Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 35
“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,” to the individual, to one’s conscience.” (God in Search of Man pg. 327)
The great conundrum for us all in taking in these words of wisdom is to be so present in the moment we are in that we cannot use yesterday’s way “of applying a general rule” to today’s situation. We are forced, pushed, called to see the nuances of this situation and not compare, not compete, maybe not even be consistent with yesterday’s actions. This is how we continue to evolve, continue to change, continue to grow. Staying the same, never changing no matter what new information comes in, acting the same in every situation is a lazy person’s way of life. It is not the life of a dynamic human being, it is the life of a static person. It is not the path to be human, it is the path denial, the path of fear, and it is followed by people who are not willing to grow their heart, grow their conscience and/or be in touch with and listen to either of these nor the cry of their soul.
Our houses of worship are failing us and have failed us, which may be why affiliation is at a low point right now. They have failed because they are more interested in dogma than in spirit. They have failed because they speak the words of imperfection and their actions are the actions of disdain for our human weaknesses and punish the sinner rather than lift up the fallen. Religious leaders have been co-opted by political issues in order to ‘serve Christ’ while the Bible reminds us to serve God and not politicians. The Bible reminds us that each of us has planted within us the Spirit of God, the spirit of the Universe which, when we allow it, when we grow it, gives us all the insight to know how to handle every situation. It does it through the stories and the ways different Biblical Archetypes apply the general rules to specific situations. The Bible, The Talmud, the commentaries all teach us through stories of ancestors how to apply and how not to apply the general rules to specific situations, not to do the same thing rather how to think and see this situation for what it is, not what we want it to be.
Our religious institutions need to stop worrying about a woman’s right to choose and speak about our responsibility to see every human being as having infinite worth. Our religious institutions and communal organizations have to be less concerned with what clothes we are wearing, what music we are listening to, how things look, and more interested in what is happening in our souls, relieving the spiritual distress that so many of us are in. Our religious leaders need to be reaching out to the downtrodden and the needy, the widow and the poor, the mothers who are in need, the children who do not know how to discern what their conscience is telling them, the fathers who have blocked spiritual arteries to their heart’s knowledge and to all of us who are just seeking spiritual growth rather than being told what to do and lied to about what attributes God wants us to use. Our religious institutions and communal organizations along with our religious leaders must seek God not Greed, Spirit not Power, Progress not Perfection and help the rest of us do the same.
The path to growing one’s intuition, our hearts’ knowledge, our conscience and our consciousness is study, prayer, meditation, being present in this moment. It is a hard path and we will falter on it, we will trip and fall back into old ideas and patterns. This is part of being human! No matter what your religion is, no matter what your spiritual discipline is, living it in the street, living it in your home, knowing and accepting our imperfections along with our infinite worth, dignity and talents is the only way to grow. To paraphrase Rabbi Heschel from his interview with Carl Stern, a life without learning is not worth living.
In recovery, we know that one foot in the past and one foot in the future is not a good place to be. We have to have both feet in the present, in the now. Many times we ask our self the question: “What would God have me do in this moment?” Our answer depends on our spiritual condition and we know when our response to this question is selfish and self-serving, mean-spirited and enslaving, we must seek help from someone else we trust, because we cannot trust our self in any moment that is self-seeking, self-serving.
I find my growth happens every morning as I write this blog. Rabbi Heschel has been my guide, my disturber, my teacher, my friend, my yardstick for the past 35+ years. I am grateful to Rabbi Mel Silverman, z”l, who turned me on to the wisdom and brilliance of Rabbi Heschel while I was in prison, I am grateful to God and the State of California for intervening in my life when I was about to fall off the cliff and put me in prison so I could learn how to learn, how to listen, how to apply “general rules to a particular situation” through growing my heart’s knowledge, being able to hear my conscience and my soul once again. I work hard to stay in the moment, I work harder to not fall back into old ideas and patterns of behaviors, I work hardest to live the principles of faith/spirit/God in all of my affairs today and accept my imperfections and ‘fail forward’. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark