Quote
Practice, Why we recite, do, memorize, return to over and over again.
This Breath. This moment. Over and Over
Sometimes it feels mechanical. And sometimes it brings up its opposite. And you just keep working with it.
In the Jewish mystical tradition, there’s a story of a great rabbi who taught his disciples to memorize, reflect, contemplate, and place the teachings of the holy words of the Torah (Jewish bible) ON their heart. One day a student asked the rabbi why he always used the phrase “on your heart.â€
The master replied, “Only something greater than yourself can put the teachings in your heart. Here we recite and learn and put them on the heart, hoping that someday when your heart breaks, they will fall in.â€
So we do this practice both to release ourself from the past, and also to allow the heart finally to break open and to renew the original goodness.— Mark Nepo
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