Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 3 day 165
“We do not think Him, we are stirred by Him.” (God in Search of Man pg 160)
There has been an ongoing debate whether man created God or God created man. I know there is an entity that is greater than me that pumps energy into the world, emits creativity and higher consciousness, strengthens us to rise above our baser instincts and desires. Whether one calls this God, Higher Consciousness, etc is of no concern to me. Ergo, I do not want to weigh in on this ongoing debate.
What I hear and experience from Rabbi Heschel’s words above is being “stirred by” something more than myself. I cannot define love, I can only be “stirred by” love. I cannot find the organ that produces love, I can only be “stirred by” the connection love evokes within me. I can be “stirred by” and disturbed by the myriad of sensations and experiences of both mind and spirit. What the entity that is greater than me, what the energy of creativity and higher consciousness stirs in me is a choice between goodness and not goodness, between selfishness and generosity, between higher and lower consciousness. Herein lies the essence of how I am imbuing Rabbi Heschel’s teaching above.
We hear a lot from the ‘religious’ people about Christ, about Moses, about ‘god’ and, for many of us, their words and actions stir anger, disgust in many of us. Using God to call for the election of a grifter and liar, worshiping at the altar of falsehoods and power, taking bribes and giving into fear of losing are not “stirred by Him”, they are stirred by our lower consciousness. They are stirred by our fear of missing out, of not being accepted. They are stirred by a desperate need to feel important, to be part of the ‘in crowd’. What is passing as ‘religious’ right now is actually idolatry. In Ohio there is a group that takes kids from public school during class periods and teaches them ‘christianity’! They claim to be “stirred by Him” and they teach values of theirs, not necessarily Christs. There is a whole group of people in our Congress that study the Bible on a regular basis with one another and their treatment of the poor, the stranger do not coincide with the words and actions of the Bible.
We have a problem with how to use the creativity and energy that is pumped into the world each day, that continues to ensure the Earth keeps rotating. This problem is man-made, not energy made, this problem stems from our immaturity, our need for certainty, and our drive to control. Humanity has, throughout the millennia, misused the energy and creativity of the universe, the teachings of the Bible, Koran, Buddha and created a false narrative and false notions of which many people have bought into. Hence, people worship at the “Church of Trump”, people worship at the “Temple of Ben-G’vir”, people worship at the mosque of “Hamas”. We are not being “stirred by Him”, we are being “stirred by” our rationalizations, our fears and our uncertainties.
Being “stirred by Him”, being stirred by the higher consciousness of the universe and our own, entails a sacrifice. We have to bring something precious, valuable to ourselves and let it go, give it to another who is need of our gift. The main offering those of us who are “stirred by Him” each day is our “adjustment to conventional notions and mental cliches”. Being “stirred by” something greater than ourselves opens our hearts, our souls, our minds as well as our eyes and our ears to hear the calls and the cries of another human being. We hear these calls as opportunities to serve rather than being served. We see these cries and tears as similar to the cries and tears that well up inside of us.
Our hearts, minds and souls are set free from the narrow places, small ideas we have imprisoned them in. We no longer are afraid of societal backlash, we are afraid of ignoring the call of our hearts to be open to the energy that stirs us to goodness. We are afraid of blocking the call of our higher logic and consciousness that resides in our minds. We are afraid of being deaf to the call of our souls which emit inner wisdom to us. Being “stirred by” … is the experience of a sunrise or sunset and experiencing the awe of the universe. Being “stirred by”… is the uncertainty of being open and vulnerable with people so they can know your soul and being okay whether you are accepted or rejected. Being “stirred by”… evokes a call to action, a call to make our corners of the world a little better each day. Being “stirred by”… is the awakening to the infinite dignity and worth of every human being and the reaching out to help them live into theirs. Being “stirred by”… is the unwrapping of the blinders of prejudice, the healing of the cancers of the soul caused by senseless hatred and jealousy. Being “stirred by”… is the primary way of being connected to the universe and being embraced by the energy for good, rather than using it for our own selfish greed.
I was “stirred by”… at various times in my youth, especially when I said Kaddish(the prayer said by mourners for 11months) for my father. Unfortunately I did not have a daily regimen of practice and discipline to re-enforce being “stirred by”… after I stopped going to daily services. The ensuing 22 years were not my best-I was “stirred by” the same things that are stirring people today to believe the lies of powerful people and, even though I was arrested numerous times, I never allowed myself to be “stirred by Him” and never had a practice. These past 36 years have been dedicated to sacrifice of selfishness and greed, they have been dedicated to be “stirred by” what is happening in the world, good and evil, to take action, to “love my neighbor”, let go of resentments, making a choice for goodness a little more often each day. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark