Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 7
Staying connected to one’s authentic self, one’s intuitive mind is VERY difficult. It is so difficult, not one of the characters in the Bible, save the prophets and not all of them, are able to stay connected to their essence all the time, nor are they able to stay connected to God all the time. When I use the word “connected”, I am speaking about being able to follow through on what we know is the next right action, it is about being able to not only hear God’s call, but to answer it in the affirmative as well! The prophets could, for the most part, it seems because they were reluctant heroes in the Bible. Their heroism is their willingness to speak truth to power no matter what the consequences were going to be. The “fire in the belly” that Jeremiah describes overpowered the rational and very real fears of facing the kings, the wealthy, the priests, the people in power. This is the essence of being a descendant of the prophets I believe. Speak truth to power, speak truth to people, speak the words of God that “are in our hearts, in our mouths” as Moses tells us in Parsha Nitzavim. This is how we can stop Ghosting God and Ghosting our Self more and find the camaraderie, the connectivity with one another more often. Yet, it seems that we are constantly seeking connection and fearing being real, seeking authenticity and hiding from God hence, we find ourselves in the pickle we are in today: hating the stranger when we are supposed to love the stranger, taking advantage of the poor when we are supposed to care for the poor and needy, engaging in deception of self and another(s) when we are supposed to be seeking and speaking truth. WTF People?!?!
As the Big Book of AA says: “we seek spiritual progress not spiritual perfection”, while the societal norm is to judge on the result not the effort, so anything less than an “A” is meaningless, anything less than perfection is shit and this LIE has been ingrained in so many of us that Trump got elected TWICE!! It is hard to live up to the truth that the Bible tells us when we are so full of the societal lies, the societal norms, the societal mental cliches, the bullshit of the Greeks and the GHOSTING OF GOD BY THE CLERGY! Over and over again I hear the Jewish Republicans extol Trump, go along with Carlson, while both HATE Jews-no matter that Trump’s grandchildren are Jewish- have you ever seen a picture with him and his Jewish grandchildren? When Jews support a person who defies the foundational principles of Judaism; love your neighbor as yourself, you shall be holy, the stranger, the poor, the needy are mentioned 36 times in the first 5 books of the Bible, the prophets rail against the bullshit sacrifices of the priests and the people while they treat one another so badly, when Jews support a person who engages in senseless hatred, profits from the poor and the needy, one has to ask: How do you LIVE your Jewishness, Mr. Kushner, Mr. Lutnick, Mr. Bessent, Mr. Miller et al? This is the great conundrum for the Jewish Republicans, in my opinion: Support Trump and his Christian Nationalists who hate Jews, support Bibi in his quest for absolute power and cuddling up to dictators, or stand with the prophets, stand with Moses, stand with King David and fight for God, fight to do the next right thing, wrestle with ones opposing inclinations and transform the energy of the Yetzer HaRa, earthly inclinations, to serve the Yetzer HaTov, the divine inclinations. IT AIN’T EASY! It is also the great conundrum for all people of faith: Support Trump and his Christian Nationalists who bastardize Jesus’ words and desecrate Jesus’ name or stand with the disciples who followed Jesus by imitating his deeds, honor his name by caring for the sick, the lame, the poor, the needy, the stranger as Jesus did. IT AIN’T EASY and Pope Leo shows all of us how to rise above the fear of rejection, the fear of retaliation because the fear of Ghosting God, of Ghosting one’s Self is greater!
Living in the tension of these fears: rejection, retaliation, vis a vis Ghosting God and Ghosting self is exhilarating to me, now. Because I fell prey to the fear of rejection and retaliation I know how excruciatingly painful the realization that my fears overpowered my truth, my authenticity and God. Sitting here writing these words, I am overcome with deep sadness and feels he betrayal of my father’s and grandfather’s ways and teachings. These past almost 40 years has not been about not drinking or committing criminal acts: it has been about not Ghosting God nor Ghosting my Self-living with the consequences of speaking truth, of being wrong, of not taking the bullshit of ‘polite society’, not going along to get along, living the values of my ancestors, the values of the Bible, the call of God. IT AIN’T EASY!
Action Steps:
Be aware of the inner wrestling between your rational mind and your intuitive one
Each day find the incongruences between your values and your actions
Each day find the congruences between your values and your actions
Each day notice how you honor God and how you desecrate your Self
5) Each day notice how you honor your desires and desecrate God
God Bless and Stop Ghosting God and Self, Rabbi Mark