Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 126
“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might; but let him who glories glory in this: that he has a sense of ultimate embarrassment. How embarrassing for man to be the greatest miracle on earth and not understand it! (Who is Man pg 112)
We are so far from Rabbi Heschel’s teaching above and we are in a frightening time for all of humanity. While we continue to exist as human beings, our glory/worship of wisdom, might, cleverness, money, celebrity, power has become a badge of honor, rather than an embarrassment and we are losing our humanity. We are desperately in need of a greater sense of embarrassment to offset/overcome our continued bigotry, prejudice and enslaving of another human being based on race, religion, sexual orientation, economic status, nationality. Because these bigotries, prejudices and enslaving have become the norm-from the person in the street to the person in Government, from the preacher to the person in the pew. No one is immune from living their prejudices, their hurts, their desire for power nor their desire to have someone else beneath them so they can feel better about themselves. The only ‘vaccine’ for these diseases of spirit, is staying embarrassed as I understand Rabbi Heschel teachings above.
We are witnessing a depression in morality, a decay of ideals-religious and constitutional, and a deification of power and people that may be unlike any other time in history. I use the words ‘may be’ because I am sure philosophers and religious leaders in previous times also felt their eras were unprecedented. One of the problems of today’s world is that there are many religious leaders who are part of the glorifying, they seek to be glorified and they give cover, support and enthusiasm to the powerful and the clever who glory in their own cleverness and might. We are told we are seeing a religious revolution and I would submit some of the religious leaders of today are revolting against the tenets/spirit of the religion they are seeking to derive power from. I would submit some of the politicians and legal experts are revolting against the tenets/spirit of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence they are deriving power from. Herein lies our dilemma and the causes of our depression, our decay and our idolized deification of power, people, money, celebrity, cleverness, etc-everything but God!
I remember in the 1960’s, being called names like N_____ Lover because my father paid Black men who worked for him the same hourly rate White men were being paid at the Barrel shop he thad bought in the late ’50's and every White man quite and no White man would work there because they believed it was insult to be paid the same as a Black man-even though they were doing the same job! I remember poor White people being proud that they were prejudiced because being White made them better than a Black person! I hear the same talk today about Black, Brown, Asian, Jew, Muslim, etc. The need to have someone beneath us, someone to lord over is a perfect example of glorying in might.
Our fellow human beings who glory in their twisting and bastardizing our Holy Scriptures to use their wisdom to convince people of faith who come to their Churches, Mosques, Temples and Synagogues for spiritual sustenance have lost their sense of embarrassment. These arrogant human beings, who are so sure they are right, who are so insecure they need to be deified and followed without any questioning, who are dependent on being taskmasters and Pharaohs, need to gain some humility and we, the people, need to say NO to their arrogance, NO to their lies, NO to their prejudices! To do this, we first have to say NO to our own arrogance, mendacity, self-deception and prejudices. We have to cleanse our hearts, we have to open our souls to the light and healing of a power greater than ourselves, we have to see the infinite worth each and every human being possess and know that our worth is equal to theirs and their worth is equal to ours, and we have to appreciate the uniqueness of each and every human being including our own so we don’t compare, despair and hate.
In recovery, we are constantly working to stay right sized. We are acutely aware of our propensity to make ourselves too big and/or too small. We know we are in constant danger of a “self will run riot” experience as we had before recovery. We pray each day for knowledge of God’s(Higher Power) will and the courage to carry it out. Staying embarrassed by our strengths and foibles keeps us in recovery.
I have had this sense of embarrassment for as long as I can remember and, up until reading Rabbi Heschel, I believed this sense of embarrassment made me less than human and at the mercy of those who didn’t seem to portray any embarrassment nor indecisiveness. These people were friends, family members, clergy, teachers, strangers, politicians, etc. So for over 20 years I tried to be like them and it never worked. I could never shake my embarrassment, therapists called it ‘low self-esteem’ and I knew it was an anger at experiencing this inner embarrassment. Rabbi Heschel’s teaching unlocked a storehouse of tears, a warehouse of anguish and a pathway to inner freedom I never thought possible. I am still embarrassed by my inability at times to understand the miracle I am and the miracle every human being is. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark