Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 32
What happened to us? This is the question that has occupied my being for some time-I don’t mean only right now, I am speaking about the ideal/idea to “make a more perfect union”, the idea/ideal of “all men(people) are created equal”, the idea/ideal that “all of us have intrinsically dignity and worth, uniqueness and we all possess equal measures-hence there is no one who has more dignity, worth, uniqueness than another person. I am thinking about the Psalmist King David and the warrior King David,the David who could listen to women and his prophet, who could admit his errors and repent and everyone who followed him who has been unable to do the same. I am thinking about the prophets who came to warn, cajole, lovingly and harshly coax the People Israel back to the Sinai experience, the Red Sea experience, knowing the difference between slavery and liberty, liberty and freedom.
I am not thinking about doubts, about wondering if it is God or Ego that we are connecting to because we the people do both! Abraham, the man of great faith, even greater than Moses’ because there weren’t a lot of people around who thought about, practiced, spread the idea, the concept, the Truth of One God, he had doubts, he had foibles-remember he pimped Sarah twice, (but never Hagar, hmm…), threw out Ishmael, almost killed Isaac, AND he had great faith, great allegiance, to God. Yet, we tend to forget, gloss over, explain away the foibles, the errors of our ancestors in the Bible because We the People do not want to come face to face with our own incongruities. Rather than continue the tradition begun in wilderness of Sinai, the practice of bringing an offering so we don’t stray from the community nor from God, so we don’t go into the “poor me, I’m so bad” bullshit, the “I will never be forgiven” lies, rather we make our amends to the people harmed, we make restitution to the best of our ability, and we re-sew the fabric of our connection to God. Since the destruction of the Temple, this process is T’Shuvah-return, repent, response. This is the true greatness of King David-he did it willingly, as completely as he could and he was not afraid to stand up, admit his errors, do his T’Shuvah and experience the consequences of his bad behavior just like he did the same regarding his good behavior.
This is the basis for the opening question, “What happened to us? As Dara Horn state state in an article in the journal Sapir: monotheism is a political idea, that the reason the Jews are hated, and I would add admired, is because “Jewish Civilization is an anti-tyrannical movement, a nonconformist movement, an anti-hierarchical movement, based on a story of liberation that taught the world that change is possible”! We the People know the solution to the ills of today, to the autocracy that is trying to enslave the world today, the cruelty, the power struggle, the stealing, the disgusting actions of so many who are in power-forgetting that We the People gave them the opportunity to serve the Greater Good, not themselves and they have FUCKED WE THE PEOPLE, Royally! It is WAY PAST TIME for we the people to rise up once again, to stand up once again, to say LET MY PEOPLE GO to the various Pharaohs in the world today and to say NO to the rational mind that has gone along with the lies, the self-deceptions allowing us to become enslaved ONCE AGAIN!
“What happened to us?” We the People have stopped immersing ourselves in the Bible, we have made a conscious decision to not read, hear, listen, understand the gifts that the Prophets are constantly giving to us: the strength to go against the grain, the reminder of our experience at the Red Sea and then at Sinai, the bitching and moaning of the desert years, and the whole shebang-we the people are stiff-necked and stubborn, seeking certainty and knowing there is none, wanting consistency and knowing the only constant is change, etc. Yet, as my recovery has taught me, liberation happens all the time, none of us have to be too far gone for redemption, for those who are, it is a choice they have made-like Pharaoh in Egypt made. I am living proof that the anti-tyrannical, anti-hierarchical, nonconformist Jewish culture saves lives! This was the basis of the way Harriet and I ran Beit T’Shuvah, where if one staff member thought they could help the resident everyone thought should leave, we kept them, where telling the truth is more important than the crime, usually. This is the path, nonconformity, anti-hierarchical, anti-tyrannical actions to returning to the ways of the Bible, the path of King David, the ideals/ideas of Moses and God!
ACTION STEPS:
Each day, for a week, write down how conformity served your soul and how it harmed your soul
Look at how you are Pharaoh and the Pharaoh you are following
How has your nonconformity hurt your status/revenue and helped your soul
GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark