Sage'ing While Age'ing

The Jewish Kabbalah

To face the greatest question of all—“What is the meaning of life?”—we must begin where Socrates began: “Know Thyself.” Only then can we decide whether to chase wealth or fame, love or power, comfort or truth. To seek wisdom is to live as philosophers, wrestling with these questions and shaping our lives accordingly.

Yet advice is always easier to offer than to embody. Like the honeybee, which gathers nectar from countless blossoms to make its honey, I studied many philosophies and six religions to craft my own simple path through life, learning that at the physical level, we are both ancient and new. The reptilian brain, nearly three billion years old, keeps us alive with its instincts for survival, safety, and desire. The mammalian brain, 500 million years old, stirs memory, emotion, and longing. The neocortex, only 70,000 years old, gives us language, reason, and imagination.

Beyond the brain, we carry four bodies: physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. In youth, the physical and intellectual reign. Around 29, as Saturn returns, we encounter our physical and intellectual limits, and the emotions awaken, teaching us to prefer love to lust. Later, as our heart softens and the fear of death looms, the spiritual body rises, revealing that we are not like drops in the ocean but, as Rumi teaches, the ocean contained in a drop.

From Maslow’s ladder to the Indian Chakras to the Jewish Kabbalah, wisdom traditions all point to the same seven-layer horizon: life is a slow unfolding, a journey from matter to spirit.

— Sina.

For Another Angle, read Life is Service by Kubs Lalchandani, Esq.