Divine Prohibition
For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes 1:18 NIV
Grief – Stay stupid! Is that the solution to the problem? If Qohelet is right, wisdom and knowledge are the last things we would seek. They only bring sorrow and grief. Despite our disclaimers to the contrary, I’m pretty sure that underneath it all we agree. We long for the “simple” life, the mythical existence of passive acceptance, a return to the Garden before the Fall, when everything harmoniously co-existed. But that’s a myth now. If we seriously think about the world’s current state, it’s almost impossible to imagine how things could return to the Garden glory. And the more we think about it, the more we seek to understand, the more difficult and complex the answer. It seems as if despair is inevitable.
But Rebbe Nachmen said: “LO TIT’YA-ESH – ASSUR L’HIT’YA-ESH – ‘IT IS FORBIDDEN TO DESPAIR.”[1] Why? When everything seems to drive us toward hopelessness, why is despair forbidden? How can it be avoided in a world so filled with disparities?
“The only way to avoid despair is to be a need rather than an end. Happiness, in fact, may be defined as the certainty of being needed. But who is in need of man?”[2] “The idea with which Judaism starts is not the realness of evil or the sinfulness of man but rather the wonder of creation and the ability of man to do the will of God. . . . This is why despair is alien to Jewish faith.”[3]
Heschel’s insight is crucial. It is the answer to Qohelet. Focused on my own needs, on my own ends, I will never escape the relentless attack of despair. I must come to terms (that’s more than “realize” or “acknowledge”) with the fact that God needs me. I have something to do for Him. I’m not talking about being obedient. Obedience is like the foundation of a relationship, a mutually satisfying atmosphere where two can freely operate. In fact, if I were to summarize biblical Torah obedience in a word that word would be trust. But since trust is my issue, the human side of the relationship, it isn’t the connection of need. Trust is all about whether or not I will accept God’s acceptance of me. The trust issue is only on my side of the equation. God has already confirmed His side. But when it comes to need, both God and I have to risk something to make it work. God has to risk that what He desires for me and of me will come to pass because I will choose to make it so. He doesn’t control that. I have to risk that what God wants of me will fulfill me, will satisfy me, will make me whole. And I don’t control that. I have to choose to let His desire become mine. God and I are involved in mutual risk assessment.
There is only one way to avoid despair. It is to let this dual risk relationship continue. I don’t mind saying that this is scary. There are times when I’m not really sure that God’s desire for my commitment will actually benefit me. There are times when I feel abandoned, emotionally adrift. There are days when I want certainty—desperately! But I usually discover I am in desperate need of certainty because I am afraid of the risk relationship, and the desire for certainty is just a way to escape the risk. Heschel helps me sort this out:
“Happiness is not a synonym for self-satisfaction, complacency, or smugness. Self-satisfaction breeds futility and despair. All that is creative in man stems from a seed of endless discontent.”[4]
Endless discontent. Ah, yes. The answer; and the problem. Do you suppose I should embrace the trauma because it is the real source of God’s design for me?
Topical Index: despair, relationship, risk, discontent, grief, Ecclesiastes 1:18
[1] https://jewishjournal.com/judaism/105451/it-is-forbidden-to-despair/
[2] Abraham Heschel, Between God and Man: An Interpretation of Judaism (Free Press Paperbacks, 1959), p. 132.
[3] Ibid., p. 196.
[4] Abraham Heschel, Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, p. 31.
