Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 265
“What is first at sake in the life of man is not the fact of sin, of the wrong and corrupt, but the neutral acts, the needs. Our possessions hold no less a problem than our other passions. The primary task, therefore, is not how to deal the evil, but how to deal with the neutral, how to deal with needs.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 51)
Rabbi Heschel’s premise in this section is fascinating! As I hear him this morning, I am realizing his premise could possibly be; if we take care of “the neutral”, “the needs”, than “the evil” will not have the opening and nourishment to grow and overcome us, overcome the world. If he is not saying this, then I am. Our challenge is to ask ourselves: how have possessions overtaken my life? How have I given in to the latest fashion, fad, status symbol? How does fulfilling my inauthentic needs help me hide from myself and from another? How do I lie to myself and to another(s) by saying there are “neutral acts”?
Sitting here and pondering these questions, realizing I may be way off base of what Rabbi Heschel was thinking, seeing the tearing down of everything I have held dear about Israel, about the United States, about democracy, about freedom, enrages me that We the People have not heeded this call to action of some 60+ years ago! I am sickened over the current state of affairs and while I want desperately to point my finger, I also know I have to look inside myself, my tribe of Kennedy liberals, and see how we fell asleep at the wheel and did not help the next generation on “how to deal with the neutral, how to deal with needs”! This is the great sin of my generation and points out the spiritual bankruptcy that is rampant in today’s world and has been growing and growing faster and more insidious than any of the financial sicknesses that have been and will continue to be. We are, and have been, ruled by “our passions” as well as by “our possessions”, by our “needs” and have lied to ourselves and one another that there are “neutral acts”. How can there be when each and every action we take either advances or retards society, advances or retards our holiness, our growing spiritually and emotionally, our journey to seeing the true, authentic self?
The “passions” of the far right bring out the “passions’ of the far left, the “passions” of the left bring our the “passions” of the right and We the People are bounced back and forth like a tennis ball by both extremes! There is nothing progressive about the abusive way of “cancel culture”, there is nothing conservative about the destruction of the U.S. Constitution and the shitting on the Declaration of Independence! There is nothing neutral about the misuse of Christ’s teachings and life’s work by ‘those good christian nationalist folks’. There is nothing neutral about bastardizing a commandment said 36 times in the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible: LOVE THE STRANGER by ‘those good religious jewish folk’! Reading, immersing oneself in the words above demands our rage at ourselves for allowing the evil of the neutral to flourish, for not standing securely in the middle and school both extremes that their ways lead to autocracy, to fascism, to communism, to a much less free way of life. Yet, We the People did not do this, we sat around making our money, becoming rich, comfortable and forgot to care for the stranger within us as well as the one outside of us. We the People have bankrupted our spiritual health by “getting ours” and forgetting our self, our inner life; by rationalizing our behaviors and those of ‘our tribe’ while abhorring the same actions we take when taken by another(s); by minimizing the danger posed by the Tea Party people, by the far right “religious” parties who practice everything other than the religious, spiritual, and moral principles of faith!
We the People have to take back our freedoms, our way of living well and our countries. We the People have to truly begin to deal with “our passions”, “our possessions”, “our neutral acts” and “our needs”. This does not mean not to engage with them, not to honor them, it means We the People have to realize the mendacity of “neutral acts”, we have to acknowledge what are authentic “needs” and what are inauthentic ones. We the People are being called to identify “our passions” and how to live them in proper measure for ourselves and for another(s), so “our passions” are not just personal, they are of service to another(s). We the People are being asked to see how “our possessions” may be making us less free because our desire for more, more, more has stopped us from the more important things in life: connections that are covenantal, seeing another person as an equally dignified, worthy individual rather than as a pawn for us to “get what we want”. We the People are needed in this moment to say NO to mendacity, NO to “the neutral”, YES to growing spiritually and morally, YES to dealing appropriately with “needs”, “passions”, “possessions”!
The subtlety of it all is amazing. I have a good golf cart that I use each day-the ride is a little rough and going to try and see why. Yet, for the past 6-8 months, I have seen newer, cooler, golf carts with more toys, bells and whistles riding around our development and, had GOLF CART ENVY! At any given moment, I can rationalize why I should have a new golf cart, it is almost my birthday so it would be a nice birthday present, etc. Harriet and I were going to go shopping for a new one on Sunday afternoon and Sunday morning on our way to meet some people, I told Harriet we were not going-she was surprised and I said it is not a “need” and reading the words above today, I know that inauthentic needs have the same kryptonite that inauthentic people who pass themselves off as ‘the good ones’ have for me. Both lead me down a bad road when I don’t deal with the truth of who and what I am and live into being a better and more authentic me. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark