The HITCHCOCK Mindset: Why your life has NO "Superfluous Shots"

so we're going to talk about mindfulness being present feeling at ease in the moment um based on some spiritual tools and specifically uh from the understanding of the films of Alfred Hitchcock that's at least I hope to with with hashem's help we'll get to that point and if I don't get back to that point I'm not finished yet so remind me to get back to that point yeah we're going to speak a little bit about Alfred Hitchcock yeah because it's going to help us to show up for our lives okay and that that's what we want to do we want to show up for our lives so just just a little review uh if if you weren't here or you didn't watch online the first two classes in this series it's not necessary you know you don't need to but uh last week we spoke a little bit about the idea of the spiritual canaries you know the canary in the coal mine the the canary senses the danger the poisonous gas before the miners because the Canary's more sensitive and we spoke about people who are just more sensitive we we described as people who are like uncomfortable in their own skin uh that that existential angst there's other ways of describing it as well you could call it lonely in a crowded room always wanting to be a part of instead feeling apart from um and and I I think I explained that at length last week I'm not going to talk about that more uh but what I do want to mention is that after last week's class aired Rock we have a very nice crowd that comes here to the leviathlok library here in Cedarhurst and uh but we also have people watching online so after last week's class aired online I got the a call from a friend of mine uh Yankee Raskin who is a therapist and he also is the director of the student wellness department at alatera Yeshiva in Crown Heights and they have an entire department devoted to student wellness and yeah and my friend Yankee Raskin is the is the head of that department and uh anyway and he's a licensed therapist so he was and he's also a closet he's a khabar said so he was listening to last week's class and he reacted to something that I said about you know the people who have a hard time living in this world the people who if you were here you saw last week we spoke with people have just a hard time with with life itself and he said to me something I'd heard once but I had forgotten that there's a we have a tradition that the altered we call in Chabad we call him the altered others call him the balatanya uh rashner Zalman of liaddi and it happens to be nothing happens to be but it happens to be this Divine Providence would dictate that tonight if you're here live at least is which is the yard site the hilula the anniversary of the passing of rafner Zalman Ben Baruch is anyways we have a tradition that the altareba said that his siddim his students his followers the people who gravitated toward him were special nishamas he said they were nashamas who were in gehennam in hell in purgatory and who were pained by the concealment of godliness and they were crying out in anguish from the concealment of godliness in in hell and they were shown Mercy and they were given the opportunity to be reincarnated and come back in this world and they came back as these people these agitated people who were desperately looking for this godliness that that had been concealed from them and then they found the Al perebe and they just kept on grabbing and grabbing as much godliness as they could get with a desperation with a hunger and those are the symptoms of the altareb so my friend Yankee told me this and I said you know that resonates a lot with me um I once heard I don't know if there's something a rabbi should say but you know the difference between religion and spirituality and this is not to negate religion I I happen to be a religious Jew I believe in religion I'm a member of an organized religion kind of organized you know um but there's a saying what's the difference between religion and spirituality they say religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell spirituality is for people who have been there and similarly there's a there's a saying from the wisdom of of the rooms something get that that's shared often in the rooms of recovery and I do believe I can't remember because it was like 13 years ago but I think I included it in God of our understanding somebody just sent me today a picture of God of our understanding a stack of them on sale in a bookstore in Jerusalem which is nice to know the book's still in print um is there is there a bookstore in Jerusalem called pomerance yeah okay that's where it was so shout out to pomeran's bookstore in uh Jerusalem so I think I'm almost 100 sure that it's included in God of our understanding it says what are the directions for recovery go to hell and make a u-turn [Music] [Laughter] in other words this is not something that somebody does from a situation of calm and quiet and everything is going well and then hey why not just for the heck of it let me go become super spiritual no this is something that happens from a situation where there are no choices left and we're gonna have to do something really drastic all right we have no choice left we're gonna give our life and will over to the care of God um and that's I guess what we were talking about last week by the way somebody uh wrote to me afterwards and and said I watched your class last week and I really related to what you said because I'm also a spiritual person and I wrote back and said I specifically said I'm not a spiritual person you guys heard that I said I'm not a spiritual person so I just want you to know if you if you're a spiritual person you're relating to me please stop okay you know that's not no no no no if you're a non-spiritual person who happened to have just found spirituality in spite of himself then then you're you're a kindred spirit with me okay so let's talk about solution oriented let's talk about how we're going to do this how are we going to get out of this state of of agitation and how we're going to find yeah what did Rabbi Raskin say in the comment oh he was rabareskin was the one who reminded me this that the altaraba had said that his siddhum were these Souls who were trapped in hell and came out and reincarnated yeah that's what he had told me yeah and then when he told me that it reminded me of some corroborating statements statements that sort of echo that but yeah so yeah let's talk about tools real tools to find a a a state of calm of well-being and ability to show up to be present all that good stuff I'll I'll start with a story about some nervous people the story took place in Brooklyn and specifically at 770 Eastern Parkway which is Lubavitch world headquarters and these nervous people were actually in attendance at a fabrangan of the lab and uh I know the exact date I mean it actually was listening to a recording last night an audio recording of the event and it's also transcribed in the circus took placement so just about like three weeks from now will be the anniversary of that date talking about the winter of 1970. at any rate the long story short there was a group who had come to New York from out of town from overseas and they needed to fly back that night out of JFK and they were at the revised that I would speak many talks very deep talks weaving all types of Torah teachings together and uh interspersed with with Hasidic Melodies it was a whole it was a multi faceted sort of thing and it took many many hours and there was no like real end time so you didn't really know how long it's going to go that I would sometimes speak four five six hours um without notes I mean just it would just go and go so there was a group of people who had a plane to catch they had to get a plane from JFK and so in the middle of the fabregan that ever starts telling a story you know first it just it sounds like it's a story like okay whatever a story that I've told a lot of stories so the devil said one time I was in Leningrad and I went into my father-in-law's office the neighbor's father-in-law was the fear that could have the sixth rather and uh I saw him calmly sitting at his desk just like it was the middle of a regular work day except it wasn't it was the middle of the night and he had a uh a train to catch in an hour and he had just spent the entire evening giving personal audiences yeah okay this one-on-one meetings with people where he would hear them bear their souls and he would connect to them and give them guidance that itself is exhausting and now he's about to head to the train station that itself can make anyone feel preoccupied you know like if I have a plane to catch today don't even talk to me the whole day it doesn't matter what time the plane is like I can't I'm sorry can't think straight talk to me tomorrow and to top it all off he was taking the train the Frida Kadabra was taking the train to go meet with a uh a capitalist somebody who was not necessarily so uh favorably viewed by the Communists and the Freddie gray was going to meet with him to raise funds for Underground Jewish activities which was also not so favorably viewed by the Communists so you're talking about somebody previously who was under surveillance State surveillance um for people who did not play around they were not hesitant to arrest people and to execute people and in fact later they did arrest the previous habit and and the rebel walked into the office and he saw the image of his father-in-law just sitting at the desk calmly working with with papers at his desk like it's the middle of a regular work day and here he is at the end of these exhausting one-on-one meetings about to catch a train and where's the train going to take him to a meeting with somebody who really he could get in trouble for even meeting and especially getting trouble for what he's raising funds from this person in order the whole thing is very very stressful and his father-in-law just looked totally normal and that ever said it I was taken aback and and I said you know I know that Tanya teaches that the brain is supposed to rule the heart and and you can't let your emotions carry you away you have to have self-control he says I know that but and I'll just tell you the words that never said which means to such an extent doesn't really in Translation it doesn't really convey the it's it's it's an exclamation it's like really like to that extent like yeah I know that say this teaches that you have to have control over your emotions but this is this is beyond and it's interesting to me that that's what that's what the Reba reacted to that that was the image that that caught that of his attention that itself is instructive like even at Sadiq can be a little bit nervous it can be a little bit distracted especially when you have so much going on right and so the fact that the previous rabbit was not at all distracted and he was totally present the devil was taken aback and he said I'd get a to such an extent and he said my father-in-law then proceeded to explain to me that we cannot create more hours in the day but we can use the hours that we were given and it's called hatslacha bizman being successful with your time and he proceeded to give examples of people who were successful with their time including his own grandfather that Ash the fourth Chabad and uh he explained you got to use a moment you have a moment you're given this moment not at the train station yet so I have this moment now why should I wage this moment because of something I have to do several moments from now so then that ever said now remember I told you what was the situation this is in 770 that this is 1970 in 770 that I was thinking about back in Leningrad and all of a sudden the devil says there's some people here right now who are very nervous and it's because they have a plane to catch and they're not sure how long this is going to go on for and they know they have a lot to do they have to go to the their guests where they're staying and they have to pack up and they have to say goodbye and they have to get a car and they have to go to JFK and because of that they're not present they're physically in attendance but but they're not present they're not really here with us because their their mind is on this plane that they have to catch and uh some of them are looking at the clock which is a distraction or even worse than ever said they're straining to not look at the clock which is even a greater distraction and uh if they would reflect upon what's written in that would not be stressed they would not be nervous they would be totally present now what's written in what is it's a it's a volume of Tanya second volume of Tanya it's about cosmology the study of the origin of creation and it speaks about the nature of existence that essentially Hashem is creating everything something from absolute nothing at every single second that's what it says in short that's what it says over there so the Reba says if they would think about what it says and the group of people who were stressed out about the flight they had to catch these were kabad Sid them so they had certainly studied they knew what the book said they were familiar with its contents so the rabba said if they would think about what it says they wouldn't be nervous because they would realize that the plane that they need to catch has not even been created yet right now all that exists is right here and right now and the plane they need to catch will exist when they need to catch it but right now that plane that same plane that they're going to catch an hour and a quarter from now I think it's the time that that ever said which shows you there was no TSA back in 1970. because it was still possible to get from Crown Heights to JFK and catch an international flight in an hour and a quarter I remember those days yeah okay the plane that they need to catch in an hour and a quarter from now doesn't exist yet because everything's created every single second so that's not now an hour from an hour and a quarter from now is is is the plane will be created at that moment but but now it's not the same plane so why are you thinking about a plane it's not even your plane it's a different plane right now think about the the immediate environment that's being created around you for you right now here Here and Now and then you're gonna be present so I mean this is a deep concept you want to be present you have to think about and if you're going to think about sharing about money if you're going to think about the fact that Hashem is creating everything from absolute nothing at this very second you're going to be relaxed you're going to be in the moment you're going to be completely present okay so let's talk about that sounds like a good idea right okay so let's let's talk about that um I'm gonna try to explain a little bit more what this idea means there was a Jewish thinker Reb Carl Sagan you remember him with the turtleneck back in the 70s the cosmos before they had Neil deGrasse Tyson they had Carl Sagan and Kyle Sagan was a Jew and he claimed to be an atheist which it's fine he could claim to be an atheist but he made a joke that is so Jewish it's not only Jewish it's Hasidic I'm going to tell you the joke the joke is like this he said what are the instructions for baking an apple pie from scratch step one create the heavens and the Earth it was a joke you could laugh it's okay to laugh at should I tell it again ah I have to apologize to Carl Sagan it's enough that my joke's always bomb but now I'm telling Carl Sagan's joke it's a hilarious joke maybe I didn't tell it well you didn't get it you're making apple pie from scratch so if trees already grow with Apple so that's not from scratch it's like if you buy a mix that's not from scratch right okay so what is from scratch mean it means without raw materials so if the world already exists and there are trees growing from the ground and then apples grow from the tree that's not from scratch so he says the instructions for baking an apple pie from scratch first create the heavens and the Earth that's from scratch in other words something from nothing so let's think about something from nothing I think pretty much everyone today believes that the world that didn't always exist and I'm not going to quibble about six days of creation or big bang because that's actually not even relevant to this point the point being that I think everyone agrees that existence at least existence as we know it wasn't always here there was a beginning point and I'm not going to argue about how long ago that point was when I think pretty much everyone today agrees that there was a beginning point I mean the Greek philosopher said that it always existed so don't assume that that that don't take don't take that for granted that everybody knows that okay but today basically everyone believes there was a there was a beginning point where existence emerged from non-existence okay so what does that mean that means that every something was once nothing and because it was once nothing even now it is essentially nothing and only being compelled to be something against its will okay how did I make that logical leap because and follow me here this is this is a little bit technical technical kabbalistic stuff um explains that the ongoing existence of the world that we see that we observe all around us right now is a greater miracle than the most iconic miracle in the Bible which is according to the universe Universal City studio tour parting of the Red Sea yes of course pardon the Red Sea um the ongoing existence of the phenomenological universe is a greater Miracle than the iconic Chris yams of the splitting of the sea how so he explains very simply the splitting of the city we know the mechanics of that the Torah tells us that there was a strong East Wind that was blowing all night and the wind was powerful enough to act upon the water and to push the water and to cause the water to stand like a wall in other words the mechanics of the splitting of the sea was something from something it was a manipulation of the form of something into another something for instance when and this is the metaphor the the the the altarab himself uses when the silversmith takes a hunk of silver and he melts it down and then he makes a vessel out of it what has he done he didn't create silver he manipulated the form he changed the shape of this chunk of silver into a into a cup now here's the thing when you change the external form of something it tends to stay put tends not to revert to its previous condition and the reason is because it's not a major imposition to change the external form of something you know you could take this Podium and you could take it apart and collapse it into pieces and it'll it's not going to reassemble itself it's not going to strain to come back into this shape because it just changed the shape it's not a big deal or you can even burn it and turn it into ashes you can take this whole Podium and turn it into a little clump of Ashes this you're just changing the form it's not going to revert it's not going to reassemble okay you you're saying I know that what do you what are you trying to get at what are you explaining okay so let me tell you what this is in contradistinction to when I say when you when you change the form of something it tends to just stay changed as opposed to what as opposed to what as opposed to when you change the essence of something when you change the essence of something as opposed to the form which is an external or superficial or secondary quality when you change the essence of something then it doesn't tend to stay put in fact it tends to strain to revert to its essence in fact that's kind of the definition of essence essence means what the thing is so for instance and this is just a metaphor it's just a metaphor and it's a crude metaphor um in the sense that it's the best I could approximate here in this very uh informal Laboratory but let's say this pen okay this pen shape of the pen is not essential to the pen and I mean I could prove that pretty quickly just by disassembling the pen right okay and it'll it'll stay that way okay but or I could melt it I could turn it into like mush um I can't get it back together look what I did ruined my pet okay it's all for the sake of science it's okay okay but what's essential to the pen um one thing that's essential to the pen at least according to Newton would be that it's inert objects at rest tend to stay at rest right now I could override that and I can impose movement upon the pen right but it doesn't want to keep going it wants to revert to being inert to not moving because essentially it's not moving it doesn't move on its own it can be moved but it itself doesn't move and that's sort of again it's just a metaphor but that's sort of like an example of what happens when you try to override the essence of something so it doesn't want to stay put it wants to go back to what it really is so you think about it like this every something was once nothing however long ago in your narrative that was but every something was once nothing it wasn't always here existence wasn't always here okay so it was nothing I don't know a lot about nothing but I'll tell you one thing I do know about nothing nothing doesn't exist and therefore to make nothing exist you're following what I mean is to force nothingness into a state of somethingness is not a minor change it is not a change to a secondary or superficial characteristic of the nothingness to force nothingness into a state of somethingness is to override its very essence and as such nothingness is never comfortable in a state of somethingness and is always automatically straining I don't want to personify this but forgive the the anthropomorphism but it's it's straining to go back to its true self which is non-existence and that's why creation per se is ongoing it's not something that happened it's happening and as the Kabbalah teaches us if the Holy One Blessed Be he or to stop speaking the world into being that's how he creates he creates through Divine speech if he were to stop speaking the world into being the world would disappear Without a Trace it would be gone it would leave no it would leave no empty space behind because even that is is among the trappings of existence in fact not only it would no longer be here it would never have been here in the first place because it would lose everything including its history that is how totally dependent created existence is upon the Creator imposing it into its state of creation therefore tells us that really only God exists because the world although it exists it doesn't really have its own existence not in the absolute sense it is completely dependent upon hashem's existence imposing it into a state of existence at every single moment which means not only is it totally dependent meaning it depends on being forced into existence it depends on being forced into existence for everything about it so that's total qualitatively speaking but also quantitatively it's always it's constantly dependent completely and constantly if I was saying qualitatively and quantitatively everything that exists depends on being forced into existence and it depends on that for it's everything and it depends upon that all the time there's no lag time if if God stops speaking the world into being there's no there's no lag time it's not like if you pull the batteries out of a out of a toy how long will it keep moving before before it stops moving after you you know after you cut the power there's no lag time because every single second I mean second is too big but I don't know what time unit of time to use every created being is dependent upon being forced into creation so if that's the case then really everything at this moment is being created exactly as the Creator in his infinite wisdom has decided to create it and if so it follows how can I be distressed you know what I took a long time to learn in life just because things are not in my control doesn't mean that things are out of control yeah they're not in my control but they're perfectly under control it wouldn't exist right now at this second if it weren't completely under control there are no accidents this isn't some TurnKey operation they're just running on its own not only is God watching and knowing everything he's existing it he's made he's creating as it exists at this very at this very moment now we might not always like the way he creates it and I think that's honest to say that in fact I'm skeptical of anyone who doesn't say that I don't even think if somebody doesn't ever point out that much of God's work is abhorrent I don't believe they really believe in God because I think they're just going along with the