Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 298
“To celebrate is too share in a greater joy, to participate in an eternal drama. In acts of consumption the intention is to please our own selves in acts of celebration the intention is to extol God, the spirit, the source of blessing.” (Who is Man pg. 117)
Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom above is not a condemnation of consumption, I believe it is a deep regret that humanity has replaced celebration with consumption, confusing the two and missing out on the importance of extolling God, higher power, etc. He is, in my understanding today, lamenting the situation we find ourselves in-‘celebration of self’ rather than extolling the spirit and the source of blessing. Kosher living is what I hear Rabbi Heschel calling for, demanding of us. Living a life that is fitting and proper, living a life that has self, God, and another humans at the center and in our core is the challenge of these words above. Consuming enough food to live and enjoy is appropriate and necessary as is having friendships, sex, work, exercise, knowledge, excitement, loss and gain, love, truth, kindness and compassion. All of these and so much more are necessary to have a good life. Our challenge is to live our lives in proper measure, in ways that are fitting and proper for the experience we are in at this moment.
The reason that mendacity and deception of self and/or another is so devastating to us is that we are no longer able to discern what is truly fitting and proper, no longer capable to recognize truth, kindness, love, justice, mercy. We are no longer able to extol spirit, the source of blessing, God, higher power or anything except our self or the authoritarian self we have chosen as our idol. Consumption that is our of proper measure, that is no longer fitting for the moment in any area of life, is, as I experience the brilliance above, the symptom of a society that has gone away from God, that is desecrating God’s name, trying to crush knowledge and experience of the spirit and replace the source of blessing with itself!
This is where we find ourselves at this very moment, led there by the so-called ‘people of faith, good christian white men’, from the federalist society who want to install christian law in our country saying this is what the founders wanted. What BULLSHIT! The original English settlers ran away from religious intolerance of England and the King in order to not have what these liars, these deceivers, these con artists are promoting. So many have died to keep our democracy whole and holy they have not died for a plutocracy nor a theocracy to be established. What these grifters really want is power, they want to be adored as much as Trump wants to be adored, they want to remake Jesus to be a control freak and a lion, not a man of God/son of God. These charlatans give religion, Jesus, faith and God a bad name. They want to consume our democracy and replace it with a theocracy and a plutocracy, even though these are opposite forms of government usually, the grifters have gotten together to unite for power, for consumption, for being the masters while the rest of us are the slaves, for the ‘white race’.
Lindsey Graham, wonder what secrets he is afraid of being revealed, has spoken in ways that seem like a call to riot, inciting civil war, he is ducking a subpoena, all the while preaching law and order, all the while calling people of color, Jews, Asians, Muslims, John McCain his friends. He is a desperate white man trying to hold onto and be next to power, he is so self-seeking, he needs to consume more and more power and protection, he is willing to and has given up his principles. We see this so often, people who are bent on consumption and unwilling to be responsible for the damage they cause, unwilling to extol God because they are too busy pleasing themselves and/or pleasing the idol they have come to worship, like Lindsey Graham’s idol worship of Donald Trump and the lies he tells.
In recovery, we have a solution for this over consumption, it is called a searching and fearless inventory, a fourth step. We are constantly searching out the lies and deceptions, the resentments and angers we have held onto dearly and made consumption the only method of self-soothing. We are engaged each day in a way of living that is fitting and proper for the moment, knowing it is never a one size fits all, knowing it is never a one and done proposition. We review our year, our month, week, day to see where and how we have done well also. In recovery, we want to view the whole picture and not give in to our prejudices and self-pleasing ways.
Since this is the 3rd day of Elul, it seems fitting and proper to write about consumption and celebration in this way. I know most of my faults and flaws, I am aware of what people put on me also. I am saddened by the latest betrayals of people I once trusted and I see that my need to please my self with lies of connection have led me to experience betrayal while the other people knew we had a transactional relationship. I realize it was my neediness that allowed me to lie to myself and to protect and defend people rather than principles at times. I am elated to be able to realize more and more each day, I am ecstatic that I haven’t lost my desire and capacity to learn and grow. I am committed to T’Shuvah, to my daily inventories, to continuing to “promptly admit what I was wrong” and “extol God, the spirit and the source of blessing” that keeps me on this wonderful path and this amazing life I am leading. God Bless and Stay safe, Rabbi Mark