#4715
- Tuesday/Wednesday, September 25-26,
2012 - Editor: Jerry Katz
The
Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/
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Tonight
is Yom Kippur. Jay Michaelson, Jeff
Foster, James Traverse, and Tbony are
featured in writings found via their
Facebook entries.
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JAY MICHAELSON
Getting Over the
Judging God -- A Yom Kippur Reflection
Posted: 10/05/11 11:12
AM ET
The Jewish High Holidays
are an ironic time. It's the time more
Jews go to synagogue than any other, yet
it foregrounds a theology least likely
to appeal to them, one highlighting sin
and repentance, judgment and guilt. Is
this a good thing?
This is not, strictly
speaking, a theological question; it is
a psychological one. Let us set aside
the question of whether God actually
exists. We know, most of us, that our
images of God are metaphors, invented
for our benefit. So the question really
is whether this particular image -- the
judging God -- is helpful or harmful.
To be sure, it's not an
either/or decision. In Jewish tradition,
God is both the dayan emet, the true
judge, and harachaman, the
compassionate/womb-like one. God is
Mother, Father and Friend; Teacher,
Consoler and Lover. For that matter, God
is Everything and Nothing, Immanent and
Transcendent, Earth and Sky. Surely, the
Kabbalists were right that,
experientially, we humans relate to the
Infinite according to traits, genders,
energies and perspectives that are
different for different people and at
different moments. So it is not that the
judging God is the only God-image we
have.
But on Yom Kippur, He
(and He is a He) is the dominant one. So
the question remains: Is it a good image
to have, or a bad one?
Today, many object to
the image of the judging God on the
grounds of history. How can we speak of
a God who judges in the wake of the
outrage of the Holocaust? Surely, this
objection argues, whatever we may wish
to say about God, we cannot say that God
judges fairly.
Others object to the
image on the bases of gender, politics
and family psychology: This judging God
is like an abusive father (or husband),
they say, meting out punishment and
doling out rewards from above. We would
all be better off without such an
exemplar of abuse, patriarchy and
hierarchy.
Still others, and I may
be among them, object to the image of
the judging God on psychological
grounds. Much of what we ascribe to
noble motives of repentance is really
just guilt warmed over. I learned this
the hard way, as I came to accept my
sexuality, and slowly understood that so
much of my own theological talk was just
plain old guilt and self-hatred.
This is true for all of
us. Is it really such a healthy thing to
feel oneself to be inadequate, judged
and deficient? Does it really make us
better people, or does it just make us
tougher, more defensive and more
judgmental ourselves? Does it comport
with mystical experience, which radiates
acceptance and compassion? Does God
judge us, or only love?
I do not have a neat
answer to these questions, but I want to
suggest that while the judging God is an
image of God that is experientially
accurate, it is ultimately something to
be transcended.
First, guilt is part of
human nature, and not an entirely bad
part; it keeps us honest, checks the
ego, and reminds us that we all have the
capacity to be selfish and cruel. The
judging God, in this light, is simply
the superego projected toward the
heavens; it accords with our experience
of remorse. And as a form of social
control, it is an effective story that
doubtless keeps many of us from acting
on our baser instincts. It just needs
periodic updating from time to time.
But the essential part
of this image, particularly on Yom
Kippur, is that it is not a static one.
God judges in order to inspire us to
change, in order that God can forgive.
Again, let's stay with experience, not
myth. The point is that we judge
ourselves so that we can introspect,
right our wrong behaviors, taste the
sweetness of forgiveness -- and then
move on. The catharsis of Yom Kippur
serves its function, and then ends. The
shofar is sounded, the book is closed,
the process is complete.
Or is it? Actually, the
tradition says, the book is really open
for another couple of weeks. And God is
always watching you and always judging.
And it never ends. I remember, during my
more observant days, debating whether to
eat non-kosher-supervised cheese, a
legal debate that goes on within the
Conservative movement to this day.
Believe it or not, I really racked my
brain and searched my heart over this
technical halachic issue. The rules
seemed nonsensical. But was I just
trying to rationalize doing what I
wanted? Did God really care? Was the
system out of whack, or was I being lazy
and indulgent?
Today, the whole thing
looks like neurosis. Yes, there's a
certain nobility to suffusing every
aspect of one's life with holiness and
participating in a millennia-old
tradition of law. But all this angst --
about cheese! Couldn't the emotional
energy be better spent on giving more
money to the poor, rectifying the sins
of racism and sexism, or, well, just
about anything? Is the sense of God's
judgment helping us do what's right, or
making us neurotic about anything and
everything?
The narrative arc of
judging-introspection-forgiveness
remains, for me, an important one,
because it calls attention to my own
tendency to judge myself and my
attendant need to forgive. But if it
gets stuck in the middle, it turns into
craziness.
It would be funny, if it
weren't tragic. Because with judgment
comes -- if we judge ourselves worthy --
arrogance, self-justification and the
judging of others, or -- if we do not --
self-hatred, anxiety and defense
mechanisms aplenty. We make ourselves
tough, argumentative and always right
because we fear that otherwise we will
be found lacking.
The judging God is a
stage along the psychological path, both
individually and communally. It is
important to hold ourselves to a high
standard of ethical, and possibly
ritual, behavior. But at a certain
point, it becomes more important to
forgive ourselves for not meeting that
standard -- and, as a culture, to learn
to be more loving and understanding,
less judgmental and strict. Of course,
there are always personal and political
instances where strictness is
appropriate. But do we really think that
what the world needs now is more
judgment?
It's a shame that so
many Jews go to shul only on the Days of
Awe. I wish they would turn up for the
Days of Love, Rest and Celebration
(Sukkot and Shabbat are good starts, as
are meditation retreats). Those, it
seems to me, are what we need more of:
more love, more authenticity, more
openness. And they yield experiences of
something which deserves to be named as
"God."
When love, rather than
judgment, fills my heart, I see a
natural world which we are lucky to
inhabit, in bodies which are miraculous
in construction, and I feel loved in
return. I feel the imperative to pursue
justice, not out of judgment or
toughness, but out of compassion.
Terrible things still happen. But I feel
God's presence in the companionship and
response to such adversity, in intimacy,
in love, in the healing and the mending.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-michaelson/getting-over-the-judging-_b_976462.html
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JEFF FOSTER (www.lifewithoutacentre.com)
ON HOLY GROUND
They say to look upon
God's face
Would be unbearable
We would be blinded by light
Then I have died a
thousand times over
I have burnt at the stake of existence
All images of myself have melted
And even that cannot be true
And I say 'God'
But I have to laugh -
The word has lost all meaning
God is only a metaphor
For this fragile gift of a life
For this precious moment, unrepeatable
For this consciousness, unspeakable
For a familiar look on a
stranger's face
For those icy winter branches
For each footstep, falling
There is no unholy
ground
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JAMES TRAVERSE
From Separation to
Source: the experiential understanding
of your true nature is a point of view
- a stance.
Observe a
tree and note that it branches down as
roots and up as trunk and branches and
that its branches branch; note that it
has many thousands of leaves and that
when you focus on a single leaf it
appears to be separate and distinct and
that when you relax that focus it is
evident that that the leaves, branches,
etc. all arise out of [are the
expression of] a common source.
Similarly
the experiential understanding of your
true nature is realized via the
relaxation out of the conditioned focus
on you as a separate individual to stand
as the source that you are.
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TBONY
COATES
What is
on my mind?
I have never been able to find it so I
have no idea.
When I
do, I might have something nonsensical
say.
