Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 96
“The threat to freedom lies in the process of reducing human relations to a matter of fact. Human life is no longer a drama; it is a routine. Uniqueness is suppressed, repetitiveness prevails. We teach our students how to recognize the labels, not how to develop a taste.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 18)
Sitting here, at my computer, reading and re-reading these words, being immersed in the happenings of our world right now, eyes wide open to what is, reeling from the pendulum swings of the ‘progressives’ and the ‘conservatives’, knowing neither side lives their self-proclaimed labels, I am reminded that our story, unfortunately, is not a new story. When I was first learning the “con” game, I was told there are no “new” cons, just variations on old ones. The same is true for we humans, “the threat to freedom” has been with us since the time of Adam and Eve. It is not always, of course, an outside threat, many of “the threats to freedom” come from our rational minds towards ourselves. Many people use rational arguments to “reduce human relations to a matter of fact” within themselves. Without a rich, developed inner life, without a connection to the core of being within each and every one of us, our thinking and acting has to be “the process of reducing human relations to a matter of fact”. In other words, we make our relations impersonal and unemotional, “just the facts, please”. We may have ‘feelings’ for another human being, they are overridden by the lies we tell ourselves, the deceptions we fall into and the pros and cons calculations we do when deciding life issues, whom to marry, etc, and/or we allow our feelings to override what our soul knows is best, hence we follow the cult leader to our detriment, we bow down, raise our arms in salute to “der fuhrer”, etc.
While it is important to have a “routine”, it is criminal to make our “routines” routine! When we want to “take the drama” out of our living, we are also taking away our humanity, our “freedom” and our ability to connect on a soul to soul basis. This is the great “threat to freedom”; living in role to role relationships. I am hearing Rabbi Heschel exhort us all, especially in these days leading up to Passover and Easter, to let go of the lies and the bullshit we have bought into, “lift up our eyes and see” the narrow places our role to role relationships have put us into, truly experience the box our “routines” have placed us in and realize the taskmasters that “reducing human relations to a matter of fact” put over us! The “drama” of “human life” is not about being ‘drama queens’, not about trying to get attention, it is about living in the reality of what is and the reality of what ought to be at the same time. While one cannot command the actions of another, engaging in the “drama” of “human life” means we can challenge the beliefs of the people around us, challenge our own beliefs, check to see if we are taking actions that move “freedom” forward or are we retarding both our own “freedom” and that of another(s), are we allowing “der fuhrer” and her/his minions to retard our “freedom” by their decrees and fiats?
Throughout history, this “threat to freedom” has reared its ugly head. It starts out the same, one ‘side’ wins control and they proceed to suppress anything that is not ‘like us’. One’s uniqueness is not rewarded, even though it is God-given, it is seen as a threat to the control and power grab of ‘the current administration’. What is called for is “wash, rinse, iron, repeat”, because this is the path to domination and control for ‘the winners’. Domination and control are, of course, the enemies of “freedom” and this is the battles of this country since its inception. We are still waging war with one another to make ‘everyone come over to our side’-which is antithesis of “freedom”. Rather than see the power of everyone’s uniqueness, rather than respect the bright light that science shines on the world, the inner light religious texts bring out in each and every one of us-people are invested in doing the same things over and over again. Make America Great Again is a repetitiveness that kills the human spirit, it makes routine what is dramatic and awesome, it takes the soul to soul connection and kills it, it makes religion serve it and boasts that this is ‘god’s will’. Yet because they said it loud enough and long enough, because they put it out over the airwaves, people have willingly given up their uniqueness to be ‘part of the crowd’, become automatons in their marching lock-step with “der fuhrer” and we are all suffering for this.
We the People, at this time of year when the spiritual forces are inclined greatly to support the liberation of our souls, the march towards “freedom”, have to do more than “recognize the labels” of what it means to “be human”. We the People are being called to task, We the People are being held accountable for our willingness to march into the narrow place of “reducing human relations to a matter of fact”. We the People are being reminded that we are more than routines, we are more than human doings. We the People are being called to “rise to a higher plane of existence” than the ones we are living in/on at this moment so we can appreciate, support and embrace the uniqueness of our selves and everyone else. As we approach Easter and Passover, this year, with all of the chaos that “der fuhrer” and his henchmen are putting into the world, into our lives, I hear Rabbi Heschel, and the foundational texts of all faiths, demanding We the People “develop a taste” for what true “freedom” is. I hear Easter and Passover calling to us to eat the bitter herbs so we remember the “bitterness of slavery” that we supposedly left 3500+ years ago and we seem to keep returning to Egypt-a forbidden action in the Bible. This year, during the Seder, take extra time to talk about the verse; “in every generation humans are to see themselves as if they too were liberated from Egypt”. The Rabbis, in their wisdom I believe, know we would keep returning or wanting to return to Egypt, to some narrow place, to bend the knee to some dictator, some “fuhrer” and ask us each year to leave it quickly, if not forever. This is the inner work that makes life a “human drama”, gives us “taste” of joy and “safeguards our “freedoms”.
Writing this blog is a “routine” and I never approach it routinely, I am always excited, learning, seeing these words with new eyes. I continue to “develop a taste” of newness, freshness in these ancient words and thoughts. I love the “drama” of human life and, when bored have created unnecessary drama at times in the past. I also engage in supporting the uniqueness of another and of me without being jealous and am always in awe of the unique creativity of another human being. I know how easy it is to fall into repetitiveness and how soul crushing it is. I believe I have “taught” my partners in learning how to “develop a taste” rather than read the commentaries of another and make it theirs. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark