Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 256
“Psychologically it seems inconceivable a person should be able to love God wholeheartedly, to do the good for its own sake, regardless of reward and expediency. We do not have to use a divining rod in order to come upon deep layers of vested interests beneath the surface of our immediate motivations. Anyone capable of self-examination knows that the regard for the self is present in every cell of our brain; that it is extremely hard to disentangle oneself from the intricate plexus of selfish interests.” (God in Search of Man pg. 387)
Rabbi Heschel’s teaching above gives us pause, it gives us the opportunity to examine our motives and actions, it allows us to take a breath and realize the fallacy of our ‘self-righteousness’, and it causes us to know we have to always be questioning ourselves, our motives, our actions and surrender our egos to a power greater than ourselves. Rabbi Heschel is, as Socrates taught, calling out to us to live an examined life. It is difficult to engage in this teaching because it calls into question our “regard for the self”, what are our “vested interests” and how can we separate ourselves “from the intricate plexus of selfish interests”. Plexus comes from the Latin meaning “plait” which means “fold”, and is defined as an “network”.
When we clothe ourselves in our own self-importance we give power and strength to our ego, to our “selfish interests”. When we don’t see how important we are, we give power and strength to the evil drive. It is a conundrum for us and living in the space in between these two conflicting emotions takes a great deal of inner strength, inner wisdom and the ability to separate “the intricate” strands/folds “of selfish interests” which we have constructed within ourselves. Without regard for our self, we will engage in activities that are too dangerous, risky, inappropriate, being willfully blind to the needs of another(s), the authentic needs of our self. With too much regard for self, we put blinders on, engage in self-deception and mendacity, and weave a never-ending network on “selfish interests” that we convince ourselves is ‘for the greater good’. We give power to the latter through speaking only of “our immediate motivations” and give short shrift to the “deep layers of vested interests”. All of this so we can feel good about ourselves.
Spirituality and religion are paths to achieve this balancing act, they give us the steps with which to dance this seemingly tightrope between too much self-importance and too little self-importance. While the myriad of spiritual and religious paths have been bastardized by the ways humans have abused the eternal truths and the paths for their own sake, for their own power, for their own self-importance, for their own “vested interests”, we should not “throw the baby out with the bath water.” Rabbi Heschel’s teachings, his wisdom, the work of art he created by living an authentic, examined life give us the example of how to live in the both/and of being right-sized. Knowing we are fulfilling a divine need when we live our gifts/talents, when we are tilling, nurturing and growing our particular corner of the Garden that is this world, when we ‘carry’ ourselves as divine reminders and see one another as divine reminders for us, we find the path that is ‘right’ for us in our journey to the “promised land”, in our journey to “be free”, in our journey to leave the enslavements of false ego, the burdens of self-righteousness and having to have all the answers, be the smartest person in the room, etc.
Religious and spiritual paths are not a ‘one-size fits all’, they are given to us in terse, veiled ways that call upon us to find ‘our proper place’ and the path the is good and proper for us, individually. We do this in community because we need help to find our place of adding to the whole, we do this in community because we need the assistance of Chaverim, spiritual friends who speak truth to us, who help us stay on the path that is true for us, who will always let us know when we are straying and giving in to our self-importance in a dangerous manner. Religion is not what people say it is, it is not a narrow path that is the same for everyone, and spirituality is not either. Both are one-way streets that lead us home. Home, in this context, is where we are living authentically, imperfectly, with an inner safety and courage to continue growing and maturing, helping and serving, being aided by another(s) and belonging to a community of spiritual seekers. Spirituality and religion are the guiding lights in our journey from “the intricate plexus of selfish interests”(Egypt) to doing the next right thing for its own sake(Freedom). It is a difficult journey with many wrong steps and turns, we will never be perfect and we can learn from each experience. This, to me, is the definition of recovery. It is a life-long journey and it leads us to living into who we truly are, surrendering falseness, living nakedly authentic . God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark