As you live your life behind this mask,

That the silence that lies behind the mask can reveal its most precious secret.

That these moments of silence carry within them the awesome opportunity to speak to the Creator of all.

It is here,

Behind this mask,

That you can speak freely to the Divine,

To pray and to cry,

To sing and to yearn for,

Without anyone knowing of it.

It is here that you can be alone with the Creator,

In complete unity with the infinite source of all of existence,

Behind the mask that is your veil,

Your secret chamber,

Alone with the source of your soul.

Here,

You can feel completely safe to share your innermost secrets with the One who is always there,

Never late,

Forever patient and benevolent,

The One who can fully hear the silence behind the mask.

As this secret voice manifests itself in your mind and soul,

You feel the Divine Light before you begin to surround you from all sides,

Enveloping you in cascading layers of shimmering light.

It enters you from all sides,

Becoming one with your soul,

And as you breathe in deeply,

You complete this meditation by meditating on the opportunities that lie ahead of complete unity with the Divine that lies hidden in the silence behind the mask.

It is here that you can feel completely safe to share your innermost secrets with the One who is always there,

Never late,

Forever patient and benevolent,

The One who can fully hear the silence behind the mask.

It is here that you can feel completely safe to share your innermost secrets with the One who is always there,

Never late,

Forever patient and benevolent,

The One who can fully hear the silence behind the mask.

It is here that you can feel completely safe to share your innermost secrets with the One who is always there,

Never late,

Forever patient and benevolent,

The One who can fully hear the silence behind the mask.

It is here that you can feel completely safe to share your innermost secrets with the One who is always there,

Never late,

Forever patient and benevolent,

The One who can fully hear the silence behind the mask.

We are approaching the conclusion of this meditation.

Please give yourself some time to bring your mind back to your body and surroundings.

Breathe slowly and deeply,

Bringing yourself back to the present until you feel you have fully returned.

This concludes this meditation.

Thank you for joining me today.

We have a unique and awesome opportunity to connect with our fellow man,

As well as with the divine,

While wearing a mask.

Eventually,

The masks will go away,

But the personal growth gained from them can last a lifetime.

My name is Eliezer.

May peace be with you.

Reviews

Thank you 🙏. It was quite something listening to this in the post- COVID era when the images of the masks we see being worn in public hide the faces of those who wish to harm us. Lots to ponder here.