Anything that happens to anyone could happen to me
Happy Spring everyone! It certainly feels that way here in Buffalo. Ran in shorts and a short sleeve shirt and everything. Still in a mask and still avoiding crowds.
Went for a 3.44 mile run today - shorter slower miles following a good long mile day yesterday.
Still listening to my latest obsessive sci-fi reading - Persepolis Rising, which is Book 7 of the Expanse series.
Here’s a thought-worthy quote from what I listened to today:
“…I am a human being. Anything that happens to human beings could happen to me. One time and another in the years since, she’d taken comfort from that. Or warning. People fall in love, so maybe I will too. People get jobs, so maybe I will too. And people get sick. People have accidents…And so that could happen to me too.” [Page 431]
We are all in this together, we are all connected. There really is no us and them. What happens to any of us could happen to all of us. Sometimes a comfort, sometimes a reminder of just how much is riding on all of us.
Meanwhile, here are some geekier running details.
I use iSmoothRun for tracking on an iPhone and linked to an Apple Watch. iSmoothrun allows me to customize a workout better than most apps I have used.
Fuller stats found at Smashrun here.
Also here I am at Strava here.
I follow and connect via both platforms, but more on Strava.
Some details for the run:
Running Time: 33:26
Total Distance: 3.44 miles
Avg. page: 9:43/mile
Loneliness and Meaning
Shavua Tov. Wishing everyone a good and healthy week.
Here are my thoughts today - the meditation text is below.
The loneliness in this passage speaks of both abandoning and being abandoned, and finding meaning in difficulty. It feels a lot like Psalm 23:4:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me”.
The authors of both the Psalm and the Tao feel abandoned in that place of loneliness and still they feel connected with the most profound ideas of meaning. So this passage in the Tao concludes:
“I alone differ from others,
And value drawing sustenance from Tao.”
I too have felt that loneliness and often find comfort in the Psalms. Even alone, we are not alone.
Another thought: “Abandon learning…” seems to be difficult for anyone who spends any part of our lives trying to expand our minds.
This connects to Martin Buber’s I and Thou - Buber advises against the accumulation of experiences. The idea that we can gather things and tick them off a list from which we would derive meaning, in Buber’s writings, leads to diminish our very nature. Meaning arises from encounters and learning and we must figure out how to continue to be open to growth and not constrained by what we’ve experienced or learned before.
Before meditating today I read this:
[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), pages 149-150, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]
20.
Abandon learning and there will be no sorrow.
How much difference is there between “Yes, sir,” and “Of course not”?
How much difference is there between “good” and “evil”?
What people dread, do not fail to dread.
But, alas, how confused, and the end is not yet.
The multitude are merry, as though feasting on a day of sacrifice,
Or like ascending a tower at springtime.
I alone am inert, showing no sign of desires,
Like an infant that has not yet smiled.
Wearied, indeed, I seem to be without a home.
The multitude all possess more than enough,
I alone seem to have lost all.
Mine is indeed the mind of an ignorant person,
Indiscriminate and dull!
Common folks are indeed brilliant;
I alone seem to be in the dark.
Common folks see differences that are clear-cut;
I alone make no distinctions.
I seem drifting as the sea;
Like the wind blowing about, seemingly without destination.
The multitude all have a purpose;
I alone seem to be stubborn and rustic.
I alone differ from others,
And value drawing sustenance from Tao.
The Joy of a Longer Run
Went for a 7.21 mile run today - longer miles and remembered just how great it can be to do a good long run.
Whatever incentive systems I have managed through the years to make it possible for me to run far - tracking apps, race prep, you name it - nothing beats the feeling I got today, over four miles into a run when I had been going slow enough to just keep going and not worry about it.
I feel some real joy when I have managed to balance that sense of pace and distance and just keep going without pushing.
Still listening to my latest obsessive sci-fi reading - Persepolis Rising, which is Book 7 of the Expanse series. A truly wonderful standout in the field of sci-fi.
Meanwhile, here are the geekier running details.
BTW, I have been running with Galloway style breaks - today about 30-40 seconds every 1.2 miles - for years now. I think it helps endurance and healthy running.
Also, I am a huge fan of smaller pace length and mid-foot strike - been running on Altra shoes for years now and got into it after reading Born to Run a while back.
I use iSmoothRun for tracking on an iPhone and linked to an Apple Watch. iSmoothrun allows me to customize a workout better than most apps I have used.
Fuller stats found at Smashrun here.
Also here I am at Strava here.
I follow and connect via both platforms, but more on Strava.
Some details for the run:
Running Time: 1:11:19
Total Distance: 7.21 miles
Avg. page: 9:54/mile
Do less harm
Shabbat Shalom.
