Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 5 Day 27
“Perfect purity is something we rarely know how to obtain or how to retain. No one can claim to have purged all the dross even from his finest desire. The self is finite, but selfishness is infinite.”
These words, this teaching stirs up my entire being. It is so infuriating to listen to the myriad of people who claim to have “purity” of thought, of heart, of faith, ad nauseam! The truth is those who proclaim their “purity” are usually the MOST impure, they do have “infinite” “selfishness” and their claims of purity are the proof of this. No one who has attained “perfect purity” in anything has to brag about it, they are in awe of those moments and continue to seek out ways to have more of them. Those who brag about it, like Hegseth, usually have ONLY “selfishness” and Pope Leo is a hero for smacking his lies down and speaking the Truth of Christ’s teachings, actions, and beliefs.
All of We the People have “dross” that is never going to be “purged” completely and acceptance of this truth is one of the keys to making progress, to making a change in our ways of living, to lessening the “selfishness” that is “couching at our door, it desires us much”, as God speaks to Cain in the Bible. Immersing ourselves in the words above can help us to appreciate, to apprehend God’s next words: “You can control/rule over it”.
When We the People apprehend, comprehend, and appreciate the truth of the words above; there is no “perfect purity” nor can we the people as human beings expect to be perfect; We the People can begin to see one another as the flawed human beings we are, seeking some kindness, some support, some love in order to know that we are accepted as we are, not for some facade we put up, that our flaws do not make us unloveable, that our “dross” is not a reason to be rejected. Rather, when we live into the words above, the teachings of the Bible, We the People accept our limitations as growth opportunities, become aware of the talents and gifts of another human being that wants to and does help us with the task they are gifted and talented to perform, asking them to be of service which is also, according to some in the Jewish Faith, a mitzvah, a good deed, in and of itself.
The current situation we find ourselves in, the war in Iran, the insanity of Trump, the degrading by Hegseth, the cruelty by Miller, the lies of Wytkoff, the greed of Kushner, the arrogance of Lutnick, the ass-kissing of Graham and the cowardice of the Republicans in Congress are prime examples of “selfishness is infinite” and their claims for “perfect purity” and proclamations of same want most of We the People to VOMIT! This is whom we the people, in a moment that we thought ‘he is selfish like me and he will take care of me’ elected and put into office to FUCK US, to TAKE FREEDOMS guaranteed by the Constitution, defended by the military often, and agreed by the majority are important, away from all of us dumb schmucks whom they despise! The same, however, is true for the far left, they demand a “perfect purity” and their insistence on “identity politics” helped to get Trumpism to have the plurality to get elected!! The far left also wanted to TAKE FREEDOMS away from people who didn’t think they way they did; who didn’t want to serve people whose lifestyles they disagreed with-SO WHAT! It is a free country, supposedly, and to not want to do business with someone is NOT A CRIME! To accuse one of racism, etc because they don’t want to make a wedding cake for a gay couple because their Christian faith has told them same-sex marriage is an abomination, is also ridiculous. They have a belief based on their faith-as misguided as it may seem to some of us, is our “purity” so “perfect” that we should deny their right to their beliefs?
What is so infuriating is watching people pontificate and preach the ‘gospel according to Trump’ and call it CHRISTIANITY! To listen to the spokespeople for my country, who are supposed to represent ALL the PEOPLE, speak lies, talk about ballrooms, brag about their deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize for starting a war in Iran, abducting the head of state of Venezuela, abandoning Ukraine, screwing over the allies we have depended on for 80+years is FUCKING NUTS!! We the People have to get our selfishness under control, it will always be with us, and STOP THE STEAL OF the values and principles of freedom, of the Bible, of the USA!
ACTION STEPS:
Make a list of the selfish actions you took today
Make a list of the acts of kindness you took today
3) Examine both and discern the kindness in the selfish and the selfish in the kindness, making a plan for lessening the selfishness that is harmful to another and increase the selfishness and kindness that helps another.
4) Let go of your need for purity of anything, in anything and BE HUMAN
GOD BLESS and STAY SAFE