Within the energy of this week’s portion of Ekev there lives a pretty incredible assertion: it is said that the clothes of the ancient Israelites in the desert never wore out!
By contrast, most of us are immersed in a world where literally everything has an ‘expiration date’. Our organic tomatoes, or bedroom sheets, or well-tended plants, all sadly have a shelf-life. Indeed, even marriage, success and the body itself can scream for a ‘time-out’ or even a ‘game-over’.
So how is it possible that the Israelites’ clothes did NOT wear out?
A student of mine in London runs a world-famous skin cream brand – and a conversation we recently shared precisely answers this question, illustrating her attempts to rejuvenate skin AND how Kabbalah actually changes your life.
The answer revolves around overcoming a concept called oxidation (you might need to read this part a few times – I did!)
My student explained that all day, as we interact with others and our environment, our cells are interacting with other cells. As those cells mingle, they share parts of themselves – particularly electrons. In these many interactions, some cells are damaged and create unpaired, break-away electrons called FREE RADICALS. FREE RADICALS are defined as:
- Unstable
- Imbalanced
- Deficient in energy
- Rampaging to quench their thirst, reacting with anything local to steal other electrons and satisfy their own need to rebalance
- Causing aging, decay and disease
This is why your apple and avocado slices suddenly turn scary brown. Yes, the air is essentially thieving electrons from your apples!
Hearing all this, I exclaimed, “Wow that’s exactly how the Rav has explained the workings of the ego.”
You see, all those times we’ve reacted with anger, intolerance, jealousy, blame, guilt, fear, insecurity (and the list goes on…), a part of us became:
- Unstable
- Imbalanced
- Deficient in energy
- Rampaging and reacting with anything local to steel energy to quench our thirst and satisfy our own need to rebalance
- Causing aging, decay and disease
Our negative thoughts, nasty words and ego-based actions literally sever body electrons, creating FREE RADICALS. As we use our desires in negative ways, we sever our ‘desire to receive’ from the ‘soul’ (SOUL = the desire to receive for the sake of sharing) and so it mutates to become a selfish, destructive gene – called the desire to receive for the self alone (the root of all chaos).
That rampant ego then compels us to suddenly need the wrong things and sniff out needy people from whom to steal more energy. It causes imbalances in our decision making, gives us the illusion of feeling deficient, destabilizes our happiness, and attaches us to the wrong people. Before long, we attract general chaos, decay and aging.
My student then explained that that’s why skin creams advertise their anti-oxidation attributes; because their creams have formulas to add electrons, rebalancing the skins’ unstable, damaged, thirsty cells. Hence why they CLAIM they can rejuvenate skin and reverse our aging process.
But what’s behind the cause of why our tissue and skin ages in the first place? Oxidation – our EGO!
Oxidation = aging, decay & chaos!
Anti-oxidants = rejuvenation, anti-matter, immortality!
Applying daily doses of Kabbalah is therefore the ultimate anti-oxidant. Each time you’re proactive, you anti-oxidize your skin. Each time you share uncomfortably, you anti-oxidize your relationships. Each time you overcome some part of your ego, you anti-oxidize your business. Each time your stretch to do things you don’t want to do, you anti-oxidize your health.
The Israelites experienced this moment in consciousness – where aging and disease were impossible – as individuals and as a community. It is up to us to replicate this consciousness every day.
Which, ironically, could put my student out of business – but demonstrates why Kabbalah is the ultimate face cream!
