Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 235
“We believe that the ego can become converted to a friend of the spirit. “The evil drive” may become the helpmate of “the good drive.” But such conversion does not come about in moments of despair, or by accepting our moral bankruptcy, but rather through the realization of our ability to answer God’s question.”(God in Search of Man pg. 384/5)
Rabbi Heschel’s words above remind me that both ego and spirit come from God, so we can use them in concert with one another as well as having them at war with one another. We have the ability to choose how they relate to one another. At issue, I believe, is our willingness to strive to being a whole person, not one that compartmentalizes our traits, our different roles, our personal life from our business life, our religious/spiritual life from our daily life, etc. Most people live bifurcated and compartmentalized lives, wearing, as Rabbi Heschel teaches elsewhere, masks that hide our true face. We engage in facades out of protection, out of fear, out of uncertainty that keep the our egos more distant to our spirits instead of them becoming “converted to a friend of the spirit”.
With the growing anger, resentment, fear of ‘the other’ we are witnessing a greater split between our egos and our spirits. With the false need to be perfect and right, we are participating in growing the split between these two entities. Hearing the calls of religious, spiritual, political, societal, and familial leaders to ‘get ahead at all costs’ we learn to imprison and tamp down our spiritual nature in favor of our egotistical ‘needs’, we become people who can wave the flag of virtue, freedom, God while destroying the spirit, the dignity, the essence of another person. Humanity has, forever it seems, been unable to sustain living with both spirit and ego, where the ego becomes the friend and helper of ‘doing the next right action’ just because it is the right thing without fear nor favor, without worrying ‘how is it going to look’, without ignoring the needs of another because of our egotistical needs.
Our world has changed greatly since Rabbi Heschel wrote these words, unfortunately for the worse. Rather than listening, heeding, his words above, rather than learning how “the ego can become converted to a friend of the spirit”, we are using the ego to discriminate, to deny the dignity of anyone we see as a threat, we use the ego to deceive another(s) into believing our version rather than seek truth, our egos accept the deception of another(s) to the point we turn on our friends, we turn on the people who have helped us, we ignore truth to feed our egos and the egos of people like McCarthy, Trump, DeSantis, et al.
Yet to think only political hacks are the ones I am speaking of would be an error. All of us need to do the work so “the ego can become converted to a friend of the spirit”. We all have our prejudices, we all “need” to feed our egos at the cost of our spirits, hence the malaise that hovers over all we do, hence the mental anguish that is so prevalent in our country, in our cities, in our families. Robert Kennedy Jr. is wrong to blame vaccines and other such lies that he perpetrates for the ills of our society, it is his ego that is getting in the way of hearing his spirit, unlike his father, who 55 years ago was assassinated for doing the work of converting his ego to be a friend of his spirit and the spirits of all people. Every individual needs a “program of recovery” for their egos and spirits to become friends again, to work in concert with one another, to rise above the masks and facades society promotes and say YES to living as a whole human being, YES to living from our souls, YES to living a life of integration.
This is what we in recovery seek, find and hone-living with ego and spirit as friends and co-workers, focusing both on the same goal-service and love. We are aware of our imperfections, we are aware of our past history where ego and spirit were enemies, and we strive each day to bring them more into harmony, more integrated, more connected so we can live with more joy, more truth, more harmony with all people, more love.
I have been working on this teaching for the past 35 years, making great strides and then falling a few steps back. I have watched the egos of people override their spirits to the point of death, physical and spiritual. I have also experienced and witnessed the truth of Einstein’s statement: “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” Whenever I am told and/or realize that my ego has taken over, I return to Rabbi Heschel’s teachings, Einstein’s thoughts, and do my T’Shuvah and find ways to change. I live in much more joy when they are friends rather than combatants, when they have a conversation with one another rather than a war of wills. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark