Sepher Ehben: Practice — Chavurah —  a Deliniation of Sacred Space

Chavurah: in the social sense it is a companionship on the journey into the shadows of the inner self, it is the place one brings the ore…

The Sentinel

A Sentinel is a marker comprised of 3 stones balanced vertically without adhesion of additional support. These may be of any size but the proportion should be appropriate for the size and usage of the Chavurah.

Natural stones are preferred and should be used when possible. The stones may be of a form that evokes the principles of the Pillar that the Sentinel represents. Ornamentation is inappropriate for the principles they represent which are abstract and emergent. Igneous for classification, metamorphic for the hypothetical, sedimentary for the abstract. If you wish to elaborate, let 3 stones and the principle of balance be your bounds.

A single Sentinel may be used as a welcome marker to a space for those who may recognize it.

The erecting of a Sentinel especially new or unfamiliar one is a meditative exercise in itself. Take the time to be aware in the situation and your grasping and interpretation of the forms.

Form of a Chavurah

Gnosis, Extasis, Catharsis are the forms of conscious experience to be engaged within the Chavurah.

Within the Gnositic space Logos and Ethos are engaged, withing the Exstatic space Logos, Ethos and Karios are engaged, in the Cathartic space Logos, Ethos and Pathos are engaged.

The physical form of a basic Chavurah is an equilateral triangle with the points marked by a Sentinel.

If one is to sit inside the Chavurah it should be at least 1 meter between points, large enough to stand or sit within.

One may sit without or within the Chavurah to orient perspective, the sentinels representing the three principal domains of developed awareness.

The physical form of a group or communal Chavurah is an equilateral triangle nested inside another equilateral triangle.

The Gnostic Chavurah is the foundation form and should be familiarized before the others are approached.

The Approach of the Gnostic Chavurah

The space inside the Chavurah represents a problem domain.

The outer corners are each marked by a Sentinel.

Sentinels symbolically guard the space of examination from the taint of any external influence with no skin in the game.

Sentinels symbolically moderate the engagement within the Chavurah. They stand in silent reminder that we cannot crawl out of the dirt without the application of quiet discipline to the 3 pillars of metacognition.

• Abstraction with the application of logical reasoning.
• Classification with appropriate magnitude of resolution
• Appropriate application of the hypothetical.

The use of the Gnostic Chavurah

The Chavurah should be formally opened and closed.

To open Sepher Ehben: Aphorisms — Tango should be spoken aloud

Sepher Ehben: Aphorisms — Tango
_Embody Ha Shem, 
Embrace Leviathan.
When the Logos dances with the Shadow, 
the Shadow can not run errant. 
When the…_medium.com

To close Sepher Ehben: Aphorisms — Dominion should be spoken aloud

Sepher Ehben: Aphorisms — Dominion
_The Kingdom is within you, that is the reach and extant of your dominion_medium.com

The Chavurah may be used by a single person as a space of meditation sitting within facing a Sentinel, or from the outside facing a Sentinel through to the center, contemplating each Sentinel framing the problem domain in turn.

The Form of a Crucible

A crucible may be formed when 3 or more engage in the Chavurah as Living Sentinels, stewards of the Sacred Space, actively embodying the Pillar they stand to represent.

The Crucible is a forge for the smithing of robust speech and construct of thought.

The crucible requires at least 3 Living Sentinels

The Initiator presents the subject and scope of the domain.

If the crucible agrees to the engagement the crucible chooses a duration for each round.

There are 3 rounds of engagement

In each round each Living Sentinel will address the domain from the frame of the Sentinel they represent, rotating one position each round until each Living Sentinel has addressed each stone Sentinel.

In a basic Chavurah the Living Sentinel should stand in the center, in a communal Chavurah a Living Sentinel should stand in the triangle in front of their Sentinel.

The central triangle of a communal Chavurah should not be occupied by a Living Sentinel during the Crucible.

By Jason Medland on November 12, 2018.

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Exported from Medium on March 4, 2019.