Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 16
“A man entirely unconcerned with his self is dead; a man exclusively concerned with his self is a beast. The mark of distinction from the beast as well as the index of maturity is the tridimensionality of man’s concern. The child becomes human, not by discovering the environment which includes things and other selves, but by becoming sensitive to the interests of other selves.”(Man is Not Alone pg.137-138).
In our constant search/study of humanity, these words of Rabbi Heschel should be ringing in our ears louder than the words of selfishness, desire and winning. Without these words becoming louder and louder in our ears, in our minds, in our souls our world could sink into disaster and ruin.
We are witnessing humans being both dead and beasts, at the same time. When one blithely follows along because they have allowed themselves to be deceived, they are being unconcerned with themselves. It is a phenomena that we are witnessing today, all over the globe, and especially here in the US. People are going along with leaders who could care less about them in reality-none of them would have their followers over for dinner after all- yet their followers are loyal, rabid and true blue.
At the same time that these people have given up their self, they have are only concerned with what they ‘want’/are told they ‘want’. They are so full of their self that they are willing to tear down the democratic principles this country was founded on so they can ‘win’ and go back to the authoritarian roots that caused the Revolutionary War in the first place!! Yet, the dead person nor the beast can see these truths. Both are wrapped in self-deception and the deception of another(s) and this is the path that people follow in order to deny their bestiality and their ‘walking deadness’.
What we see missing in many people is the “tridimensionality” of our concern. This three dimension, of course is explained somewhat in the next sentence. It involves concern for our self, concern for another(s) and concern for God. This, of course, is the key I believe to Rabbi Heschel. I cannot have concern for God, I cannot even truly worship God if I don’t have concern for another(s), for all humanity! God created all of us, not just some of us, ergo: to care for God is to care for all human beings.
Unfortunately, the beasts seem to be running the show! Not just in government, in business where being a beast is rewarded with riches, celebrity, etc.; in religion where caring about ‘our own’ is seen as holy because we are making war against ‘those others/enemies of God’; in families where one person’s word is the law and strict obedience is seen as good. At the same time, we see what happens to the people in charge and to their ‘followers’. How often have we seen the beasts overcome their prey so much that the prey, while breathing, walk around with a dazed look. A look that belies their words of “fine” when asked how they are. A look that is vacant and distant. We see this is captives who are freed all the time. We see it in those we love, those we meet more often than we recognized because to do so would entail us being awake and human ourselves.
What Rabbi Heschel is teaching, reminding us of, calling us out on is to stop and look at our own selves. He is reminding us of our constant need to develop from the child who was traumatized into the adult who is human. He is coaxing us to stop being the beast who traumatizes and mature into the human who is sensitive to another self. Rabbi Heschel’s words are reaching deep into our souls and shaking us up, causing us to hear the call of our soul for sensitivity. They are waking us up from the deaden ways we have been existing. Rabbi Heschel’s words give a new inner meaning to the 2nd prayer of the Amidah(part of the Jewish Service) giving life to the dead for me! What if this prayer is also about reviving our deadness of spirit? This prayer is a call for us to enliven our spirit and our live well through our concern for our self, the self of another and God!
In recovery, we recognize how we were both dead and beasts at the same time. We are rather disgusted with these behaviors, while we realize the traumas that cause us to do them. We are also aware that there are reasons and not excuses. The reasons we uncover have to do with healing them and prior to recovery, we wore them as entitlements and ways to hide, do battle with them and make everyone else pay. In recovery, we are healing from our traumas, we are sharing them so another can hear that healing is possible and our being a little more human, a little more waken is crucial to growing our recovery.
Rabbi Heschel’s words are screaming to me, they are making me cry with tears of remorse and tears of joy. Remorse over the times I have been the beast he describes and when I was a walking dead person. I have been both in my recovery as well as before. In my recovery, I don’t wallow in either state, rather I continue my journey in being “sensitive the interests of other selves”. These times, which are much more plentiful than the beastly/dead moments, bring me tears of joy. I realize “being sensitive to the interests of other selves”, doesn’t mean giving them what they want, rather giving them what they need. This also doesn’t win popularity contests and it allows me to be whole and live more truthfully each day. God Bless and Stay safe, Rabbi Mark