Don’t Let
Your Eyes Lead You Astray
Have you
ever seen someone, usually a child help themselves to a portion of food far
larger they can consume then leave food on their plate? You might have said of the person, he “has
big eyes.” That is to say, the eyes are filled with the sight of the delicious
food and the person desires to eat it, but in the end they have no room for
such a quantity.
In contrast, many of us wish our
appetites would limit our consumption.
Instead of leaving food on our plate, we manage to cram in every last
crumb…and then regret it! My wife Clara
used to tell our children when they ate fast, “Slow down and listen to your
stomach, not your eyes.” This responds to the truth that, when we eat with
relish, we sometimes eat too fast and cram the food in before the stomach has a
chance to send the message: Stop!
I’m full!
So we understand – most of us –
that following after “our eyes’ desire” can and will cause us to overeat. We must slow down and let reason –
represented by the stomach – to rule.
In many areas of life, we are
apt to follow our eyes rather than our power of reason. The eyes provide a powerful pull. It is said that their power is much stronger
in men than women. For some reason, it
appears that women are less hard-wired to follow their eyes’ desire, while men
are more strongly driven by visual stimuli.
Collective experience says that there’s truth in this, although
obviously the stereotype is not going to fit every individual at every time.
How many people do you know, who
have engaged in some behaviour after being led on by their eyes? Following the delight of the senses they
acted before reason could take over and later regretted their actions. Not stopping and letting reason talk them out
of the act, they rushed in out of desire…and messed up. The dieter ate that huge meal. The married man had that affair. Good thing that Yom Kippur is coming up…for
all the good it does!
This morning’s Torah reading
acknowledges the power that our eyes have over us. After all, this is not a new phenomenon. Our ancient Israelite ancestors had the same
problem. Moses here is counselling them
not to allow their eyes to lead them astray.
He’s talking specifically about serving other gods. He’s telling them to stop and consider their
actions before they serve gods other than Adonai. For many in this room, this counsel probably
does not resonate strongly. There are
many reasons that we have a hard time relating to this repeated admonition not
to serve other gods.
The strongest reason we cannot
relate to this admonition, arguably, is that for many of us, the idea of
worshipping idols is simply not attractive on any level. When we read the Torah’s cautions against
idol-worship, we wonder what could possibly have been its attraction for our
ancient forebears. Many of us have a
hard time feeling motivated to come regularly to shul or to worship G-d in other ways, specifically by living
according to His Commandments. How much
more so the idea of sacrificing to a visual god, to a statue or icon? Any religion that wishes to proselytise Jews
away from their ancestral faith had better first develop a message that their
adherents serve the same G-d as the Jews.
In my experience, that is the only way Jews are willing to even consider
other religions. Well, access to
exclusive wholesale buying clubs could do the trick for some. But the idea of worshipping idols, in a
literal way, holds little attraction for most of us.
I can hear you thinking; so why are the ashrams of the world full of
young Jews? Everybody seems to know
that the ranks of Western practitioners of Buddhism and Hinduism are loaded
with Jews. Without getting too deeply
into the matter, which could make another complete drash, I think that most
Jews who populate ashrams and Buddhist study centres, see themselves as getting
into the ‘soft’ versions of these faiths.
They see Buddhist and Hindu teachings as creating a discipline that can
be applied to all of life. They don’t
see themselves as being attracted to worshipping Siddhartha, or any of the many
Hindu deities. Too late, they suddenly
find themselves with shaved heads and saffron robes, headed for an ascetic
life.
In the same way, the path to the
most prevalent modern form of idolatry is sneaky. It seduces us without our really thinking
that we’re engaging in idol-worship. I’m
not talking about Buddhism or Hinduism.
No, the form of idolatry I’m talking about is modern materialism.
As I’ve also said before, please
don’t read my caution about materialism as a call for asceticism. I’m not at all saying that we shouldn’t enjoy
the pleasures of the material world.
There is nothing in our Tradition that teaches that it is good to take a
vow of poverty. Believe me, we’re clever
enough to know that there’s nothing attractive about poverty. Rather, we must enjoy our material comforts
or toys – to the extent that we are able to indulge in them – as nothing more
than vehicles to comfort or fun. Both
are good. But neither represents that
which will bring meaning to our life. I
love sailing, and since arriving on the Gold Coast I’ve spent a few lovely
hours out on the water. But that’s just
fun; it is not that which brings Ultimate Meaning to my life. Fun is good, and I think I deserve a little
of it. But it does not ultimately give
me the reason why I’m here.
We should allow ourselves a bit
of indulgence in material comforts and toys, as long as we first take care of
our long-term needs and financial security.
But we should never set up out things as idols, thinking that they are
what bring us happiness. That’s the way
to start on a spiral where we focus on those things that do not bring enduring
meaning to life. I know I’ve spoken here
on this theme before, and I’ll continue speaking on it until I think everybody
has absorbed the message. So I’ll be
speaking about it for some time yet…
The problem with material things
is that they ultimately do not bring happiness and meaning into our lives. But we have a tendency to pursue them as if
they will. We spend far more energy and
money on things that will bring no ultimate meaning at all. But they will
satisfy, at least in the short term, our eyes which positively lust for
things. Most in this room this morning
would agree in principle with what I’m saying.
But then the way our priorities make us act, reveals that we do tend to ascribe to things an ability
to bring us meaning, to bring us happiness.
This morning’s Torah reading is just one of many passages that warn us
against the consequences of serving other gods.
It’s probably the most powerful of all such passages. For this reason, it was chosen as the one of
the readings on Yom Kippur. But if we
don’t internalise that it is speaking to us, today, it cannot have an impact on
us.
This passage does speak to us today if we consider
idol-worship in the broadest sense. If
we allow ourselves to see it as not just literally bowing down to stone, or
molten, or other visual and material images of gods. If we can see the materialism that seduces us
into idolatry by stealth, see it for what it is then we can defend against
it. At its root materialism, like other
forms of idolatry, seduces us by appealing to our eyes. As long as we allow our heart’s desire to be
influenced by our eyes, to the degree that reason has no place at the table, we
are fighting a losing battle. If we
cannot let reason win, at least sometimes, it could be Yom Kippur once a week
and that wouldn’t be enough repentance.
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