Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 224
“Left alone, the soul is subject to caprice. Yet there is power in the deed that purifies desires. It is the act, life itself, that educates the will. The good motive comes into being while doing the good.” (God in Search of Man pg. 405)
The first sentence above is so cautionary because it is so true. We the People, since the beginning of life are subject to the whims and wishes(caprice), desires and eye-candy that come into our minds, our hearts and which we see with our eyes and/or hear with our ears. The major problem in child rearing is the lack of educating, growing, maturing the soul of our children. Hence the statement in the Bible “man is evil from his youth”. We engage in evil precisely because We the People are not educating nor maturing our souls as young people nor are We the People being taught how to by teachers, religious leaders, parents, society. This is the great crime of child-rearing, IMO. Growing the souls of our children ensures they are not “left alone”, their “soul” is not “subject to caprice” so much. Educating and helping our children mature their souls allows for what James Hillman calls “the acorn” to rise up, to grow, so our children will be able to follow the call within them rather than deny their strength, their talent, their gift in order to fulfill the call of their parents, their friends, society, etc. When we force our children to fulfill the call of parents, friends, society, we are not only allowing “the soul” to be “left alone”, we are promoting the capriciousness of life, the disdain for authenticity, the hatred of the good for the sake of goodness.
“The soul” is the storehouse of knowing, the warehouse of goodness and truth, the seat of justice and mercy, the resting place of love and compassion. The first sentence compels us to keep our storehouse at the proper temperature so nothing rots, our warehouse in order so we can ship out what is needed in the moment, to ensure that our seat of justice and mercy never grows stagnant nor becomes based on the capriciousness of politics, agendas, power, and to fluff up the resting place of love and compassion each and every day so we never forget the commandment to “love your neighbor” and “love the stranger because you were strangers in the land of Egypt”. Rabbi Heschel is telling us to never leave our soul alone! We the People are being reminded that what makes us human, what makes us ‘above the animals’ is our soul, our ability to reason and to know, our ability to speak truth to self and another, to engage with the powerful and mighty as the prophets did, to love and be loved, to be needy and be needed, is our “soul”! And, this is the least educated, least cared for area of life for most of We the People!!
I am on a tear, I know it. This has been a pet peeve of mine since my recovery because I realized my father’s wisdom and my inability to grasp it as “a youth” and the evil I did instead! My father, z”l, spoke to my soul, not my head, he saw me and know me-not the son, the child, rather the soul of me and, in the short time he had, he tried to give me enough strength, wisdom and knowing to not allow my “soul” to be left alone. Yet, it was! Family didn’t know how and the Judaism I learned did care about my soul being left alone. The problem is the ways in which We the People have forgotten, ignored, bastardized the beauty and simplicity of the wisdom of the Bible and this has to end! Fuck the Pagans and Idolators who claim ‘rightness’ for their lies and power grabs. We the People have to stop leaving “the soul” “alone”! \
It begins at home, of course, as does almost everything. Prior to naming our children, we are to look in their eyes and see the trait of their soul that is most prominent and name them for a relative/person who embodied that trait or for the trait itself. While some people do this, most of We the People do not. Even those who do, most of them pay no attention to the soul of the child again-until it is too late. Of course We the People send our children to school, to religious school, teach them right from wrong, etc. This, as I am experiencing the first sentence above is NOT ENOUGH! We the People on this 14th day of Elul, in this year of 5785 must do our T’Shuvah for the sin of leaving our souls alone for allowing our souls to be subject to caprice, to whims and wishes, desires of the heart and eyes! This may be the most important TShuvah we make, because this can be the one that sets us on the journey to educate, grow, mature our souls, to sharpen our ‘hearing’ of the call within us, and to wrestle with our inclinations to do wrong, to “scout out after our hearts and eyes”. Ending the capriciousness of our living, maturing and hearing the soul’s call allows us to decipher the “soul’s code” as James Hillman advocates for in his book of the same name. Hearing the call and deciphering our individual soul’s code is the thrust of Rabbi Heschel’s teachings and wisdom, it is the thrust of the Bible and the prophets. When will it become the thrust of We the People? When will we make it the truth of society? When will We the People truly live into “teach them to your children”?
I know the harm, damage, ruin a soul left alone and subjected to capriciousness. I lived it both as the capricious one and as one who experienced the consequences of the capriciousness of another(s). Neither one is good, neither one is right, neither one helps move decency, love, justice, compassion, truth and community. I have spent the last 38 years trying to never leave my soul alone and I have failed at times, I have allowed myself to be maneuvered into a caricature, a patsy, a bully, because “left alone” I was unable to hear the call of my soul in those moments. For all of them, I am truly sorry and I am so much better and I know perfection is not the goal. Living with a companion is the surest way to not allow my soul to be alone and I am indebted to the people who continue to be my teachers and friends, especially Harriet and Heather. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark