Watergen is a phenomenal Israeli machine that extracts water right out of the air and makes it available and safe for drinking.  No spring.  No lengthy pipes.  No schlepping.  It’s like a magic vessel – it receives water that’s already in the air that we otherwise have no access to. 
 
This is a big deal.  Water shortages kill people.  Water shortages cripple communities.  Water shortages start wars.   Imagine.  Wherever people are suffering from lack of water, really the water is right there.  They’re standing in it!  But they have no access to it. 

And now they do – because of a magic vessel.

You and I are like the Watergen.  We are vessels not for water but for the Divine presence.  Like water, the Divine presence is all over (and really helpful), but it’s inaccessible and unusable – without a magic vessel!
  
We learn that we are vessels from God’s portable sanctuary called the Mishkan.   God tells the Jewish people to “make for Me a sanctuary so that I will dwell in them.”  “Them”?   Shouldn’t the verse read, “Make for Me a sanctuary so that I dwell in it”?  Our Sages explain that building the Mishkan is an exercise in self-development.  God’s letting us know that the real dwelling place for the Divine is not the wood and metals of the Mishkan but in us – our very own hearts and minds.

This is a big deal.  Divine presence is everywhere.   Where is there not God’s presence?  Yet for all intents and purposes it remains inaccessible and unhelpful to me and the world without a vessel. 

You and I can be those vessels! 

This is also a really big deal because I for one need the Divine presence in my life.  I cannot think of a single, greater variable in my success than the wisdom, creativity, and love that comes with the Divine presence showing up in my heart and mind. 

Having a nice, warm conversation with my wife?  Good ideas and techniques are nice.  Without the blessing of Divine presence to make use of them, I’ll botch that conversation every time.

Giving my children love and gentle boundaries?  Ditto.

Finding a solution to internal or external conflict?  Ditto.

Writing an effective blog?  Again, ditto.

We become this magic vessel through a few steps. 

First, we acknowledge that we are vessels, not creators.  Watergen doesn’t create water.  Its genius lies in its recognition of and capacity to receive what’s already there. 
 
Second, we seek to receive. 

Last night I spoke with one of my kids about the many conflicts he’s having with siblings. 

“Why do you keep raising this?” said my child, exasperated.  “If you don’t like the way I am, talk to God.  He made me this way.” 
It was a moment I felt love in my heart.

“True,” I acknowledged, “but you are His partner.  You are responsible to contribute to peace.  You must say, ‘God, I can’t do this but I want to.  And You have the understanding I need.  Please – give me the thoughts and feelings to be peaceful.’  Are you saying that to God?” I asked.
“No,” he acknowledged.  He was quiet for a moment.  Then he smiled.  For a moment he glimpsed that he is a magic vessel.

​I used to think my emotional distress or anxiety was real in the way a toddler thinks a shadow is real.  The toddler thinks the shadow is something to fear and run from – it’s alive, it moves, it’s something of this world no less real than he is.  And try as he might, he can’t shake it.  Of course he’s terrified of the shadow.  

Let me be clear – I don’t mean to belittle or dismiss the toddler’s fear.  He is not making up his perception.  He sees a real shape on the ground that pursues him.  He just misunderstands the truth about that shape.  The truth is that he needn’t run.  The truth is that nothing needs to change for him to be safe right now.  

Similarly, when I used to feel sensations of pain, fear, or shame, I used to think they were real in the sense that they indicated real and threatening things in my life.  How else to explain my feeling threatened if not for there being something threatening – to run from, battle, or control?  (Note: I’m not saying there’s no such thing as damaging behavior to protect one’s self from.)

Like the shadows, I still see and perceive pain.  I’m not imagining the feelings.  But I now know something about them I didn’t know before.  I’m less inclined to run or battle or control them.  I’m super grateful for this.

And I see that as tangible as our perceptions are, like all toddlers we, too, are prone to misunderstanding them.  There is no lecture or imparting of information to offer a toddler who’s gripped by fear of his own shadow.  There is love, acceptance, and deep trust that as real and painful as his fear is, he is safe right now.   This will aid him to see a deeper truth sooner than later.