Sweet Caroline sung Neil Diamond, and like any newly dating couple, he knew that something significant changes the instant he touches her hair or she touches his arm. Even a respected associate’s hand on the shoulder or the social kiss on the cheek sends a subtle signal of intimacy. We should understand both the potency and the peril found in this powerful tool of human connectivity.
When a sperm touches an egg, the limitless potential of a human being is triggered. The chromosomes carried by the sperm and egg combine and soon the tiny zygote starts multiplying. Nine months later a bouncing baby completes its journey into the world, a journey that began when a sperm touched an egg.
When toxic sodium and chlorine atoms touch, they combine into sodium chloride, otherwise known as common table salt, without which no plate of fries can be considered complete. The power of these two atoms touching produces an energy gradient that transforms two poisonous substances into a vital and tasty condiment.
Each time you start your car or turn on a light you are utilizing the amazing power of touch. That starter button or switch is nothing more than a mechanical device that makes one electrical conductor touch another. That touch allows an electrical current to flow from the battery to the starter motor or from the power source to the light bulb. The car surges to life or the dark room lights up due to the magic of touch that allowed energy to flow.
Nothing much would happen to a big, lonely ball of uranium. However, if another twenty-five pound ball of uranium touched it, critical mass would be instantaneously achieved and the fifty pounds of radioactive metal would begin a nuclear fission process that could produce enough energy to light a town. It could also unleash sufficient energy to destroy that same town.
Touch causes creativity, transformation, and energy. Touch is an immensely powerful force in the universe and like all powerful forces it can produce positive change but it has just as much potential to devastate and destroy.
Touch is a waypoint on the road to intimacy and as anyone who has loved knows, intimacy can release rapture and joy but it can also cause anguish and despair. Like all powerful forces, to make it safe and productive, intimacy must be harnessed and channeled. Unrestrained intimacy can burn itself out like a plunging meteorite. Intimacy without structure can result in embarrassment and awkwardness.
Not for nothing does royal etiquette in the United Kingdom prohibit any touching of Her Majesty the Queen. Even a handshake has to be initiated by the monarch. Extending one’s hand or taking her elbow to guide her, not to mention an unthinkable hug counts as a colossal breach of etiquette. No anachronistic court custom, this recognition of the power of touch is a wise determination to keep it strictly under control.
As long time Thought Tool students know, many key words in the Lord’s language have the opposite meaning when read in reverse.
Reversing NaGO, the Hebrew word for touch, we obtain OGeN (anchor) as when Naomi urges her daughters-in-law to stay behind, rather than being anchored to a barren future (Ruth 1:13).
NaGO OGeN
The implication is that an anchor, by design, prevents you from moving. It keeps you anchored exactly where you are! By contrast, NaGO (touch) does the opposite. Right! It prevents you from remaining exactly where you are. In almost any context, touch is a propellant of change. Be aware of its potency and monitor its application in your life so that you use it in a safe and wise way.
Secular societies suppress human connection, substituting citizen/government directives. It’s valuable to understand why we so easily succumb to the allure of secularism and quickly reject Godly guidance. If you want your life and that of your family and nation to thrive under Divine direction, you absolutely need our audio CD, Tower of Power. It reveals history’s first organized rejection, the Tower of Babel. Read more about this resource (on special right now) and recognize how seductive trends will destroy our social and economic lives and how we must combat them.
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This week’s Susan’s Musings: Still Mothering
My baby came home. O.k., as a third year medical student, he isn’t technically a baby. He isn’t even technically my baby as three younger sisters arrived after him. And he only came home for four days. But any mother reading this knows what I’m feeling.
There seems to be so little…READ MORE
Read the most recent Ask the Rabbi question and answer here
I recently purchased the Day for Atonement CD and I was quite disappointed when you were speaking on the horoscopes. My disappointment arose when Rabbi Lapin did not name or go through the entire zodiac. Or, are the few mentioned the only ones represented on the Jewish calendar?
Thank you so much I really enjoy and benefit from Rabbi Lapin’s wisdom.
Collota T.
Read Rabbi Daniel and Susan Lapin’s ANSWER HERE
