Do you have a spiritual bent? Spirituality is good for you; a
spiritual attitude to life, can smooth the day’s sharp edges. With a
transcendent perspective, you may find it easier to go with the flow,
without getting snagged by life’s thorns.
Spirituality, after all, is incorporeal; it’s detached from
materiality. So if my world-view is abstract, focusing beyond concrete realities and details, those earthly concerns can’t really keep me down. If the ‘thorns’ don’t really matter, how much can they hurt?
But we need to recognize that, from this perspective, spirituality
seems to transcend the limitations of fixed exercises, expectations or equations. Indeed, many spiritual people feel constricted by prescribed protocol and codes of conduct. It’s liberating to let the spirit soar above life’s ‘petty’ details.
By Torah standards, that attitude may be spiritual but it isn’t Holy. The Torah aims for Holiness, and it’s extremely detail-oriented. So I don’t want to only be spiritual; I want to be Holy.
In Torah thought, it’s imperative that our soul-yearning, our
transcendental moments, be anchored and manifested in correct conduct. If my spiritual surge is simply that, but not anchored in anything concrete, then it’s just a beautiful flash in the pan. When it finds expression on the ground, in my life’s details, then it is Holiness.
If you truly love someone, you may feel compelled toward artistic expression of that feeling; you may feel the urge to transcend your natural constrictions and shout to the world. That’s beautiful. Butthe love also needs to find expression in the down-to-earth details of your relationship. If I write poetry for a loved one but carelessly forget to pick up the dry-cleaning, is the love anchored in reality?
How true is it? How Holy?
Spirituality feels good. So, in a funny way, spirituality can be a
selfish pursuit. But Holiness and selfishness don’t go together. If
I’m feeling a transcendental feeling, that’s a wonderful beginning.
But until I anchor that feeling in my responsibilities to an ‘other’
(and that ‘other’ might be G-d, my own weaker self, or you), it
can’t be Holy.
So the next time you feel a surge of love for someone, think about how to express it – in [Holy] detail.
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