Examen - 03 2025
Transcript
In honor of Ignatian Heritage Month, I’d like to offer a meditation on the critical importance of language in connecting us to each other, in grounding us in in the present, and in experiencing the presence of G-d.
Have you ever felt neither here nor there, unable to be fully in the present? Anxious, worried. Preoccupied with yourself. Feeling irrelevant.
“Truly, you are where your mind is,” taught the Baal Shem Tov, an 18th century Rabbi and founder of the Chassidic movement.
Many of us have experienced being with a friend or loved one as they tell us about their day, only to realize that we really didn’t take in what they said because we were thinking about something else, perhaps focused on an incident that happened last week, or even catastrophizing about an event that hasn’t even occurred in the future.
Our bodies were present but our minds were somewhere else. Where were we really?
So, how can we best center ourselves, be authentically present and relevant in the moment, and by doing so truly communicate openly and empathetically with each other?
The Baal Shem Tov’s great-grandson, Rav Nachman, suggested one method for doing so by practicing a meditation that involves speaking to God in our own, personal language.
Practicing an intimate and personal dialogue with the divine may model how we can use faith and language to improve our communication with each other.
Let’s begin.
First, find a quiet place, and seek out a private space, preferably in nature, where you won’t be interrupted. Sit on the ground
Find a Comfortable position, Close your Eyes. Breathe Deeply. Hold and slowly release.
Feel the Earth holding you up, Feel your body touching the earth. Imagine you are like a tree and have roots deep in the earth.
Feel your clothes on your body. Feel the temperature of the air on your skin – the wind embracing your skin.
Feel your Breath moving in deep. Hold and release, very slowly.
Then, start the conversation. Even though this may feel awkward to you at the start, begin speaking to God about whatever is on your mind.
Open you heart to God as if speaking to a close friend or to a parent. This includes expressing all your complaints, desires, feelings and thoughts no matter how ordinary you think they may be.
Talk through your problems, express your joys, confess your shortcomings, or share your requests for the future. Nothing here is off-limits.
In fact, there is no wrong way to engage. Even if you feel you have nothing to say, Simply talk about that feeling or even just repeat a single word.
Then, after speaking, allow yourself to be receptive and listen carefully for a response, a response which can be found in the sounds of nature or in the hushed echoes of a quiet intuition.
Give yourself the gift and grace to be open to receiving inspiration and revelation in return.
Now conclude the session by taking a few more deep breaths, and offering thanks for the experience.
Perhaps by following a prayer of Rav Nachman, who wrote:
Rav Nachman’s Prayer
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. May I express there everything in my heart, and may all the foliage of the field -
all grasses, trees, and plants - awake at my coming,
to send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer so that my prayer and speech are made whole
through the life and spirit of all growing things,
which are made as one by their transcendent Source.
May I then pour out the words of my heart before your Presence like water, O L-rd, and lift up my hands to You in worship, on my behalf, and that of my children! (Likutei Tefillah, 2:11)
November 03, 2025
Examen: Language
SUMMARY: A meditation on the importance of language in connecting us to each other, in grounding us in the present, and in experiencing the presence of G-d.
PRESENTER: Michael Bloom, PhD, Founding Director, Center for Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Transcript
In honor of Ignatian Heritage Month, I’d like to offer a meditation on the critical importance of language in connecting us to each other, in grounding us in in the present, and in experiencing the presence of G-d.
Have you ever felt neither here nor there, unable to be fully in the present? Anxious, worried. Preoccupied with yourself. Feeling irrelevant.
“Truly, you are where your mind is,” taught the Baal Shem Tov, an 18th century Rabbi and founder of the Chassidic movement.
Many of us have experienced being with a friend or loved one as they tell us about their day, only to realize that we really didn’t take in what they said because we were thinking about something else, perhaps focused on an incident that happened last week, or even catastrophizing about an event that hasn’t even occurred in the future.
Our bodies were present but our minds were somewhere else. Where were we really?
So, how can we best center ourselves, be authentically present and relevant in the moment, and by doing so truly communicate openly and empathetically with each other?
The Baal Shem Tov’s great-grandson, Rav Nachman, suggested one method for doing so by practicing a meditation that involves speaking to God in our own, personal language.
Practicing an intimate and personal dialogue with the divine may model how we can use faith and language to improve our communication with each other.
Let’s begin.
First, find a quiet place, and seek out a private space, preferably in nature, where you won’t be interrupted. Sit on the ground
Find a Comfortable position, Close your Eyes. Breathe Deeply. Hold and slowly release.
Feel the Earth holding you up, Feel your body touching the earth. Imagine you are like a tree and have roots deep in the earth.
Feel your clothes on your body. Feel the temperature of the air on your skin – the wind embracing your skin.
Feel your Breath moving in deep. Hold and release, very slowly.
Then, start the conversation. Even though this may feel awkward to you at the start, begin speaking to God about whatever is on your mind.
Open you heart to God as if speaking to a close friend or to a parent. This includes expressing all your complaints, desires, feelings and thoughts no matter how ordinary you think they may be.
Talk through your problems, express your joys, confess your shortcomings, or share your requests for the future. Nothing here is off-limits.
In fact, there is no wrong way to engage. Even if you feel you have nothing to say, Simply talk about that feeling or even just repeat a single word.
Then, after speaking, allow yourself to be receptive and listen carefully for a response, a response which can be found in the sounds of nature or in the hushed echoes of a quiet intuition.
Give yourself the gift and grace to be open to receiving inspiration and revelation in return.
Now conclude the session by taking a few more deep breaths, and offering thanks for the experience.
Perhaps by following a prayer of Rav Nachman, who wrote:
Rav Nachman’s Prayer
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. May I express there everything in my heart, and may all the foliage of the field -
all grasses, trees, and plants - awake at my coming,
to send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer so that my prayer and speech are made whole
through the life and spirit of all growing things,
which are made as one by their transcendent Source.
May I then pour out the words of my heart before your Presence like water, O L-rd, and lift up my hands to You in worship, on my behalf, and that of my children! (Likutei Tefillah, 2:11)