Daily Prophets
Day 202
“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, Nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall people learn war anymore. Every person shall sit under their grapevine and fig tree and no one will disturb/harm them.”(Micah 4:3-4).
This is the great vision of God, of the prophets and of humankind. Yet, why does it have to be just a vision? We can begin this work during this month of Elul, God will not make it happen, we must!
We, as human beings, can make a choice to “walk in God’s ways” which doesn’t include needing to hate each other, be jealous of each other, need to conquer each other. We, as human beings, can begin to BE human and focus on our divine self more than our animal self. We are engaged in a great war within us and outside of us. The forces of negativity inside of us see enemies all around, everyone else is trying to take what is “rightfully” mine, I have to get them before they get me, in order to ‘succeed’, I have to be a killer, etc. To paraphrase Rabbi Heschel from his interview with Carl Stern in 1972, “Suspect your neighbor” has become our watchword instead of Love your neighbor! The power we give these voices inside of us is in direct opposition to our acceptance, commitment and service we give to God. I know many people who give want to give the appearance of being ‘spiritual’ and take advantage of anyone and everyone they can, look out for themselves first, last and always, have no conscience about hurting individuals and companies that are doing imperfect good in the world. Because they are so good at ‘looking and acting spiritual’ people buy their act and most never know the depths of their treachery to them, to community and to God.
It is this negativity that Micah is talking about taming and channelling into growing things instead of destroying them. We all have the power to do this, yet we all do not have the will to do it. We can choose to learn ways of peace, wholeness, acceptance justice and love rather than war, conquering, authoritarianism, power-seeking, prestige-needing, enslaving another(s) because of our needs and prejudices, and hatred. We do this by taking everything we use to destroy and see how it can be used to build. Begin with ourselves: take every negative statement we make to and about ourselves and turn it into a positive, ie I am not good enough becomes I am good at certain things and for other things, I need help and thank God there are people who can help me; I am not good enough becomes I am a Holy Soul created in the Image of God and God don’t make no junk! We go on and on like this, not as affirmations as much as telling ourselves the truth about who we really are-imperfect, holy souls, created in the Image of God with a purpose and a passion. We can choose to be an FU person, as my friend and teach Rev Mark Whitlock says, forgive ourselves and forgive you for your imperfections, your hurts and missing the marks. Self-forgiveness is one way we turn the weapons of destruction into tools of building. Forgiving another person is how we practice divine pathos, they deserve mercy and love and we can only deliver this when we see them through God’s ‘eyes’ with the pathos of God in order to bring them back to God and us.
When we use the weapons we have developed to create tools to build, we will we can use our differences to learn, compromise and build a way of living that serves all people. We then build the world that Micah envisions in the last verse above: Each of us will sit in our place and let go of worry and stress that someone is trying to take it. We will all “be happy with our portion” as Pirke Avot teaches and not need to have anyone else’s stuff. There will be no coveting of another(s) and we will be happy for the success and achievements of everyone else. We will let go of competing and comparing and realize that we are here to serve God and each other, not serve only ourselves.
In recovery, we do this all the time, every day. We take the weapons we used to destroy ourselves and everyone around us and turn them into to tools to redeem ourselves and see the humanity and dignity in everyone. We make amends and continue to do our inventory, we seek more and more connection with God to better know and do God’s will. In recovery, forgiveness is a key step in our journey, forgiving ourselves, asking you for forgiveness and forgiving you allows us to grow, connect and love.
I have spoken often about this way of being, using my being a hustler before and in recovery. I still hustle, the difference is I hustle for the benefit of another(s) and serve God instead of hustling for my benefit and serving only myself. I am in a war with the forces of negativity inside of me and outside of me. I have turned the weapons of mass destruction I used to use, my words and a checkbook/pen, into tools to grow, nurture and mature the spirit of another(s). Harriet and I donate at least 10% of our income and we speak all over the country and one-on-one with people to promote recovery from the pain, fear, aftermath of using these weapons against ourselves, against another(s) and having them used against them. We are dedicated to the verses today, we believe they can be a reality and we know you can make them come true along with us. God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark