Why aren’t We Happier?!
Rabbi Mendel Kaplan,
Chabad @ Flamingo
By comparison with times bygone, life for us should be a relatively happy experience. Generally speaking, people are making more money and have less dependants to support. We have newer, nicer and faster cars to get around in, not to mention the wider streets and better roadways. We have nicer homes, and more possessions. We are surrounded by lavish amenities, ostentatious comforts and endless means of entertainment. Life expectancy is up, and outbreaks of epidemics and disease are down. Life should be a “virtual bed of roses”, but somehow it isn’t working out that way.
Although we seem to have discovered ways to add years to our lives, it also seems we haven’t yet discovered how to add life to the years. We own so much more, yet enjoy it all so much less. We get around more quickly, but often wonder where we’re going altogether. For many you might just say, life today offers a lot more convenience and money with a lot less sense and purpose. Where are we going wrong?
Scientific understanding and breakthroughs characterize our modern age. We tend to get highly uncomfortable with the supernatural and spiritual. The “big-bang” theory may not make more sense than the Biblical story of creation, yet most people happily accept this modern anomaly in place of the ancient one.
“Not that we should discard our age-old heritage entirely,” say Mr.& Mrs. Sophisticated. For purposes of nostalgia, moral, humanistic or even literary value we must somehow preserve the Torah. With effort and creativity we can rationalize, clarify and explain phenomenon once thought of as miraculous. The story of the sea’s splitting can be replaced with the low tide/ high tide theory, and the fiery visions at Sinai can be revisited as volcanic bursts of energy.
In plain words, our liberal Jewish society has decided to bid tradition, revelation and miracles farewell, and welcome scientific logic, reason and empirical ‘proof’ in its stead.
Strangely enough, the enlightened scientific arguments have gradually become more and more dogmatic. The mere fact that something can be dressed as remotely logical or empirical immediately makes it perfectly acceptable, whilst anything hinting at the spiritual terra incognita beyond human comprehension is spurned.
Amazingly, this inability to deal with that which we cannot explain has haunted the rarified world of science as well. In the early 1920s, Albert Einstein was tormented by what he perceived as an unknown ‘antigravity’ force present in the universe. Not that he had a problem with farfetched notions; the trouble was, that this “cosmological term,” as he called it, marred the mathematical elegance of his beloved equations. The great physicist was hugely relieved when the discovery of the expanding universe let him cross out what he declared was his “greatest blunder.”
Enter Passover 5761 - the Jewish ‘Season of [spiritual] Liberation’: Around the globe, ‘traditionalist’ Jewish communities commemorate miraculous redemption from the constricting bonds of ancient Egypt, and the supernatural transformation of slaves into a nation of divine destiny. Throughout the scientific world, the said establishment makes a powerful case that Einstein’s blunder may actually have been another Nobel-worthy prediction.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope to find and study a distant supernova, astronomers have concluded that the expansion of the universe is actually speeding up. And that means something is pushing it!
For now, this unknown force is simply being called “dark energy,” emphasizing its incomprehensible nature. But scientists throughout the academic world are all agreeing that its existence is becoming increasingly hard to dispute.
The Ba’al Shem Tov (founder of the Chassidic movement), maintained that nothing happens by ‘coincidence,’ rather the ever present hand of G‑d carefully orchestrates everything. That would include the timing of scientific discovery and conclusion. Perhaps we are being given a modern Passover message about the nature and existence of a G‑dly, yet very relevant reality of the spiritual and supra natural.
In the post-mortem of Pesach – as we prepare for Shavuot (the anniversary of Sinai), it may just be time to reinvestigate the possibility of a spiritual and divine alter ego within us. And maybe, just maybe - that part of us needs to be nourished and pampered as well. We might even begin to reconsider the inclusion of tradition, revelation and miracles along with our scientific logic and empirical reasoning.
It is quite plausible the underlying answer to our nagging unhappiness has something to do with this all. After all although we have started to clean up the environment, we haven’t stopped polluting our souls. The painful reality of the utter neglect of our spirits and absolute fixation with our bodies is taking a heavy toll. And it may be that our happiness and self-contentment are being swept away with it.
As the long-awaited summer finally arrives, there couldn’t be a better time to brighten and warm your spiritual barometer. And there isn’t a better place in the neighbourhood than the Family Shul. Come on over and give it a try, all you have to loss is a small few hours, while you might find the keys to unlock the doors to that all-to-elusive HAPPINESS. Now there’s certainly a low risk, high paying investment to consider!