Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 109
“Responsiveness to God cannot be copied; it must be original with every soul. Even the meaning of the divine is not grasped when imposed by a doctrine, when accepted by hearsay.”(Man is Not Alone pg. 91)
I am, once again, trembling inside from Rabbi Heschel’s words. Seeking the “meaning of the divine” is a lifelong journey and search that most people do not engage at all and those that do, as Rabbi Heschel teaches, don’t search very far or deeply; they just take the doctrine and dogma that an authority figure, usually clergy and/or parental, give them. Rabbi Heschel calls to us to remember that the “meaning of the divine” is truly different and the same for each and every one of us. Since each of us are created uniquely, each of us has a different divine message and way to bring the divine’s message to the world. Given our wondrous unique experience of the divine, how can we understand, engage with and/or accept what someone else tells of what the divine means, forces us to be imprisoned by a doctrine of the divine rather than seek our own meaning of the divine and relationship with the divine?
I believe in the Mitzvot, I believe in the Torah being God’s Eternal Truth, I also believe that, as the Sages teach, it has 70 faces so no one can impose their doctrine on another, only share their understanding and the ‘face’ they see knowing it’s not the entire picture and their sight can be impaired. Living a life of decency, caring, kindness, compassion, justice and truth is the path to grasping the meaning of the divine, I believe. Yet, to achieve this way of living, I have to let go of my preconceived notions, I have to let go of the doctrines and ‘absolutely sure’ ideas that I have accepted and worshiped because what is decent and kind in one situation may not be decent and kind in another. Whenever I hear the words “because the Torah says so”, or “this is what is in the Bible” or any such reasoning, I know the person saying it is using a doctrine, a supposed certainty, to ease their own uncertainty, to ensure they ‘get it right’ and fit in to their groupthink and/or trying to control me/us.
When we accept “the meaning of the divine” by hearsay, we are denying ourselves the beauty, the experience, the infusion of energy that we desperately need and desire. Yet, we are afraid to ‘go it alone’ or join with other seekers who are not bound by the conventional notions, the doctrines, the dogma which seek to crush our own curiosity, our spiritual quest/journey, our unique gifts and talents from the divine. Today, we see hoards of people who accept the “meaning of the divine” by indoctrination and hearsay and the mendacity of another(s). Accepting these doctrines, this hearsay evidence, these mendacities are a surrender to idolatry, a statement of laziness, an act of fear and an affront to the divine, as I understand Rabbi Heschel’s words today. Immersing ourselves in the Bible, in the Torah, in the Koran, the New Testament, allows us to see the eternal divine message and apply these principles to today’s experiences, not by dressing and living as they did 2000+ years ago or 500 years ago or even as they did in 1860 America. We use the wisdom, the divine messages to make today better than yesterday, we make a Covenant with the divine, with ourselves and with our fellow human beings that is relevant for how we can personally live the 10 Commandments, We all engage in soul enhancing and soul destroying activities daily and they are different for each of us. We have to develop, engage with our own unique understanding of the divine so we do not continue to murder our own souls and we do not allow another to murder our souls by succumbing to their doctrines, their hearsay evidence and their mendacity, self-deception.
In recovery, we say: “the God of our understanding” and I believe this is in keeping with Rabbi Heschel’s teachings above. It has to be an original and unique understanding of the meaning of God in each life, otherwise we can’t be fully nor truly connected to it and all we are doing is paying lip service to an idol we have created. In recovery, we are constantly seeking to improve our “conscious contact with God as we understand God” so we never rest and think that we ‘know’ God.
I have rejected most doctrines that require me to walk in lockstep and not have my own interpretation. This is one of the reasons I can follow Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom and use him as a guide to improving the ways I live. Rabbi Heschel is not demanding I follow a certain path, he is disturbing and demanding that I find my own path to the divine, to living well through my soul, my spirit and my inner life. I am in agony each time I find myself walking lockstep in a dogma, doctrine, and/or the hearsay evidence of another because I am being lazy and not investigating/seeking the truth for myself; even if it is my own way of being from a day ago, a year ago, etc. Just because I did this then, doesn’t mean it is right and good to do now. I have experienced this agony too many times and I have also experienced the “thrill” of developing and following my own understanding and meaning of the divine. I know how far and wide the impact of teaching these ways of individualizing the meaning have extended. I know finding my own meaning of the divine has encouraged, allowed, inspired many people to find their own and help many more people find theirs and live these unique meanings. Can’t get any better than this and how blessed am I for Rabbi Heschel showing me the way and so many others including God helping me not give into the hearsay, mendacity and doctrines of the authoritarians and the enslavers. God Bless and Stay safe, Rabbi Mark