Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 37
“I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in justice, and in kindness and in mercies.” (Hosea 2:21) I have been stuck in this part of the verse for 24 hours now. Immersing ourselves in these words is the key to living well, to end our incessant and idiotic ghosting of our authentic self, or our soul’s purpose, of the demand of God to LIVE and BE HUMAN!
These words of Hosea speak directly to the issue facing humanity since time immemorial; how to live in this world with the obligations God demands of us vis a vis the demands of our false ego/rational mind out of proper measure? How do we remember that we are “Betrothed” to righteousness, to justice, to kindness, to mercy when our rational mind rejects being a servant to our intuitive mind/our soul? Rather than accept our “being engaged” to and with God, most of we the people spend our time trying to ignore the call of this engagement, the need to fulfill our part, to live into the knowing that is within all of us, the infinite, unique equal dignity and worth every human being has by virtue of being “in the Image of God”, with “Ruach Elohim”, the spirit of God blown into us at birth.
What made the American Revolution so unique and the Presidency of Washington, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution such maladjustments to societal norms of the day was the leaders were not supposed to be in it for themselves! The President served We the People not the other way around. We the People made a conscious decision that to provide space and pathways to those “certain unalienable rights”, it has to be a “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. This is why this moment is so crucial-not just the elections-rather our entire view of the United States of America(which we have never been totally united since the Revolutionary War) must return to the foundational tenets upon which we began-“all people are created equal”, the “unalienable rights”, Freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution, and the inclusion of Black, Brown, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim as well as Christian folk in all of our affairs. Rather than blackball them as Hegseth seems to love to do, denying promotions based on sex, ethnicity, religion, as Trump loves to point out to the women who challenge him, the Blacks and Browns who do, the Jews he calls “not loving Israel” because they don’t love Trump, the prophet Hosea is delivering a message from God, from the Universe, the power greater than ourselves, to ‘turn around’ and go back to the times when freedoms were free, when bribes were not allowed, when “righteousness” was pursued by the majority. Hosea is calling us out for our lack of humanity, just as he called out the people of the Northern Kingdom, Israel. I find it so interesting that King David, the warrior, the strong man, the king who’s descendants some of us Jews wish would return as the Messiah, was the ONLY KING to LISTEN TO the Prophet of his time, Nathan!
Righteousness, Justice we are told to pursue, not as a suggestion rather as a Command, because God knew, the Biblical author(s) knew that humankind would jettison a suggestion that called upon them to go beyond their comfort zone really quickly. Kindness is an integral part of being Jewish, being a person of faith, of the Bible, the New Testament. It is what God continually shows to us, bestows upon us, and tells us we have to do the same to one another-“love the stranger”- Mr. Trump, Pastor Hagee, Pastor Cain-White, Pastor Osteen. Caring about the needy and the poor, both commandments from God, from Jesus, is another Command, Mr. Trump, Drunk Pete Hegseth, Greedy Howard Lutnick, Grifter Jared Kushner, Ass-kissing Marco Rubio, etc. All of you ‘good bible-believing folk’ take a look at the words, the meaning, the call of the Bible you so extol! BULLSHIT Which brings me to We the People! These words of Hosea are calling for us to make a fucking choice- are we Standing for God or Standing for the Fuhrer? Are we responding to the command to “proclaim freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein” or to wet dreams of Trump and his thugs to enslave the people they don’t like, anyone who is not a white christian nationalist, throughout the land and believe their call to ensure that “the Jews will not replace us”?
ACTION STEPS: they are simple, not easy.
Find a spiritual guide and learn about your inner life, as I have since December of 1986
Write out the barriers you have put up to righteousness, mercy, justice, kindness for ‘those people’
Journal each day on what Righteousness, mercy, kindness, justice you need to practice and be shown so you can “grow along spiritual lines”
Who is the prophet you are following-a real one or one of many false ones?
Find and adopt a spiritual discipline-could be an amalgamation of a few and live into one grain of sand more each day- it is the solution that has helped me grow into who I am today
God Bless, Stop Ghosting God, Ghosting Self, Rabbi Mark