{"id":351,"date":"2026-09-21T19:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T17:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/?p=351"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T17:42:10","slug":"abraham-sets-off-the-first-yes-to-the-inner-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/2026\/09\/21\/abraham-elindul-az-elso-igen-a-belso-hangnak\/","title":{"rendered":"Abraham Sets Out: The First \u201cYes\u201d to the Inner Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just one little word that makes it clear: the call isn\u2019t going out, but coming in<\/em><\/p>\n

Soul4you \u00b7 Georgina Kovacs \u00b7 Article 1: \u201eThe Choice\u2019<\/em> From the \u201dBirth\u2019 series \u2014 reading<\/em> Duration: approx. 13 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n

Last time, we explored the theme of remembering home. We looked at how pain, shame and longing can be seen not as faults, but as memories \u2014 as an inner sign that there is a place to return to. We concluded by saying that when this call first becomes not just pain, but a \u2018yes\u2019, that is where the story of Abraham begins.<\/p>\n

Does this feeling sound familiar? You\u2019re sitting in your own kitchen, a cup of coffee in your hand, everything in its usual place \u2014 and yet you know that something isn\u2019t quite right. You can\u2019t quite put your finger on what it is. Nothing dramatic has happened. It\u2019s just a voice inside you saying: you can\u2019t carry on being the person you\u2019ve been up to now. This isn\u2019t an escape. This is the \u201eyes\u201d. This is the beginning.<\/p>\n

If we view the entire series as a single arc, the story of Abraham is not simply the life story of a distant figure. It is the name of an inner movement. The moment when the call not only becomes audible, but is answered. And as we draw closer to the text, it becomes clear: this answer points in only one direction. Not outwards. Towards yourself.<\/p>\n

I. The scene you\u2019re already familiar with<\/h2>\n

Chapter 12 of the Book of Genesis begins as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201eThe Lord<\/em> so<\/em> said<\/em> To Abram: Leave your country and your relatives<\/em> from his circle<\/em> and<\/em> your father<\/em> from his house<\/em> to the land which<\/em> then<\/em> I\u2019ll show you<\/em> for you. A great nation<\/em> I will. I bless you, and<\/em> great<\/em> I\u2019ll do it<\/em> your name, and you<\/em> you yourself are a blessing<\/em> you will be. (\u2026) So Abram<\/em> moved away, just as<\/em> the<\/em> Sir<\/em> ordered<\/em> to him (\u2026). Abram, aged seventy-five<\/em> He was years old when<\/em> From H\u00e1r\u00e1n<\/em> \u201dset out.\u2019 (Gen 12:1\u20134, SZIT)<\/em><\/p>\n

At first glance, the scene is simple. A man receives a call and sets off.<\/p>\n

II. A single word that turns everything on its head<\/h2>\n

The command begins with two Hebrew words. The first is the lech<\/em> (Hebrew: \u2018menj\u2019) \u2014 the verb \u2018menj\u2019. The second is a tiny little word that Hungarian translations tend to overlook almost entirely: lech\u00e1<\/em> (Hebrew: to yourself, for yourself). Together: Lech Lecha<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s literally what it means: go \u2014 to yourself.<\/p>\n

Not \u201ego away\u201d, not \u201eset off\u201d. Go \u2014 to yourself. This little word is one of the most important keys to the rabbinic tradition.<\/p>\n

The best-known medieval Bible scholar, known simply as Rashi (Shlomo ben Yitzhak, who lived in 11th-century France), translates it as: \u201eGo for yourself, for your own good and for your own salvation\u201d. In Rashi\u2019s reading, the call is not a burdensome command. It is an invitation. It does not demand anything from outside \u2014 it calls you to yourself.<\/p>\n

The 19th-century M\u00e1lbim (Meir Leibus ben Jehiel Michel Weiser) translates this very phrase even more poignantly: \u201ego to yourself\u201d \u2014 that is, return to your true self whilst shedding the influences you have received from your homeland, your birthplace and your father\u2019s house. In M\u00e1lbim\u2019s interpretation, the exodus is not a departure but a purification: Abraham does not set out to lose something, but to find what he always was, before all that he had inherited had been laid upon him.<\/p>\n

In other words, the first words of the call are actually saying: come home to yourself.<\/p>\n

III. The oddity that stands out<\/h2>\n

God apparently calls upon Abraham to leave behind everything that is his: his land, his relatives and his father\u2019s house. He sends him on his way \u2013 to another country.<\/p>\n

But the word he starts with says: \u2018inwards\u2019.<\/p>\n

The outer journey is a reflection of the inner journey. You can only truly set out for Canaan if, in the process, you set out on a journey towards yourself.<\/p>\n

The 13th-century Ramban (Moses ben Nachman, Nachmanides) confirms this same depth from a different perspective. According to Ramban, the story of the patriarchs is not merely a narrative \u2014 everything that happens to them is also a sign for their children (in Hebrew: maasze<\/em> avot<\/em> we\u2019re just chilling<\/em>, that is to say, \u201ethe deeds of the forefathers are a guide to their descendants\u201d).<\/p>\n

When Abraham leaves his homeland, and when he later returns from there rich and strengthened, this is not merely an episode in his life story, but a foreshadowed pattern which is repeated in the fate of the entire people that follows. Ramban thus suggests that the path Abraham is now embarking upon is not a unique adventure. It is a template \u2014 one that every generation must retrace in its own way.<\/p>\n

The Hasidic masters \u2014 including the 18th-century Baal Shem Tov \u2014 took this deeper interpretation even further. For them, Abraham\u2019s journey was already explicitly \u201ea journey to the root of the soul\u201d. Not a geographical migration. An inner homecoming.<\/p>\n

And this immediately raises the question: what does it mean for Abraham to leave behind a \u201eland\u201d, a \u201ekinship\u201d and a \u201efather\u2019s house\u201d?<\/p>\n

Where was the last place you heard that voice today telling you: \u201eThese are the glasses you\u2019ve inherited \u2014 but you don\u2019t have to keep looking through them\u201d?<\/p>\n

IV. Land, kinship, the father\u2019s house \u2014 three increasingly deep layers<\/h2>\n

The call is not simply a matter of moving house. It asks Abraham, in three stages, to leave something behind. And according to the rabbinic interpretation, these three stages become progressively deeper.<\/p>\n

The earth (in Hebrew erec<\/em> \u2014 literally: earth, country) is the highest. The space, the comfort, the familiar surroundings. What we stand on. What we\u2019ve always had. It\u2019s relatively easy to leave this behind. You just have to go.<\/p>\n

Kinship (moledet<\/em> \u2014 Hebrew: place of birth, origin, kinship) is already causing pain. It doesn\u2019t just refer to blood relatives \u2014 it refers to every form of external support we receive from others. The identity that lives on in the eyes of others. The roles we play because of them. That which makes you feel like you\u2019re somebody.<\/p>\n

The family home (beta<\/em> \u00e1vi<\/em> \u2014 Hebrew: \u2018the father\u2019s house\u2019) is the deepest. And here Rashi subtly points out: this does not literally refer to the parents\u2019 house. It refers to the way of thinking instilled in us. What we have received from our fathers and our ancestors about how the world works, who God is, what is right, what is sin, and what we deserve.<\/p>\n

The earth lies beneath our feet. Our kin are all around us. Our father\u2019s house is within us.<\/em><\/p>\n

And that is precisely why it is so difficult to let go of it. Because we don\u2019t even realise we\u2019re carrying it around. It\u2019s in our words, our reflexes, the underlying tone of our thoughts.<\/p>\n

The call reaches me here too. It asks you to check: is this my own way of seeing the world?<\/p>\n

V. The goal he cannot see<\/h2>\n

The call ends with a strange sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201eTo the land which I shall show you\u201d (Gen 12:1, SZIT).<\/p>\n

He won\u2019t say where. He won\u2019t give you a map. He just says: \u2018I\u2019ll show you when we get there.\u2019.<\/p>\n

This may well be the most difficult part of the scene. Abraham sets off without knowing where he is going. He has no itinerary. Just a direction that he senses deep within himself.<\/p>\n

The New Testament recalls this in a single sentence: \u201eBy faith Abraham obeyed when he was called \u2026 He set out without knowing where he was going\u201d (Hebrews 11:8, SZIT).<\/p>\n

