Soul Maps
Kabbalah to navigate your soul
This course has passed. If you would be interested in a re-run of this course, please email rabbi@jewishbattersea.com
Course Overview
Perhaps you have struggled before with the elusive search for meaning, and wished you had a personal mentor to guide your growth. What if you had the chance to meet one of the greatest masters of Kabbalah and learn ancient proven strategies for self-realization and contentment?
In Soul Maps you will receive insight into your inner world and you will discover new strategies for overcoming obstacles to change and progress. You’ll learn to resolve guilt, conflict, and confusion, and to traverse life’s journey with joy, purpose, and direction.
Scroll down for Course Syllabus
6 Tuesdays, 5th May - 9th June
8:15 - 9:30 PM
On Zoom, register for link
Registration is free, Donations appreciated
For all questions please email rabbi@jewishbattersea.com
Course Details
Our upcoming course, Soul Maps, introduces you to the Tanya, a 200-year-old text with a revolutionary new look at human psychology. It provides Kabbalah-based tools to help you understand yourself.
Until the publication of Tanya, the Kabbalah was an esoteric discipline that was studied and understood by only a select few. Tanya, however, sought to make the teachings of Kabbalah practical, relevant, and accessible. Its numerous reprints attest to its success in achieving this goal.
A precursor of the modern self-help genre, Rabbi Shneur Zalman authored Tanya as a substitute for his personal mentorship. If you attend this course, you will experience six virtual sessions of spiritual counseling from a master of Kabbalah and the nature of the soul. You will come to understand the source of guilt, conflict, and confusion, and find useful strategies for developing joy, purpose, and direction in everyday life.
COURSE SYLLABUS
Lesson One - Tuesday 5th February
Soul Words
If you are such a good person, why do you sometimes feel so mean inside? And if you are such a bad person, why are you plagued by fits of conscience? Just as Freud developed the vocabulary that enable you to speak about your psyche, the Tanya provides the key terms and constructs that allow you to speak about your soul . . . or souls. What kind of person are you? What is the source of inner conflict? This lesson teaches you the words you need in order to answer the question.
Lesson Two - Tuesday 12th February
Getting A Grip on Yourself
It can be enlightening to know why you succumb to temptations that you wish you had resisted. But is there a strategy to gaining self-control? This lesson provides practical guidelines for overcoming weakness and learning to control behaviour.
Lesson Three - Tuesday 19th February
Sync or Sink
When your heart’s passion pulls you one way and your measured mind pulls another way, the disconnect can be agonizing. This lesson will teach you two methods for aligning reason and emotion, so you can reduce stress and live decisively.
Lesson Four - Tuesday 26th February
The Joyride
Constant doubt and emotional unhappiness can gradually sap you of the strength and will to change. But joy provides the boost that allows you to live each day with enthusiasm and resolve. This lesson provides useful perspectives that can help you generate a positive attitude.
Lesson Five - Tuesday 5th March
The Big Picture
Even after learning methods for overcoming personal challenges and pursuing goodness, you may still wonder why it all matters. What is the purpose of imperfect attempts at perfection? Do your human failings condemn you to be a personal failure? Or might your weaknesses provide an opportunity for a making a unique contribution to the world? Lesson Five allows you to make peace with your personal struggles as you consider your place in the larger scheme of things.
Lesson Six - Tuesday 12th March
Have a Heart
Most of Tanya focuses on how you can gain control of the way you act, even if your feelings and motives are not always pure. For those who are patient enough to pursue a slow fix, this final lesson provides meditations and guidelines for reshaping your essential nature over time, while recognizing that the true key to living purposefully is behaving purposefully.