"You shall have no other gods besides me"
Exodus 20:3
1. Looking at yourself in the mirror
Who haven't ever heard about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Brothers Grimm's fairy tale? The one where the wicked queen used to look at her mirror and ask:
- "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the loveliest lady in the land?" The reply was always; "You are, your Majesty."
Everyday the queen had to feed her ego by asking the mirror about her beauty. She could never imagine, of course, that someone one day would naturally take her place. Like so, this shocking day arrived, and when she heard the mirror answering that Snow White was the "loveliest in the land" she started planning against the little girl's life.
Many of us as children would rather sympathize with Snow White than to the Wicked Queen. Nevertheless in our adulthood we tend to behave just like the Snow White's stepmother, instead of looking at the innocent girl of the story, who carries so much kindness and love for everyone and everything around her.
The big question here is:
- What do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror? Regardless of your answer, give it another try and face the challenge of finding the real you beyond the physical features. Realize what intricate being you are; we are.
Some of us have spent too much time trying to find out about our neighbors, the new couple who came to the sanctuary, or even talking about the problems our neighbors are having with their garden, other than spend at least thirty minutes per day looking for ourselves in the midst of our anguish. We tend to hide the "dirty" feelings under the hug. We try to put on a big smile during the service to show how strong we are. We have no time to talk to our adolescent child, or maybe we have no courage to do so, because we might not know how to do it, simply because we've lost track on our children's needs, while someone else takes advantage of their vulnerability.
The process of dehumanizing ourselves comes gradually, but continuously. Step by step we keep forgetting about the Center of our Universe, God, and then we become the Center of the Universe in our own minds. That's when we trespass the first commandment of not having other gods besides our God in our lives. I call it a lack of spirituality, or in other words, the deficiency of being in contact with the Creator We start thinking that we are in charge or that His creation as rulers and judges. This path leads us to vanity, arrogance, selfishness and prejudice. When we are not willing to be transformed by an entrenched spirituality, we start looking at the mirror looking for answers that are going to feed our narcissistic life. We become the new-god or new-goddess in our community of faith, and we might think that we know everything, and that everything we know is true and proper.
2. Passion for God X Rationalization of God
Passion is a word that brings diverse connotations. Christians associate the word "passion" to suffering: Passion of Christ who died as the world redeemer. Passion can also be associated to ardor, excitement, victory, art. And our Creator wants to be worshiped with passion, not with scientific rationale explanations. The times when we try to find God using our limited logic we failure, that's when we learn about injustice, despair, depression, skepticism. The pragmatic world determines the Creator's nature having His creatures as a model. As a result of this mistaken logic, we repeatedly turn down our faith in God as we increase reliance in ourselves.
History is full of examples of ordinary people who brought wisdom and faith to the World, when it seemed to be disruptive: Francis of Assisi, Mahatma Gandhi, Ann Frank, Martin Luther King, Chico Xavier and many others. A number of characteristics have distinguished them, except that they were alike in their devotion to our Creator, whatever name they used to worship our Redeemer. Those people of faith made the difference at their period of time, bringing us the spiritual progress we take for granted today. Some of the greatest examples are in the Bible: Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Ruth, and Yeshuah among many others. The Beauty and Fulfillment of God's love took their lives completely, in such a way that the world was not the same anymore, because they could see the presence of God in every aspect of life, in each creature alive, even in their everyday pain, the Lord was there, always. What great joy is to lose your life in order to live a life dedicated to God! I believe that in some level, all of us are able to experience this joy, when we put our feet together in a community voluntary work. The Kingdom of God starts here, right now with each of us exercising our faith for justice.
3. Is God our Lord?
Beth wakes up everyday before 6am that she can arrive at work on time. She is a single mom of 3 children and is pregnant of her new boyfriend. Today, Beth doesn't have time for nothing else, but work and take care of her kids. She can't count on her finger of so many times suicidal thoughts came to her mind over and over again. But somehow she always managed not to do it. Her children would either cry or fight among themselves, waking her up from the horrible trance. When visiting her at home as part of my every month mitzvah in the community, I frequently have heard her complaints about God's injustice and abandonment on her. The blur of her fickle vision could not see the Lord acting so actively in her life, even though she has done her very best to make her own life miserable.
Although we claim our faith in God verbally, we are supposed to make it happens in real life. Beth is one example of somebody who made the world her lord, and has been struggling with the consequences of her bad choices. She is also somebody who let a number of good opportunities pass through her life, as she was busy with her own vanities and pride. We all have a tendency to blame each other and God for wrong things in our lives. However, we are bad on looking at the causes of our suffering which is frequently related to our own poor behavior. Faith is a matter of heart and brain together. We are asked to put our Creator in the first place of our lives, and there is a reason for that. A deep spirituality brings gifts for life. So, what is a deep spirituality and how we can accomplish it? Well, follow the first commandment! And it means: pray everyday, think about what you can do to praise God's name and glory, develop the habit of solidarity, and the last, but not least, engage in a volunteer work, so you will be able to transform your faith into the construction of a better world for you and your equals. It's indeed hypocrisy to call "Lord, Lord", and yet not follow God's commandments and make Him the most important part of your life.