Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 32
“Rules are generalizations. In actual living, we come upon countless problems for which no general solutions are available. There are many ways of applying a general rule to a concrete situation. There are evil applications of noble rules. Thus the choice of the right way of applying a general rule to a particular situation is “left to the heart,”27 to the individual, to one’s conscience.” (God in Search of Man pg. 327)
To go beyond the rules, to go beyond the requirements is what Rabbi Heschel describes above. The “countless problems” we encounter each day of our life are not always concrete situations. Even though, many of us want a ‘one-size fits all’ solution, this is just not the case if we are to live authentically, spiritually, and intellectually honestly. Yet, we continue to do this, we continue to make complex situations concrete, we continue to take simplicity and turn it into mendacity, we continue to engage in deceit, subterfuge and power struggles because ‘we know better’. Rather than seeing the “many ways of apply a general rule to a concrete situation”, we crave the certainty of a solution that worked then, works now and will work in the future without any creativity, any changes to the solution and, as Rabbi Heschel points out, this is just not possible.
The more certainty we crave in our rules, the more opportunity there is for “evil applications of noble rules”. One of the most glaring is the “noble rule” of free speech. This was put into our Bill of Rights as a protection against being silenced by government as the Colonists were by the King of England. It is not to be used for hatred, for violence, for insurrection. It is not to be condoned by leaders like Kevin McCarthy does with Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, et al. It is not to be bastardized with racists tropes, anti-Semitic tropes, with political ads that are lies like the ones from ‘sanity in government’s Stephen Miller who, like Greene, Jordan and their cronies enjoy bullying, lying, wielding their powerful megaphones to deceive ‘their base’ and prevent them from hearing truth.
In our work place and in our homes we have come to believe that a rule has to be applied the same to each person in the work place and/or home. We have come to legislate ourselves into the sameness and the lunacy that Rabbi Heschel is pointing out above. We cannot treat each person the same at work because each person in a work place has different talents, different ways of doing the same work and, in opposition to Henry Ford, human beings are not robots, they are not automatons, they have to have freedom to their work in the way they know best. This is the path to creation of new and interesting ideas, products, ways of doing things and it is impossible if we are all treated the same. When we are unable to discern that there are different jobs in our work place and the people filling these jobs deserve the freedom to do their job in the best ways they see fit, get the job done of course, we limit the productivity of our work place and we limit the creativity of our workers, and we limit the company’s ability to grow and sustain itself.
We, the People, need to stand up to the bullying of our Elected Officials and the people running for office. We need to stand up to their fear-mongering and deceptions. We need to discern the situation we are in and stop trying to solve it/resolve it with past solutions, that probably were only band-aids anyway. It is time for us to go inside and see what our intuition and our spirits are telling us, it is time for us to stop using “noble rules” for our benefit and in pursuit of evil. It is time for us to stop bastardizing our sacred texts, our sacred relationships, our sacred self through stunting our self with foolishness and mendacity. We are able to rise above the negative calling to apply “one size fits all” and the “if you do it for one, you have to do it for all” mantra that political correctness on both ends of the spectrum seem to call for.
In recovery, we are constantly seeking solutions to the issues we face each day. Some people erroneously believe if they do today, what they did yesterday, they will stay in recovery. This self-deception has been proven false over and over again, yet some people still seek an “easier and softer way”, hoping they will not have to do the deep dive into seeing everything new, every situation with a “new pair of glasses”. In recovery, we know our life is constantly changing and staying in the present, in the now and seeing what truly is are necessary in order to go beyond the rules and immerse ourselves in the situation, finding a solution that is appropriate for this moment, knowing it may not be for another moment.
I have been guilty of what Rabbi Heschel writes above, I have tried to use the same solutions that did not work before and try to make them work in another situation prior to my recovery. I am guilty in my years of recovery, just a lot less so. I work hard to see each situation on it’s own merits, I use my insights, my wisdom, the advice I seek from another, and I glean a solution that is unique to this moment. I do this in my work as an Advocate for the Soul of another person, an organization, the world around me. I continue to use the general rules and apply them with purpose and passion and nuances to seek solutions for everyday life situations. This is the purpose of this blog, finding new ways and situations to apply Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom and brilliance to our everyday living. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark.