Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 209
“The less willing we are to resign ourselves to our being enchained to the ego and the more deeply we understand that ultimate meaning is found in deeds composed on the margin of the self, the greater is the chance of release at least for a moment. And it is the moment that counts most.” (God in Search of Man pg. 402)
While I am not a proponent of Freud, within each human being is a drive; call it ego, call it good inclination, call it evil inclination, call it higher consciousness/lower consciousness, whatever one wants to call it; it is imperative that we all acknowledge this drive. This is the drive that makes vaccines possible, that cures polio, that allows us to be loving, welcoming, kind, caring. AND it is the drive that allows us to be cruel, self-centered, narcissistic, deceptive, make war, and enslave another for our benefit and their detriment. This drive, whatever one calls it, is the drive of a Martin Luther King and a Donald Trump. Hence, “the less willing we are to resign ourselves to our being enchained to the ego” is reminding us to get the fuck out of the Egypt of narcissism, get up out of the burden of self-deception, leave the “sin” of believing someone can save us, and take the next right action.
We are, once again, witnessing the extremes of “our being enchained to the ego” and, for at least half of We the People, we are not participating, we are ‘innocent bystanders’ watching our freedoms fall, seeing the enslavement of people around us, and believe we are powerless to stop it from happening in this moment! The truth is, we are powerless to end it, we are powerless to stop it right here, right now AND this doesn’t mean we stop trying, this doesn't mean we stop fighting. Just as we are told in the Talmud that if we are planting a tree and someone says the Messiah is here, finish the planting before going to see if it is true, so too, do We the People have to keep fighting this autocracy for our children and children’s children. We the People were given a country that believed in, fought for, died for and promoted freedom, democracy, goodness across the globe, even when we couldn’t achieve it completely here. Now, we are the country that promotes lies, deceptions, chaos, cruelty, and slavery across this land and the world. All because enough of We the People elected a group of people who are so “enchained to the ego” they cannot see truth, they cannot care about another human being, they are immune to the suffering around them and these are “the good god-fearing people’ who are proclaiming Jesus is their Lord and Savior, Moses is their teacher, etc. I am enraged at the lies, at the bastardizations, at being at the whim of someone “enchained to the ego” and enslaving us! When We the People are unwilling “to resign ourselves to our being enchained” the awareness of our understanding of “ultimate meaning”. The greater our uprising against the chains of “the ego”, the greater the likelihood we will take the next right action, experience relief from the enslavement by the ‘drive’ that is killing our spirit and taking our freedom of choice away from us. This is exactly what happens in addiction, we make a choice, become enslaved by our choices and find we don’t have the power, on our own, to make any different choices and we are walking around like a robot, answering to the call of our enslaver, our Pharaoh, be it drugs, alcohol, gambling, Trumpism, Fascism, Bibi’s ways, etc. This is the root of our issue today, yesterday and tomorrow. The drive is implanted within us, it is ours to transform or be transformed by it, this is our daily choice, this is our daily task.
As Rabbi Heschel is teaching above, it is in “the deed” that “release” comes, if only “for a moment”. Yet it is more than “release” and relief for the moment that we experience, it is strengthening our ‘other drive’, the one that helps tame the worst of the ego, yetzer HaRa, narcissism, etc. “The deed” that is “composed on the margin of the self” is “the deed” that goes beyond the letter of the law, it exposes and brings to light, to the forefront for all to see, the spirit of the deed as well. This is where and when “release” leads to relief and to change, to redemption. Too many of We the People read the Bible for ways to validate their cruelty and, as my friend and teacher Rabbi Hazan Danny Maseng is teaching me, these parts are inserted by people 1000’s of years ago who had an agenda that is in line with “the enchained ego”, the drive that wants to promote cruelty, hatred, slavery, etc. As Rabbi Harold Shulweis, who’s memory and teachings are a blessing to us all, teaches, there are times to obey and times to disobey! What is most important, in studying the Bible is to immerse oneself in the words, in the experiences, see oneself in each chapter, each ‘character’ of the Bible. What is important in studying the Bible is to remember KINDNESS is more prevalent than cruelty, that cruelty is added and not “Godly”, that we are warned by the Ramban, that we can easily be “scoundrels within the boundaries of the way”, hence the message: “You shall be Holy because I the Lord am Holy” (Lev. 19:2). Since we are created in the Image of God, we can be holy, we can overcome, if only for a moment, the chains of any and all drives out of proper measure and return to our authentic way of being human.
It is a tall order, getting even, fighting fire with fire seems so natural and rational. Yet, it is more important that I break these chains, I achieve “release at least for a moment”. I have been doing this more and more and I am still a work in progress. I know I am not “enchained to my ego” anymore, I give into it at times, I just am not a slave to it anymore. I still get angry/hurt/upset when people are unkind to those who have helped them and to the stranger, etc. I will never stop railing about this and I don’t have to “get even” anymore-I can give Divine Pathos to them because it is so sad they forget the people who helped them live. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark