Once we unearth the light and remove it from its shell, wants to inspire us and those around us.  but we need to be sure the circuitry is in place, and this is not so simple. VERY practical stuff.

When we do a mitzvah, something enters into us.  It wants to make itself comfortable inside of us, and might have to rearrange some of the furniture.

There is so much we can do to leave the possibility of happiness open.  And so much we already do that allows it to close.

Our bad feelings, faulty narratives, and various and sundry schtick tend to coalesce around the people and situations we encounter in the form of a hard shell called ‘klipah’, and only joy can break through it.  How?  And what is joy, anyway?

Our relationships get distorted because of those nasty klipot that stand like dragons, defending the spark we need from them.  but don’t get turned away!  You need that gold!  So don’t let your heart close!

Without too much work, we can operate at about 91%.  But the remaining 9% has been captured and is being held under maximum security.   Uh-oh!

The work of ascending begins with doing mitzvot with joy.  Why mitzvot?   Why joy?  This class is an interesting exploration of how we remove ourselves and the world around us from its broken state.

Shabbat is a day of soul – when we are given the opportunity to line our lives up the way it is supposed to be done – and will be, ultimately, in the end of days.  But what is soul?  This class took an unexpected turn when we introduced the topic of soul vs. spirit [...]

Shalom is a practice more than an end.  But how do we practice it?  As always, Rebbe Nachman has something surprising to tell us about it.

This lesson challenges our understanding of peace and where it comes from.  The conversations at Naropa are always interesting.