Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 155
“I shudder at the thought of a society ruled by people who are absolutely certain of their wisdom, by people to whom everything in the world is crystal-clear, whose minds know no mystery, no uncertainty.” (Who Is Man pg. 114)
The enormity and impact of these words and this teaching hit us like an airstrike, if we are willing to face ourselves and be in truth with our self. Rabbi Heschel, a religious, pious man, proclaimed to all of us, as wise as he was/is he is never certain of his wisdom nor is he crystal-clear on all things. This is not the teaching of a human being with false humility-this is the teaching and truth of a man who is God-Centered, People-Centered and Soul-Centered. Rather than saying he has all the answers and/or religion has all the answers, he is saying he, and we, should never be so sure of anything that we can’t learn more, change our way of being upon receiving new/conflicting data and stay teachable and open to hear the messages and direction of someone smarter than us and of God.
Yet, even though this teaching is almost 60 years old, it still goes unheeded, it still goes unlearned, and people are still seeking to be and/or are willing to be “ruled by people who are absolutely certain of their wisdom”. We see this in Russia today with people believing the lies of Putin, their fear of standing up to him and his thugs, their laziness at not seeking truth and ceding to the desires of another. We see this with authoritarian rulers and their subjects throughout history. The Magna Carta, the American Revolution were such anomalies at their time because they broke the yoke that these so-called ‘all-wise’ people had put on them. President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people are humbling all of the governments showing their defiance of the onslaught of a more equipped army doesn’t mean a walk-over victory; freedom is a strong motivator, not being ruled by a dictator who is not as wise or as certain as he likes to portray. Yet, today we find ourselves in the same situations because of the need/desire/self-deception that so many people engage in so they can follow these false wizards.
We are experiencing this in our politics today as in the past. Lyndon Johnson could not admit his errors in Vietnam, Nixon could not admit his errors and prejudices, Bill Clinton could not admit his affair(s) and never really was contrite about what he did to the nation at that time, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney could never admit their error in going into Iraq on false information, Barack Obama has never really admitted his errors in governance and, of course, Donald Trump still believes and sells the lie that he is the smartest guy in the room. Knowing what we know, in the face of all the evidence, there are almost 1/2 of the people in the US who still believe in Trump, who still would vote for this PT Barnum-type, this grifter and liar. In the face of all the evidence to the contrary, people still believe in Trump’s wisdom, his certainty and his “crystal-clear” eyesight.
Rabbi Heschel is calling us to account for ourselves and for the people we are believing in. He is asking us to search our inner self and decide if we are really going to believe that the BS of people who say they are never wrong, who are so sure of themselves and their ‘wisdom’, their eyesight that they don’t need to check their glasses. Is this really the path we want to go down, knowing that only God has ultimate wisdom, and, even God learns and changes God’s decrees based on what is happening on the ground according to my read of the Bible. We are willing to follow these arrogant, people and allow them to practice their mendacious ways to our detriment.
In recovery, we acknowledge that no human power could have stopped our addiction, we know this because we kept trying and trying to control our drinking, drugging, need for love, co-dependency, workaholism, competition and comparisons and nothing worked until we surrender to the certainty that we do not know everything about everything, that we need help and we need to stop deceiving ourselves that we can be crystal-clear and certain of our ways and our wisdom. In recovery, we work with another person, with a spiritual guide to develop our inner life so we can hear the call of a power greater than ourselves to do the next right thing and not need to be right, need to be the smartest person in the room anymore.
I like Rabbi Heschel have always shuddered and rebelled against people who are so sure of themselves. While I have been accused of being this type of person, I know that I was continually learning, my philosophy of everything works out because we learn from everything we are doing-even if the result isn’t what we want it to be-was/is difficult for some people to grasp, I have searched myself and know my way of being was never that I was the ‘great and mighty Oz’. I have subjected to people who believe they know it all, in fact, a lawyer told me that he and his investigator were the only arbiters of truth about a situation I was involved in. When I asked about appealing, questioning, presenting my side of the case-in front of so many ‘progressive, politically correct’ people, this charlatan lawyer told me NO-this finding is the Truth, the whole truth and you have no rights! When I asked if we had left America, these politically correct, progressive people stayed silent-I was reminded later that they are the ‘right ones’ and they are so sure of their wisdom-they can’t be questioned! How sad and terrifying. Yet, this is our current state of affairs, on both ends of the spectrum-Rabbi Heschel’s shudder has come home to roost. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark