Zooming In
“I am consumed by a more general sense of dread, of imprisonment within the dreary world of work and home,” he said in describing why he wanted to talk.
We can travel the world, share fascinating experiences, explore the countless avenues of life and still feel imprisoned by our circumstances, and more so, by ourselves.
I asked the young man if he would feel free if he could hop on a spaceship and visit other planets. “I would love to do it, but, at most, it would be an escape. I want to feel free of the walls around me, here, without having to run away.”
The Mishkan recreated the boundaries of Sinai. It was at the center of the camp, at its deepest point inside. Its courtyard was the first boundary. The Sanctuary was the second boundary, and the Holy of Holies, the third and innermost boundary. All the boundaries were inside. They were not walls that enclosed or imprisoned us. The boundaries were not outside the camp, keeping us in. The only walls on the outside were clouds of protection, and certainly not of containment.
We are so accustomed to perceiving the outer boundaries of our existence, and they can frustrate us as they do for the man of our story. Yet, the Mishkan focused us on the boundaries within, it zoomed our vision in toward the center of the camp and our existence, away from boundaries that imprison.
We could cross the first boundary by achieving higher spiritual purity. Most of us could never cross the second boundary into the Sanctuary, but even those who did, the Kohanim, could do only for us. Only Moshe and Aharon could cross the third boundary into the Holy of Holies, but they too, entered as our representatives, not as individuals.
When we turn our gaze from the outer boundaries, walls of clouds, toward our inner boundaries, we realize that they are all boundaries that we can cross; they never hold us back. (Crossing Boundaries)
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