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The wonder of it all By Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Religion is the art of knowing what to do with wonder. Too bad all too often that's not the way it's practiced
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"This feeling of wonderment is the source and inexhaustible fountain-head of his desire for knowledge. It drives the child irresistibly on to solve the mystery, and if in his attempt he encounters a causal relationship, he will not tire of repeating the same experiment ten times, a hundred times, in order to taste the thrill of discovery over and over again….The reason why the adult no longer wonders is not because he has solved the riddle of life, but because he has grown accustomed to the laws governing his world picture. But the problem of why these particular laws and no others hold remains for him just as amazing and inexplicable as for the child. He who does not comprehend this situation misconstrues its profound significance, and he who has reached the stage where he no longer wonders about anything, merely demonstrates that he has lost the art of reflective reasoning. "
—Max Planck, Scientific Autobiography, NY, 1949, pp 91-93]
What is utterly surprising, however, is that contrary to common belief, Moses walked daily throughout the Israelite camp with his mask on, as long as he did not speak with the people. But once he had to speak to them he deliberately took it off, revealing his luminous face. Instead of accommodating them by making it easier to approach him, it seems that he wanted to bring them into an altogether different spiritual setting before repeating the words of the Divine as he had heard them. By taking off the mask he exposed them to this divine radiance, which caught them by complete surprise. The purpose, then, was to catch them off guard.
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Religion is the art of knowing what to do with wonder. To ensure that it does not fall back into complacency, it must never become everydayness. In fact, this has become one of its greatest challenges during the last few hundreds years. While in the days of Moses and the prophets it was experienced as a majestic representation of the new, and with deep religious excitement, over the centuries this wonder has been replaced by a devastating familiarity. Religion has put on a permanent mask that is never removed.
By thoroughly misunderstanding what life is all about and believing that we have solved most problems concerning the mystery of life, we have become mentally shut off from the possibility of the extraordinary and unprecedented. We have deadened our capacity to be surprised.
With the passing of time, we have turned religion into an institution, a dogma and a ritual into which everything needs to fit neatly. But religion is really about an upheaval in the soul and the need to break with all sorts of idols. To live with spiritual trepidation in which man realizes that he was created from dust but has the capacity to reach Heaven. Whether or not man succeeds will depend on his ability and willingness to stand in awe.
A religion that comforts but does not challenge? We have turned faith into a lame doctrine in which the courage to shatter callousness has been sidetracked. It has been transformed into a sweet and comfortable religion in which man can slumber and never wake up.
Today's religion has paradoxically made modern man believe that Divine revelation is impossible. How, after all, can it claim that the Divine can enter our world when it has utterly rejected the notion that surprise is the great spiritual mover for authentic religious life? How can one uphold a belief in the revelation at Sinai when one simultaneously has bought into a spiritual stagnancy by thinking that scientific investigation is all there is and wonder is no longer to be part of our experience? Revelation is based on the notion of infrequency. Its authenticity and truth is to be found in its being different from all other experiences. Its uniqueness is that it cannot be compared to any other event. It is sui generic. Once we attempt to explain it, it has lost its very purpose and essence. If we extinguish the spark of its singularity it is reduced to insignificance.
We need people who can teach us to take off our mask — which by now has merged with our skin — and show us the original glow of the Divine's word, as Moses did.
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JWR contributor Rabbi Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo is a world-renowned lecturer and ambassador for Judaism, the Jewish people, the State of Israel and Sephardic Heritage.
© 2012, Rabbi Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
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