From the Mouths of Babes

Melanie Gruenwald

by Dr. David Sanders

My 9-year-old daughter looked toward me the other morning and said: “Dad, you’re still growing.” I looked at her puzzled and she returned my look with a sincere expression and continued: “Not the, you know,” as she lifted her hand to represent physical growth, “You are growing in your awareness.” I was elated and stunned. How could she know I was working on awareness?

A week ago I was introduced to meditation by Ram Daas, “I am loving awareness” while I lay outdoor, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets under the star-filled sky. When I returned to my waking state, the words and meditative sounds continued to vibrate and the wordplay felt so sweet, was it loving awareness or was it loving, awareness. Did it matter?

I had been wondering all summer long, what dialogue did I want to engage in this fall– what classes to offer that would be most relevant for our study at Kabbalah Experience? I was fortunate that evening to be in conversation with the fire burning next to me, the stars above, the tree under whose swaying canopy of leaves I lay, and the firm ground below. It emerged crystal clear–the intricate nature of how metaphor manifests. Why are we needing to wear masks? What needs to be revealed? Who are our modern-day prophets and what do they want us to become aware of? It was a very personal journey I had embarked on and the parallels were not lost on me–it was also a journey into the soul of teaching, the soul of a people, the soul of humanity.

I was growing in my awareness.