The 4 Levels of Higher Jewish Consciousness, and How to Reach Them
With the goal of enhancing your Judaism, your Jewishness, your life, and those around you.
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Every few years, we upgrade the operating systems on our technology devices to make them run faster, better, and take on increasingly complex tasks with ease.
But how many of us Jews think about doing the same for our Judaism, our Jewishness, and our Jewish selves?
Part of the reason for our inaction in this regard is because the journey of Judaism and Jewishness is incessantly challenging and forces us to peel back the layers of our past, to confront new information and sometimes uncomfortable truths, and to practice metacognition — thinking about our thoughts and the patterns behind them.
Generally, metacognition has three components:
Metacognitive knowledge (also called metacognitive awareness) is what you know about why and how you think their thoughts.
Metacognitive regulation is the control of thinking and learning through a set of disciplined exercises and activities.
Metacognitive experiences are the current, ongoing thinking and thoughts.1
In reality, most people have “preprogrammed” thought loops which dictate everything from their self-esteem, habits, decision-making, problem-solving, relationships, career, creativity — and, in the case of this essay, their Judaism and Jewishness.
The goal is to identify these thought loops, determine if they are advantageous or disadvantageous, and then “reprogram” the latter ones to enhance your Judaism, your Jewishness, your life, and those around you.
Here are four ways to do so, through the lens of Judaism and Jewishness: