The fourth element of the Healing Pathways model is the hologram principle. This principle expresses the concept that every category of our environment, every facet of our personality and every aspect of our personal perception includes every other category, facet and aspect, and is integrated harmoniously with each one.
The Hologram as It Relates to the Ten Categories of the Environment
The ten categories of our environment operate in what we call the holographic principle. This means that each individual category contains the energy of all ten categories, and as such, each category is a microcosm of the whole. Thus, there are actually 100 subcategories – ten categories within each category, or ten times ten.
Let us look at an example of this concept of categories within categories: We are able to taste because our taste buds allow us to experience sweet, sour, bitter, salty and pungent tastes. If a child is born without the specific taste buds that respond to the sensation of sweetness, then throughout his life he will have no concept of what sweet tastes like. A child with sweet-sensitive taste buds, on the other hand, will become familiar with the taste of sweet foods at an early age.
As he progresses in life, this child will develop the awareness that there are other sweet experiences that are not necessarily related to food. If he achieves a high grade on a test, which elicits sincere compliments and praise from his parents and teacher, he will feel the sweetness of success. If he has an enjoyable afternoon playing ball with good friends, he experiences the sweetness of close relationships.
The sweetness of sugar is different – both on a conceptual level and on a practical level – from the sweetness of praise, for example, yet both elicit a similar type of feeling in his mind. Taste, therefore, connotes much more than its literal meaning; it has an important conceptual significance that is equally valid.
The sensation of taste thus evokes three separate levels of experience. The first level is general: the physical ability to taste. Without taste buds one can taste nothing. The second level is specific: the ability to taste sweet, sour and other types of tastes. Specific taste cells enhance our gustatory experience. The third level has unlimited ramifications; sweetness exists in melody, in food, in relationships, in good times, in beautiful places and in an infinite number of other experiences and feelings.
This is a general, practical example of subcategories within a single category. Let us take a look at how each of the ten categories of the environment contains and is defined by every other category.
Ten Within Ten:
God gives every human being infinite potential, to be actualized through his entire life as he strives constantly to reach higher, more developed levels in his pursuit of perfection. During our lifetime in this physical world we actualize a limited amount of this infinite potential. Then, after we leave this world, we continue to develop and actualize that potential for all of eternity.
The form and amount of infinite potential available to each individual is known as his essence, and it represents the first category of creation. The portion of our essence that we actualize during our stay on Earth, while merely a fraction of our infinite potential, is tremendously significant, since the manner in which we actualize this bit of our potential determines the way we will develop the remainder of our potential for all eternity. This subcategory of potential used by an individual in the here and now is called essence within essence.
The purpose of breaking down the general category of essence to the specific category of essence within essence is to enable us to access and utilize our potential without becoming overwhelmed. We can compare the relationship between pure essence (general) and essence within essence (specific) to a thirsty man in dire need of a drink, who is standing next to Niagara Falls. If he tries to drink directly from the falls he will fail miserably, because the force of the water will knock him over. In order to quench his thirst he will have to channel the water through a pipe into a glass. Once a reasonable amount of water has made its way into a glass, the man can drink it and benefit from its life-giving properties.
Similarly, any attempt to access or utilize the full measure of our infinite potential (essence) would cause us to be overwhelmed, because of the finite nature of the human condition. Not only would we gain nothing from our efforts, but the attempt would destroy us. Essence within essence represents our ability to create “vessels” that can contain a usable amount of our potential, and to partake of that specific amount of potential to achieve the level of perfection most appropriate for us at this moment of our lives. We create these “vessels” every time we utilize our environment, personality and perceptions to build ourselves and the world in positive ways. Our potential flows into these “vessels” and releases a positive energy that allows us to unlock greater levels of potential within ourselves, helping us thereby to grow, expand and enhance our “vessels” so that they can contain an increased measure of our potential in the future.
Within the category of essence, God created the potential for the ten subcategories of:
- essence within essence, which allows us to restrict our utilization of our potential, as we have explained
- quantity within essence, which represents our choice of how much potential to use at any given moment
- quality within essence, which represents the specific direction in which we guide our potential (e.g., do we direct our potential toward Torah, music, technology, or some other area or discipline?)
