Daily Prophets
Day 140
“The survivors shall escape to the mountains, like doves together, each person shall moan their iniquities. …horror shall cover them, every face shall betray shame… I will treat them in accordance with their own ways and judge them according to their judgements.”(Ezekiel 7:16,18,27).
The last verse above is an interesting one for me. It is God being God’s least merciful version of God. While we keep insisting on FAIR and everyone treated the same, here, the prophet is saying we will be treated as we acted and judged as we judged! Oh no, we will be treated as we treated others, so if we were racist and slave masters, we will be treated with racism and become a slave. If we were greedy and stole from our employees by underpaying them so the “shareholders could profit”, then we will be underpaid and stolen from, etc. While the lawyers tell us ‘if you do it for one, you have to do it for everyone’, do the lawyers want to be treated like they treat another(s)? I think not! Do government officials want to be treated the way they treat us citizens? Again, I think not. God is promising to treat us according to the ways we treat others and all of us should tremble. Are we ready to stand before God and be judged in the manner we judge another? Most of us count on God’s mercy and grace so the last verse above is terrifying to most of us.
It is important for us to hold onto this verse as it will cause us to be more Godlike in our ways of being and in the judgements we make. It will allow us to be less judgmental and more open to mercy and grace. It will give us the opportunity to constantly change our ways of being so we are more in concert with our Godly nature. Holding onto this verse eliminates the need for “it’s not fair” and sameness in acting and judging. Since all of us are created unique, what is fair for one, cannot be fair for another and what is just for one, can’t be just for another-rather we have to act in accordance with God’s Will for us individually and judge each person as individuals, not go by some metric.
This is how the survivors in the first verse above will relieve themselves of the shame and horror of their actions. Moaning over our iniquities is the first step on our journey back to a decent way of living and reconnection with God and another human being and humanity in general. We need to see the horror of our actions, we need to experience the shame of being created in the image of God and not recognizing nor honoring this truth. Instead, we go about our business thinking of ourselves and what is “best” for us and ours. Not being responsible for what is right and good in God’s world, not caring for the stranger and the needy and the poor in body, mind, finances, and spirit. We, the ones going about our business as usual, are the ones who are poorest in spirit and don’t realize it. We are spiritually bankrupt and claim to be flush with cash.
What is needed is a little horror and shame on the part of our leaders and on our part as well. False accusations are the same as murder in Jewish Law because they murder the integrity and dignity of another(s). Promoting lies, rewriting of history, cover-ups, blaming another(s) for ones flaws and failures, etc are all things that should bring us to horror and shame, yet many people extol these ways of being as Godly and people support them because self-deception is a major disease, as Rabbi Heschel teaches. In his book Who is Man, Rabbi Heschel in 1963, teaches: “There are slums, disease, and starvation all over the world and we are building more luxurious hotels in Las Vegas”. Some 60 years later, we are no better, maybe worse.
In recovery, we experience the horror and shame of our actions that are in direct violation of God’s Will and Ways. We gather together to help each other face our flaws and failures, own up to God and to another(s) the direct nature of our errors and find ways to make amends to the people we have harmed. These principles are cornerstones of our recovery as we need to constantly “keep our side of the street clean”. Once we have come face to face with the horror we have caused and our faces betray the shame we experience from these actions, we are on the road back to decency, God as well as family, friends, community and, most importantly, our authentic self and a way of being in the world that honors our uniqueness and is compatible with being a partner of God’s.
I have faced with horror the negative ways I have acted and the paths that I have taken that led me away from God. I have experienced the shame of separating myself from God, believing the lie that I was doing God’s Will. I also faced with horror and shame the foolish belief in people I trusted to be true to their word and stay connected and helpful at all times. I am grateful that these times have been fewer and fewer in my 32+ years of recovery. I know that I am unafraid of God’s judgement as I have made amends and T’shuvah with those I harmed and with God. I also know that I have learned whom to trust and whom not to. I have taken off the blinders and stay open to the T’shuvah of another(s) as I pray people are open to mine. Even when it is not accepted nor acknowledged, I have learned that T’Shuvah takes the horror and shame away from me. Thank you God for the gift of horror, shame and T’Shuvah. God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark