Intersecting Patterns of Davvenen

Intersecting Patterns of Davvenen The Pattern of Change The ladder is the central underlying metaphor of Davvenen. The morning prayers are laid out in a way that brings you up the four worlds of the Kabbalah(more about this in Section 3) to the peak of the ladder, the Amidah prayer (Section 8), and then down the ladder, touching each rung until we are back on ground level. Another way to say this is that the prayers on either side of the Amidah reflect each other corresponding inversely in their pattern. Hassidut defines the ladder that Jacob saw in his famous dream-" A ladder set in the earth, whose top reached into the heavens-This is the ladder of the prayers." Therefore, Davvenen is about changing where we are. It is a pilgrimage of consciousness. The Pattern of Wholeness Paradoxically, the Davvenen, by reconnecting you with the source, reminds you of your connection with the eternal perfection, the sum of everything that adds up to a harmony, a symphony, completion. This is symbolized by the Temple or home in which we pray, the Tallit under which we pray, reminding us of the wide expanse of sky. Various portions of the Davvenen seem to be reminding us of our wholeness, the perfection, unity, etc. If we are always climbing up a ladder, always trying to change, we have missed the point that reaching of the top rung of the ladder, e.g., just being with the Divine, can impart. If we are always in a state of wholeness, never leaving home and Temple to journey on pilgrimage, we may stagnate and miss the growth and stretching of our habituated awareness that climbing the ladder is designed to impart. Intersecting Patterns of Change and Wholeness- The Sacred Union One of the paradoxical tasks of consciousness in Davvenen is to keep both of the abovementioned patterns operating at the same time. We ground ourselves in the holy Temple as we sing the Ma Tovu, as we begin singing and stretching up the four worlds, reaching as high as we can, and descend, bringing back some remnant of the exalted awareness and insight. All the while, we know that we are whole, living in a dynamic ongoing wholeness. The New Creation If we can keep both tracks going at the same time, our awareness will stretch and yield, giving birth to a new state of awareness. This is the age of the Mashiakh, the Tzaddik state, the realm of miracles. Davvenen can be a gateway to higher states of consciousness.