- relationships within essence, which relates to the concept of integration within essence. To understand the meaning of integration within essence, we must recognize that the essential nature of an individual and his life-mission contains many different facets. Our job is to develop each facet of our personality and nature to the best of our ability and then to integrate the different facets so that we can employ all of them, in harmonious balance, to the best advantage. The great sage Rav Yisrael Meir Hakohen, known as the Chofetz Chaim, after his famous work, made it his life-goal to help the Jewish nation. He did so by utilizing his natural talent for writing clearly and in a way that held his readers’ attention, and integrating this talent with his vast knowledge of Jewish law and deep insight into the pressing spiritual needs of his times. He wrote the Mishnah Berurah, a comprehensive, clear and concise presentation of Jewish law, which has been reprinted countless times. He wrote pamphlets for Jewish soldiers, instructing them on how they could best adhere to halachah while serving in non-Jewish armies. He wrote books about speaking properly and on the importance of engaging in works of charity and kindness, both on a personal and on a financial level. In addition to all this, he served as a Rosh Yeshivah. Since he was a kohen – of priestly descent – he emphasized the detailed study of the laws of the Beis Hamikdash and the sacrifices performed there, so that the moment Mashiach comes, there would be knowledgeable priests available and ready to serve in the Temple
- place within essence, which indicates the area in which the essence is actualized. For example, a certain lawyer enjoys teaching, and in order to utilize his capability, he accepted a position teaching law in a distinguished university
- time within essence, which represents the time element in which the essence is actualized, such as if an author spends the evenings writing his book
- position within essence, which indicates the way someone perceives his essence. For example, a counselor values his ability to help troubled youngsters by developing rapport with them and by offering them much-needed advice. The scholar prefers studying in a yeshivah, where he can discuss difficult points with his colleague
- possessions within essence, which involves the connection between essence and possessions. For example, the talented musician uses his mind and heart (his mental possessions) to formulate the beautiful songs he creates or interprets, and he uses his mouth and throat (his physical possessions) to sing those songs
- active state within essence, which refers to the connection between giving and essence; it represents the use of one’s potential to influence one’s environment. For example, the volunteer uses his essential nature to help others, while the editor uses his daily column to influence the community
- receptive state within essence, which refers to the level of willingness to receive from one’s potential. For example, a businessman who makes a comfortable living is careful to set aside one-fifth of his profits for charitable purposes, thereby ensuring that he will gain eternal reward from what Heaven has provided him
The ten specific categories within essence represent the ten subcategories of the essence category.
This pattern of ten subcategories exists within each of the ten categories of the environment. Quantity, which represents our ability to create, define and experience beneficial boundaries – for our ability to experience anything is derived from the clarity and meaning that boundaries and definition provide – also contains ten subcategories. The same is true for all the other eight categories of quality, relationships, place, time, position, possessions, active state and receptive state.
In addition to these hundred subcategories of the environment, each of the subcategories itself has ten subcategories, so the total number of subcategories is 1,000. This third dimension of subcategories serves as a connection to our higher-level potential, for the more we utilize our potential, the more unified we become within ourselves.
Being unified within ourselves means truly recognizing our talents and abilities, the gifts that God has given us, and our intrinsic essential self-worth. It means genuinely rejoicing with who we are right now and focusing with clarity on our good and noteworthy points, while striving always to continue to build ourselves in positive ways. It means being all that we represent on the deepest soul-levels.
After his marriage, the great saint Rav Levi Yitzchak from the city of Berditchev asked and received permission from his father-in law-and wife to leave home in order to study Torah with his mentor, the Maggid of Mezeritch.
When he returned, his father-in-law asked him what he had learned in Mezeritch. Rav Levi Yitzchak replied that he had learned that there is a God in the world. His father-in-law was taken aback. He sent for his maidservant and asked her, “Tell me, is there a God in the world?”
“Of course!” she replied, and returned to her work.
Rav Levi Yitzchak responded to his father-in-law’s implied question coolly: “She says, but I know!”
By truly integrating the ten categories of our environment deeper and deeper, by utilizing the wealth of spiritual power found in each of them, and by using each category to enhance the effectiveness of all the other categories, we unify the categories within ourselves to progressively higher degrees, and we achieve higher levels of perfection.
This concept is alluded to within the Hebrew letter aleph (א), which has a numerical value of one, but when we spell out the name of that letter, which is composed of three letters – aleph, lamed, fei – we have the word eleph (אלף), which means one thousand. Therefore, in addition to actualizing levels of essence within essence, quality within essence, quantity within quantity, and so on, we also relate to this third dimension of essence within essence within essence, quantity within essence within essence, and so on.
When baby Beryl is born, he has the capacity to experience “being” (quantity). As the weeks go by, Beryl acquires the additional ability to experience his body (quantity within quantity). He puts everything – even his feet – into his mouth, and as he grows older, he begins to understand that he has hands, feet, a belly and many other body parts; thus he begins to fine-tune his quantitative awareness to specific limbs (quantity within quantity within quantity).
Every person can experience spirituality (quantity), but a more spiritually attuned individual will sense an essential difference between his connection to God when he is involved in mundane activities, and his connection to God when he is actively involved in spiritual pursuits, such as Torah study, prayer with deep concentration, or helping another human being in need (quantity within quantity). A highly spiritual tzaddik, however, will be able to sense the essential difference even between one spiritual pursuit and another. His deep connection to God while praying will elicit a nuance of spiritual elevation that is different from the feeling of elevation he experiences when he helps his fellow man, or the spiritual clarity he obtains from truly understanding a difficult Torah topic (quantity within quantity within quantity). Thinking logically, creatively or systematically are all different forms of quality (i.e., logical, creative or systematic thinking) within quality (i.e., general thinking processes) within quantity (i.e., experiencing thought).
An imbalance in one or more of these subcategories produces unease and disharmony in life. Disconnection from one’s potential will produce a dissatisfying sense of not being sufficiently productive and a feeling of needing to do more. When a person knows that he is capable of greater accomplishments, this awareness makes him feel that he is wasting time and is unable to reach his goals. A person who cannot set beneficial boundaries for his life may overextend himself in certain areas while repressing his talents in other areas. A difficulty in clarifying goals may cause a blockage of innate creativity and may lead to a mental state of stagnation and immobilization. Not knowing how to relate harmoniously with others may cause marital discord or difficulty communicating one’s beliefs to one’s children in a way that they can understand and relate to.
If a person finds it difficult to center himself and to stay focused, this too will affect his ability to channel his energies productively. If, on the other hand, he is unwilling to accept and enjoy personal growth, it will create a state of constant dissatisfaction with himself and others, in addition to feelings of a lack of fulfillment and of not being good enough. If he has a blockage in positive perspective, it will affect his ability to maintain motivation for an extended period of time. Someone who cannot balance his relationship to his possessions may allow his quest for money and material desires to take over his life, absorbing all his time and mental focus, to the exclusion of all else. Someone who is unwilling to receive may feel that other people are constantly taking advantage of his good nature, leading him to feel bitter – toward himself for being gullible, and toward others for their betrayal.
It is clear, therefore, that the need for harmony and balance in our perception of all ten categories of our environment is essential for our inner well-being and for our general health.
The Hologram as It Relates to the 72 Facets of Personality
The holographic principle also exists within the 72 facets of human personality, since each individual facet encompasses some measure or aspect of all 72 facets. Each facet has the ability to give positive energy to other facets, as well as to draw energy from every other facet. For example, the fire element can produce an emotional state of fiery anger, and anger can result in high blood pressure – a manifestation of excessive fire element. The temperaments of wetness and dryness can be either hot or cold, either of which will have its own ramifications. The holographic relationship between the facets allows for a natural flow of energy between them. Each facet works symbiotically and in harmony with every other facet, since each facet contains subcategories of all other facets, and each facet is itself a subcategory of every other facet.
Our Sages teach that all four levels of creation – inanimate, plant life, animal life and mankind – were created from the manifestation of the four elements within one main element (see Shaarei Kedushah, chelek 3, shaar 1, 3 and 6). The inanimate level of creation was formed from the four elements within the earth element; plant life was formed from the four elements within water; animal life from the four elements within air; and mankind from the four elements within fire.
The famous tzaddik Rav Uri Strelisker used to drink his tea while holding a cube of sugar in his hand, without placing the sugar either in his mouth or with the tea. When he finished the tea he would put the cube back on the table. Once a disciple of his tasted the sugar cube after Rav Uri had placed it on the table and was amazed to find that it was absolutely tasteless.
Apparently, Rav Uri was able to capture and elevate the spiritual force of sweetness that the sugar contained merely by holding it, without utilizing his taste buds. This shows that the holographic principle applies not only to the elements but to the senses as well. This principle applies equally to all 72 human personality facets.
A blockage in any one of the 72 facets can disrupt our lives considerably. If we become disconnected from our potential, it will result in feelings of indifference and a lack of motivation. Imbalance between some of the four elements can result in disruptions in our physical functioning; for example, it can create allergic reactions. If we are unable to center ourselves and create positive spiritual growth, it can produce stagnation, imbalance and disharmony. If we misinterpret sensory input, or if our emotions are unstable, it can cause difficulty in relating productively to our family and colleagues.
Blockages can include hampered movement, obstructed integrative energies, lack of intellectual focus, or lack of ability to relate abstract concepts to positive self-actualization. All of these blockages impede our ability to achieve our positive inner goals. Every facet of our personality is an interface between our external environment and our inner soul, and it must function as such. Balancing and integrating these facets harmoniously is essential to any healing process.
The Hologram as It Relates to the Five Levels of Personal Perception
The holographic principle applies to the five levels of personal perception as well; each level of perception contains an aspect of all five levels. As we have learned (see Personal Perception), another way to understand these five levels of perception is as five distinct energetic selves. In this context, the concept of self is defined as a spiritual and energetic multi-level system, of which all aspects work together as an integrated whole. As such, our potential level of perception can be viewed as the essential self, our spiritual perception as our experiential self, our cognitive perception as our mental self, our emotional perception as our emotional self and our physical perception as our bioenergetic self. Each self contains the ability to understand and relate to the other selves, as well as to benefit from their unique characteristics and strengths. All five selves work symbiotically and in harmony, since they are all subcategories of each other (see Mavo Lechochmas Hakabbalah, chelek 1, shaar 5).
Each of the five selves has a different nature. The bioenergetic self seeks stability, inner balance and peace (see Rashi, Shemos 31:17). She is content to be the way God created her and to generate the type of behavior appropriate to her nature (see Rosh Hashanah 11a). The bioenergetic self, on the other hand, lives in a state of continuous yearning and longing, constantly seeking elevation and connection to higher levels. This is not merely an emotional level of desire; it is a deep-rooted need for fulfillment (see Yeshayahu 26:9).
The emotional self seeks feeling and emotional expression (see Likutei Moharan I, 8/54). The mental self pursues understanding through thinking and cognition (see Igra Dekallah, 214a). The goal of the spiritual-experiential self is the joy of experience, especially the experience of the spiritual (see Likutei Moharan I, 1, Igra Dekallah, 46a).
Finally, the quest of the essential self is to perceive the infinite potential in every situation (see Oheiv Yisrael, Parashas Shemini) through the power of faith, and to inspire further spiritual development. The word emunah – faith – derives from the same Hebrew root as strength and permanence (see Malbim, Yeshayah 22:23). Only that which is infinite is truly strong and permanent, since it can never be destroyed or annulled.
Any finite level of achievement is judged in relation to the levels beneath it (see Likutei Moharan I, 22:10). On any level, the power of emunah comes from total acceptance of God’s will, even when it seems completely incomprehensible to our level of understanding. Steadfast faith in God allows us to enter the highest states of our infinite potential, and it is through these states that we achieve new, higher levels of awareness, which we can use to actualize ourselves. Through emunah we can create within ourselves a Godly, spiritual perception of our environment and our personality, and we can turn our entire existence into an experience that is totally infinite.
Even on the physical level, it is the power of faith and emunah that gives man the ability to survive and succeed in this world. The farmer plows his land and plants his seeds, trusting that God will aid him in producing a healthy crop. He does not really know whether he will be successful or not; it is a deep level of faith that enables him to invest all the effort necessary in order to achieve his final goal.
Similarly, a bodybuilder in training spends hours lifting weights in order to increase the size of his muscles, but he will see those results only in the future. What keeps him going through the difficult training period is his faith that through his efforts he will achieve his goal of bigger, stronger muscles.
Each individual self fulfills its role in creation and achieves perfection by integrating and utilizing the capabilities and characteristics of all five selves (Tanya chelek 1, ch. 2). The bioenergetic self yearns to obtain its physical needs, it encourages body-level awareness with feelings aroused by sensory input, it thinks about the best approach to achieve its goals, and it experiences the exhilaration of physical expression. Nevertheless, one’s physical nature is rarely satisfied, for it perceives the infinite perfection it could achieve if only it actualized its potential. Thus, as our Sages tell us, an individual who possesses 100 coins wants 200 coins (Koheles Rabbah 3:13), and “one who loves money will never be satisfied by money” (Koheles 5:9).
The emotional self, which dwells within the heart, desires emotional expression, finds fulfillment through its expression of various emotional states, understands the emotional states of other individuals, experiences the exhilaration of love, joy and other emotions, and continuously pursues ever-higher levels of emotional satisfaction (Likutei Moharan I, torah 49).
When a mother holds her newborn, she caresses and kisses the baby as she bonds with him or her, thereby activating the bioenergetic aspect within the emotional self. The deep feeling of love for her child that she experiences within her heart is the emotional aspect within the emotional self. Throughout her days and nights she thinks constantly about ways to make life more pleasant and to make the environment beneficial for the baby, thereby actualizing the mental presence within the emotional self. Her love for her child – even before her pregnancy, when the baby existed only in potential (see Likutei Moharan I, torah 33:5) – represents the experiential state within the emotional self. Driven by the essential character within the emotional self, her motherly love will be renewed and refreshed constantly, seemingly without end, as her child grows toward adulthood.
The mental self yearns for understanding, finds enjoyment in thinking, pursues sensory-based creative thinking processes, experiences the pure joy of mental contemplation, and willingly accepts its ignorance in order to attain the next level of knowledge (see Baba Metzia 85a).
As soon as the Torah scholar opens his volume of Talmud and begins to study, difficult questions begin to arise that challenge his mind to seek creative solutions to age-old dilemmas. As he reads the holy words, the bioenergetic aspect within the mental self is activated. The satisfaction he feels comes from the emotional aspect within the mental self. The active movement from thought to thought, as he builds and tears down pillars of logic, is the mental presence within the mental self (see Sefer Yosher Divrei Emes #21). The exhilaration and life force that every aspect of his being experiences as he learns is the manifestation of the experiential state within the mental self (see Sichos HaRan #308). If he becomes completely immersed in his Torah study he loses track of all physical sensations, and this represents the essential character within the mental self, as we find in countless stories about our great sages (see Shabbos 88a).
The experiential self longs for spirituality, finds enjoyment in sanctity, thinks about attaining spiritual heights, revels in the experience of divine worship and negates or disregards all current accomplishments in the hope of reaching higher levels (see Likutei Moharan I, torah 49).
When a Jew begins to pray to God, enunciating the words of prayer thoughtfully and precisely, he activates the nefesh (bioenergetic aspect) within the experiential self, which seeks to manifest spirituality. When he feels love and fear of God, he activates the ruach (emotional aspect) within the experiential self. When he thinks about the words he says, he activates the neshamah (mental aspect) within the experiential self. When he experiences the exhilaration of devotion to the point that the prayer means more to him than life itself, he activates the chayah (spiritual and experiential aspect) within the experiential self. If he reaches a state of true deveikus, in which he becomes totally unaware of the world around him, he connects to the yechidah (essential aspect) within the experiential self.
One of the great disciples of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov was Rav Naftali. In Rav Naftali’s later years, it was common for the Czarist police to kidnap Jewish children for forced enlistment in the Russian army. Rav Naftali permitted a friend to hide his young son in his (Rav Naftali’s) home so the child would not be kidnapped, as his friend thought that the police would not bother to search an old man’s home. One day, while Rav Naftali was praying the afternoon service, some spies hired by the police saw the child playing outside. As they tried to grab the child, a group of neighbors gathered and began arguing vociferously until the spies left the child alone. When Rav Naftali finished praying, his friend apologized for the ruckus, which he was sure had disturbed Rav Naftali’s concentration. Rav Naftali just looked at him and shrugged. “I didn’t hear anything,” he replied.
The essential self longs for negation, revels in the revelation of God’s glory, negates her physical feelings (see Malbim on Shir Hashirim), thinks about achieving further negation (see Rav Pinchas Eliyahu of Vilna’s Introduction to Taam Eitzah), experiences the return from the negation experience, and reaches out to achieve higher and higher levels of negation.
Every individual possesses boundless physical, emotional, mental and spiritual capacities that he can develop by connecting to his source of potential.
In the times of the Baal Shem Tov there lived a righteous couple that had been married for many years but had not been blessed with children. Their response to the pain they felt was not to lose hope but to continue to pray for a child. Their prayers were heard in Heaven, and they were informed that they could have a child on condition that he would have the lowest soul in the generation. The couple accepted the condition with great joy.
The Baal Shem Tov testified that the child was indeed born with the lowest soul in the generation. However, as a result of the great devotion of his parents, and his own struggles to overcome his nature, he reached the spiritual level of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author of the holy Zohar. The child grew up to become the renowned Rav Yitzchak of Drohobitz. Even with a soul that was so very lowly, he succeeded in developing his spiritual capacities to a very high level indeed.
By connecting to the source of his potential, a person can reach beyond his current level to achieve surprising things in all areas. Fellow scientists related how when Albert Einstein was contemplating a new concept in physics, his eyes would go expressionless and he would stare into space. They knew that he was no longer consciously present with them. Einstein would remain in this meditative state for some time, until suddenly his eyes would light up, and he would return to present-time conscious awareness and would expound on a totally novel scientific concept.
Every concept has a root-source (Sichos Haran, #5). When a person manages to transcend his body and his conscious awareness while cleaving to the root of a given concept (if the concept is a spiritual one, this state is known in Hebrew as deveikus), he is functioning through the essential self within the essential self. When the state of deveikus ends, the person returns to a state of conscious awareness, but he retains a faint image glimpsed in that moment of deveikus, which begins to cloak itself in his current reality. In this way the image gains definition and boundaries; we refer to this developing image as primal matter. This is the state of experiential within essential. The person will then begin to think about the concept, providing it with a primal form, and this allows for further expansion and conceptualization, which is the mental aspect within the essential. The movement and excitement generated as the experiential self seeks to receive from the potential represents the emotional within the essential. Finally, the potential is manifest within the experiential self, and the individual is thus elevated to higher levels of awareness. This is the bioenergetic within the essential.
If someone has an imbalance in the bioenergetic self, it will require an approach to resolve the issue that is quite different from the approach one would need to resolve a disharmony in the emotional- or experiential self. In order for a person to be balanced and in a state of vibrant health, it is essential that all five selves be integrated and in harmony.
When our ongoing daily experiences and relationships are in a state of harmony and balance, the ten environmental categories, 72 facets of human personality and five energetic selves operate together in a state of unity.
Environment, Personality and Personal Perception in Balance
Let us examine a scenario that demonstrates how the various aspects of environment, personality and personal perception are manifest when they are in balance.
Chaim, a young medical student looking for a wife, is introduced to Devorah, a young woman from a fine family. Right from the start Chaim feels that she’s “the one,” for he immediately senses a special connection to her (this is essence). As they get to know each other, Chaim is further attracted by the way Devorah describes her perception of Judaism – the defining boundaries she has created in her life (quantity). Chaim is also impressed by Devorah’s life-goals (quality), her loving connection with her family and friends (relationships), her positive perception of herself (place), and her readiness and motivation to actualize her goals (time). Her choice of dress, while demonstrating good taste, shows clearly that she values modesty (position). The fact that she seeks to marry a student even though that means that she will have to forgo some material comforts for the time being (possessions), her active interest and participation in chessed activities (active state), and the fact that she enjoys an open and respectful relationship with her parents (receptive state), complete the package to perfection.
In order to connect to Devorah, Chaim engages all 72 aspects of his personality. Chaim identifies his special sense of connection to Devorah (potential state) with the evidence of her warmth and giving nature (elements/temperaments), and by integrating these factors he creates a cohesive picture (inanimate). He gathers information about her during their meeting, digests it, and makes the decision (growth energy) that it is worthwhile to continue the relationship; he uses his senses and imagination to compare her with other girls he has met in the past (sensory). Having decided that Devorah is unique and has real marriage potential, Chaim begins to talk and laugh with her to deepen their connection (integrative powers). After a few more dates he recognizes that Devorah is his soul mate, and so he directs all his mental and emotional energy to convincing Devorah that he is right for her (focused energy).
Finally, he employs his active level of intelligence to propose to her (intellect).
After processing their nascent relationship through the ten environmental categories and 72 facets of personality, Chaim’s connection to Devorah will exist within all five selves: the essential (this is “the one”!), the experiential (being with her is a totally new level of relating!), the mental (a meeting of minds), the emotional (his feelings are engaged) and the bioenergetic (he senses a physical attraction).
Imbalances in Environment, Personality and Personal Perception
When all levels of environment, personality and personal perception are working together in harmony and balance, life seems to flow. A general sense of joy, contentment and positive motivation prevails. However, it happens frequently that people experience blockages, which create difficulties in the way they integrate their environment with their personalities or with their personal perception.
Imbalances exist for a variety of reasons. The most common ones are states of 1) over-energy, 2) under-energy, 3) reactive energy, and 4) reversed energy. Over-energy results when too much energy is focused in one particular aspect of life or one aspect of the personality, to the detriment of all other aspects, which, as a result, suffer from a lack of energy.
Aharon, a young man who has recently returned to an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle (a baal teshuvah) may experience some difficulty in relating respectfully and yet assertively to his nonreligious parents. It is possible that he has an imbalance in his fire-energy, which will cause him to have a certain degree of self-doubt and will lead to conflict between him and his parents. Since fire-energy is the source of enthusiasm, this imbalance may sometimes manifest as a state of over-energy and at other times as a state of under-energy. 
A baal teshuvah with too much fire-energy may display very fiery enthusiasm for his newfound religiosity when he is in the presence of his parents. This unbalanced enthusiasm may cause him to disregard their feelings and sensitivities even in areas that do not relate to issues of Jewish law. This could lead his parents to feel that their son has become a “fanatic” and has severed his connection with them, and this will cause them much grief and pain.
A lack of respect for one’s parents is obviously not in sync with a Torah-true lifestyle. Balancing his fire-energy enables a baal teshuvah to maintain an inner core of true enthusiasm while demonstrating genuine respect for his parents and cultivating the necessary openness to maintain a close, trusting relationship with them.
On the other hand, too little fire-energy can lead to the opposite problem. Yaakov is a baal teshuvah whose apparent lack of enthusiasm for his new lifestyle led his parents to think that their son is not being true to himself. They fear that he has been brainwashed and exploited and that they need to protect him from making radical changes that he might later regret.
Yaakov may indeed be sincere, but his state of under-energy causes him to suppress or dissociate from his natural enthusiasm. Bringing fire-energy into a state of balance will allow him to express his enthusiasm both emotionally and intellectually. His parents will then be able to sense his inner resolve and accept his new approach to life, since what they really desire is his happiness.
Multidimensional conflicts can also arise within environment, personality and personal perception. Thus, one aspect of environment may conflict with another aspect of environment:
A person may ask, “Who am I essentially?” (essence) versus, “Where do I want to be right now, and with whom?” (place and relationships). Likewise, one aspect of perception may conflict with another aspect of perception. A student in university who has to cram for midterms may find he has a conflict between his bioenergetic self and his cognitive-mental self. On the one hand, his bioenergetic self demands 1) three wholesome meals a day, 2) eight hours of sleep at night, 3) periodic breaks from the stress of study. On the other hand, the cognitive-mental self insists logically: “We have a job to get done here! Your entire future depends on the grades you get on these midterms! Get your act together and stick to your goal!” One can likewise find conflicts between one personality trait and another, as when one is trying to balance focused earth-energy, which is in conflict with spacey air-energy.
Conflicts can occur between environment and perception, between perception and personality, between personality and environment, or among all three dimensions concurrently.
On three or four occasions, Erez, a young boy growing up in Jerusalem found himself on the scene of a major traffic accident in which individuals were severely injured. Erez found that his being in a particular place and time (environment) in close proximity to these serious accidents quite traumatic to his psyche (emotional self perception) and would ask his mother frequently, “Why is God doing this do me?”
At the age of sixteen he decided to learn first aid, and eventually he became a paramedic. Today he is one of the foremost leaders in Hatzolah in Jerusalem, and he has gained a reputation of being an “angel of mercy”. He found a most beneficial way to resolve the conflict that was once so distressing to him.
A young married baal teshuvah, who was studying Torah in a kollel in Israel, found that his growing family demanded a higher income than his fellowship could provide. He felt a growing conflict between his need to provide himself with the emotional boost of self-confidence [emotional self] plus the material support for his family (environment) that a comfortable livelihood provides, and his spiritual self, which 1) enjoyed the spiritual peace afforded by the kollel environment and 2) demanded of him, “Trust solely in God, for He will surely provide your needs!”
In addition to this conflict between environment and personal perception, he experienced another conflict among certain select personality traits: He knew that his extroverted personality, his love of Judaism and his ability to explain difficult concepts with great clarity could make him a talented teacher and a dynamic rebbe capable of motivating teens and young adults to truly connect with their spiritual roots. Thus his creative facets of imagination, thought and intelligence (personality traits) were also demanding fulfillment.
After a great deal of consideration and soul-searching, he accepted a kiruv position in a university town in England, where he has proven to be the catalyst for many Jewish youths to find their path toward a Torah way of life.
Conflicts can be rooted in reactive energy as well. In the case of over-energy or under-energy, such as our baalei teshuvah Aharon and Yaakov experienced, the blockage is limited to the fire element. A simple correction to balance the fire element will release the blocked energy and restore inner harmony and balance. In reactive energy, however, there are the additional factors of associations with past experiences.
Fourteen-year-old Esther is feeling great and decides to take a stroll on a beautiful spring day. While walking outside she meets her teacher from the previous year. When she sees the teacher, Esther recalls several unpleasant incidents that occurred in that teacher’s class. Suddenly, Esther finds herself feeling angry and upset – the complete opposite of what she was feeling before the encounter. Esther’s anger is called a reactive state, since her mood changed despite the fact that nothing upsetting occurred during this current encounter with her teacher.
If a little girl falls down steps and gets a painful bruise while she is humming a particular tune, she may find that hearing that same tune in the future will activate a feeling of unease.When she hears the melody, her subconscious mind immediately recalls the painful experience of her past. Reactive energies are triggered by specific combinations of several different factors. In order for the stress to be reactivated, all the identical factors must recur simultaneously.
The body’s energies move in set directions (Zohar II, 110b). Stressful factors, often based in one’s emotions, can cause these energies to reverse directions, leading to stagnation and blocked growth, as the body finds it difficult to “swim upstream” against the energetic current. This can lead to blockages known as reversed energy.
We may encounter energetic blockages within our environment at large, making it difficult for us to relate to our environment, or to relate to ourselves within our environment.
A young couple living in Jerusalem, originally from France, came to me with their six-year-old son Yossi. The boy’s principal had expelled him from school after he spoke to his Rebbe in a manner that was simply unacceptable.
These parents were feeling a general lack of close relationships, since the majority of their French friends and neighbors were less religious than they, but at the same time they felt isolated from Israeli ultrareligious society. In addition, their parents were distant from them – both spiritually, since they were not religious, and geographically, since they lived in France.
The couple felt deeply hurt and betrayed by their son’s expulsion. They felt that the principle had not given them a fair chance and that he was discriminating against their son. I examined Yossi, and he appeared to be quite intelligent, happy, sensitive and mature for his age. My initial reaction was to agree that Yossi had been the victim of an injustice. However, it happened that I knew the principal in question quite well, and I knew that he looked upon every Jew kindly and that he had a heart of gold. Apparently, there was more to this story than met the eye.