The Hungarian word \u201ehit\u201d may be misleading in this context. The Hebrew word underlying the text \u2014 aman<\/em> \u2014, it does not mean \u201eto believe something\u201d. It comes from the same root as the word \u2018amen\u2019. Its basic meaning is: to make something trustworthy.<\/p>\n

In other words, Abraham\u2019s faith did not consist in his being convinced of certain things. Rather, it consisted in his entrusting himself to something whose stability he could experience within himself.<\/p>\n

A call is not a map. A call is a compass.<\/em><\/p>\n

VI. What exactly happens when someone says \u2018yes\u2019?<\/h2>\n

On the surface, there is nothing spectacular about it. The text simply states: \u201eSo Abram set out, as the Lord had commanded him\u201d (Gen 12:4, SZIT). A simple sentence. A simple step.<\/p>\n

But internally, two actions take place simultaneously. These two actions will recur in all subsequent passages \u2014 in the lifting up of Isaac, in Jacob\u2019s struggle, in Joseph\u2019s forgiveness, and in Job\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n

The first: distinguishing the call. In the dreamer\u2019s mind (that tardem\u00e1h<\/em> \u2014 Hebrew: a deep, indicated trance-like state \u2014 referring to the state of consciousness described in the first article: nowhere in the Bible does it say that Adam awoke) \u2014 a multitude of voices speak: the voice of fear, of shame, of conforming to others, of urgency. The first step is simply this: to realise that one of these is different. It does not urge. It does not threaten. It does not manipulate. It simply calls.<\/p>\n

The second: entrusting oneself. Not believing in something, but entrusting myself to something. This is the Hebrew aman<\/em> the internal dynamics of a word.<\/p>\n

The call doesn\u2019t explain \u2014 it just goes on.<\/em><\/p>\n

That is why Abraham can set out without knowing where he is going. He does not put his trust in the direction. He puts his trust in the One who calls him.<\/p>\n

What have you left behind without knowing exactly what lay ahead \u2014 knowing only that you could no longer stay where you were?<\/p>\n

VII. An Interpretation of the Teaching of Miracles \u2014 The Birth of Choice<\/h2>\n

According to the teachings of *A Course in Miracles*, the sleeping mind (the consciousness described in Article 1, which is immersed in tardem\u00e1h and has never awakened) is constantly making a choice. At every moment, it chooses between fear and love \u2014 only, most of the time, it does not realise this. The very structure of the dream is such that this choice becomes invisible. The dreamer experiences the world as if it were happening to them, and they were merely a passive sufferer.<\/p>\n

The figure of Abraham represents the moment when choice becomes visible. It is the moment when the dreaming mind first realises that it is making a choice.<\/p>\n

Miracles<\/em> teaching<\/em> Lesson 132 of the Workbook explains the idea that the world we see around us is, in fact, a consequence of what we desire \u2014 and if we change our minds, if we choose to see things differently, the world we see will also be transformed, because no thought is ever severed from the source from which it was born.<\/p>\n

What actually<\/strong> says:<\/strong> What you call \u201ereality\u201d out there is not independent of you. Your desires and your perspective shape what you see. This doesn\u2019t mean that everything is your fault \u2014 it means that you have power over your perspective, even if you don\u2019t have power over your circumstances.<\/p>\n

Abraham does not change the outside world. First, he changes his perspective \u2014 and only then does he set out. The land of Canaan, towards which he is journeying, is still invisible to the eye. Yet, deep down, he can already see it.<\/p>\n

Another point in the main text of *The Teaching of Miracles*, in the chapter on decision-making, teaches that true inner freedom does not lie in decisions made alone, but in the realisation that one does not have to decide everything on one\u2019s own \u2014 there is an Inner Voice to whom one can entrust the decision, and this act of entrusting is itself the beginning of a change in perspective.<\/p>\n

The Teaching of Miracles \u00b7 Main Text, Chapter 30 (summary)<\/p>\n

What actually<\/strong> says:<\/strong> The real burden isn\u2019t that you have to make every decision on your own. The burden lies in the belief that you have to do it alone. When you let go of that and allow someone wiser than you to have a say, the path immediately becomes easier \u2014 even if you cannot yet see the way forward.<\/p>\n

