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| The Journal for The Path Of The Just By Tam Zelig The same disclaimer for this as for God Is A Verb will apply. This one will be a little harder to universally apply since it was originally written at a time when there was no question that its audience would be exclusively Torah observant Jews. Still, I believe the basic concepts are universally applicable. Torah, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Tibetan Book Of Living and Dying, New Testament, and about a handful of others. And then if we read them and meditated on them in any order at least 2-3 hours a day, either alone or in groups, we would see an even greater revolution in thought. Finally, if we began to put into practice the things we studied, then we would have the pass, Messianic Age, a true age of Enlightenment, descend upon us. This is the essence of The Path Of The Just. Imagine also a are world where spiritual growth was at least as important as material growth. Where our mission was not to live to work, but to quickly as you can because just as with high school, the interesting part starts when you’re done. work to live. “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…” we are told by the teacher Jesus. We don’t have to have a poverty mentality to bring these things about. There is nothing wrong with making money, but that cannot be the goal. If each of us would “seek first the kingdom…,” that is first set aside the time to feed our spiritual selves, and then spend what’s left on work, I believe we would be amazed to see how much more prosperous we would become. I can’t remember if I’ve told this story before, and it may be apocryphal, but I was told once that J.C. Penney made a promise that he would tithe on whatever he made. As he prospered he began to increase his giving to 20% then 30% until finally he was giving away 90% and living on 10% and living very well. The point is that seeking first the spiritual kingdom does not have to mean taking a vow of poverty or even one of middle classity. We were created for joy and pleasure. As Luzzato comments, (no I haven’t forgotten I’m supposed to give the author a chance to comment), “Our sages of blessed memory have taught us that man was created for the sole purpose of rejoicing in God and deriving pleasure from the splendor of His Presence; for this is true joy and the greatest pleasure that can be found” (17). As I have said before, the Garden was never taken from us, but we were taken from the Garden. That is our mission in this life, to learn again to be gardeners. We have two work places, the external and the internal world. This is what we are here to learn, not inventing a better semiconductor. Luzzato proclaims as do I, “no reasoning being can believe that the purpose of man’s creation relates to his station in this world” (23). If this is all there is, then it is a cruel hoax. And even if it is, then what does it matter if we choose to live this one life with hope or despair. Wouldn’t it be logical to choose hope? Luzzato presents another proof. For most people in the world, this existence is not one of great joy and pleasure. And so it seems to have been for a long time. If this world were all we had, if this world were our own unique possession, then we would guard it as something precious. Even an evil person would do this. And yet, “For the soul has no love at all for this world. To the contrary, it despises it. The Creator, Blessed be His Name, certainly would have never created something for an end which ran contrary to its nature and which it despised” (25). Even if we remove the concept of the Creator, I believe the truth would still stand. We do not seem to be uniquely created just to survive on this world as are the animals around us. Luzzato’s point is that this is a training ground for the world to come, and we should train like soldiers with a discipline and a will to win. Towards that end, he discusses nine steps taken from twelve steps proposed by the Talmud Rabbis. The first step is missing because Luzzato has already alluded to it, and he assumes his audience would not need much reminding. In fact, he will continue to point out the extreme need for step one within all the other points. That step is study. Also missing are the last two steps, and since each step tends to build on the one before it, he may not have felt the need to discuss them or he may have been planning to write entire books on each. The last two missing steps are called Holy Spirit and Eternal Life. The other steps or stages that he will discuss, in order, are watchfulness, zeal, cleanliness, separation, purity, saintliness, humility, fear of sin, and holiness. Again, we will look at each one separately and I will attempt being our teacher for the world to come. This is not a school where everything is watered down and the goal is to let “Johnny” or “Jane” to just squeak by with a D-. I believe, as I think Luzzato would agree, that the goal is indeed that everyone should pass, but with an A and without watering or “dumming” down the lessons. Nor does this school particularly care how old you are when you graduate. This fact means that you cannot cheat in this school nor can you quit, so you might as well graduate as quickly as you can because just as with high school, the interesting part starts when you’re done. |