When I did a bit of investigating on my own I learned that the problem was a lack of communication. Before his brief sojourn in the new school, Yossi had attended a different school that was plagued by a total lack of discipline. Yossi’s parents had pulled him out of that school because the boys there were wild and rough. Compared to the other boys in that school, Yossi was a saint. The problem was that what was considered acceptable and even a relatively high level of decorum in his previous school was totally unacceptable in his new school, which had very high standards for both scholastics and behavior. Unfortunately, the child had failed to grasp that what was formerly totally acceptable had suddenly become unconscionable.
I suggested to the parents that it would be a good idea for them to find a new school for Yossi, but they should be very careful about how they approached the matter: 1) They should choose a school that, while no less religious than Yossi’s current school, had a more flexible approach. 2) They should explain Yossi’s situation to the new principal. 3) They should explain to Yossi what types of behavior are considered acceptable in the new school.
They followed my suggestions and were pleased to find that their son regained his reputation as a “shining diamond” within his first week at his new school. His principal and teacher there thought he was simply wonderful.
This type of life-problem, in which a person meets certain incomprehensible obstacles in his environment, is not uncommon and may not be related to any personal issue within the individual who is experiencing the problem. On the contrary, the problem might merely be pointing out that a change of environment is necessary.
Sometimes problems are caused when a person chooses to ignore clear signals from his environment. For example, once I was speaking on the phone to a client about one of her issues. Her teenage son, who was home on vacation, knocked on her bedroom door and asked her to come out so he could ask her some questions. Since our discussion was not urgent, I suggested to her that we resume the conversation later so that she could give her son the time he needed.
She responded that she was not feeling very well and that she wished to continue speaking with me. Meanwhile, the knocking was getting louder, so she spoke harshly to her son, telling him that she did not want to be disturbed. He ignored her and kept knocking, while she ignored my continued suggestions that she call me back later and that she give her son attention at that moment. In the end, when she finally decided to act on my advice, it turned out to be a bit too late – her angry son had locked her in her room. This problem could certainly have been avoided if she had responded to her environmental signals more readily.
Of course, not every challenge we face is due to our environment. Some of the situations we encounter simply require that we be aware of how we are relating to ourselves within our environment.
Rabbi Beryl Wein relates a conversation he once had with the wine taster of Kedem wineries in New York. The wine taster began to explain to Rabbi Wein how he can determine the difference between more than 100,000 nuances of tastes and aromas in wine. “Of course, that has a downside, too,” he exclaimed with a smile. “I can never drink or eat any food that is too hot or too cold, since the extreme temperature will destroy a certain number of taste buds. I never drink coffee or tea, or eat ice cream or hot pizza!”
Rabbi Wein looked at him in amazement. “Is is really worth it to you to give up on so much enjoyment, just so you can be a wine taster?”
Looking Rabbi Wein in the eye, the wine taster replied. “You bet! Number one, my father was a wine taster, and my grandfather before him. Number two, how many wine tasters are there in the entire world? It is definitely worth it!”
As we have mentioned, the category of essence represents an individual’s infinite potential. A young child named Tommy has an essence endowed with three distinct kinds of talents – intellectual, musical and artistic. Over the course of his life he can choose to develop all three talents for personal fulfillment and for the benefit of the world at large.
During his formative school years, Tommy may focus a good portion of his time developing his intellectual capabilities, pursuing physics and high-level mathematics, both of which fascinate him. At some point he may also find time to create a band, so that he and a few talented friends can develop a new style in songwriting and presentation. He will also enroll in a summer course in surrealistic art, which he feels truly expresses his inner essence.
Thus, we relate to the ten environmental categories on three distinct levels. The first is on the individual level, with all categories working in concert toward a given goal, such as in the case of Chaim, who wanted to marry Devorah. The second level is also individual, but broken down to specific aspects of life-goals, as in Yossi’s case. The third is the general, all-inclusive vantage point, such as Tommy’s integration of all three essential talents.
When we use the Healing Pathways model to help someone resolve a problem, we must determine whether the energetic blockages are found within the ten categories, the 72 facets or the five selves, or in the relationship between them. Once we find the source of a blockage, we determine what type of blockage it is, where it resides, and whether the blockage is over-energy, under-energy, or perhaps a case of reactive or reversed energy. Once we determine in what area(s) the problem is based, we take steps to resolve the dilemma.
In any case, the source of the blockage may be seen as a state of conflict that resides within the categories, facets and/or selves. By relieving these inner conflicts we restore harmony to the relationship between environment, personality and personal perception, bringing the individual to a state of equilibrium. The process of arriving at this harmonious state is called alignment. In the next section of the Healing Pathways model we will explore the different aspects of alignment and how they help us to achieve true balance and healing.
* * * All names have been changed
