Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 346
“Only free men, those who are not prone to canonize every caprice, do not equate self-restraint with self-surrender, knowing that no man is free who is not a master of himself, that the more liberties we enjoy, the more discipline we need.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 76)
I have been contemplating this passage for days now, I keep thinking about what it means to be “a master of himself” and also know we serve or should serve God, something greater than ourselves. I hear Rabbi Heschel remind us of the truth that while “everything is in the hands of God except the awe of God”, as our commentators tell us, We the People have the choice to be the “master” of our passions and desires, as God says to Cain in Genesis 4:7 “sin desires you much and you can master it”. Without having some modicum of control over what thoughts, feelings, ideas, ways we ‘give in to’, follow, act/react to humanity is just like a pinball machine, bouncing from one cushion to the next, hitting into one obstacle after another, constantly trying to not go down the drain by using our flippers, like our tongues to lash out, our arms to push away, our legs to move, etc. This is NOT FREEDOM, folks! This is actually the most devious, subtlest, insidious form of slavery because it leads to us becoming the enslaver of another(s).
While many people lament their powerlessness, which is real and true, the words above give us agency to not be powerless over our choices, over which thoughts, emotions, desires We the People act on. This is the challenge every human being faces and, unfortunately, too many of We the People either refuse to meet this challenge by opting out and/or decide to NOT meet this challenge and seek ways to use another(s) to their advantage, deceive as many people as possible to ‘be on their side’, enslave the people they are most afraid of, entice people to believe all is lost so why bother rather than truly be in opposition to this rape of values, of the souls of people only for their own gain and enjoyment. The people like are currently running our government have studied Greek Mythology, evidently, and believe they are Zeus, Hera, etc and the rest of we the people are small play toys for them to fuck with-WRONG and We the People must gain mastery of ourselves so we can be smart, cunning, and kind in our defeat of today’s fascists, autocrats, dictators.
We the People do this by maturing our spirits because without a mature, strong spiritual core, an active and vibrant inner life, a higher consciousness that rejects the lies we tell ourselves, We the People can never be “free”! The Jewish way is to make good on the promise of our ancestors, and some say our own souls were at Sinai, Na’Aseh V’Nishma “we will do and then we will understand”. While the Greeks believed comprehension came before action, the Bible teaches us that without taking the action, there is no comprehension, there can be no opening of our eyes to the see what truly is, there can be no opening of the ears to hear the real meaning/words. We the People will be unable to take in the beauty of the teachings, the importance of taking the next right action because we will not have “circumcised the foreskin of our hearts” and be like Pharaoh who’s heart was strengthened, made heavy with honor and refused to see truth because all he saw was his need, his will be done was his code and we know how that turned out!
Judaism’s belief that we have to know what to do and what not to do is reflected in the 365 DON’T DO and the 248 DO DO! What I have come to understand, know is that the 365 don’ts are crucial because we would violate them and WE DO even in our erroneous belief that only ‘those people’ do. The 248 do’s keep getting violated every day by ‘those good religious christians, jews, muslims’ and We the People are called upon, demanded to STOP THE STEAL OF THE HUMAN SOULS that is happening in this moment across the globe. The only path to freedom is by combining the discipline of following what we should do and what we should not do with the liberties we have so we can be FREE!
I know the trap of liberty, I know the trap of not having GOOD discipline, I had bad discipline, I know the heartbreak of being a slave and the revulsion of realizing how I was a Pharaoh to my family. Finding myself without anything, I heard God in that jail cell and I keep improving on my discipline, limiting my ‘taking liberty for granted’, harnessing my desires and emotions a little more each day, finding new ways my fears, my impatience rear their ugly heads-especially with Harriet at the Bridge Table!! I also am painfully aware of the pain caused by the betrayal of the DO’s and DON’Ts by people who I believed were on the same page and who, because of politics, had to ‘do what was best’- no resentments, the pain is subsided, and the imprint lasts forever-the difference today is I don’t have to, nor do I, have it impact my daily living.
Action Steps:
Take an inventory of the paths that help you be free and those that keep you stuck
Ask yourself the reward you receive for staying in the ‘feelings, desires’ rather than in the discipline.
Make a list of the ways in which you deceive yourself into “thinking your way into right action”
Take an action each day to fight against your tendency and the people in power’s ways of DESECRATING THE DIVINE IMAGE BY DENYING THE WORTH AND DIGNITY OF ANOTHER(S) HUMAN BEING.
God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark