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Entering Everyday Ecstasy with Rabbi David A. Cooper
Gazing is a basic practice from the ancient Jewish mystics that can lead to an altered mind-state. It provides you with a one-pointed concentration that settles and calms a normally busy and active intellect. For example, Kabbalists have long used gazing at letters, words, and phrases to increase concentration, discover hidden meanings behind the shapes themselves, and create new states of mind.
The process of contemplating a letter or letters was, from the kabbalistic point of view, a way to uncover hidden codes in the Torah. Kabbalah is based on the principle that aspects of the Divine are hidden in deeper and deeper layers of reality ... and the result can often be an extraordinary sense of joy.
To try this yourself, begin by simply gazing at the Hebrew letter “aleph,” which represents the eternal nature of existence. It is the letter that bridges the unknown dimensions of “nothingness” and the beginning of things. If you gaze at the letter “aleph” long enough, you may begin to sense these unseen planes.
