To my great disappointment whenever I begin to discuss REAL issues of Teshuva with people I quickly see how eyes fog over and minds become numb. It seems that I am speaking a foreign language to most people. For the majority REAL teshuva is something they have not only never heard of, they have never even conceived of the concept.

For most teshuva is about long-winded drawn-out moralistic homilies about how to be a nice person, to be sweet, generous and all that "jazz." All the more so teshuva talk today absolutely always revolves around encouraging one to become more and more religious. The problem is that the definition of religion being emphasized is one of ethnicity and culture and has little if anything to do with real spirituality and drawing close to Heaven.

We have fallen so far away from the level of consciousness that we once possessed in the days when prophets walked amongst us that we no longer remember it or even recognize it. The physic intuitive mind that was once the norm of the Israelite soul has been totally uprooted and abandoned, remembered by very few and embraced by even fewer than this.

In the original days, when we had both Ark and Prophet, we had a living and vibrant connection to Torah and to Heaven. Oral Torah was well known and practiced; never learned from any book and never memorized by rote as from a standardized edition. Oral Torah was alive; in those days Torah was a Living Torah, not just a dead book.

Written Torah was around, not as much as today, but known to the many. Yet, what the people pursued was not the learning from any book or scroll, rather they wanted to see and experience for themselves. Spiritual pursuits and practices in the old days were so prevalent, that according to one source there were actually over a million Israelite souls (men and women) who were prophetically connected to Heaven.

Alas, even in these ancient times, like today, many lacked the discipline to perform properly. Many sought shortcuts and this was what led to the rampant idolatry that existed in those times. Prophets arose to direct the people. Some listened and some did not. Finally in the end, it was decided that enough is enough and the doors to Heaven would be closed disabling the ascenders to ascend above. When this happened the Ark was "turned off." It was removed and stored away until the prophesied time when there would arise the one who would know how to "turn it on" again.

The Ark will never simply be found. It is safeguarded outside of human hands and will never be entrusted to any human being not connected with and trained by "them." Who "they" are is irrelevant for now. "They" will make themselves known when the time comes. When "they" come, they will bring the Ark with them. Until then, it will not be accessible.

Granted there are those today who would love to build another Ark. Yet, such imitations will never work. The imitation will lack certain precise details from the original. It is these details that enable the original to work and will thus prevent any imitation from ever operating as the Ark is supposed to. Besides, the Ark is a communications device. Communications requires two parties communicating with one another. Those here below do not know how to speak the language of Above, and therefore will never be heard. Those Above have been given strict instructions only to answer those who speak "their" language. Today those who speak the "language from Above" are ever so few.

The "language from Above" is not spoken with words or with the similar forms of communications that we use today. Even common prayer is not the form received Above. This is why so many prayers go unanswered and ignored. Simply stated, most today do not know how to pray. They believe that a mere recitation of words is all they need to do. Little do they know that their words are "heavy" and have no power to ascend. The words are spoken, come forth from their mouths and then drop to the floor. Words are supposed to ascend, but who today knows how to make one's words defy the force of gravity?

Words are actually expressions of sound waves, and these are subject to the laws of nature, including gravity. When one lives by natural law, one is completely subject to their rules and dominion. Only when one learns to live beyond the perceived natural, and embrace what is perceived to be supernatural, will one eventually experience that the supernatural is not supernatural at all but rather only a natural force of which we are presently unaware.

The ancients knew this well. They sought to release themselves from their shackles of enslavement that imprisoned their minds to this physical reality. They sacrificed the illusions in order to embrace the true reality. Today, the opposite is true. Most today have sacrificed the reality of a greater world in order to cling tight to the illusions of our self-made delusions. Therefore, we stay imprisoned. We are prisoners within our own minds, with none from the outside able to free us.

The only way out is through within. The only way to return is to turn inwards and escape through the passageways in the mind. Only these can lead us to expanded consciousness. Only in such consciousness is there ever any real freedom.

Without movement, nothing ever changes. Without change something sleeps deep inside us and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.

Those who are asleep cannot return. There can never be Teshuva for the sleeping mind. One only dreams about doing Teshuva but in reality never ever accomplishes it. One cannot perform a mitzvah in one's sleep and expect to receive the benefit from it in reality. The sleeper must awaken.

As long as we identify with the garment, we never realize the truth of the body underneath. As long as we deny the true body, we never come to realize the true soul within. And so we remain asleep. Again, the sleeper must awaken.

Return. Step One, surrender. Say to yourself in silent contemplation; this world around me, with all its stress and problems is really only an illusion. It exists, but there is a greater reality underneath it. Accept this, not just in word, but in deed. You have to really mean it; detach, let go and just allow yourself to float inside your mind, just like a butterfly.

Return. Step Two, introversion. Start to become aware of your real feelings and stop denying your inner reality. Deep within you know a truth, but your mind keeps blasting you down. Your mind keeps telling you to embrace the illusion as the only reality. Fight back! Tell your mind, No! I will no longer allow my own limited perceptions to limit my experiences of reality.

Return. Step Three, inner dialogue. Talk to Heaven inside your mind and heart. Share with Heaven your true feelings and desires. Allow Heaven's fire to burn through the illusionary attachments to the wasteful pursuits of this world. Ask G-d to show you what is really important and what you can do to see it and embrace it.

Return. Step Four, Torah. Torah is Israel and Israel is Torah. Just because someone is born a Jew does not mean that they have automatic Israelite consciousness. Just because someone is not born a Jew does not mean that they cannot achieve Israelite consciousness. It all depends not upon who one is, but rather upon what one does. There is no escaping the reality that Mitzvot are the path of ascent. Yet, one can only ascend within them and not outside of them. External mitzvot, like external prayers do not ascend. Unless the outside is connected to the inside there is no ascent.

Return. Step Five, realization. All is One and One is in all. There is only One True Reality and this is G-d. Everything else with all its stress, fears and worries are all part of the illusion. When one sees this with the inner eye, one will be transformed. One will see the greater world and within such inner sight, one will truly be able to see, and realize just how blind one once was. This is the true awakening of the sleeper. And once awake, one will then be able to do many great things.

One, two, three, four, five, together they add up to 15, the numerical value of the letters Yod Hey, the first two letters of G-d's revealed Name YHWH. 1+5=6. The two numbers of 15 add up to equal the third letter Vav (W) of the revealed Name YHWH. Yod Hey Vav, the numerical value of 21, the value of the Name EHYEH. This is the Name revealed at the Burning Bush. It is "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE." This is the great reality of the One is all.

And what of the final Hey of the Name YHWH? That is us. We are the Hey, the Kingdom; the domain of the Indwelling Presence. Only our awakening can release that which is presently imprisoned. Awaken the mind and restore the Hey to its proper place in the Name. This is the REAL MEANING of TESHUVA (return). The return is the return of the Hey. It is in our hands. Who will awaken and soar above to restore the Crown?