My Rosh Hashanah and Ten Days of Awe 2010

 Here’s a nice thought for us: “When the power of love is more highly valued than the love of power, we shall know peace.”

Maybe there is a god, one god. I don’t know. I do ponder the question though that if there seems to be One Rule above all others does there have to then be One Ruler? Because there certainly seems to be this one rule, that if practiced, would create what we would certainly call in common vernacular, 'heaven on Earth.'

“When the power of love is more highly valued than the love of power, we shall know peace.”

This past week the Jewish New Year began. Rosh Hashanah is the first stage in the Ten Days of Awe - ten days of spirituality, introspection, family celebration, charity, forgiveness, fasting and prayers in preparation of God's judgment which is felled on Yom Kippur. Also this past week Moslims ended the holy month of Ramadan and celebrated Eid ul-Fitr. Ramadan is a month of fasting, introspection, family celebration, spirituality, charity and prayer. Eid ul-Fitr continues all of Ramadan's themes but seems to trade the theme of fasting for the theme of forgiveness. At least that is a central theme of Eid il-Fitr from my experience sharing the Eid holiday with Muslim friends in Malaysia.

What always strikes me, especially when the holidays fall together or in close proximity to one another, is the incredible similarities between these two holiest of holy periods. The experiences that both holiday periods strive to create are on the same wave length and share all the same themes: fasting, charity, prayer, celebration and introspection. All for the purpose of spiritual renewal and forgiving and being forgiven.

We Jews and our Muslim cousins come from the same place. Our most basic beliefs and values spring from the same source. We share much of the same factual and spiritual history - Abraham. Isaac. Jacob. Moses. Allah. Hashem. We each went our separate ways to be sure and to say the least have not always lived in harmony. But we must not forget that we come from the same spiritual center which is clearly reflected in these two core celebrations – The Ten Days of Awe and Ramadan with Eid ul-Fitr.

In many ways we are living through dark and scary times. Social tensions along religious faultlines have seldom seemed more menacing, both internationally and within many countries domestically as well now. I never imagined I would be seeing and experiencing what's going on now, especially here in Holland and the USA at the moment. We are threatening through our own actions to make Samuel Huntington’s much vaunted theory - a Clash of Civilizations - into a self-fulfilling prophecy. But it is anything but inevitable.

“When the power of love is more highly valued than the love of power, we shall know peace.”

With a small adjustment, this idea also works for our personal relationships: “When the love of the other is as cherished as the love of ego, we shall know peace.”

In either the general or personal version, this seems to me to be what I would call Rule One. And that takes me back to my original question? If there seems to be a Rule One, does that mean there has to be One Ruler, something we call God? The way I look at, if we strive more to live by this rule, if we strive more to shape our lives to that thought, well, it perhaps doesn't really matter if there is a God or not at that point. The purpose of God's intention would be fulfilled anyways. So either way - God or no god - we could establish a little bit of heaven on Earth.

The point is, we would know peace, peace between peoples and peace within our own hearts. So this is my prayer for the coming Ten Days of Awe and beyond:

“May I strive harder in my own life to elevate the power of love and the love of the other to a higher plane than my love of power and my love of ego. And may we all know peace.”

Best wishes to all my family and friends for a year of happiness, health, love and indeed...as every beauty pageant contestant would say... world peace!

By the way, this beautiful thought – “When the power of love is greater than the love of power, we shall know peace” – comes not from some great rabbi, imam, priest, monk or holy text. It is often cited as coming from Bob Marley since he has used it but it is originally from  William Gladstone: “We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” William Gladstone (1809-1898)

Comments

[LanceThruster]

Greetings Lenny,

It's been awhile.

Seems like I picked the right time to pop on over as your "days of awe" essay is quite insightful and wonderfully inclusive.

As an atheist, I know it's joked that we don't have any good holidays...but I prefer to think that we have complete freedom to share in those aspects in which we see meaning in everyone else's holidays.

I've always liked what the tradition of breaking bread entails as it comes from the time that sharing your food with someone was an expression that their well being was important to you, all the more so should it be a feast that you were invited to partake in.

In my own godlessness, I still see inspired nuggets of wisdom from other fellow travelers. This has always been a secular favorite of mine -

"We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is."
— Mark Vonnegut author of "The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity"

And here's a tune I'm quite fond of as it expresses my willingness to just go with the flow. Hope you enjoy it.

Let The Mystery Be - Iris DeMent -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlaoR5m4L80

Sincere best regards,

LT

[lennybruce]

Hi Lance!

I'm very happy about the coincidence of my post and your visit. Thank you for your kind words. Listening to Let the Mystery Be :)....so thanks for that as well... i like very much this genre of music... I hope all is well with you and all who are dear to you...And let's just keep helping each other till we get through all the shit happening these days.

Warm regards!