premise yeah yeah yeah it's all good but if you really buy into this if you really believe that God is choosing to create everything as he's creating it at this second then yeah let's be honest sometimes my aesthetic does not agree with this I don't really I'm not digging this I'm not appreciating this scene right now okay and that's okay that's valid that's as they say that's just your opinion man so that's okay that can be your opinion you know my favorite story do you guys know I get a perverse thrill from telling stories that are not dramatic because I yeah can I just editorialize for one thing has nothing to do seemingly with this class but I think a lot of rabbis and public speakers they they love to tell like Hollywood stories like with like a really dramatic ending and so yeah I hate that so I I love if I can thwart that by telling a story where like nothing happens so this is my favorite story but really is it's not just I like telling it because it pains people but I really do love this story because it's so deep but it's only deep if you're ready to work for it like if you want like an exciting story like oh another part it's through the family in the dungeon and they had until sundown to get the 100 rubles no it's not that it's not that kind of story but this is this is my favorite story in the world okay here's the story the the students of the mizricha Magid we're sitting around And discussing having a what we call DMC deep meaningful conversation and they were discussing if you were God if you were God what would you do if you were God so the first one to speak was the great lover of the Jewish people he was the he was the defense attorney he could always find a positive spin and uh so he was a real loving gentle kind person and uh his answer was sort of reflective of that he said well if I were God I would create the world with more acid because it is God's attribute of loving kindness so the world would be a softer place an easier place to live in was the the next one to speak Pincus was it was known as sort of stern he was sort of an introvert he was actually very much an introvert uh he liked truth and as such he sort of shunned uh uh social interaction and he was just a real stickler for for MS anyways he said um you know if I were God I would create the world with more Voda God's attribute of judgment so that the wicked people wouldn't be able to get away with they're Shenanigans you know a little bit a little bit more Justice in this world make the world a safer more Fair more Equitable place so people can't you know take advantage gonna crack down on that and then they asked the altered and out that ever said if I were God I would create the world exactly as God is creating it right now that's the story my favorite story not dramatic not if God were me oh you guys if I were running for the position of God if that were like an elective position I'm telling you I would be so I would be very benevolent like if I were God no one would ever get a paper cut again that's if I were God okay but this is at least these are my campaign promises until I get into office and I find out what it actually takes to do the job but those are my intentions at any rate but it's not if God were me it's if I were God in other words hmm if I were God if I were God if I were God if I had Infinite Wisdom infinite power infinite possibilities to do anything to choose any reality what reality would I choose it this second hmm look around there's your answer exactly how I was creating the world the second that's how that's how you would create it if you were God if you knew everything that he knows you would create it exactly apparently you would create it exactly as he's creating it right now um right so essentially this this gets us past the concealment because we realize that even the concealment is revelation that even hashem's hiding is revelation or the metaphor that's used is it's like a turtle have you ever seen a turtle no you only saw its shell says in Tanya like the turtle whose clothing come from it so did you ever see the turtle no you only saw the turtle shell yeah except for the turtle shell is the turtle so I never saw God I only saw what God hides behind and what is God hiding behind God there are different Divine names and that's what woman teaches us is which is transcendent Revelation there's elikim which is the same numerical value as hateva the nature which means the natural orderly system that becomes predictable and therefore seems non-miraculous but it's really havaiah hiding behind El Akim it's God hiding behind more God so I can't see God because God is blocking God and all I see is God that's the reality so and you understand why this world existing right now this second is more miraculous than the splitting of the sea because the splitting of the sea was changing the form of something that already exists the water already existed just making it stand up which is overriding a secondary characteristic of it which is to flow but that's not that hard you're just changing something that's incidental to the water it's not essential to the water in other words you understand we don't normally think this way but like what's essential to water or to any creative being would be that it takes up space so how could you have a creative being that doesn't take up space that that itself would be overriding its Essence but to say water flows okay it happens to flow that's how it usually does it flows but we could override that and by the way I override the fluidity of water on an almost daily basis in my freezer yeah I have an ice cube tray and it's not it's not permanent I mean it does eventually melt but yeah it's it's very doable but to change the essence of something that that doesn't stay that doesn't stay on its own so therefore the fact that this Podium has continued to be here solidly the entire time that's taking more divine intervention than it did 3 300 whatever years ago forgot to take the C and to push it up and turn it into a wall for a night and if that's the case then the emotional takeaway is I have to know everything is exactly the way it's supposed to be right now it's not in my control fine but it's not out of control it's perfectly under control and God knows what he's doing do I know what he's doing no I don't know what he's doing but that's okay that's called humility that's called humility humility means I I don't understand everything I don't understand the nature of existence and why things have to be the way they are I don't I know that they need to be the way they are I just don't understand always why they need to be the way they are that's that's just humility you know humility is I'll tell you there are two words that are very closely related but the experience of them are very different and and those words are humility and humiliation very different experiences now the end result of both humility and humiliation is the same it's an admission of powerlessness but the process is very different the way you get to that end result is very different humility it admits its powers humility admits its powerlessness with with dignity with Grace humiliation goes down kicking and screaming it's not supposed to be this way and I'm gonna fight it but apparently it is and I'm not saying to be a fatalist and to cast a uh a decree and to say because it's this way at this second it's always going to be that way God forbid we're very hopeful people and we believe that God can do anything so I'm not saying to be a fatalist who says because the situation is this way right now it's going to continue to be this way we believe there can be a dramatic turn for the better and and better meaning the way that I appreciate better according to my understanding of course and that's called be talking that's called trust that things will improve in a way that I'll be able to understand it easily but I'm not talking about a second from now I'm talking about right now this second that God is creating right now I have to know that it is perfect Perfectly Imperfect that in its imperfection it is perfectly what it needs to be for now and it's in development God's going to create a whole new universe a second from now but for right now the the universe that God is creating at this second is exactly the universe that he needs to be creating at this second for now and therefore I'm not going to protest I'm not going to go down kicking and screaming and fighting and you got the wrong guy you got you that you misunderstood you didn't read the memo my father may be well I think I've mentioned many times as a psychologist so I was like 15 years old and he says to me son what is the difference between psychosis and neurosis now growing up in my home I understood that that was the setup for a joke so you play along right you know the straight man the funny guy so you know like Abbott and Costello so what do you respond you playing the straight man so you say I don't know what is the difference between psychosis and Neurosis so my father says psychosis is when I think that two plus two equals five Neurosis is when I know two plus two equals four but I can't stand it thank you I know two plus two equals four not crazy not deluded not living in an alternate reality I know two plus two equals four but it shouldn't you understand if God is creating the world in a certain way at this moment that is a two plus two equals four fact and you can scream all you want you can protest all you want that it's not to your liking it doesn't change the fact now as I said earlier I'm not telling you to lie about your feelings you know there's this obnoxious oh well the people use this statement in obnoxious way feelings aren't facts I know feelings aren't facts but feelings are feelings and it's a fact that I have this feeling so I'm not saying that when God's way of creating right now is unpleasant to me I'm not saying I'm right and he's wrong I know he's right I'm allowed to have my feeling about it I find it unpleasant I don't even understand how somebody could Daven if they don't admit that they find the present moment unpleasant how do you pray how do you ask God to do anything different if you don't say oh by the way yeah God I know you're doing a perfect job right now so perfect that it's way beyond my ability to appreciate hint God you are doing such a perfect job it would take an infinite mind to even see how it's good right now yeah it's like called a backhanded compliant but God listen how about a second from now you make things in a way that I could appreciate because I'm not appreciating it right now I know it's good I know it's good I'm not denying it's good I just don't get it I'm not getting it I'm not even on the joke okay and those are two separate things those are two separate things it's okay to have your opinion that ABBA said so many times if it hurts you say ow you're allowed to say ow you're allowed to say out just don't then go and take your owl and say and therefore I know that God is getting it wrong at this moment no he's not getting it wrong he's getting it right you just don't like this moment which is fine which is fair which is honest but see here's the thing when we understand that the moment is being created something from nothing brand new in its entirety at this second so at least it calms us that like we're not in the wrong place it's like sometimes we think at what point did my life go off track and did I stop living the life that I was supposed to have lived am I the only one who thinks that three in the morning right at what point did things start to get bizarre and could I have changed it if I only I don't know if just had some better boundaries maybe or a little bit more confidence at what point did my life spin out of control really I'm the only one who thinks about that um oh Hitchcock we're gonna get the Hitchcock we're going to get this guy why yeah how did it get here yeah and sometimes I know how I got here and it's like at what point did God's plan for me become supplanted by a bunch of stuff that happened because of my dumb mistakes right and and you start feeling like like I'm not even supposed to be here and like that's wrong that's wrong it's absolutely wrong because God never surrendered control for one second even while you were doing stupid stuff God was creating you he's creating the situation he was creating other people's reactions and you are exactly in the right place right now and your life is exactly the way that it needs to be right now and I'm not cursing you I'm not saying nothing's gonna ever change if there's something painful in your life and I got news for you until mashiach comes we're in gullus and gullus means that everyone has something painful in their life and I'm not telling you that God forbid if there's something painful in your life right now it's not going to change of course it's going to change it's going to change in a way that we'll be able to see that it's better but for now just for now for this very second I'm not even talking about a second from now but this second right now it's perfect it's exactly the way it's supposed to be so just show up what do you want to say this for a second from now I told you we're not talking about a second from now second from now make better choices next time say no next time next time we're going to handle it completely different and also not just how we're going to behave but have been talking have trust Hashem sending something really really good that I'll even be able to appreciate with my finite mind and it's coming it's coming soon but that's a second from now I'm not talking about a second from now I'm talking about this second this second the only ashdodles it's a Hebrew word for effort the only effort required of you at this second is to live it that's right show up for it show up for it that's the only effort required of you at this second show up for it represia was on his deathbed he was crying actually interestingly enough I saw recently that Eric Fromm told this story but he didn't mention uh zusha's name I don't know if everyone knows Eric from a psycho uh analyst from Heidelberg Germany he was from a German Jewish Family and later he lived in the United States and then in Mexico it was also a great thinker and a social critic interestingly I don't think a lot of people know even those who who are familiar with the works of from that Eric from when he was in Heidelberg he used to study I think for a period of five or six years he used to study Tanya every single day with a Chabad khasid by the name of Zalman rabinkov and yeah and Eric Fromm said that rabenkov was the most influential teacher in my entire life yeah so I saw recently that Fromm told this story of RAB zush although he didn't mention the the name which was interesting he just said there was a rabbi once who was lamenting he said and it was the story zusha was was was crying he's about to pass away he's going to be judged his life's going to be judged and so his students said you live the life of Perfect Purity and piety how can you be afraid of judgment if you're afraid of judgment doesn't really Bode very well for the rest of us so so zisha says my dear students I'm not afraid I'm going to get up there and that they're going to review my life and they're gonna and they're gonna say uh zusha why weren't you like Abraham our patriarch I'm not afraid I'm going to get up there and they're going to review my life and they're going to say to musician why weren't you like Moses our teacher but I'm terrified I'm going to get up there and they're going to review my life and they can say to me zusha why weren't you like zusha and from tells the story and he says that every person has a unique potential and that his purpose in life is to live up to his unique potential but here's what I want to tell you what does it mean for social not to be zusha how is it possible not to be social I mean wherever you go there you are so you're always going to be you you can't escape being you but that's not entirely true because like the debit told that group of people who are nervous about the flight that you're physically present but you're not really here so it is possible to live your entire life biologically speaking but mentally emotionally spiritually you're checked out you're not showing up so what happens when you find the way God is creating this moment disagreeable oh this is not the way it was supposed to happen and so therefore you check out and you distract yourself or yourself medicate some use chemicals drugs some go up some go down some look at screens all day some gamble some getting the high risk activities the adrenaline itself is the distraction some people get into drama the codependents like to get into other people's drama but anything to distract myself from life as God is creating it at this second right and and what we're saying is if you don't show up for moments the end of the life you look back was I me did I show up for my own life how many of the moments of my life was I not even really there for because I found it unacceptable I didn't agree with the way God is creating the world at this second I I disagreed with some fact of my life and I'm not saying you did anything wrong by being pained by it because I made that very clear that's that's that's a legitimate response and I told you already I'm very skeptical of anyone who never cries out and says God please it hurts stop stop it already I can't take it I'm very very skeptical of anyone who never responds that way but at the same time don't tell God he's getting it wrong don't tell me he's getting it wrong because at this moment in His Infinite Wisdom he's creating it exactly as it is from Whole cloth from absolute nothingness there's no mistakes we can't see it okay we can't see it we have finite Minds we can't see it but we know we know and not just We Believe axiomatically I explained to you that it's impossible that created existence continues independently it is I explained it to you logically why why I'm explaining theologically even though I know it's a little bit boring why because later on if I just tell it to you as an article faith and I say we believe that everything is Divine Providence later on your mind is going to start working you're going to say why do we believe that well I don't know maybe I don't believe that do we really believe that and that's what is which means the three intellectual faculties is about explaining as much as possible the why the things that we believe also make sense so I'm not pretending to explain to you why everything in your life happened the way it happened because nobody knows that certainly not I but I could explain to you how we intellectually know that everything that happens is the way that it's supposed to happen and and the way that we understand it logically is that the physical world is not ontologically independent sorry to use big words but it does not have its own independent existence and asked by definition it wasn't always here so even now it's being put here and it's not just being put here haphazardly every single detail of it the arrangement of subatomic particles is being meticulously orchestrated at every single nanosecond and it's impossible that it would be any other way yeah we have tremendous power but I'll but I'll I'll put it right back on you I'll put it right back on you two plus two equals four can you change that no but if you can't stand it you can change that follow what I'm going to tell you because I'll tell us everything is in the hands of Heaven except for once all of Heaven what does that mean it's a categorical statement coil will be destroy means everything not 99.9 percent everything that's happening is exactly the way Hashem wants it to be and only a chef there's no other dayazaga there's no one else with an opinion with the exception where where's our power where's our power in our mind in our heart that means our all of Heaven or to explain it a little bit more fully will we choose at this moment we didn't choose the moment but at this moment will we choose to live in awe of the one sole author of the moment or do we choose to live in awe of people places and things so what is free choice free choice is the power to know and to accept where our life is coming from at this moment that's our free choice is our free choice and therefore to make decisions that are befitting are awe of the one Creator and the one author in other words to choose to behave morally according to his morality to do what is right in the eyes of God now how that's going to go down whether it's going to work whether I'll succeed whether I'll fail whether people will compliment me for or curse me for it I have no control and all these terms what do they have to do with they have to do with the ability that I have the autonomy to choose my emotional reaction and my behavioral choice in the moment and that's it probably said no to myself yeah that you can't think that way yeah that's again but that's exactly what I was saying before that's what I was saying before that's that's a mythology that's a mythology that's a narrative that we make up in our minds to explain why our life is the way that it is it's not true it's not true yeah so the reality is that whatever else is going on Hashem is in charge Hashem can do anything Hashem wants good for us and that's it and I wish especially in the situation where you're talking about where someone's using religious ideas to torture themselves I wish the religious idea that people would ruminate on would be the one of ongoing creation and the God is kind and all-powerful and and making the world exactly the way it's supposed to be instead of ruminating on other religious ideas that give people an excuse to be depressed and to give up on life so anyways the bottom line bottom line is should I say it in the cheesy way I'll say it in a Cheesy way why not we like cheese sometimes um every moment is a gift that's why it's called the present so God is creating it I gotta show up for it and not to reject it to live in it okay Hitchcock when I was a very young rabbi I would eagerly accept any offer to speak to any crowd even if I had no business doing so so this is back in uh it's got to be I don't know 2005. I got a call from an organization called gilders Club Gilda's Club is named after Gilda Radner shalom who was a comedic actress and a Jewish woman who passed away at a very young age because of ovarian cancer and her husband Gene Wilder Oliver Sean also a Jew in her memory he's he's passed away since but after she passed away Gene Wilder created an organization called Gilda's Club and it's a it's like a clubhouse where people with any form of cancer it's not specific which form but anyone who has cancer can come there it's not a medical facility it's uh it's a social services organization and they provide social uh programs so I got a call from Gilda's Club and they said rabbi and I don't even know how they found me like this is before I as I remember this was before like the the ubiquity of Google this is probably like a Yellow Pages type thing so they they probably just going randomly through the Yellow Pages but they they they called me said rabbit would you come and speak at Gilda's Club about faith in the face of adversity and I'm like yeah no problem okay so then I realized thank you these people are all there because they have cancer and I'm going to speak about faith in the face of adversity like who am I and the most likely outcome is I'm going to say something I think is inspiring and I'm going to offend them God forbid which is the last thing that I want to do and and but this only occurred to me as I was pulling up to the place I was really eager I had my whole talk and everything's for the good and and then I'm like are you going to tell people who are battling a series of films everything's good everything's good like what am I doing here so actually I was pulling up and I and I had a change of heart I was gonna drive off the lady I really was about to drive up I got carjacked not literally carjacked but effectively the lady who's the organizer of the place she saw me she recognized me she opened up the door of my car she opened her she's like Rabbi come on they're waiting so I was stuck so I'm walking with her or walking down the steps there's like these it was in a basement it was in a like a social hall in a basement so we're walking down the steps and I'm thinking myself this is terrible okay here's what I'm gonna do if at any point they say to me you're offending us I made up my mind already I'm just gonna say you're right I'm sorry and I'm gonna be done and that's it that's all I'm going to do by the way I did not make that decision when I walked into here tonight