 |
| Just whipped into a frenzy, or truly Happy? A group of Evangelical Christian at a Charismatic prayer service. |
Today
is Day Seven of Week Five of the Omer. That is Thirty-five Days of the
Omer. The Theme continues to be Happiness.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been
writing about Happiness: specifically,
the importance of attaining it, and the tips I’ve found helpful in reaching for
it. Just as a craftsman needs a box of
tools specific to accomplish the job he has in front of him, those who are
reaching for Happiness have available to them a box full of tools that will all
help in accomplishing the job.
Yesterday, I began offering my thesis
that religion is an important tool to have in one’s box. Of course, there are many different religions
in the world, in all sorts of variations.
I cannot speak for all of them, and I’m not going to offer you some kind
of cultural relativism that asserts that all religions are created equal. My perspective is, of course, Judaism. But what ‘kind’ of Judaism? People ask me that all the time: What ‘kind’ of Jew are you? Sometimes they ask, because I just don’t fit
their stereotype as to how a particular ‘kind’ of Jew thinks, or acts. I find that people tend to get frustrated
when they can’t put you in a specific box.
But I’m not trying to be unkind to people if I defy definition
sometimes. I’m only trying to be true to
myself. So you may be asking, What
kind of Judaism are you talking about, when you say that it can help bring you
Happiness? If so, my answer is: The kind of Judaism that works for
you. I have enough exposure to most
kinds of Judaism, that I have had the opportunity to see Happy people in all of
them: from the most traditional to the
most radical.
I’ve also had the opportunity, because
of my years as a chaplain and my work in interfaith dialogue, to see firsthand
the positive effects of different religions – other than Judaism – on their
adherents. So whilst I don’t know enough
about each and every religion to offer specifics on how they spread Happiness,
I’ve been privileged to see enough to where I can generalise about how
religion, as a phenomenon, is overwhelmingly positive in that it brings people
meaning and joy-inspiring celebration of life’s moments. Even when looking at other religions whose
beliefs and/or practices we might personally find bizarre or troubling, we can
allow ourselves to see their positive effects.
I can’t say that I’ve always thought
this way. I have a liberal education, a
university education, and I’ve been exposed to the same anti-religion bias that
you have. Looking back, it’s amazing how
the supposedly ‘unbiased’ education we receive turns out looking more like an indoctrination
to specific orthodoxies that hold sway among the ‘educated’ classes.
When you think about it, it’s amazing
that anybody at all has time for religion.
Again and again, in film and literature the religious person is caricatured
as an unthinkingly slavish follower of anti-rational orthodoxy and who is out
of step with all the by-comparison heroic characters around him. This is why Christians flocked to see Mel
Gibson’s 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ. As a Jew, I found the film appalling for
a number of reasons – utterly forgettable except for the stir it caused. And the stir, for committed Christians, was
about that a wealthy and (then-) popular Hollywood actor-producer had made a
film offering a serious look at the Christian faith story, this despite that
the rest of Hollywood wanted no part of it.
I still think it was an awful film, but that knowledge gives one the
context to understand why its release was an important cinematic event for
some.
Of course, religion – or perhaps more
specifically, the power that religion holds over its adherents – can be a
dangerous force. How can one not be
aware of the great amount of misery that religion has spread over the
centuries? It’s silly to be in denial
about it. On the other hand, looking at
the twentieth century, it’s hard not to see that most of the evil that ran amok
during that hundred years’ time was not religiously-inspired but rather a
result of secular, anti-religious movements.
I’m thinking specifically about German National Socialism, which was at
its heart a movement to recapture a pre-Christian world of Nordic myth; and of
course Communism which sought to obliterate all traces of religion in its path. It’s true that today, the force that seems to
be bringing the most evil into the world is religious: Radical Islam. But I also think that at least part of the
success that Radical Islam had enjoyed in creating enclaves in the Western
World, is attributable to the rootlessness of Western Civilisation where
religion has been greatly marginalised.
Where religion is concerned, my
recommendation is that we stop looking at the great movements afoot in the
world and ask ourselves: What makes
me happy? And I can tell you that,
for me, when I share a celebration of the entrance of the Sabbath, as I will in
a few hours, I am happy. There are limited
occasions when Clara and I miss offering a specific Jewish response to the
arrival of Shabbat. And when we do, we
miss it. It isn’t a burden at all to
take the specific steps necessary to greet the Sabbath-Bride; it brings great
joy.
Therefore, over the next days I’m
going to be making the case for religion – specifically Judaism but one could
probably apply some of it to other religious faiths – being a very important
tool for the person seeking to increase his or her Happiness! Shabbat shalom!
No comments:
Post a Comment