Socrates poured steaming hot tea into our twin mugs and spoke the first encouraging words I'd heard in many months. "Your survival in the duel is real evidence that you're ready to progress further toward the One Goal."
"What's that?"
"When you discover that, you'll already be there. In the meantime, your training can now move to a different arena."
A change! A sign of progress. I was getting excited. Finally we're going to get moving again, I thought. "Socrates," I asked, "What different arena are you referring to?"
"For one thing I'm no longer going to be an answer machine. You're going to have to find the answers from within." "And you begin now. Go out back, behind the station, behind the trash bin. There, in the very corner of the lot, against the wall, you'll find a large flat stone. Sit on that stone until you have something of value to tell me."
I paused. "That's all?"
"That's it. Sit and open your mind to your own inner wisdom.'
I went outside, found the rock, and sat in the darkness. First, random thoughts drifted through my mind. Then I thought of all the important concepts I'd learned in my years at school. An hour went by, then two, then three. The sun would rise in another few hours, and I was getting cold. I began to slow my breathing and to vividly imagine my belly as warm. Before long, I felt comfortable again.
Dawn came. The only thing that I could think of to tell him was a realization I'd had during a psychology lecture. I got up on stiff, sore legs and hobbled into the office. Socrates, looking relaxed and comfortable at his desk, said,
"Ah, so soon? Well, what is it?"
I was almost embarrassed to say it but hoped he'd be satisfied. "Okay, Soc. Beneath all our apparent differences we all share the same human needs and fears; we're all on the same path together, guiding one another. And that understanding can give us compassion."
"Not bad; back to the rock."
"'But it's going to be dawn--you're leaving."
"That's no problem," he grinned. "I'm sure you'll have thought of something by tonight."
"Tonight, I , ," He pointed out the door.
Sitting on the rock, my whole body aching, I thought back to my childhood. I considered my past, searching for insights. I tried to compress all that had transpired in the months with Socrates into a witty aphorism.
I thought of the classes I was missing and the gymnastics workout I'd have to miss--and the excuse I'd give the coach; maybe I'd tell him I had been sitting on a rock in a gas station. That would be a crazy enough story to make him laugh.
The sun crept with agonizing slowness across the sky. I sat, hungry, irritated, then depressed, as darkness fell. I had nothing for Socrates. Then, just about the time he was due in, it came to me. He wanted something deep, something more cosmic! I concentrated with renewed effort. I saw him walk into the office, waving to me. I redoubled my efforts. Then, about midnight, I had it. I couldn't even walk, so I stretched for a few minutes before shuffling into the office.
"I've seen beneath people's social masks to their common fears and troubled minds, and that has made me cynical, because I haven't yet been able to get beyond all that to see the light within them." I figured that was a revelation of major proportions.
'"Excellent," Soc announced. Just as I started to sigh, he added,
"but not quite what I had in mind. Can't you bring me something more moving?" I roared with anger at no one in particular and stomped out to my philosopher's stone.
"'Something more moving," he had said. Was that a hint? I naturally thought back to my recent workouts in the gymnastics room.
My teammates now clucked about me like mother hens. Recently I was doing giant swings around the high bar, missed a pirouette change, and had to jump off from the top of the bar. I knew I was going to land on my feet pretty hard, but before I even hit the ground, Sid and Herb caught me in mid-air and set me down gently. "Be careful, Dan," Sid scolded. "You want to snap your leg before it heals?'"
None of that seemed very relevant to my present situation, but I let my awareness relax, hoping that maybe the Feeling would advise me. Nothing. I was getting so stiff and sore I couldn't concentrate anymore. I didn't think it would be cheating to stand on the rock and practice a few flowing movements of t'ai chi, the Chinese form of slow-motion exercise that Soc had shown me.
As I bent my knees and gracefully rocked back and forth, my hips turning and arms floating in the air, I let my breath control the shifting of my weight. My mind emptied, then filled with a scene.
A few days before, I had jogged slowly and carefully to Provo Square, in the middle of Berkeley, across from City Hall and directly adjacent to Berkeley High School. To help relax, I began swaying back and forth in the movements of t'ai chi. I concentrated on softness and balance, feeling like seaweed floating in the ocean.
A few boys and girls from the high school stopped and watched me, but I paid them no attention, letting my concentration flow with the movements. When I finished and walked over to put my sweat pants back on over my running shorts, my ordinary awareness reasserted itself: "I wonder if I looked good." My attention was captured by two pretty teenagers who were watching me and giggling. "I guess those girls are impressed," I thought, as I put both legs into one pant leg, lost my balance and fell on my ass.
A few other students joined the girls in their laughter. I felt embarrassed for a moment, but then lay back and laughed with them.
I wondered, still standing on the rock, why that incident could be important.
Then it hit me; I knew I had something of value to tell Socrates.
I walked into the office, stood before Soc's desk, and said,
"There are no ordinary moments"
Soc smiled. "Welcome back." I collapsed on the couch and he made tea.
I was once asked, when turning for "Boi B'Shalom" in Lecha Dodi as we great the Shabbat queen, does it matter which direction I turn? Left or Right?
Does it matter?
Does it matter:
a. which shoe I put on first?
b. Which leg I dress first?
c. If I pluck a blade of grass?
Have you ever thought why we cover the Matzav at the seder when lifting the cup?
Judaism asks of us the willingness to take high ideals and enact them in the real world.
Why I am a Jew, https://rabbisacks.org/tenpaths/educators/whyiamajew/
Judaism never left its ideals at the level of lofty aspirations, but instead translated them into deeds which we call mitzvot, and a way, which we call the halakhah, and thus brought heaven down to earth.
(יז) שִׁמְעוֹן בְּנוֹ אוֹמֵר, כָּל יָמַי גָּדַלְתִּי בֵין הַחֲכָמִים, וְלֹא מָצָאתִי לַגּוּף טוֹב אֶלָּא שְׁתִיקָה. וְלֹא הַמִּדְרָשׁ הוּא הָעִקָּר, אֶלָּא הַמַּעֲשֶׂה. וְכָל הַמַּרְבֶּה דְבָרִים, מֵבִיא חֵטְא:
(17) Shimon, his son, used to say: all my days I grew up among the sages, and I have found nothing better for a person than silence. Study is not the most important thing, but actions; whoever indulges in too many words brings about sin.
Through the practical, we are able to bring down profound ideas into the real world. We never leave an idea in its raw form.
(יב) וְהָיָ֣ה ׀ עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן אֵ֤ת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֥ם וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֹתָ֑ם וְשָׁמַר֩ ה' אֱלֹקֶ֜יךָ לְךָ֗ אֶֽת־הַבְּרִית֙ וְאֶת־הַחֶ֔סֶד אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֖ע לַאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ׃
(12) And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, the LORD your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant that He made on oath with your fathers:
(1) והיה עקב תשמעון AND IF YOU DO OBEY (The Hebrew text may be taken to signify if you will hear the heel, עקב) — If, even the lighter commands which a person usually treads on with his heels (i.e. which a person is inclined to treat lightly), ye will hearken to...
(ב) בֶּן עַזַּאי אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי רָץ לְמִצְוָה קַלָּה כְבַחֲמוּרָה, וּבוֹרֵחַ מִן הָעֲבֵרָה. שֶׁמִּצְוָה גּוֹרֶרֶת מִצְוָה, וַעֲבֵרָה גוֹרֶרֶת עֲבֵרָה. שֶׁשְּׂכַר מִצְוָה, מִצְוָה. וּשְׂכַר עֲבֵרָה, עֲבֵרָה:
(2) Ben Azzai said: Be quick in performing a minor commandment as in the case of a major one, and flee from transgression; For one commandment leads to another commandment, and transgression leads to another transgression; For the reward for performing a commandment is another commandment and the reward for committing a transgression is a transgression.
What is Ben Azzai adding here?
(א) רַבִּי אוֹמֵר, וֶהֱוֵי זָהִיר בְּמִצְוָה קַלָּה כְבַחֲמוּרָה, שֶׁאֵין אַתָּה יוֹדֵעַ מַתַּן שְׂכָרָן שֶׁל מִצְוֹת.
(1) Rabbi Said: And be careful with a light commandment as with a grave one, for you did know not the reward for the fulfillment of the commandments.
How is Rebbi and Ben Azzai different and/or the same?
In which direction would one turn in lecha dodi?
כל פינות שאתה פונה לא יהו אלא דרך ימין
all the turns [pinot] that you turn should be only to the right
What is the significance of the right? The following source opens gives an indication of what the right vs. left represents
תנו רבנן לעולם תהא שמאל דוחה וימין מקרבת
לא כאלישע שדחפו לגחזי בשתי ידיו ולא כיהושע בן פרחיה שדחפו [להנוצרי] (לאחד מתלמידיו) בשתי ידיו
The Sages taught: It should always be the left, weaker, hand that pushes another away and the right, stronger, hand that draws him near.
In other words, even when a student is rebuffed, he should be given the opportunity to return. This is not like Elisha, who pushed Gehazi away with both hands, and not like Yehoshua ben Peraḥya, who pushed Jesus the Nazarene, one of his students, away with both hands.
In various places, particularly in the Kabbalah and Chassidic literature, right is seen to represent kindness (chesed) and left represents justice/letter of the law (gevurah)
- Olam Chesed Yibane
I recall the early days, after 1905, when God granted me the privilege to ascend to the Holy Land; and I arrived at Jaffa. There I first merited meeting our great master, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (of blessed memory), who greeted me with good cheer, as was his sacred custom to receive all people.
We chatted together on various Torah topics. After an early Minchah (the afternoon prayer-service), he went out, as was his custom, to stroll a bit in the fields and collect his thoughts. I accompanied him.
During the walk, I plucked a twig or a flower. Our great master was taken aback when he saw this. He told me gently:
“Believe me — in all my days, I have been careful never to pluck a blade of grass or flower needlessly, when it had the ability to grow or blossom. You know the teaching of the Sages, that there is not a single blade of grass below, here on earth, which does not have a heavenly force above telling it, Grow!
“Every sprout and leaf of grass says something, conveys some meaning. Every stone whispers its inner message in its silence. Every creature utters its song [of praise for the Creator].”
Those words, spoken from a pure and holy heart, engraved themselves deeply on my heart. From then on, I began to feel a strong sense of compassion for all things.