Monday, December 04, 2006
Heschel
Tonight I attended the first of three lectures on Abraham Joshua Heschel at Temple Israel. Our teacher is Dr. John Merkle from St. Benedict's & St. John's. I wish I had recommended these lectures to you earlier; but, if you have the opportunity, I believe you could still register for Dec. 11 & 18. If you would like more information, just drop me a note. A few worthwhile quotations:
Religion is not the end but the means. Religion is not God.
Religion needs to be constantly reevaluated.
When we think with all our mind, with all our heart, with all our soul; when we become aware of the fact that the self cannot stand on its own, we realize that the most subtle explanations are splendid enigmas, that God is more plausible than our own selves, that it is not God who is an enigma but we. When all our mind is aglow with the eternal question like a face in gazing on a mighty blaze, we are not moved to ask: Where is God? for such a question would imply that we who ask are present, while God is absent. In the realm of the ineffable, where our own presence is incredible, we do not ask: Where is God? We can only exclaim: Where are we? How is our presence possible?
Religion is not the end but the means. Religion is not God.
Religion needs to be constantly reevaluated.
When we think with all our mind, with all our heart, with all our soul; when we become aware of the fact that the self cannot stand on its own, we realize that the most subtle explanations are splendid enigmas, that God is more plausible than our own selves, that it is not God who is an enigma but we. When all our mind is aglow with the eternal question like a face in gazing on a mighty blaze, we are not moved to ask: Where is God? for such a question would imply that we who ask are present, while God is absent. In the realm of the ineffable, where our own presence is incredible, we do not ask: Where is God? We can only exclaim: Where are we? How is our presence possible?
