Outer and Inner Worlds

Simply speaking, our bodies inhabit a physical, material reality. This is our Outer World. Our personalities, psyches, souls on the other hand, dwell in the world of thought, a non-physical, non-material existence. This is our Inner World. The Inner is the power house of the Outer, instructing it -- directing it to achieve, succeed, enjoy, etc. The thoughts we invest in our activities, affect their success. How we look at others affects how we treat them. Our self-image influences our actions, and almost everything that happens to us.

However, this is not yet our Inner World. Rather it is the inner aspect of the Outer World, our Inner Outer World. The thoughts we generate about the physical world around us are also, in a sense, a part of the physical world. They are the battery that pushes the Outer World.

What then is our true Inner World? This is a world we don't see with physical eyes. While it is just as real as our Outer World, we access it only within our mind.

    Outer Inner World, Inner Inner World

Imagine dying and leaving your body. What are you left with? You still have your essential personality. You also have your memories. But, our rabbis teach us, you have something much greater. For as long as you live in this world, you are cut off from the higher aspects of your soul. In death however, you reconnect with your inner self.[1] This is our Inner World. However, this world is not only for then; it is also for now. Even before we die, we can, in some small way, visit the world-to-come,[2] spend time there. With our imagination, elevated, meditative thought, with our Torah study and prayer, we enter this world.

This reality we also divide into two. There is the outer appearance of this world, our Outer Inner World. And then there is the inner powerhouse which shapes and powers this inner reality. This is Desire, our longing and faith, our essence and ultimate strength.