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The following is a discussion regarding a question I had about 10 years ago which led to the development of the insights offered here.
Science vs. Talmud?
Cutting edge, scientific research in mind/body medicine has indicated that the main reason people get pains and illnesses is due to suppression of emotions. As recently as 30 years ago, the medical profession decried the idea of an emotional root to physical symptoms, mockingly labeling such symptoms as “psychosomatic.”
The meaning of psychosomatic is mind/body--psyche=mind/soma=body. The psyche is made up of thoughts and emotions. Slowly, but surely, the science of Mind-Body medicine (also known as Alternative or Complementary Medicine) has evolved such that what used to be a joke is now taken seriously. Even conventional medical doctors now admit that at least 60% of their patients’ symptoms are rooted in emotions. The actual percentage is probably much higher. Thus, the shelves of the self-help/healing sections of bookstores and websites such as Amazon.com display hundreds of titles about healing. Almost all of them emphasize the emotional/spiritual component of healing.
Talmud Berachot, 5a, says “[When one experiences] suffering, [it is a message from Heaven that] he should check into his maasim.”Ma’asim is generally translated as actions. So, the Talmud seems to be saying that the illness/affliction is there because the person is doing something wrong. This seems to discount the emotional root of illness propounded by science. So the question I asked Hashem in my heart was, either, according to fundamental Torah, the science is wrong, or, perhaps the science is an accurate reflection of the way Hashem created the world and the gemara has a deeper meaning?
Serving God Through Thoughts, Words and Actions…and Feelings
Ma’asim refers not only to actions, but to Olam Assiyah this physical realm. The three main aspects of our existence in this realm are thought, speech and action. One of the main goals of a Jew is to sanctify these aspects by aligning one’s will to Supreme Will, thinking holy thoughts, speaking words of Torah and prayer and doing mitzvoth and other good deeds. Another way of stating this is that we become Hashem’s partners in creation by activating and channeling Hashem’s Light of Kedushah into this realm through our thoughts, words and actions. However, complete activation of this Light comes only by having awareness of Hashem’s Presence at the moment of the thought, speech or action.
There are two types of knowledge —head and heart, intellectual and emotional. Previously, we defined the psyche as being composed of these two parts. Hashem created the brain as the seat of thoughts, and the heart as the seat of emotions. He desires us to use BOTH in His service. As the Torah teaches, a mitzvah without the experience of simchah (joy) is spiritually incomplete.
Now, according to our deeper understanding of the word ma’asim, we can say that the reason for afflictions is that Hashem wishes to make a person aware of a deficiency in his/her actions, thoughts, speech and/or feelings. And, based upon the findings that the key reason for pains/illnesses is suppressed emotion, it would seem that, in our time, the major focus should be on reconnecting with our emotions.
God Wants the Heart
Some of the most important statements made by the Torah and the sages ob’m are about the heart. “You shall serve the L-rd with all your heart.” “Rachmana liba bo’i—God wants the heart.” Every Shabbat and festival, Jews the world over pray, “[Please, o God,] purify our hearts to serve you in truth.” Prayer is called “the service of the heart.” Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches that the main knowledge of Hashem is in the heart.
It is easy to spot a person who is feeling emotion. His eyes sparkle. If you talk to such a person, it is easy to hear emotion in her tone of voice. Walk around the streets and observe the passers-by. A very small percentage have eyes sparkling with emotion. Wanting to judge favorably, we will assume that every single one actually does experience full hearts. Nevertheless, expressionless eyes are certainly a reflection of locked, blocked hearts of stone.
Go into a synagogue and listen to the voice of theshaliach tsibbur—the prayer leader. Regrettably, the words and the tone usually do not match. Saying kaddish, “May Your Great Name be exalted and sanctified! (Yisgadal v’yiskadash sh’mei rabba!)” is usually heard as a monotonous, obligatory proclamation. The prayers composed by King David and the prophets and sages of the Great Assembly are replete with words of fiery emotion. Yet, the voices carrying these words, emanating forth from today’s synagogues, are often devoid of feeling. The conclusion is that a large percentage of us are distant from our hearts at any particular moment. As the Nesivos Shalom states, the disconnection from our hearts is the greatest darkness of the galus (exile) today.
Exile from the Heart
There is a physiological reason for the disconnection from the heart. It is a sustained defense response. A defense response arises from three circumstances: 1) actual threat, 2) too much stimulus in our environment (stress) and 3) subconscious messages to ourselves that our experience is “wrong”—e.g. our cultures, societies and families have unspoken rules about which emotions are acceptable and which are not. So an unconscious voice implores us that emotions such as fear, anger, shame and “too much joy” are wrong. Thus, when we feel these emotions, it arouses an inner conflict which feels threatening and so, we disconnect from these experiences.
Among other things, a defense state causes our awareness and energies to be focused externally for the sake of survival. We become aware of what will keep us alive and safe. During such a state, awareness of emotions is a distraction and so, they are repressed. This is healthy in an actual survival situation. Then our main awareness needs to be through logic, reasoning and instinct. Once the threat subsides, we should recover from defense state and reconnect with our hearts in five to twenty minutes. However, due to reasons 2 and 3 above, most of us become more or less locked in a defense state and thus have poor ability to perceive and digest emotional information. We do not have balance between our heads and our hearts. As children, we are indoctrinated into these patterns. Suppressed or “undigested” emotion is stored in the body as tension. The accumulation of tension in the body eventually manifests as pain or illness. Hashem created us this way.
The Nation of Israel has been in a defense/survival state for 2000 years. We have been traumatized by the destruction of the Temple and accompanying exile, forced conversions, pogroms, poverty, false messiahs, etc. Furthermore, we have a national predisposition to disconnect--called “am k’shei oref—a stiff-necked people. As the Torah states, “And you shall circumcise (sensitize) your heart and no longer will your necks become stiffened.”
Heart Reclamation Project
Now that we have some idea of the physiological nature of suppressed emotions, let us remind ourselves that this whole discussion is pertinent only from one side of the Paradox --the side of multiplicity. For only from that perspective do we have multiple reasons for things. Reasons like overwhelming stresses and cultural influences. Furthermore, the reader is encouraged to realize that, while this discussion focuses on the environmental and sociological reasons for our disconnections, the deeper Truth is that the numbing of our hearts is ultimately caused by our sins and indulgence in our physical urges. One of the pathways for spiritual rectification is from below to above. The physiological aspect we are discussing is a primary form of working from below to above and can be used as a springboard for healing spiritual damage.
In our previous articles we suggested that God’s Will has been to pull humanity inexorably into constricted consciousness. We said that Adam’s sin caused a defense state/constricted consciousness to infect all of humanity throughout history. We implied that a main fixing of the damage from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is to experience pain, scream it to Hashem, acknowledge Hashem as the Creator of that experience and then request Hashem to transform that darkness into Light. This sets the stage for future discussions which, please God, will detail strategies for digesting suppressed emotions and balancing the head/heart connection, with an eye towards rectifying the Tree of Knowledge and gaining access to the Tree of Life. Amen!