This is the parashah in which Abram becomes Abraham (17:5), some time after he receives his initial Call (12:1). His experience provides the paradigm for the inner invitation urging us to engage in the spiritual journey. He is told to leave the security of his current identity, to release his hold on his current world and his world’s hold on him. The true spiritual journey begins with this kind of letting go.

Each and every one of us, should we heed that Call, is asked again and again to release the known which we use to limit ourselves. At each stage in our journey, our current self-definition winds up hindering our further evolution. The spiritual Call is not once and for all, but rather, like the yearly visit of this Torah portion, an inner yearning that awakens whenever we have become too settled. And this Call is not only challenge but precious opportunity.

Why heed this Call? Why leave the predictability and comfort of each stage of our established identity? Why venture into the unknown time and time again? Only to discover the further dimensions of our Greater Identity, and, in so doing, to open our hearts and minds to the Greater Self we share. As we open more fully to the One we are, we more readily perceive that One awakening through those we meet. And as we perceive that One more clearly, the radiance of the Inner Presence shines through us.

Abram / Abraham heeded that Call for the same reason we do—to share blessing in our lives and in our world:

“And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and curse the one who curses you, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you.” (12:2 – 3)

We choose to respond to the inner Call because it is our destiny—to expand our awareness of the nature of our being and discover the One we already are. Each stage of self-definition provides the foundation we are then called upon to transcend. In transcending past limits we celebrate ever more profoundly the Light and the Love of our Being.

Focus Phrases:

I appreciate the identity that I have constructed at this point in my life.

I let go of current self-definitions and trust a new spiritual unfolding.

Fuller Love and Compassion flow through me now in wondrous ways.

Writing Prompts:

At this point in my life, I find that I have become a person who...

When I imagine stepping out of my current identity like stepping out of a suit of clothes, I find...

If I allow images to unfold of the self I wish to be, I discover that I am ready to...