Daily Lessons from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Day 7
“Inquire of your soul what does it know, what does it take for granted. It will tell you only no-thing is taken for granted; each thing is a surprise, being is unbelievable. (Man is Not Alone, pg.12).
Rabbi Heschel begins this thought with an assumption; namely that we all recognize, communicate and engage with our souls. I love his optimism and his believing we all are interested in, capable of and desire to connect with our souls. I am reading this sentence today in conjunction with the earlier sentences about wonder/radical amazement, Rabbi Heschel is teaching us, reminding us, hoping for us, that wonder/radical amazement are the responses of our souls, never our minds.
Going on this journey that Rabbi Heschel is suggesting we first have to shut out the noise in our heads, we have to let go of/release all the yesterdays that are blocking our hearing and our seeing. When we inquire of our souls, we are moving past our history, we are leaving the comfortable shores of lower knowing and we are plunging into the sea of the unknown, the depths of our insecurities to hear the true voice of the universe, God, our authentic self. Some people take this journey by going down the path of meditation, prayer, study, music, love, conversation, spiritual counseling, etc. Some people, unfortunately, never take this journey-to them plunging into the unknown, the depths of their insecurities is too scary a trip. They are comfortable taking things for granted, they ‘like’ that their lives are predictable and each day is the same as the last one. Even for those who say; ‘same shit, different day’, it is more comfortable and less fearful to stay on the comfortable shores of consistency and, what I call, low-grade misery.
Responding to Rabbi Heschel’s question compels me/us to define what “take for granted” means. The root word, grant, means to entrust from the latin, used in this form, “take for granted” means the exact opposite: “a failure to appreciate”. Rabbi Heschel is teaching us that our souls never fail to appreciate life, living, breathing, etc. In the Jewish tradition, we say a prayer each morning before we even get out of bed, thanking God for restoring our soul to us with compassion and acknowledge God’s faithfulness to us. Most of the people saying this prayer in the morning say it by rote, from their minds-not from their souls and now with the gratitude, fervor of joy that we are alive for another day. Looking at the world today, we see people’s failure to appreciate the gifts, the uniqueness of another(s) human being, instead being prejudiced, holding on tighter to what they have. We see the failure of people to appreciate the help they were given to achieve the goals, desires they seek. We see the failure of people to appreciate the wisdom of their spiritual traditions; the wisdom imparted to them by teachers; the life-saving work of doctors, nurses, therapists, counselors, Clergy, and the institutions they work at. In raising money for the Charity I used to run, the people we helped and their families would take for granted that they didn’t have to pay and would be upset when I asked them for a donation to “pay it forward”.
Our souls, on the other hand, are constantly surprised! Nothing is a sure thing to our soul because we are beyond what we are so sure of and into the realm of connection with the mystery of life, the realm of connecting to the Universe at our core and it’s core. Living from the state of wonder, radical amazement is living from our souls. This way of being/living gives us a new and joyous appreciation for what is right now. We immerse ourselves in the moment we are in, without prejudice and with a discerning that goes way beyond the comfortable shores of lower knowing/living. We feel the trembling joy of vision, truth, authenticity and surprise all at once. This surprise is not always fun, it is not always happy, it sometimes is a surprise of sadness, of pain, of bewilderment at the way people we thought we knew act. Yet being surprised by the hurt is evidence that we are living at our soul’s level and not the suspicious level of our lower logic.
In recovery, we are constantly surprised. When we get into ‘same shit different day’ mode, we know we are flirting with lapse/relapse into old behaviors and old ways that did not serve us. We are aware of the myriad of ways we tried to kill our souls, kill ourselves, kill our emotions, etc. We are aware of how much we took for granted and how debilitating and soul-sucking doing this was. In recovery, we seek to root out the prejudices we have/had and open ourselves up to a new day with open-hearts and open minds. In recovery, we are aware of the wonder and grace we are granted each day.
I have said the prayer of gratitude for being alive every day for over 34 years. Each time I get more and more surprised and grateful and committed. I realize what I take for granted still and how that does not serve me. I also am seeing the hurts and pains I have experienced in a new light today. I am grateful to be hurt and exiled, to have not “seen what was coming” because I was taking nothing for granted and believing that people know/knew me and I know/knew them on a soul to soul level. I was surprised by our relationships being role to role with many of the people who hurt me. Immersing myself in Rabbi Heschel’s teaching today, leads me out of despair, depression, debilitating hurt and pain. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark