The Audacity to
Create
There’s
a saying in Hebrew: Kol hat’halah
kashah. Every beginning is
difficult. Whenever an Israeli starts a
new enterprise and hits a snag, he will shrug and invoke: Kol hat’halah kashah. It’s meant to be more than a bit
fatalistic. You start something new, and
there will be difficulties.
Because after all, the very concept of beginning is fraught with
difficulty.
Why do you think this is so? Surely it is attributable, at least in part,
to our inability to anticipate every possible circumstance, every possible
consequence. Some of us are stuck in
Stage One Thinking. Remember that? Of course you don’t! I spoke of it two years ago, when I came as
guest rabbi to help you to celebrate the High Holy Days. Was that really two years ago? Yes, Virginia…it was.
Anyway, since you likely don’t remember,
let me refresh your memory. Stage One
Thinking is when one sets a course based on how good it sounds, on how good it feels,
without any attempt to think through the likely, or possible
consequences. Many of us are stuck in
Stage One Thinking. Even some national
and world leaders at the highest echelons are stuck in Stage One Thinking. There are political ideologies out there that
are absolutely based on Stage One Thinking. And that’s scary. But even when one is not stuck in
Stage One Thinking, it is probably impossible to anticipate every possible
consequence. So in every new endeavour
there is a danger of some unforseen consequence messing things up.
One consequence that is as predictable
as the rain in a Queensland summer, yet seldom taken into account, is the
resistance to change. We tend to be
creatures of habit. We can very easily
be taken out of our comfort zone. When
something new is in the air, the resistance to change factor is often a
consequence to deal with.
The Torah reading tomorrow morning will
be from Bereishit, the very first reading in the Torah. We’ll read from the creation narrative, which
you also heard read yesterday if you came for Simchat Torah. Whether you think the creation of the earth
actually followed the narrative in the opening chapter of Genesis word-for-word
or not, is not relevant to my message.
What is relevant, is that the account follows a logical sequence. The steps in creation follow a perfect
logic: light and dark. Sky and sea.
Sea and land. Different lights to
mark the times and seasons. Creatures of
the water. Creatures of the land. Man and woman. All the seed and fruit-bearing plants to
provide the basis of the food chain. It
looks as if God thought it all out well in advance.
Ah, but there was a snag! Man and woman didn’t turn out quite as
planned. And the angels chided God for
this. His answer? “Meh!
It would have been better if I hadn’t created man. But I did, so we’re stuck with him! Get over it!”
It’s a delightful Midrash, because it suggests that even God Himself
cannot foresee every possible consequence.
God cannot foresee everything and yet has the audacity to create. Then we too, unable to foresee everything,
should have the same audacity. Especially
so, since anything we’re likely to create is not nearly as big as the world
itself. So how much trouble can we get
ourselves into?
When
God began creating the heavens and the earth…He took a
risk. He could not have anticipated
every consequence that He unleashed. But
still He created. And we, too aught to
have the courage, the audacity to create.
To look around us and imagine what we might do better. To get out of our respective ruts. To stop spinning our wheels. To try a little boldness. To try to find a better way. Many among us have a great example of such
risk-taking to offer. Let’s make this a
year when, looking back on it next year, we will be able to say of
ourselves: We were willing to take risks.
We thought things through as best we could, and then we stepped out in
confidence. And our own little corner of
the world is now a better place because of it.
Shabbat shalom.
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