Response to Carolyn: reading zoom

א בְּנִי, אִם-תִּקַּח אֲמָרָי; וּמִצְו‍ֹתַי, תִּצְפֹּן אִתָּךְ.
ב לְהַקְשִׁיב לַחָכְמָה אָזְנֶךָ; תַּטֶּה לִבְּךָ, לַתְּבוּנָה.
ג כִּי אִם לַבִּינָה תִקְרָא; לַתְּבוּנָה, תִּתֵּן קוֹלֶךָ.
ד אִם-תְּבַקְשֶׁנָּה כַכָּסֶף; וְכַמַּטְמוֹנִים תַּחְפְּשֶׂנָּה.
ה אָז--תָּבִין, יִרְאַת יְהוָה; וְדַעַת אֱלֹהִים תִּמְצָא.
ו כִּי-יְהוָה, יִתֵּן חָכְמָה; מִפִּיו, דַּעַת וּתְבוּנָה.


גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך: תהלים קיט, י

In reaction to my post on storytelling and metaphor, Carolyn asked the following question.

Carolyn

I'm not clear on exactly how you are suggesting we use the metaphor in zooming. Could you elaborate a bit further?

Thanks.


Dear Carolyn,

You are absolutely correct in your focus on self experimentation as the essence of the previous post. Theoretical discussion about experimentation cannot substitute for actually experiencing how an experimental observation changes as it becomes knowledge. There will be plenty of time after overcoming the resistance to doing the zoom to explore the theoretical basis of the experiment גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך.

How, you ask, is this zoom to be accomplished? As I mentioned in the post on storytelling, we want to coax the immature nefesh out of a default framework. In the metaphor it was an immature default way of framing one's experience of adversity that was dealt with . Adversity does not necessarily need to be represented as a destructive force, like a storm attacking us, even though we default into representing it in our rock -like hearts as such. In the metaphor you will notice a narrator guiding one's reflection on the experience.

I wonder if you have had the experience of going to the seashore and seeing a rock out at sea, and watching the waves crashing against the rock? And you might wonder about the waves. Where they come from and why they appear one after the other .... endlessly. Why the rock has to put up with the waves.

Waves are the result of storms far out at sea......the storms have disappeared but the waves they caused are still crashing in... long after... and the bigger the storm, the bigger the waves that roll in.

Every book and storytelling is in essence a narrator guiding the nefesh screen. Notice the narrator in my depiction of the nefesh screen.

Zoom-Control and The Cosmic and Social Environments

Picture a map of the universe, rather than just Earth, that can zoom in or out.

Zoom in galaxy by galaxy as in a planetarium show.

Zoom in noticing the wonderful, precise motion reflecting gravity in all bodies of the universe.
This "noticing" is a feeling, a sense that a universal law- Malchus shamayim - is the governing principle underlying the steady orbits of all parts of the universe. It will probably require some careful slowing down of the orbits to sense their regularity and orderliness. Yet we have seen this orderliness modeled many times in museums and planetarium shows. We react to this governing principle with an ahava feeling at the “good” in the sense of lawful order and harmony underlying the Creator’s Craft in all parts of the universe. At the intergalactic, galactic and planetary “zooms” the governing principle of Malchus shamayim is natural and easy to keep in focus.

Zoom in to the solar system and see it as an ecosystem sustaining life. Note that this ecosystem itself depends upon gravity.
If gravity did not move the Meoros hagedolim, there would not be night and day on aretz. There would be no evaporation of water and no rain. There would be no heat or growth of vegetation. No seasons. There would be no atmosphere or air without gravity. All of this causal focus is natural at all levels up to the planetary level of zoom. This causal focus corresponds to the basic account of G’s craft in creating planet Earth as the cradle of life in the “big picture” framework of the first perek of brayshees. Zoom control allows us to seek ohr as in “gravity” or “ecosystem”. This “seeking”, as mentioned, is done through feeling or internal dialogue as shown by my narration (notice the steady orbits, notice the ecosystem, notice the ecosystem’s need for gravity).

My instruction therefore is to extend the narration from cosmic zoom to yourself considering an adversity. Choose an adversity from your life, losing money, being yelled at -whatever. What I am suggesting is to experiment with zooming in from the cosmic environment, following my narration. Then Zoom in all the way to yourself as a person who is dealing with adversity. Then follow the narration of constant rock as if it were me. Feel the anger or whatever immature default reaction you could have from a personal space framework and the alternative cosmic framework.