Before meditating today I read this:
[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), page 149, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]
19.
Abandon sageness and discard wisdom;
Then the people will benefit a hundredfold.
Abandon humanity and discard righteousness;
Then the people will return to filial piety and deep love.
Abandon skill and discard profit;
Then there will be no thieves or robbers.
However, these three things are ornament and not adequate.
Therefore let people hold on to these:
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.
My thoughts:
Adam Grant’s latest book, Think Again, has a lot of good things to say about not getting too attached to one way of doing things. This passage may be saying something similar. Grant offers us the idea that we should be confidently humble - having faith in our abilities to make a path forward and humble about knowing what that path might be.
Intellect and knowledge, integrity and humanity, skills and abilities, we often think these might be enough. And yet, without the plainness, simplicity, and less self-centered approaches, they may not serve us all that well.
In an interview with Ezra Klein, George Saunders noted that kindness started with “doing less harm”.
Wishing everyone a good weekend and Shabbat Shalom.
Push or Coast?
Went for a 3.33 mile run today - slow, short miles after a longer day yesterday..
Still listening to my latest obsessive sci-fi reading - Persepolis Rising, which is Book 7 of the Expanse series. A truly wonderful standout in the field of sci-fi.
Some roles don’t feel right, and some feel more comfortable. Should we be pushing ourselves always or might we do better with something that is less challenging?
I don’t have the answers on that one, but was thinking about that, and how I need to stretch my calves more to avoid shin splints as I ramp up the mileage again.
Meanwhile, here are the geekier running details.
I use iSmoothRun for tracking on an iPhone and linked to an Apple Watch. iSmoothrun allows me to customize a workout better than most apps I have used.
Fuller stats found at Smashrun here.
Also here I am at Strava here.
I follow and connect via both platforms, but more on Strava.
Some details for the run:
Running Time: 32:41
Total Distance: 3.33 miles
Avg. page: 9:49/mile
A oneness-separation reflection
Before meditating today I read this:
[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), pages 148-149, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]
18.
When the great Tao declined,
The doctrines of humanity and righteousness arose.
When knowledge and wisdom appeared,
There emerged great hypocrisy.
When the six family relationships are not in harmony,
There will be the advocacy of filial piety and deep love to children.
When a country is in disorder,
There will be praise of loyal ministers.
My thoughts:
Originally, I found this a tough text to connect to.
Then I thought of it in terms of the tendency to think we have arrived at answers when we find a part that works well.
Differentiation from oneness makes creation possible - like in Jewish Mysticism, where the infinite must become smaller and separated in order to make the universe, so in Taoism, separation into ideas is necessary.
And yet, that separation itself creates opportunities for difficulties.
Arriving at a good solution means we need to return to the wholeness out of which the good idea arose and connect back to fundamentals.
Attempting to solve situations with tried and true practices leads into problematic habits.
And this is all difficult to do.
The appearance if separate ideas in this reading connects very clearly to the Jewish Mystical s’firot - the Infinite must create by approaching the finite in steps and each of those steps holds assistances and difficulties.
More on this later I am sure!
Meanwhile, easier to sit for twenty minutes today than it was yesterday. Had some back pain as I worked to maintain my good posture.
I use the “Breathe” app on Apple Watch to help keep breaths and the Insight Timer App on iPhone for the timing of twenty minutes. If anyone has a better alternative that goes past five minutes on the Apple Watch I would love some suggestions.
Wishing everyone a good weekend and Shabbat Shalom.
Finding Meaning is up to us
As Jews the world over begin the Book of Leviticus this week we move from the story of our liberation to the details of worship and becoming a community focused on holiness.
What does all of that mean to us?
Jews today follow in the traditions of the last two thousand years that take the offering system of the priesthood and turn it into an all-access system of prayer. Before, we approached the divine through offerings, which in Hebrew share the root for “coming near to”, and now we do that through prayer. Before we needed an official worship class, the priesthood, now all of us can do it individually and communally.
The progress of Judaism is from greater hierarchy to less, from an ambassador to the divine in the form of the priest, to our own individual agency - we are responsible each and every one of us for our own connections to mystery and the infinite.
Today I will aim to meditate and go for a run and in those ways find my deepening experience of and connection to greater meaning.
Shabbat Shalom everyone!
Living in Between - run thoughts
Went for a 6.34 mile run today - good to be back at my normal workout distance.
See below for geeky running details.
Listened to my latest obsessive sci-fi reading - Persepolis Rising, which is Book 7 of the Expanse series. A truly wonderful standout in the field of sci-fi.
Got me thinking about moving between states - as individuals, communities, peoples, and the world. Every moment is between two others - we are always in motion. The idea that there is a static moment where everything “just is” is an illusion. Embracing that kind of constant change is difficult and I am working through it personally right now.
Meanwhile, here are the geekier running details.
I use iSmoothRun for tracking on an iPhone and linked to an Apple Watch. iSmoothrun allows me to customize a workout better than most apps I have used.
Fuller stats of today’s run at Smashrun here.
Also here’s the run Strava here.
I follow and connect via both platforms, but more on Strava.
Some details for the run:
Running Time: 1:00:05
Total Distance: 6.34 miles
Avg. page: 9:29/mile
Being a better self-ruler
Before meditating today I read this:
[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), page 148, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]
17.
The best (rulers) are those whose existence is (merely) known by the people.
The next best are those who are loved and praised.
The next are those who are feared.
And the next are those who are despised.
It is only when one does not have enough faith in others
that others will have no faith in them.
[The great rulers] value their words highly
They accomplish their task; they complete their work.
Nevertheless their people say that they simply follow Nature.
My thoughts:
Chinese philosophy focuses a lot on the nature of good leaders and I find myself often thinking that that translates well into Jewish ideas of being a mensch, a person of integrity, or a righteous person, a tzadik - that is a person worth striving to be like.
In this reading the power of doing well without recognition seems quite explicit. In doing what we are responsible for, and doing it well, we contribute to a more smoothly running world and in so doing, get less attention not more. Thinking of the Jewish version of this idea we can connect to Pirkei Avot’s idea that we do good because it is good, not for any reward.
Both versions seem pretty countercultural right now.
I am grateful to Keith Kristich and his prayer centering group for the space to meditate with them today.
Also wanted to share that twenty minutes of meditation isn’t always easy. Today I was not comfortable, shifting around to find my better posture, legs fell asleep and ended up stretching for a while. This is not an easy practice for me and I work to be forgiving to myself for not being a “pro”.
Run-Listen-Think
Went for an easy 3.45 mile run today. Short miles after longer day yesterday.
See below for geeky running details.
Listened to this podcast while running:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-cal-newport.html
Ezra Klein talks to Cal Newport about how the way we work isn’t working for anyone.
One big takeaway from the interview was that when companies started to “save on staffing,” when executives starting doing their own document creation and email, it turned out that there was a loss in productivity, leading to the need to hire more higher paid people.
Net result was a 15% increase in staffing costs. So much for efficiency.
How do the ways we work not work for us, both as people and employees, for employers, and for society? Seems like a really good thread to pick at.
Meanwhile, here are the geekier running details.
I use iSmoothRun for tracking on an iPhone and linked to an Apple Watch. iSmoothrun allows me to customize a workout better than most apps I have used.
Fuller stats of the run at Smashrun here.
Also here’s the run Strava here.
I follow and connect via both platforms, but more on Strava.
Some run details:
Running Time: 33:02
Total Distance: 3.47 miles
Avg. page: 9:32/mile
Meditation Thoughts
Before meditating today I read this:
[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]
16.
Attain complete vacuity,
Maintain steadfast quietude.
All things come into being.
And I see thereby their return.
All things flourish,
But each one returns to its root.
This return to its root means tranquility.
It is called returning to its destiny.
To return to destiny is called the eternal (Tao).
To know the eternal is called enlightenment.
Not to know the eternal is to act blindly to result in disaster.
One who knows the eternal is all-embracing.
Being all-embracing, one is impartial.
Being impartial, one is comprehensive.
Being comprehensive, one is one with Nature.
Being one with Nature, one is in accord with Tao.
Being in accord with Tao, one is everlasting,
And free from danger throughout one’s lifetime.
Comment. In the philosophy of Lao The, Tao is revealed more fully through tranquility. The position of the Neo-Confucianists is just the opposite. They said that only through activity can the mind of Heaven and Earth be seen.
My thoughts:
I feel the deep connection between rabbinic thinking in the Talmud and the medieval Jewish mystical thinking in the Zohar as similar to the rationalist-mystic thread between Neo-Confucianism and Taoism. The Talmud counsels learning and merit, the Zohar counsels self-reduction, tzimtzum, in Hebrew - both are needed for healthy growth and functioning as individuals and in community.
A Prayer for the Inauguration
A Prayer for the United States
on the day of the Inauguration of Joe Biden.
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
[Adapted from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s radio address at the end of the 1940 Presidential Campaign on Election Day]
Wherever we are today, in every community in our nation, and the world, friends and neighbors gather however we can.
We voted as free people, impelled only by the urgings of our own wisdom and our own conscience.
In our polling places there were no storm troopers or secret police to look over our shoulders as we marked our ballots.
In every political campaign the question on which we finally pass judgment is simply this: “Who do I think is the candidate best qualified to act as President, or Governor, or Senator, or Mayor, or Supervisor, or County Commissioner during the next term?”
It is that right, the right to determine for themselves who should be their own officers of government that provides for the people the most powerful safeguard of our democracy.
Dictators have forgotten - or perhaps they never knew - that the opinion of all the people, freely formed and freely expressed, without fear or coercion, is wiser than the opinion of any person or any small group of people.
We have more faith in the collective opinion of all Americans than in the individual opinion of any one American.
Every one of us has a continuing responsibility for the Government which we choose.
Democracy is not just a word to be shouted at political rallies and then put back into the dictionary after election day.
The service of democracy must be something much more than lip-service.
It is a living thing - a human thing - compounded of brains and muscle and heart and soul. The service of democracy is the birthright of every citizen, of every background, ethnicity, and heritage, of every religion, the children of every country in the world, who make up the people of the land.
Freedom of speech is of no use to the person who has nothing to say and, freedom of worship is of no use to the person who has lost their God. A free election is of no use to the person who is too indifferent to vote.
On Election Day we decided for ourselves how the legislative and executive branches of our country are run and by whom.
After the ballots were counted, the real rulers of this country had their way.
After the ballots were counted, the United States of America still stands united.
We people of America know that a person cannot live by bread alone.
We know that we have a reservoir of religious and civic strength which can withstand attacks from abroad and corruption from within.
On this Inauguration Day, we all have in our hearts and minds a prayer for the dignity , the integrity, and the peace of our beloved country.
Therefore I believe that you will find it fitting that I read to you an old prayer which asks the guidance of God for our nation:
Almighty God, who has given us this good land for our heritage; We beseech You that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Your favor and glad to do Your will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither through the ages out of many kindreds and tongues. Imbue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom, in Your Name, we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to Your law, we may show forth Your praise among the nations of the earth. In times of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in days of trouble, suffer not our trust in You to fail.
And let us say, Amen.
Seeing One Another
Thinking about this week’s Torah reading, current events, and Dr. Eberhardt’s book, Biased.
This week, while reading Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt’s incredibly important book, Biased: uncovering the hidden prejudice that shapes what we see, think, and do, I was struck by her account of teaching inmates in San Quentin. She was really reluctant to hand them back their term-papers with all of her corrections - she had virtually covered them in red ink. She tried to soft-pedal it to them, hoping that she wouldn’t crush them with some constructive criticism. Here are her reflections:
“Some of us are doing life,” one student reminded me. “I think we can handle a little red-pen criticism.”
I handed back the papers. Their heads went down to study my comments. After some time, their heads lifted, and some seemed moved to near tears. “I just can’t even believe it,” one man said. “Somebody sat down and spent all this time on my paper, thinking of what would make it better and how I can improve. That’s never happened to me before.”
I offered them the chance to turn in a second draft for feedback, before the final version was due. And every student in the class took me up on that—even though incorporating my suggestions meant rewriting fifteen-page papers by hand, starting from scratch with a pencil and a sheaf of notebook paper. I critiqued those, and they rewrote them a third time. They were hungry for rare validation and driven to be heard. (Page 125)
We live in a crisis of seeing and listening. We look at the same thing and say it is different. We look at each other and don’t feel seen. And we speak to each other and we don’t feel heard.
Moses felt the same thing in this week’s Torah reading, when he tried to speak to the Ancient Israelites: “Moses spoke to the Descendants of Israel, but they did not listen.” (Exodus 6:9)
Moses can’t convince the Israelites or Pharaoh, God can’t convince Moses. No one gets fully seen or heard. Pharaoh’s heart is hardened and the Israelites don’t listen because they are impaired by their “shortness of spirit and the difficulty of their oppression” (Exodus 6:9).
What can we do?
The answer is in Dr. Eberhardt’s experience at San Quentin. Show people that we take them seriously, that we hear them, that we care. This is not easy. Like Dr. Eberhardt we are often concerned about what we would feel in someone else’s shoes as opposed to seeing them for who they are and where they are.
Let’s go into this Shabbat, this special weekend celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and leading up to the inauguration of President-Elect Joe Biden, with a spirit of listening and seeing and softening our hearts. Let us give one another the opportunity to show each other who we are. Let us be open to one another. Let us begin to overcome our own preconceptions and see what it would be like to listen in our hearts.
Wishing all of you a Shabbat Shalom, a good weekend, and a better, healthier, safer 2021 for all,
Rabbi Jonathan