Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Day 25
“Distant ends, religious, moral and artistic interests, may become as relevant to man as his concern for food. The self, the fellow-man and the dimension of the holy are the three dimensions of a mature human concern.”(Man is Not Alone pg.139)
The beginning of this paragraph, which I began writing about this past Monday, teaches us that we can reach the dimension of the holy, we can rise above our self-centeredness and, in the dimension of the holy, we meet the Ineffable One, I believe. The ingredients that go into a mature human concern are not unattainable, they are not so far off that we can’t get there on our journey of living and we have the path to living a mature human concern: Torah, Bible, Spiritual disciplines are the roadmaps God gives to us to grow our self; our concern for ends, religious, moral and artistic interests, the interests of another(s); and to rise to the holy dimension.
Mendacity is at the root of our problems today and, truth be told, the problems the world has faced forever. We have allowed ourselves to believe the lies that society has been speaking forever and we allow ourselves to be deceived by the mendacity of society, of another(s) and we fall into despair, depression, addiction, etc. On the other hand, we use the lies society has been speaking forever and we become the deceivers and use this deceit to bring ourselves to power and use that power for our self-aggrandizement, fame and fortune. Religions pit themselves against each other, many of them saying:”follow me and you will find inner peace.” They put down the faith and path of another religion as a way of feeling good and sure of their own. How ridiculous!!
Rabbi Heschel is calling to me, to us to GROW UP! To do this, we have to have a developed self, a self that knows our worth, our strengths, our weaknesses, our ability to connect, to care, to ascend to the holy dimension, to engage in moral, artistic, spiritual interests, to know we are imperfect and no longer hide from our imperfections, no longer engage in covering them up, blaming another(s), etc. A developed self is not in conflict with God, with another(s); rather without a developed self we cannot have real connection with God, with another(s) and, instead of covenantal relationships we have transactional relationships that we deceive ourselves about. Without a developed self, we cannot really find and/or give love; we cannot find, give nor receive comfort; we live a life of means not ends; a life of emptiness and loneliness. With a developed self, we experience joy each and every day-even when the days don’t go so well-because we are connected to another(s), to God and our lives have meaning and purpose.
We GROW UP when, as Rabbi Heschel teaches, we see the Tzelem, the God-Image of another human being. When we realize the person across from us, next door to us, on the other side of the globe from us is similar, is in need of something we can give and we get to serve their interests for their sake, for God’s sake, not for our gain and exploitation. When we recognize the strengths and the weaknesses of another human being, help them strengthen themselves and help with/for their weaknesses we are approaching a mature human concern. When we let go of our need to be right, our need to control, our need to use another human being for our purposes and then engage in destroying them or at least “standing idly by the blood of your neighbor”, we are growing up. This isn’t the norm, I know- we all see how people, institutions (which are made up of people) hide behind some lower rationales, yet we can and must make Rabbi Heschel’s words, teachings a reality or we forfeit our ability to be human and revert to the animalistic nature we have inside of us.
Reaching the holy dimension is the antidote to the animalistic nature we have. This nature is not bad nor evil, as I understand Rabbi Heschel and our sages, it is a part of us that we can use to save lives, to care for our selves and, used appropriately, propel us to the dimension of the holy. To live a life compatible with the Ineffable One, we have to take the actions the Ineffable One teaches us: Care for the stranger, etc is mentioned at least 36 times in the Torah! Going beyond our self-centeredness, reaching out to help another human being, engaging in moral, artistic, covenantal ways of living is the path to the dimension of the holy and we all can do it, as long as we let go of our love of mendacity, our love of self-deception and our love of willful blindness.
These two sentences have been the cornerstone of my recovery, they encompass all of what recovery is to me and to most of us in recovery. I have been helped by many people and organizations over the past 34+ years, beginning with the state prison system of Ca.! I have stayed loyal to the Ineffable One, to the people I have been privileged to serve, serve with, to the people who helped me, to the moral, religious, artistic interests that are at the heart of good living, to the covenants I have made and to my inner self/my soul most of the time. I know that my way is not everyone’s cup of tea and I know that being me, being real, is so foundational to my serving your interests, God’s interests and my own interests. I cannot have a mature human concern without being me, warts and all. Transparency and authenticity are cornerstones of self-care, care for another and ascending to the holy dimension. Otherwise, I hide and hiding leads to very dark, very negative places and I am unable to serve anyone else, God nor my own self. God Bless, Good Shabbos, and stay safe, Rabbi Mark