Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 146
“It is a protection against the outburst of the inner evils, against arrogance, hybris, self-deification. The end of embarrassment would be the end of humanity.” (Who is Man pg 113)
As we can see in the world today, hybris and self-deification seem to be winning the war for the soul of the world and there is no embarrassment to protect ourselves from those perpetrating the horrors hybris and self-deification lead to. Hybris is an ancient Greek word meaning the “intentional use of violence to humiliate or degrade” and it morphed into hubris, “meaning excessive pride or self-confidence”. Self-deification is defined for our purposes as ‘the belief in one’s own judgment and vision to the exclusion of any proof to the contrary’. In ancient Greece, one with hybris eventually caused their own downfall, which is usually true with hubris as well. Hillary Clinton exhibited hubris when she forgot to campaign in the Midwest in 2016! Donald Trump is all hubris with hybris as he used stolen emails to benefit himself, used threats of violence, albeit lawsuits and slander, to keep people from telling the truth. The politicians who believe they are above the social, moral and legal limits that a decent and democratic society puts upon its citizens exhibit hybris and hubris! We see this in the catering to the White Nationalists by the people who don’t think of themselves as white nationalists still believe they are better because they are white. We see this in the draconian laws restricting voting rights, a woman’s right to choose, ability to immigrate to this country of immigrants, etc. We see hubris and hybris in the advertising world, in the business world, in the religious realm as well.
The violence is the exertion of power just because someone can in cases where physical violence is not happening. The violence of psychological, spiritual abuse to children, adults, is immeasurable most of the time and, because there isn’t ‘empirical evidence’, many times pushed aside by the victim, the perpetrator, and the judge/public. We see the effects of the Holocaust onto the 3rd generation in many families, we see the effects of Castro’s revolution on the generations of Cubans who left and who stayed, we see the effects of Richard Nixon’s attack on decency to this day. We see the effects of slavery to this day on Black People, we see the effects of Anti-Semitism on Jews, Islamaphobia on Muslims, Homophobia on LGBTQI people, etc. We see how people perpetrating violence without any embarrassment harm not just their targets, they harm all of us.
“Evil triumphs when good people do nothing”, this saying, attributed to Edmund Burke, is what we are seeing today in the Ukraine. Putin and his Oligarchs believe they should be in charge of the world and should be worshiped. These violent thugs have the hubis and the hybris to scare the rest of the world because of their nuclear capabilities. Yet, they are too full of themselves, they worship themselves too much and want to be worshipped so greatly they would never chance destroying themselves. They know any nuclear strike would be answered immediately and mutual destruction would happen. Yet, the world cowers as it did in 1937 with Hitler. The world is not embarrassed enough to take action and we see the evil that is breaking out around us.
This outbreak of evil is not just ‘over there’ with Putin, however. It is with the Supreme Court, with the Congress, with the elected leaders that push an agenda that is theirs and for their deification not what is best and a solution for what ails us here at home. Some religious leaders are not using Scripture, Prayer, belief in God to move our moral and spiritual living forward, they are using them for their own aggrandizement and power. We are witnesses to a great calamity, the loss of the embarrassment that comes from our awareness of hybris and self-deification and using shame and blame to embarrass another person into following our lead, worshiping us. Rabbi Heschel’s words are a warning and a solution, will we heed them?
In recovery, we work daily to stay out of hybris and self-deification. Self-deification is a dangerous and slippery slope. We know we need the help of guides, spiritual and moral, to ensure that we are taking the “next right action”. We learned from our prior living that we are prone to believe our own lies/press and be arrogant and perpetrate violence, physically, psychologically and/or spiritually on another person. In recovery, we keep an inventory, seek out spiritual guidance often and create a pattern and path of living that helps us stay aware and embarrassed.
I am embarrassed by my arrogance and I am aware of the moments where I bought my own press as well. I allowed myself and allow myself to be confronted by my spiritual guides and my inner circle whenever they get a hint of arrogance and/or self-aggrandizement. It is subtle at times, when I think that someone owes me something for my helping them, I am in danger of being arrogant. I have found solace in the daily inventories I make so I am able to be embarrassed. I have come to find comfort and joy in that embarrassment is my soul’s knowledge finally reaching my intellect and emotions and the redness that I show and the heat I feel are signs of connection of my parts and integration of my soul and my being. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark