Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 300
“The mind is in search of rational coherence, the soul in quest for celebration. Knowledge is celebration. Truth is more than equation of thing and thought. Truth is transcendence, its comprehension is loyalty.” (Who is Man pg 117)
The challenge of being human is summed up in the first sentence above. This is the struggle, war, argument going on inside of us always and forever-between rational coherence and celebration, between mind and soul, between earthly and divine instincts, between comprehension and knowing, etc. All human beings experience this challenge, all human beings are engaged in this challenge, not all human beings are aware of this struggle, not all human beings face this challenge and many human beings decide to make sense, “rational coherence”, rather than engage in the struggle, rather than engage in celebration.
When we decline to engage in this ‘war’ within our self, the majority of people, in opting out, give too much energy to searching for “rational coherence”. We go overboard with “left brain” behavior, we believe we can think our way into good situations and out of bad ones, we believe that there is a logical reason for everything, everything can be discovered, if it isn’t logical, provable, evidence-based then it isn’t true! We develop our “left brain” to such a degree that we are able to deceive our self into believing our own lies, we are susceptible to the deceptions of another(s) and, I believe, we become enslaved to our mind and, in many cases, we descend Into a slavery that is as burdensome and onerous as the slavery in Egypt is described in the Bible. Some of us are Pharaoh, some of us taskmasters, and some of us the people building the pyramids. Because we have indulged in the false belief that our minds are everything, our minds are our greatest asset, we have fallen headfirst into this trap, we are being used as pawns by people who use their minds to enslave us, who use our vulnerabilities against us and we then engage in violence against our soul, we block our hearing the true call/demand of God, we stop maturing our souls in order to follow the leader.
We are in such a situation now, we have Putin and Orban in Europe; Xi in Asia; Trump, Thiel, Masters, Oz, Lake, DiSantis, the Republican Party, White Christian Nationalists, the Squad, etc all using “rational coherence” to “rally the base”. “Rally the base” is the descriptor of what is happening and has been happening for millennia, leaders are appealing to the baser instincts of their followers and their enemies, they, at times, use soul language to sound good, yet they have a logic that puts them in a position to lead rebellion for the sake of their own power, begin wars, figuratively and literally, against outside enemies so their followers can have ‘them’ to focus their hatred, their frustrations and their anger. All the while making it seem logical and, in their amazingly deceptive manner, even spiritual. When the mind is what is understanding God’s words, they have to be bastardized and manipulated, which is exactly what is happening now and has happened throughout history.
Our minds are crucial to our existence and growth, they are necessary for our spiritual growth as our souls are crucial to our existence and growth and necessary for our minds’ growth. This is not a polemic for either one, I believe. Rabbi Heschel is reminding us of our desperate need for both our soul and our mind. He is calling to us to develop and mature both, he is demanding we stop favoring one over the other, rather he is teaching us to use both in concert with each other and to use both in proper measure. I am hearing Rabbi Heschel exhort us to be more aware of how both mind and soul are part of every experience we have.
In recovery, we are seeking to put our living back into proper measure, or put our living into proper measure for the first time. We were so out of whack, so out of alignment that only a power greater than ourselves could do the chiropractic work on our minds and souls necessary for us be back into alignment with truth, with life on life’s terms, with our fellow human beings. We are learning how to access both mind and soul in their proper measure and allow the one most appropriate to lead in each experience we are in.
I am writing this with awe and reverence for Rabbi Heschel. I have a ‘math brain’ and a soul that is more developed and mature than it was when I was a con man, a drunk and a thief. Today, I realize that my need to put things into “rational coherence” is also a need of my soul as well as my mind. I have used the wrong language for quite a while, I am realizing. What has been described by me and another(s) as my need to know is really, my need to comprehend so I can have an appropriate response, without both my mind and soul understanding and comprehending, my response is almost always too little or too much, rejected or accepted, and I am either loved or betrayed. I am saddened that it has taken me so long to understand this truth of my self, my way of being, I could have found better ways to communicate and to connect with another(s) and within my self. I am elated that I am realizing this now, I am elated that I am able to let go of my need to comprehend reasons and deal with what is, accept that another(s) have their own war inside of them and, sometimes they victimize someone else to give themselves a measure of ‘peace’. I have done this before and regret this way of being greatly. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark