„How very fitting it is to stand on guard over thought and imagination…”
„How very fitting it is to stand on guard over thought and imagination, to catch every idea immediately at its birth in the hidden recesses of the soul, to watch its steps from the very beginning of its emergence out of the concealed mystery into the light of revelation, and to record all the impressions that one feels, with attentiveness, in all the paths of its development.”From Shemonah Kevatzim, VIII, 52
Creators are people who bring ideas out of a place of thought into a place of action.
When they think of something, they do not expect it simply to arrive, but see to advancing its arrival. To write it, to create it, to do it.
Rav Kook invested long hours every day in writing. Despite the insane burden he bore as a public leader, as a rabbi and halachic authority, he did not stop writing.
In this passage, taken from Shemonah Kevatzim, he writes about capturing the idea in an imaginative way.
Standing on guard, catching an idea when it is born in the depths and hidden recesses of the soul, and bringing it to light. And no less than that - recording the entire process in all its sides and layers. Learning from the process of creation.
Try it yourselves: take an idea that is within you and accompany it until it comes to light, and then write out the whole process...
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Have a good evening.
For the recovery of Chaim Yechiel ben Julia
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From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.