Above Reason
Question: How can I know for sure that I have risen above reason?
Answer: To rise above reason means to enter the reason of the other.
We exist in the world of Infinity. I am one of many. Remaining inside myself, I exist in my reason: concern for myself, thoughts about myself, in a race for my personal well-being. This is our ordinary state. Subconsciously and consciously, we think only about it.
Undoubtedly, my children, wife, relatives, friends, and perhaps even my nation and country where I live are also part of my sphere. This is determined by how much I depend on the people around me and to what extent I’m subject to their influence. Accordingly, I attribute them to my own Self.
What does an ascent above reason mean? It means that I move into the reason, the desires of the other person, instead of being inside myself. I’m at his or her service completely. For me, the other person is primary, while I, the one who executes, secondary. The other is like a beloved baby for me, while I’m his or her mother.
This is what rising above reason entails. In other words, it is a change of priorities: Now the other is more important to me than I am to myself, like a baby to his mother. This is a true sign that I have succeeded.
[55000]
From the 5th lesson, Kabbalah Convention in Toronto, 9/17/2011
Related Material:
The Upper Thought Is Bestowal
Jump Above Your Head
Holding Your Head Up
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I think it’s good to have empathy when putting others before ourselves. For myself, I always think of myself in the way that, “okay, what have I experienced that is hateful towards myself, or what wouldn’t I not want done to myself” and then I make sure the other person doesn’t experience what I wouldn’t want or had done that was bad. I try to empathize with the other person’s position as if I were them.
Let me just say that these graph things you are drawing are most helpful.