Daily Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 292
“Yet what I mean is not outward ceremony and public demonstration, but rather inward appreciation, lending spiritual form to everyday acts. Its essence is to call attention to the sublime or solemn aspects of living, to rise above the confines of consumption.”(Who is Man pg. 117)
In looking up words Rabbi Heschel uses, I am always startled at my misconception of many of them as in today’s words, sublime and solemn. Sublime comes from the Latin meaning “up to the threshold” and solemn means “customary/celebrated at fixed times” according to the dictionary online. Reading the last sentence above with these meanings, using Rabbi Heschel’s foundation of radical amazement, gifts me with the understanding that celebration’s essence is to have my inner life, my soul call attention to the aspects of life that are customary, that are regular and be aware of them. Stop taking everything/anything for granted, I hear Rabbi Heschel telling me, start to and continue to allow our inner life, our spirit, make us aware of the celebration of each action that moves life forward, that serves a higher purpose, that promotes us “up to the threshold” of holiness, goodness, kindness, service, justice.
Looking at the news, reading the things we celebrate, worry about likes and clicks, are all ways to distract ourselves from these important, fundamental truths Rabbi Heschel is teaching us. We have lost, it seems, the ability to live sublimely, to live “up to the threshold” because nothing is ever “good enough”, nothing is perfect and we have come to use these two profanity’s against ourselves and against one another. How many of us truly see our daily actions as good, good enough, perfectly imperfect? How many of us complain about, admit to, proudly declare how not good enough we are? We are so fixated on ‘celebrating’ the wins, the likes, the clicks, the adoration, the approval of another that we are no longer paying attention to all the ways we are living “up to the threshold” and celebrating them and ourselves. We are so fixated on the outer shell, we come to define solemn as “not cheerful, serious, dignified” customarily celebrating waking up each morning as a miracle. We are so fixated on “getting it right” we are blind to the joy of connecting with our soul, our family, friends, partners, nature, God, another human being.
We can change the ways we are living once we surrender our need for certainty. Once we surrender our need to be defined by another’s standard, society’s standard. Using the word perfection is an example. Who defined perfection? Some man who wanted to control another, some man who wanted his wife to feel inferior, some man who wanted his children to fear and please him is probably who defined it and many other men went along with him. Perfection, not good enough, social media, are all levers of control that also are sold to us as certainty. A religion that offers certainty also is bastardizing God because God is so unknowable and so infinite that we can only experience and worship, celebrate and be in partnership with God “up to the threshold” of our understanding and spiritual maturity. We celebrate God at fixed times and customarily throughout the day when we eat, when we pray, when we take the next right action. Yet, many of us are oblivious to this truth in favor of the the lie and deception of perfection, good enough, how many clicks/likes did I get this time!
We are in desperate need, as a society, of a new/renewed awareness of what it means to celebrate, what it means to immerse ourselves in the essence of living, in the essence of celebrating, in the essence of connection, in the essence of imperfection. We have the ability to accept and adapt to new/old concepts and ideas, we have the spiritual tools to “live up to the threshold” of our capabilities, yet we are constantly falling prey to the deception and the lies, to the control and the power of societal norms, of bullies and authoritarians, to the false needs of another and the facades we wish to show the world. Rather than be “dignified” lets be customarily celebrating our actions of kindness and love, rather than being “formal”, lets get to know the inner life of ourselves and another human being. Rather than experiencing something as unparalleled, lets enjoy and enhance our living “up to the threshold” of the moment. We have the ability, we have the spiritual nature, do we have the willingness?
In recovery, we celebrate each day of recovery with gratitude, with joy, and this is a “customary” action we take. We live “up to the threshold” of our ability in the moment with the knowledge that each moment is different, our best is forever changing and we can only do what is in front of us now and to the best of our ability today.
Sitting here writing this, in New York City, I am having an experience of joy and relief. I am always connected to Rabbi Heschel and being here in the City he called home for so many years, I feel the connection a little stronger. I also am aware of the ways/moments I don’t “live up to the threshold” of my abilities, when I give in to the baser desires of my humanity. I am also aware of how much, how often and how customary it is for me to celebrate life, actions, the people in my life and the heroes who have helped to shape me, mold me and bring me closer to God, to authenticity and transparency. I am uncontrollable to most people because I do have the desire to push myself and another(s) to the “threshold” of God, love, justice, kindness, compassion, truth, etc. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark