A Soulful Journey

"Since there was no sense in waiting for mama to take us to Coney Island, we usually went by ourselves, or, as mama said, "alone."  Anywhere you went without your mother was known as going "alone" even if there were 30 of you."  - Sam Levenson That is an expression of love.  When someone yearns to be with you (you know this because they call, visit, pray for you, and are constantly concerned about your welfare) you are never alone.

Master of the Universe, grant me the ability to be alone; may it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grass, among all growing things and there may I be alone, and enter into prayer, to talk with the One to whom I belong. ~ Rebbe Nachman as interpreted by Rabbi Nosson

"The frean is a sea monster with the body of a crab and the head of a certified public accountant."  - Woody Allen Living in difficult times it seems like everything is scary and monstrous.  That is why it is important to go back the Source of all. Perspective is needed. When dark clouds cover you, know that the sun sits right behind and is ready to shine.  When you feel most alone He is most close, soothing your anxieties, calming your fears.

In the midst of lonely days and dreary nights I have heard an inner voice saying, “Lo, I will be with you.” — MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

An Israeli mayor in a small town was walking past a construction site with his wife. One of the construction workers stopped and shouted, “What’s new, Sara?” “Why, it’s nice to see you again Avi,” the mayor’s wife replied. She then introduced her husband to the construction worker, and they spoke for several minutes. After the mayor and his wife continued on, the mayor turned to his wife to asked how she knew the construction worker. “Oh,” she said. “We went together in high school. I even thought about marrying him.” The husband began to laugh. “You don’t realize how lucky you are. If I hadn’t come along, today you would be the wife of a construction worker!” The wife replied without hesitation, “Not really. If I had married him, he’d now be a mayor!” We are never alone.  We make ourselves and, at the same time, are made by those that surround us.  - Rabbi Eli Perlman

"Solitude is very hard to come by in this world. Only the very rich can afford it - and paupers like me. Everyone else dreams of splendid isolation, but they can only dream. Daily life must be lived with others.” -Father Ron who lived on top of Mt. McKinley

A man lives in Bangor Maine. He speaks like everyone else. He acts like his neighbors. He even looks like them. But he is never fully accepted as one of them. He asks: "What about my children?  Are they accepted?  After all, they were born here.  They were all educated here." They answered, "If a cat has a litter in an oven, we don't call the kittens biscuits."  - Rabbi Joseph Schonberger Most areas of the country are like this.  Being exclusive means excluding.  How does that feel?

A little old lady was sitting on a park bench in The Villages, a Florida Adult community. A man walked over and sits down on the other end of the bench. After a few moments, the woman asks, 'Are you a stranger here?' He replies, 'I lived here years ago.' 'So, where were you all these years?' 'In prison,' he says. 'Why did they put you in prison?' He looked at her, and very quietly said, 'I killed my wife.' 'Oh!' said the woman. 'So you're single...?!'

"Even a solitary one who is in Israel is allowed in the end of the world---1,000 miles are before him.  [Yet] God breaks through and also brings him near."  - seder Eliahu Zuta, ch 14 This midrash acknowledges that just keeping faith, even when feeling abandoned and lonely, is enough for God to draw the far distances into inches.

Once, a boy was walking in the street holding a beautiful apple.   An elderly man remarked, “That looks like a scrumptious apple.” The boy replied, “It certainly does and I intend to eat it!” The man asked, “Tell me. How could you enjoy twice as much pleasure out of this apple?”   “That’s simple,” said the boy.   “Give me another apple and then it will be double.” The man said, “You are mistaken.   Cut it in half and give half away.   Then you will discover the additional pleasure that comes from your friend eating the other half of the apple together with you.” When we share goodness we will never be lonely and always feel validated.

“Smart people spend time alone.   They don’t fill their days with appointments from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., as many politicians and executives do.   Great science does not emerge from hard logic and grinding hours.   It comes from the mysterious resources of the human brain and soul.   Inspiration is nurtured by activities like chopping wood and raking leaves, preparing dinner and reading to the kids.   The activities soften the rigid pace of the day’s pursuits and allow all our God-given intuition to work its unlogical magic.   Only then can we reach our fullest potential.   Only then can we leap from thinking to understanding.”   -  Philip K. Howard The secret of  life may be gained while walking down the street or holding the hand of a toddler.

“ Down to Gehenna or up to the throne, He travels the fastest who travels alone ,” penned Rudyard Kipling. The surest way to achieve a goal is to be focused, undistracted.  Allowing yourself to be moved from the goal may cause the intensity of the search to be derailed or even lost.

“And when he fell in a whirlwind, he went down As when a lordly cedar, green with boughs Goes down with a great shout upon the hills And leaves a lonesome place against the sky.” -          Edwin Markham’s eulogy for Abraham Lincoln You are not alone in your pain, your solitude.   We all experience in turn when death takes away something that we love.   You are not alone.

Someone once described the Creation like this: “In the beginning, God created Adam.   He looked at the first man and said, “Not good enough…I can do better.”   And then He created Eve. Funny, but therein lies a powerful truth.   Man alone is not good enough.   That is why Adam was so unhappy in the Eden.   He was lonely.   Only when God created Eve could Adam find contentment. So it is with us.   We, too, find true fulfillment only in companionship.