Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 216
“The self is always in danger of being submerged in anonymity, of becoming a thing. To celebrate is to contemplate the singularity of the moment and to enhance the singularity of the self. What was shall not be again”. (Who is Man pg. 115)
Another way we are “in danger of being submerged in anonymity, of becoming a thing” is by not contemplating “the singularity of the moment”. We have become so obsessed with achieving, obtaining, amassing, living in the past and future-tripping we miss the wonder, beauty, singularity and importance of this moment. We engage in telling stories of ‘the good old days’ and pining for what was, yet we were not truly present nor appreciative of the moments we are speaking about and pining for. We live our lives in retrospect much of the time, we are looking backwards for meaning and/or staring into space trying to ‘manifest’ our dreams. This keeps us unfocused on the moment we are in, it allows for ignoring the immediate in favor of the glory of the past and the wishy-hope of the future. Of course it is healthy and necessary to look back and learn from our past and having a goal to achieve and a plan/path to get there are important and necessary, too many people are focused on these two aspects and become two-dimensional, forgetting the third dimension-the here and now. Forgetting to “contemplate the singularity of the moment” throws our plan to achieve our goals off track. Each day we need to move closer to our goal, closer to fulfilling the demand and call of our soul, closer to living our authentic script and we are unable to do this when we are not present in the moment we are in because of focusing on the past and/or future. We cannot recreate this moment nor any moment, we cannot take back the missed opportunities and missed calls. We can, of course, learn from our experiences and make this moment count, we can learn from our experiences and immerse ourselves in the here and now. We can learn from our experiences and use this moment to move ahead with our goals/plans and change them when new information tells us to.
We need to be in this moment in order to take in new information, not just the data from the analytics we run for our social media posts, not just the data we get from the books we read, not just the data we get from the media, etc; the information that each moment gives us to learn more about our self, the information we get to learn about another human being, the information we are called to about new, fresh ways to serve our purpose and passions. We miss so many opportunities because our focus is not in this moment. We get so focused on being #1, the best, the worst, the richest, the prettiest, the most likes, the best TikTok star, the darling of the press, etc. we miss the truth, the message, the learning, the beauty, the connections of this moment. We miss the nuances of what is going on in our inner life, the nuances of what is going on in the inner lives of the people around us, the people we love, the organizations/business we are part of, etc. We miss the ability to reflect, change, move forward, sideways, even retreat if and when necessary.
Celebrating this moment, celebrating the uniqueness of this moment leads us to celebrate the uniqueness of our world in the moment as well. It sets us on a course to be more aware of what is around us, to drink in the beauty and the awe of nature, of people, of our ability to breath, to be alive, to experience wonder, radical amazement, etc. Instead of “being submerged in anonymity”, contemplating “the singularity of the moment” expands our self, helps us climb the mountain of appreciation, awareness, kindness and service. It forces us to see and speak truth, to see and seek community rather than create chaos and strife, it forces us to recognize the Ineffable One in all people and all things.
In recovery, we speak often of one moment at a time. Many of us realize that we are blessed to have this moment because we engaged in activities that could have killed us. We are acutely aware of “there but for the grace of God go I” statement and truth therein. Why are we here is not a question to contemplate in recovery I believe. What am I going to do with this moment I have been given, is the correct question for how to live in the singularity of this moment. Yet, alas, there are people who are sober and not yet in recovery, who love the why question so they can get lost and miss this moment, miss the information and the celebration of the now. In recovery, we work to not get lost and to move forward, as Rabbi Heschel teaches, to the Sovereignty of God.
In writing this today, I realize all of my “troubles” and my errors come from “becoming a thing” and not contemplating the singularity of this moment. I have reveled in the past, pined for what was, and been too focused on getting ahead, reaching the goal at times to be in the moment. I have missed the information/data being transmitted to me in those moments and, as I had/have learned before, not been able to refocus the goal, reframe my thinking and acting, see the changing landscape before me. This led to erroneous premises about people, places, things, and even me and my capabilities. In not contemplating the singularity of the moment, I became willfully blind to what was happening in front of me, I put blinders on myself and thought I could charge ahead, as I had in the past. Instead, this last time of missing the moment, I was Custer-and I am saddened for the people who went down with me because of my not contemplating the “singularity of the moment.” Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark