My years of Living with Rabbi Heschel’s Wisdom
Day 87
“God is unwilling to be alone, and man cannot forever remain impervious to what He longs to show. Those of us who cannot keep their striving back find themselves at times within the sight of the unseen and become aglow with its rays. Some of us blush, others wear a mask. Faith is a blush in the presence of God.” (Man is Not Alone pg. 91)
The opening phrase is, in a way, an outrageous statement that could only be delivered by a prophet/prophetic voice. God is supposed to be above everything, self contained, impervious, etc and Rabbi Heschel is saying that God needs us just as we need God. As I consider the implications of this statement, I realize that this is the covenant, it is why and how the covenant is never broken by God and the basis of God’s always being willing to accept our return, calls for us to return and forgives us unconditionally.
Consider our need to hold on to resentments and blame, shame another person, another group. This type of behavior is how we humans remain impervious to what God “longs to show”, love, connection, commitment and unity. God is the Oneness as we say in the Shema prayer and we separate our self from the Oneness when we hold onto resentments, blame and shame another person(s), group, etc. While it feels good to do this, we are remaining and engaging in behaviors that strengthen our imperviousness to what God “longs to show”. Holding resentments, blaming and shaming groups of people, individuals is humans way of controlling, ostracizing, one-upmanship, another person(s) and/or groups. It comes from a lack of self worth, a poverty of spirit and a disconnection from God.
We humans blame and shame another person/group in order to show our power and our need to control and be separate. Yet, if we are all part of the Oneness and “God is unwilling to be alone” then how could separation be good? Yet, we want to distinguish ourselves from another person(s), group so we have to show how we are different, rather than see our similarities, rather than connect with one another-not agreeing necessarily and not hating/needing to be right either. We remain “impervious to what He longs to show” whenever we separate from another human being through resentment, anger, blaming and shaming.
Engaging in this behavior is a denial of the God-Image another human being and we are created in. How can we denigrate one of God’s creations, a human being, just for our own aggrandizement? How can we critique another person’s interpretation of text for our own gain, engaging in our critique as a blood sport? How can we engage in senseless hatred and call ourselves ‘the faithful ones’? Yet we do all of these things and more. We are constantly coming up with new and different variations of ways to remain “impervious” to God! We keep trying to climb the ladder of ‘success’ at the expense of another, we continue to step on another human being(s) and/or groups of human beings to put them down and raise ourselves up. From the treatment of indigenous people to the treatment of immigrants, to the treatment of the poor and the needy right here at home and across the globe, we have proven our imperviousness and our separation from God.
Yet, our fine ‘people of faith’, good white supremacists, great conspiracy theorists, amazing deceivers and grifters have convinced 10’s of millions of people that their way is the way to God. Separation and shame, blame and hatred are all pathways to God and to a better life. Denial of science, denial of the death caused by the pandemic, denial of the validity of vaccines, denial of what God speaks into our ears, into our souls, what is in our Holy Texts of all faiths, are the weapons these mendacious people use and they are still human beings. Lost, pathetic, dangerous, powerful, frightening, and human. We can’t deny their humanness, we cannot deny that they have a soul, we can only experience sadness regarding how lost they are, protect ourselves and people around us from their lies and deceptions, and reach out and speak directly into their ears as Judah did with Joseph and pray one of these times, they will drop their guard, stop being impervious and truly join with God in the covenantal love God gives us all!
In recovery, we know that resentments, blame and shame will kill us. These three modes of being are the root causes of a person leaving recovery and returning to their imperviousness and denial of God’s call to connect. In recovery, we take responsibility for what our actions have created, both positive and negative, repair any damage from the negative and seek ways to enhance the positive, continue to “grow along spiritual lines” and stop playing God.
I have engaged in resentments, blame and shame of another and towards my self. It has gotten me momentary relief and long-term sadness. I engage in these behaviors less and less each day/week/month/year and I have found clarity between blaming and being sad, between shaming and being responsible for my part and holding another person(s) responsible for theirs, and resentments actually poison my spirit and keep me enslaved so I release them as soon as them bubble up in my mind. Over these 35+ years of studying and immersing myself in Rabbi Heschel’s brilliance, I have become less and less impervious to “what He longs to show” and life becomes better and better. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark