Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 94
“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 last sentence in this group has overwhelmed me ever since I first read it 30+ years ago, sitting here this morning, I am aware of what it is saying with trembling awe. I tremble at what Rabbi Heschel is teaching us with this simple sentence, we have faith, we demonstrate our faith only when we are willing to be seen and make ourselves available to be seen by God and, I would add, another(s) person since we are all Divine Reminders.
Since we are always in God’s presence, as the Mezuzah reminds us, our faith is shown through our openness to be seen, and I believe, to see another(s). Using this teaching as the measuring stick for living faithfully or not, gives us a clue into God’s desire and search for human connection, to me. So many of the “faithful” continue to wear masks and hide from God and from another human being. Many Spiritual Leaders forget to blush in the presence of God, of humanity which is why they can be so mendacious and deceptive. Choose Life is a commandment in Deuteronomy and so many of our leaders choose hiding instead, they choose to wear a mask of ‘righteousness’, ‘humility’, ‘caring’, etc. Yet, what they are actually doing is being self-righteous bigots, ostentatiously humble and caring about their power and their proximity to power. Any Spiritual Leader who promotes politics and political views over the life-saving, soul-saving teachings and ways of God, however you experience God/higher consciousness, etc, is a self-righteous bigot. Their bigotry is their disdain for God’s words, for morality, for saving a life in favor of their search for power, money and prestige. I call upon all spiritual leaders to show themselves, to be seen and to blush in the presence of their flock, in the presence of people and in the presence of God/their higher self/their soul. Meeting this challenge will allow them to look at themselves in the mirror of God’s reflection, in the mirror of human reflection and we all can then decide to follow their deceptive ways or not, help them move from mendacity to truth or not, choose life through connection to God and human beings or existence through deception and ‘getting theirs’.
I cannot contain myself this morning as I realize how much we all hide, how unfaithful we all become at different times in our daily living. As a child, denying what we have done wrong when accused by a parent is done from fear, cheating on an exam/test so we can get a good grade is done from fear of not being ‘good enough’. The ‘celebrity fad’ such as the Kardashians, reality TV ‘stars’ are more examples of mask wearing since the shows are all scripted and people’s fear of not being like them has turned into multi-million dollar industries. We are the causes and makers of the masks that we wear, that our children wear, our friends wear, humanity wears, as I am experiencing Rabbi Heschel’s teaching this morning.
The Hebrew Bible is an unmasking of human behavior, an unmasking of what happens when we hide from God and when we seek God. Adam hides from God, is sent out of the Garden of Eden because he can’t be responsible and, according to a Kabbalistic interpretation, Adam divorces God! We screw up and we want to blame anyone and everyone, even God. It is not God’s will that innocent children, innocent people die as collateral damage in wars, conflicts, robberies, gang initiations, etc. It is not God’s will that people are lied to and lie to another regarding life-saving medicines and vaccines all the while promoting drugs to help addicts that create their own dependency, drugs that do not allow people to experience grief and loss, anxiety and depression over experiences that naturally cause these experiences, blaming people ‘not like us’ for all the ills of our world rather than being responsible for our part. We teach and learn these ways of hiding, of wearing masks in infancy/early childhood and, our spiritual education is not sufficient enough to teach both parents and children: “faith is blush in the presence of God”, being seen is how we blush, and the presence of God is everywhere. When will we ever learn?
In recovery, we “continue to take daily inventory and promptly admit when we are wrong”. This 10th step is our way of checking in to see how we have hidden and how we have blushed throughout our day. We need to keep on top of our both our hiding and our blushing so we make certain that we stay in recovery by being at least 51% in blushing. In recovery, we know the lure of self-deception and the subtlety of mask wearing, so we are constantly aware and on guard against falling into old traps and behaviors.
I am overwhelmed with sadness at how I have worn a mask at times and how people who I thought I knew were wearing masks that I could not perceive nor break through. I hear people differently because of being able to blush and seek to blush one grain of sand more each and every day. God Bless and Stay safe, Rabbi Mark