What is a Mitzvah?
Every religion has its own code of ethics, because living by a set of moral rules is what separates us from animals and gives us a higher calling. We understand and therefore we must. So what is specifically different about a mitzvah? Most people understand a mitzvah as something that has been commanded by G-d, and they’re right. However, it’s a lot more than that. Mitzvot are something we do for G-d. It’s the good acts of kindness and order restoration we perform in our every day lives. From visiting the sick, to feeding the impoverished, performing the mitzvot is our calling, and guide to repairing this reality. Some mitzvot seem out of place, or in the wrong time, some bordering on nonsensical. That’s because they weren’t all meant to be understood, just obeyed. Can you imagine thinking you fully understand everything the creator of this reality wants?
Repairing this world, or tikkun olam takes more commitment than it does understanding, but understanding all we can with our primitive minds certainly helps. Every culture’s moral guidelines vary greatly, but there are themes and patterns to these rules because deep down, we know certain ones are from G-d himself. “Do not kill,” this is pretty universal, just like “do not rape.” This is because life is precious and we’re all here purposefully to help restore order. We all have a job to do, and cutting someone’s life short not only stops them from doing the creator’s work, it takes away their free will. Our biggest gift from G-d. Rape does the same, so does domestic violence. Plus, it’s just downright evil. Something all of us can agree on, even the people who commit those acts.
Every mitzvot whether positive or negative, is a way to restore order to our world. Positive meaning things you’re asked to do, and negative meaning things you’re asked not to do, like “don’t eat shellfish.” Of course, we’re coming at this from a Jewish angle because it’s all we can do, being Jewish. So, what we may call a mitzvah, you may call a commandment, or a tenet. Your base religion doesn’t matter, all that matters is that you live by a set of rules that feels right in your soul. Listen to the little voice in your head telling you to give that beggar the change you got back when you bought your coffee. Listen to that voice telling you that you should just grab a trash bag and clean the littered stretch of forest you pass by every day. The more you listen to that voice, the more you’ll realize it’s actually the creator talking to you. It’s the universe healing itself through you. You performing these mitzvot may seem insignificant to you, but done on a large scale brings forth the reality we want to live in. The world to come, or as the rastafarians call it, Zion.
G-d gave us every tool to create heaven here on earth and yet we all got it in our head that paradise only exists after this life. That’s the yetzer hara, or the evil inclination of the universe propagandizing you against yourself. Telling you that good things aren’t possible. They are, and it’s achievable in your lifetime, and it starts with you. It starts with good intention, and then turning that intention into action. Whether by direct action, like painting a disabled neighbor’s house, or indirect action. Indirect action would be setting an intention, casting a spell, putting your anger or hate into an object and destroying it.
The yetzer hara is more powerful than you could ever imagine. It’s not only the anti-productive voice in your head, it’s the evil whispers in a general’s ear telling him to destroy the classic works of art in a conquered society. It’s the 24/7 news cycle telling you to be afraid of your neighbor. It’s the greedy politicians choosing themselves over the greater good. It’s the destruction of our esoteric knowledge, the dulling of our magic and imagination, and the subjugation of our people. Those in power do not want us to remember that our words and incantations have reality altering abilities. We share in the power of G-d to create, because we were made in his image. The yetzer hara will stop at nothing to make us forget our ancient memories, and powers of intention passed down from every culture on this planet, from the time of painting stories on cave walls. The ultra rich and powers that be want to keep this esoteric knowledge to themselves, to use against us, and we’re in a spiritual war. A mass babylon.
Tikkun olam isn’t just repairing the world outwardly, it’s also internally. It starts with you, so it stands to reason that you need to work on yourself first. Once you get to a place you can help others, do it. Until then, however, work on yourself. Eat right, stay hydrated, exercise, meditate, drop your dangerous habits. Mussar is a great way to improve yourself spiritually, and so is dreamism if you’re doing it correctly, but it takes commitment. You have to start living by these principles and putting everything you have into it. You have to understand that your intentions have very real power, and can shape the world around you. You have to also understand that magic is real and can be used to help usher in the world to come.
But most of all, you have to love G-d with all your heart, all of your soul and all of your might, understanding that G-d is the people around us, the beautiful works of nature, and the creative spark that fuels melodies. G-d is the majesty, splendor and wonder of our world and you must be its warrior, never sleeping, always watching and waiting for dangers who wish to destroy it. This is why we perform the mitzvot. We perform them for G-d because it’s the only thing G-d needs from us. It’s why we’re here. Not living up to our potential is a fate worse than death, it means you already died while you were alive.
Now, back to the mitzvot. Which ones should you follow? For the purposes of Dreamism, you should be following the moral Mitzvot, the ones that feel right in your heart, the ones the little voice in you agree with. If some Wiccan philosophies feel right to you, do that. If some Buddhist philosophies feel right, do that. Your soul is going to know what’s right long before your rational mind works it out. Trust your gut, because your gut is G-d speaking to you directly. We all make independent good choices, or moral choices, but when we do them as a society, we’re working as G-d. Think of yourself as a football player, and G-d as the team. Each of us can score individually, but when we do, we score as a team. This is how the overarching dream works. Our internal independent feelings and thoughts are a drop of water in a wave, and it’s G-d crashing against the shore. Without the drops of water, there are no waves so G-d needs us, and He needs us working together. Can you imagine the chaos if all the water droplets worked in their own self interest? The waves would stop. The football team would be kicked off the field. Society is a cohesive effort that we have to work on every day to maintain.
These feelings of helplessness we have as a society, watching the dark news pour in daily, telling us to give up; we have to remember who is really talking there, and realize a lot of money has been dumped into propagandizing us against ourselves. Think tanks sit in dark smoke filled rooms plotting against us, using AI and advanced algorithms to weaponize information through a biased lens to make us feel despair. You cannot let them win, and let their voice be louder than yours. Again, words have very real power and you need to turn yours up to 11. Drown out the chaos by being such a good example of what a person could be, that others want to follow in your footsteps. Let that caring inner voice win, and spill out into the world. Let your actions bring forth the world you want to live in. It all starts with you.