so and tell me I'm offending I'm going to keep going but as I'm walking down the stairs I'm like that's it if they tell me you're offensive I'm gonna be like you're right I'm wrong I'm sorry and I'm just gonna stop okay so then I was relieved at least I have a plan but I go a couple more steps down the stairs I'm like no this is not a good plan there's a flaw to my plan the flocks my plan is I don't know if you guys realize this but people look at me and they tend to associate me with Judaism yeah I was in the airport last week I was in Atlanta some guy comes home he says Rabbi I'm like yeah do you know I forget so it's not a good plan because it's okay if they think I'm an idiot it's not okay if they think that 3 000 years of tradition is irrelevant or offensive or anything like that God forbid it's called Hashem it's called the desecration of hashem's name it's not it's not cool so I'm like what am I going to do what am I going to do what am I going to do and I had to go I was walking up already so I came up with a plan on the Fly I'm like okay here's what we're gonna do I'm totally just gonna make something up okay but here's what there was a method to the madness I'm going to totally make something up if they like it we'll leave it alone okay if they don't like it if they say you're offending us so here's what I'm going to say I'm going to say to them you know I really regret that I made this all up I should have told you what Judaism has to say you got it that okay don't judge me that was I had like two seconds to come up with a plane okay but you get it like I have an out I can always throw myself under the bus and be like yeah that was just something I made up because I'm an idiot that's not what Judaism says next time get a real Rabbi and he'll tell you what what Judaism says okay the best I could come up with on the flight so I get up there and I say and I'm just I'm gonna make something up completely made up so I get up there and I say I was thinking the other day well that part wasn't made up because I had been thinking previous to that event but not about what I was said I was thinking of it wasn't even true I don't even know why why do people do that like the other day just why does it make it more anyways I was thinking that I wasn't really thinking the other day I thought about it at that moment like on the spot I said I thought I was thinking the other day about French New Wave Cinema about the nouvelle Vogue and they were very into what they called auteur Theory author Theory the the the French New Wave Cinema filmmakers they weren't just filmmakers they studied Cinema and they would talk a lot about what makes great Cinema so one time they were sitting around they're having like a little cinematic fabrang and as I Envision it and one of the guys there was François tufo and uh they asked him well they asked everybody who's the greatest otor who's the greatest film author and they all have like they're different answers and they came to truffaut they said who's the greatest film author so truffaut says hands down Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock's greatest film author okay I'm not going to tell you whether that's my opinion or not I'm telling this is this is how it happened that's what truffaut said Hitchcock's the greatest film author so they said Francois that's great but what why is Hitchcock in your estimation the greatest film author so true false there's one reason because in his entire career and his entire massive body of work all the hours of film that he put on the screen and there's not one single Superfluous shot if Hitchcock put it on the screen for even a second it had meaning it had to be there it was integral to the storytelling there was no filler so in my estimation that's what makes Hitchcock the greatest film author that's what truffaut says so I'm gonna build this club I say I'm asking myself this question and Yeshiva they taught me how to like make logical arguments so I'm thinking to myself like this could I say as much for God and the film that he's making about me and showing to me that God has managed to do as well in that movie as truffaut says Hitchcock managed to to do in his career I thought about that I said to myself well it's a Calvary logically yes it must be because who made Hitchcock God made Hitchcock so if Hitchcock could do it then the one who made Hitchcock could certainly do it so yes it is possible I could say that my life is a story without a Superfluous shot now let me explain what that means that does not that it's all Pleasant agreeable likeable no not at all however that actually makes sense to me too because once I start thinking about it in narrative terms protagonist antagonist conflict resolution three-act structure that whole thing well then it becomes obvious to me that a good story isn't a story with all good moments in fact we would say that's a very bad story that's a boring story nothing happened nobody ever threw a novel across the room and said I can't believe what trash this is the main character who I'm supposed to like wants something and he keeps on not being able to get it nobody said that that's a bad story to the country that's called a page Turner let's see if he gets it he's down for the count there's no way he can come back that's compelling that's a narrative that's a story that's a good story and the more impossible it seems for the protagonist to eventually accomplish his goal and then to accomplish it anyway and it not to be a contrivance that's storytelling so is it possible there are moments of my life that are unpleasant horrific moments of my life that are horrific and yet if I'm looking as a story it's it's not a bad story it's not a bad story he's not wasting my time you know the balship taught that everything we see and everything we hear is a message from God this is not just talking to the prophets who actually heard God's voice the balship said each and every one of us who is awake to reality will see communication teachings from the Creator in everything that occurs to us everything that happens that's how God speaks to us through our lives I heard somebody once say that in school you you're given the lesson and then you take the test and in life you take the test and you're given the lesson how do we learn we learn through experience School of Hard Knocks now I don't wish it on anyone certainly not myself I wish us all an easy life I told you already if I were running for God no more paper cuts but I can understand if I'm looking at it purely from a narrative perspective I get it I get it I get it I can say for my director of my film that he's at least as good as Hitchcock he's at least as good as true foe thought Hitchcock was so hold on here I told you already that I made that up that was my ability that if they got offended I'm going to apologize I'm gonna tell them I'm just some crackpot who says stuff that he made up so at that point I Heard a Voice and I want to explain something to you as best as I can try to convey this you know how sometimes you're aware of somebody's presence before you've actually looked at them you haven't really with your five senses maybe you don't know they're there but somehow you're you know that they're there there was a woman in the room who was a very strong presence and it's almost like I felt she was gonna speak the whole time and at one point at this point I hear a booming voice and she said one word she said Rabbi and it was like that that's the best impression like Rabbi like a booming voice like that and I looked and I was like oh yeah I can't explain another one in any other way than to say I looked I was like oh yeah like yeah that's that's you I don't know who she was I never met her I don't think I looked at her at that till that point but I was like yeah that's that energy that I was aware of and and I'm like yes and she says I have to say something and in my mind I'm trying to work out something else now because I already have a plan I'm about I'm about to apologize but at this point I'm trying to adjust the booming voice with this very frail body because she was very very frail in fact when she spoke she stood up and I remember thinking to myself distinctly I remember thinking to myself I hope she doesn't hurt herself because when she was standing she was so frail when she stood up I was afraid she was gonna get hurt but her voice was blooming she was like Rabbi she stands up I have to say something yes and I'm ready and she says my friends all think that I'm crazy when I tell them no I don't wish her that I don't wish that I never got cancer they say Oh no you're giving up you she's not giving up I'm I want to live many healthy happy years also you wish you never got it no I don't wish I never got she says we get into this Loop that's like this silly semantic argument to them it is and she says it's very frustrating to me and I feel very lonely because this is very important to me this is a very important idea to me and I cannot communicate it to my friends no I don't wish that I never got it I don't wish that I never got it I don't I want to live yeah I want to live but I don't wish that I never got it and I don't know how to explain that Paradox to them until now she says until now now it's very simple to me how to explain it there's only one reason why I don't wish that I never got it one reason and the reason is because I did I did get it that is what happened so now retroactively to wish to have not gotten it means to wish for some other life because that's not what happened in my life in my life I did get it now in my life I'm looking forward to living that's the future that's open but as far as the past that's what happened in my life so to now wish that that wasn't what happened in my life would be to wish for some other life she says I don't want to live some other life I don't want to live some other story I want to live my life I want to live the story that God is telling me foreign this was like the most powerful moment for me for me in my personal life the most powerful moment of just that's what faith is that's what faith is that's what it is that's what it is she said it she said it I don't want to live some other life I don't want to live some other story I want to live my life my story the story that God is telling me that's what faith is that's all it is that's everything see because you want to know you want to you know what you want to know what it means that this woman wanted to live animals want to survive animals want to not die they have a survival Instinct she was a human being she wanted to live you know what means to want to live to want to live doesn't just mean to want to stay alive in the future to want to live means to want your life to want your life not some other life not some imagined life not some alternate universe life not some theoretical life not the life that you should have had that you could have had that you imagined that you were gonna have to want to live means to embrace the Perfection the imperfect perfect of your life every detail of it every detail of it what's going to happen a second from now God has a big wide hand Miracles can and do happen we're not fatalists God forbid we're not dooming anybody that the situation will remain as it is but everything until this point is exactly the story and my director of my life doesn't put anything on the screen that doesn't need to be there yay put stuff on the screen that scares the hell out of me you put stuff on the screen that brings me to tears he puts stuff on the screen that I say why why are you doing this I don't like this stop this but he's not getting it wrong he's telling a perfect story and not just a perfect story in the in the general Universal sense the perfect story for me zusha why weren't you Joshua I can show up for the entirety of Chase's life that's what I can do that's it every moment of it even the moment that I say to myself I never thought that would happen to me or how about even better I always thought if that would happen to me I would die and I'm here so apparently not apparently I got that wrong too add it to the list of things that I don't have any idea about that's humility and it's not that hard to be humble before Infinite Wisdom if I had Infinite Wisdom if I were God I would also create the world exactly as it is right now and see how somehow it's perfect but I'm not infinitely wise so I don't see how it's infinitely perfect but I know that it is and therefore who cares who cares if I know that it is I'll tell you who cares I care because when I know that it's perfect even if I don't like it I can show up for it not only I'm empowered to show up for it it's a moral imperative for me to show up for it because if I don't show and what you know what I mean when I say show up for it I don't just mean physically to bring my body although sometimes that's the best I can do and if that's the best I can do today fine I know God gives me credit for that too but if I can possibly bring my five senses and I can possibly bring my mind and my attention and my focus and yeah I'm gonna do that I'm going to do that and I'm gonna have my life minute by minute by minute by minute by just accepting all I got to do is show up all I got to do is show up all I can do is show up that's it that's it all I gotta do is show up anyone know something let's not be entirely like morbid over here there are plenty of moments of life that are easy to show up for let's not forget that please let's not forget that there are moments that are nice and pleasant and not terrifying there are some pretty nice moments that are easy to watch but even the moments that I'm not you know what it's my life I don't want to live some other life Okay so we're all going to meditate we're all going to think about how the created Universe has no ontological Independence I'm going to think about the ongoing existence of this world as a dynamic product of an infinite Act of God choosing meticulously every detail of reality at this second and we're going to show up minute by minute second by second and we're going to live our lives oh one more thing one more I forgot to tell you one one more thing ah but you can't just meditate there's something else you got to do if you only meditate it's not enough remember the story in 770. whether that be told them if they would think about what it says so uh right after that and I didn't catch this the first 10 times that I I read it but now it occurred to me I don't know if you know that I have a style of speaking but I would interweave a lot of different subjects and flow in and out and sometimes like come back to a point and tie up loose ends and it was a very complex presentation so you can't always follow the flow is what I'm saying you can't always figure out why the dev is saying the next thing that he's saying right after the the the message to the nervous Travelers the nebus started speaking about saying lahayam and that I was said it's important to say and it's not because it's alcohol because our our point is not to get drunk actually but the point is because it's physical it's a physical thing and we need to connect everything to a physical thing that we kept saying we need to connect everything to a physical thing on a physical drink that we imbibe with our physical bodies it finally occurred to me this is that I was saying this in 1970 this is cutting edge there's two parts of this of this therapy one is the cognitive part and that's probably the biggest part of it is I mean the hardest part you have to learn you have to understand it you have to meditate on it but that's not all because that can remain in abstraction then you have to ground it and you have to make it physical and you have to make it sensorial you have to involve the body so you think about these abstract Concepts to see this teaches how Hashem is creating the world something from nothing every single second but then you have to say because your body has to be part of it has to be somatic has to be sensorial you have to bring it home and internalize it in a physical way so that that's the formula you go to fabrangen you talk about God creating the world something from nothing every single second and you say look Hi and then you're good until the next February right okay okay that was part three of our anxiety animona series it stands for itself but if you haven't seen Parts one and two check them out Parts one and two and you get the background that leads up to this class [Music]