I'm in the process of slowly digging myself through "God in Search of Man" by Abraham Heschel. I'm probably only 10% into it so far and can tell its going to be a great book for reflection and writing. It will always be the first book that I ever wrote in, as I found some of the thoughts in it so evocative that I had to jot down down some reflections as I was reading.
Heschel's chapter on Wonder, in the spiritual sense, is particularly powerful. Any student of philosophy is familiar with Socrates' saying, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Heschel adds his own corollary, providing that "[t]he beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living." (p.46). Heschel's wonder is not simply wonder or amazement at all the things we can explain, but rather that there are things at all. He urges us to see the "continual marvels" of daily life, encouraging us to look beyond the routine by realizing there "is no worship, no music, no love, if we take for granted the blessings or defeats of living." (p. 49). Rather, we should be seeking "... to experience commonplace deeds as spiritual adventures...." (p. 49).
For Heschel, it comes back to the Jewish God, succinctly stated from the Book of Job 37:14b "Stand still and consider the wondrous works of the Lord." These works don't just include the majesty of mountains and nature, but all things of existence, simply because its existing.
Be filled with awe and wonder at the very fact of existence. What would change if we lived like that each moment of every day?
there would be a revolution. a quiet spiritual revelation that we can coexist with one another and quite happily I'd imagine. Sounds like a bunch of hippie crap, but it's crazy enough that it might just work. I'm in.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting and somewhat amusing that my reflection on a book written about Judaic philosophy written in the 1950s would sound like hippie crap. Not sure why, but it makes me smile.
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