Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 246
“Everyone knows that out of suffering goes a way that leads to Him. Judaism is a reminder that joy is a way to God. The mitsvah and the holy spirit are incompatible with grief or despair.” God in Search of Man (385).
Over the years I have witnessed an enormous amount of people who are addicted to and “suffer” low-grade misery. This “suffering” is apparent in the way people get stuck in believing “life is hard and then you die”, ‘what’s the point’, ‘why bother’, ‘life’s not fair’, etc. When asked “how are you”, so many people reply “not bad”, “okay” rather than ‘life is good’, ‘I am glad to be alive’, ‘I am excited for what the day brings’, etc.Psychologically we have pathologized low-grade misery as dysthymia and give out meds for this spiritual condition. Judaism along with all spiritual disciplines, I believe, is a path to lift us up out of the morass of low-grade misery.
As we pray in the morning upon waking our gratitude for being alive, gratitude for God’s compassion and faithfulness towards us as well as God’s faith in us, it is impossible in that moment to feel “suffering”. As we watch and immerse ourselves in the sunrise, sunset, see the grandeur of the universe and experience the awesomeness of nature, it is impossible to feel abject suffering and/or the low-grade misery so many live in. In order to live in this low-grade misery, we have to deny the awe and grandeur of our world, our lives, and God.
Immersing oneself in Rabbi Heschel’s words above, we have to deny the power of the mitsvah, the power of holy spirit in order to live in grief and despair. Many people who claim to be spiritual and/or religious live into their low-grade misery which is a denial of the goodness of God as well as a denial of gratitude for being alive, a denial of their infinite worth, a denial of their uniqueness. We see the effects of these denials in the ways people treat one another with disdain, anger, ignorance, hatred, prejudice, etc. It is totally incompatible for one to call themselves spiritual, religious and not love human beings, to not “welcome the stranger, the poor, the needy”, to not “do justly, love mercy and walk in the ways of God” as the prophets teach. In the Bible, we are told to “Choose Life!” We cannot be choosing life and be in low-grade misery, they are just incompatible, yet so many people do. Anne Frank wrote: “It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death” This young girl, witnessing the horrors and trials of confinement, fear of being found out and persecuted for simply being Jewish could still lift herself out of this truth and speak truth to and for all of us. Her belief that “I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the day will come when I can carry them out” is a lesson for all of us.
We cannot call ourselves religious nor spiritual and deny the grandeur of life, deny the goodness of God/Higher Power, deny the awe of nature, walk around with a ‘chip on our shoulder, waiting for the shop to drop’. It is time for all of us to recognize the awesomeness of being alive today! Acknowledging the miracle of living, returning the compassion God shows us in returning our souls to us each morning, being grateful that God still has faith in us no matter how many times we ‘miss the mark’ is a pathway to living in joy, to raising ourselves out of low-grade misery and “suffering”. We are told to worship God with joy, with gladness, and doing a mitsvah, praying, meditating, connecting with the Spirit of the universe, the Ineffable One, is a pathway out of despair and grief. How can one thank God for the food we eat and be miserable-it is totally impossible and many people do this-living into Rabbi Heschel’s words can and will lift us up out of despair, grief, and honor life, God and one another.
In recovery, we write, say, meditate on our gratitude lists. We know that our spiritual condition is the key to our recovery and gratitude is one of the best ways of remembering how blessed we are. We engage in life-affirming activities, we know that whatever happens during our days, we can and will rise above the feelings of despair and grief because of our connection to a “power greater than ourselves”.
I have been criticized for answering ‘great’ when asked how I am. What people don’t realize is from the imprisonment of alcohol, low-grade misery, criminality that I was in to the freedom of joy, I know that life is great, being is amazing and no matter what trials and tribulations come along, I will be able to deal with them because of my connection to God, to people, to family, to friends. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark