Daniel Hochman: The Divine Spark

Our teach­ings tell us we are in­fused with a di­vine spark. This pin­na­cle of light connects us to G-d and to each oth­er. When I cel­e­brate the suc­cess of my friends, I share that hap­pi­ness through this di­vine spark. When some­one is griev­ing, I can reach out with em­pa­thy; and that is the di­vine spark.

We nur­ture our con­nec­tion to the di­vine with our acts and our thoughts. When we are kind and con­sid­er­ate, when we lis­ten and try to un­der­stand, when we think of the well-be­ing of an­oth­er, we en­gage our di­vine spark. Our right ac­tions and thoughts are the key to our con­nec­tion with this in­ner light. It is not be­cause we are test­ed. I don’t be­lieve that some­thing ac­tive­ly tests us.

But I know that when I am act­ing con­gru­ent­ly with my sense of moral­i­ty, I can sense the spark’s pres­ence. When I be­tray my sense of right and wrong; when I fool my­self with ra­tio­nal­iza­tions; when I take the easy path, I lose my con­nec­tion to the inner fire.

I find it, ul­ti­mate­ly, eas­i­er to live a life free from the dis­trac­tion of my ego end­less­ly telling me I should have done some­thing dif­fer­ent­ly. It is much eas­i­er to do the right thing in the first place. And it takes less time!

This has been no eas­i­er dur­ing the Pan­dem­ic than in oth­er times. I find that the human part of me makes mis­takes. It does not al­ways do the right thing, take right action, and have right thoughts. This is nor­mal. My con­nec­tion to the di­vine spark is the bal­anc­ing salve, tam­ing the ego and tun­ing into di­vine con­scious­ness.

So, I have been in­vest­ing in my di­vine spark. How? By clos­ing the gap be­tween my ac­tions and my ex­pec­ta­tions. How do I this?

  • Pra­yer
  • Me­di­ta­tion
  • Mu­sic
  • Rest
  • Pos­i­tive, spir­i­tu­al, and fun­ny Face­book groups
  • Cha­ri­ty
  • Apo­lo­gi­zing
  • For­giv­ing
  • Striv­ing for un­der­stand­ing
  • Rec­og­niz­ing when I am feel­ing ‘off.’
  • And many more!!

There are end­less ways. You will sure­ly see some on my list, and you will have a list of your own. As we cul­ti­vate our spir­i­tu­al pres­ence, as we more deeply con­nect with our in­ner di­vine spark, some­thing mirac­u­lous starts to hap­pen!

We feel bet­ter. ‘It’s bet­ter to give than to re­ceive’ has roots in this truth. Also, ’char­ity is good for the soul.’ We fill our lan­guage with wit­ty ‘tru­isms’ en­cour­ag­ing us to accen­tu­ate this side of our ex­is­tence. The ‘re­al­i­ty’ of our hu­man ex­is­tence can co­in­cide with this vi­sion of the in­ner spark. And as we pour our en­er­gy and thoughts into this di­vine con­nec­tion, the con­nec­tion grows.

It be­comes eas­i­er to con­nect. The con­nec­tion be­comes stronger. The spark becomes an ember, be­comes a flame, and then who knows? Can this di­vine pres­ence charge us even at the cel­lu­lar lev­el? Re­search sug­gests it can! And we can take comfort in know­ing that over time we tru­ly do change.

Our cells die and re­gen­er­ate such that as we age, our en­tire body is 100% replace­ment parts from orig­i­nal. Our bod­ies have changed from in­fant to child to adult to aged. They are not the same bod­ies. Our con­scious­ness sur­vives, as does our link to the di­vine.

As I ex­pe­ri­ence the High Hol­i­days, my thoughts turn to our con­gre­ga­tion. If I have in­ter­act­ed with you, I have prob­a­bly been in some­way un­kind. I may have ig­nored your feel­ings or dis­missed your ideas. At times, I have been force­ful. At times, I have barked when I was in pain. The val­ue of my apol­o­gy will be in my pur­suit of right action as we con­tin­ue our paths. I hope you for­give me as well, as I for­give you for what I may have per­ceived as hurt­ful. And in this way, may we con­tin­ue to reach for the divine by grow­ing our in­ner light.

Da­ni­el Ho­ch­man
Founder, A Peace­ful Light

Daniel Hochman has deep roots at CBB. His favorite pastimes are loving his wife Mandy, music, and pondering the meaning of life.