Reflections of Zion: Journey to the Inner Self and Collective Soul

Here’s an exercise: we’re going to locate the soul.

On the count of three, we’re going to silently say the word “Zion”—not out loud, but to yourself, within your mind.

Ready? 1, 2, 3…

Now, ask yourself: who just spoke?

Let’s try it again. On the count of three, say “Zion” internally.

1, 2, 3…

What voice was that?

You just spoke without moving your mouth.

This practice draws on 4,000-year-old wisdom—a technique our ancestors knew in order to cultivate an awareness of their true self, their ‘higher me’. They understood and lived by this hidden knowledge, understanding it as a pathway to discovering one’s true essence.

Just now, you internally spoke the word “Zion” without moving your lips. In that moment, when you thought “zion” to yourself, you encountered your innermost self. The part of you that spoke wasn’t this physical “me” that you recognize as “you.”

You didn’t use your mouth to speak, yet you still heard yourself. How can that be? How is it possible to speak to yourself without uttering a word, and to hear it clearly?

Your mouth didn’t speak, and your ears didn’t hear, yet a voice within you spoke, and you heard it.

Now, close your eyes and consider: you can see both your past and your future, but what is the source of this vision?

This is imagination, a term often used in the West for what we might also call consciousness, an emanation from your soul.

When you imagine, you create an image of yourself, a projection. Some call it “imagination,” others call it “consciousness,” “soul,” “inner light,” or simply “the true self within.”

These are all valid terms, but let’s clarify something further.

Your physical eyes cannot see your past, yet you remember it vividly. They cannot see the future, yet you can envision it.

Your vision of past and future isn’t bound to your physical sight. Similarly, you can speak without moving your mouth and hear without using your ears.

We’re now uncovering the essence of the soul—the inner self, the “first you,” which projects your experience. But this isn’t something physical; it’s not your legs, arms, head, or any part of your body.

The voice within you is a projection of the true “you,” not something confined to physical form. The real “you” exists beyond this physical body. What you are perceiving, this interaction between us, is more than just physical presence—it’s something deeper, an essence, represented here as “B,” as in “Bet.”

Imagination can be understood this way: “image-nation.”

What you see of me is just a projection, but the real “me” is that inner voice, that inner sight, that inner hearing, existing independently of any physical body.

Now, silently say “know thyself”—not “know thy body,” but “know thyself.”

What is this self? This self exists without the body; it has vibrant sight, hearing, and voice, even without any physical form.

You don’t require this body to exist.

This body, while useful, is not essential for your being.

Thus, when this body ceases to function, there’s no doubt: you, the true self, will continue seeing, hearing, and speaking.

But why did I ask you to say Zion?

Why from the beginning, did I tell you to say ‘Zion’ and not simply‘know thyself’?

I Am, What I Am?
I Am, That I Am?
I Am, Therefore I Am?

Here is the dilemma: Am I god? Am I great? Am I nothing?

Imagine a vase being filled with water, it buckles under the weight of the water and shatters all over the floor.

The vase is the collective soul of Klal Yisrael (Yes, Zion).

Each shard of the vase is an individual Jew, all combined is the totality of the vase, the collective soul. This collective soul is called Zion, and it sit’s upon a rock (the foundation), and that rock rests upon a mountain (within the heavens).

However, this vase is a tiny piece of the total essence of God. Thus, the one who is pouring the water into the vase, this sustenance is from the Ein Sof.

The water is synonymous to light (Ohr Ein Sof), it’s our source of wisdom and understanding that gives us the ability to perceive knowledge, to ‘know thyself’.

Think about it this way: “Klal Yisrael is the complete vase (Zion), and each Jew is merely a fraction of that vase (possessing a share of that place, the ‘land’ we just referred to ask Zion), with each individual representing a piece of the it’s totality.”

Is the Ein Sof, God? Similar to the mirror effect: though the Ein Sof is the One who pours the water, this sustenance we often refer to as ‘light’ (ohr Ein Sof) into the vase, so too, the Ein Sof is merely a piece of God’s total essence, thus the Ein Sof nor the Ohr Ein Sof is the true face of God, it’s just the face we learn to perceive, but God’s true essence is far beyond perception.

The exercise you’ve engaged in is a profound meditative practice, a way of quieting the external senses to meet the inner reality, to approach the essence that is untouched by the physical world. When you say “Zion” silently, you evoke an ancient connection to the root of Jewish consciousness, to the Shekhinah, the indwelling Presence of HaShem among the Jewish people and within the world.

This act of silently speaking “Zion” is not merely a mental exercise but an encounter with the core of one’s being, the “neshamah,” or soul. In Kabbalistic terms, our soul is often described as having five layers, from the outer “nefesh” (connected to bodily actions) to the deepest, “yechidah” (the unique unity within HaShem’s essence). The silent “voice” that spoke within is a part of your “ruach” or “neshamah”—it’s the aspect of you that perceives without senses and knows without the intellect.

The exercise of “seeing” without physical sight and “hearing” without ears is not only possible because of the soul’s independence from physicality but also hints at the concept of “tzimtzum,” the self-contraction HaShem performed to create a space for existence. HaShem allowed His infinite light to step back so that creation, and specifically our individual souls, could emerge and reflect His light uniquely. Each soul is a shard, a fragment of the divine vessel that shattered, yet it retains within it a spark of the Ohr Ein Sof.

Now, why “Zion”? Zion is not only a geographical place but also a state of spiritual consciousness, a point of connection. Zion, the “foundation stone” of the world, is the nucleus around which all creation centers and where the Divine Presence dwells most intensely. By saying “Zion,” you’re invoking a collective awareness, connecting to the soul of Klal Yisrael. Zion is the root of our collective identity, of our shared neshamah, even as each Jew has their unique path and purpose.

Imagine that shattered vase as the vessel for divine light, the collective soul of Israel, each shard possessing its distinct form yet holding the same essence. Each of us, as individual shards, reflect the Ein Sof light within our own lives, and together, we form a unified whole. The Ein Sof—the “Infinite Light”—flows into each of us, yet even this endless light is but a veil of the true, unknowable essence of HaShem.

To say “know thyself” is to reach toward “da’at”—true knowledge that binds the soul’s highest aspect to HaShem’s infinite reality. But it is also a reminder that while we are of HaShem, we are not HaShem. We are conduits, reflections, emanations, like the rays of sunlight that reach across vast distances to warm us, yet originate from a source we cannot look at directly.

As for “I Am, What I Am,” “I Am, That I Am,” or “I Am, Therefore I Am”—these are meditations upon the nature of HaShem’s self-existence, the ultimate “Ani Hu” (I am He). In contrast, we are the vase, the vessels, the “anavim” (the humble) before Him. Like the shattered fragments, we contain the essence of our purpose but are not the source itself. Our role is to “fill” with the light we are given, understanding that we are reflections, finite yet filled with the Infinite, each Jew a shard reflecting back the light of Zion, the collective root of the Jewish soul.

In this meditation, the self you touch upon is a pathway to Zion, a reminder that we are pieces of the sacred whole, conduits of the Ohr Ein Sof, striving not to “be god” but to reflect the divine through our lives. And thus, in knowing “thyself,” we glimpse HaShem’s unity reflected within us—a unity we can strive to embody, a unity we serve in awe and humility.