That was Abraham\u2019s \u2018yes\u2019. He did not know the whole way. But he knew that he was not making the decision alone.<\/p>\n

VIII. And in people today?<\/h2>\n

This story didn\u2019t happen just once, around 2000 BC. This story is happening right now. To anyone.<\/p>\n

There comes a moment when someone who, on the surface, seems to have it all \u2014 their job, their relationships, their security \u2014 begins to feel deep down: this isn\u2019t where I belong. They don\u2019t know where to go. They have no plan. All they know is: this isn\u2019t it anymore.<\/p>\n

Another person recovers from a long illness and realises that their old life demanded something of them that no longer belongs to them. It was not the illness that brought about this change. The illness merely brought to the surface what had long since been brewing.<\/p>\n

A third person simply wakes up one morning and knows full well that the job they\u2019ve been doing for ten years no longer fulfils them. It\u2019s not dramatic. It\u2019s just clear.<\/p>\n

Each one is an \u2018Abraham moment\u2019. The call isn\u2019t always loud. Most of the time, it\u2019s quiet. But once you\u2019ve heard it, you can\u2019t help but hear it from then on.<\/p>\n

From this point on, the question is no longer whether it will happen. It\u2019s what you\u2019ll say in response.<\/p>\n

IX. So what should we do?<\/h2>\n

The call does not demand everything from you straight away. It asks for just one step \u2014 but one that you take consciously, not out of fear or a desire to conform.<\/p>\n

Three<\/strong> An exercise you can try today, if you like:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The three<\/strong> layer<\/strong> taking stock.<\/strong> Take a piece of paper and write down the following, one by one: what my \u201eland\u201d is (my familiar circumstances), what my \u201ekinship\u201d is (the external expectations I live up to), and what my \u201efather\u2019s house\u201d is (a belief I have never questioned)? You don\u2019t have to give up any of them straight away. Just see how you carry them.<\/li>\n
  2. The call<\/strong> and the pressure<\/strong> distinction.<\/strong> The next time something urges you to change, pause for a moment and ask yourself: is this voice urging you on, threatening you, or making you feel ashamed? Or is it calling you quietly? According to A Course in Miracles, the ego is always in a hurry. The true call waits until you are ready.<\/li>\n
  3. That one<\/strong> step<\/strong> practice.<\/strong> You don\u2019t need to know the whole journey to set off. Today, take just one small step in a direction you\u2019ve long felt called towards \u2014 a phone call, a conversation you\u2019ve put off, a \u201eno\u201d you\u2019ve been meaning to say for ages. Do it, and see how you feel afterwards. You don\u2019t need to see the whole journey. You just need to take the first step.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    X. The arc that takes you further<\/h2>\n

    The story of Abraham begins here: with a call to which he said \u2018yes\u2019, and a journey whose destination he could not see. This was the first step \u2014 leaving his homeland, his relatives and his father\u2019s house, and placing his trust in an unseen destination.<\/p>\n

    But the call does not end there. In the next section, Abraham hears those same two words once again \u2014 Lech Lecha<\/em> \u2014, only this time he is not asking you to leave a piece of land, but to take his son, Isaac, up the mountain. What happens when the call asks not just that you set out, but that you give up what is most precious to you?<\/p>\n

    Your dream<\/h2>\n

    Was there ever a time in your life when something inside you was calling you softly \u2014 but you couldn\u2019t say where it was calling you?<\/p>\n

    What did you leave behind back then? Was there any \u201eland\u201d, \u201efamily\u201d or \u201eparental home\u201d that no longer belonged to the place you set out from?<\/p>\n

    If something is speaking to you right now \u2014 quietly, without any urgency \u2014 what would it be like to hear it as a call to which you don\u2019t have to respond tomorrow, but with just a single, very small step?<\/p>\n

    Because the call, wherever it may seem to lead, is in fact always directed to the same place: go \u2014 to yourself.<\/p>\n

    If so, then your journey has already begun.<\/p>\n

    Sources<\/h2>\n

    Biblical text and linguistic background<\/h3>\n