I always kind of envied people for whom life is simple. When you ask them, what's your opinion on the conflict between religion and life? And they answer you, what conflict?
Of course, it's all so simple. If we all quickly do teshuva, kill all the enemies out, send away all the gentiles back to where they came from, delete all the sinners, and cover up all the women completely, God will bring the redemption immediately. Like a computer game - one, two, three, pass the levels, and you win. Are you for real? Are you in the first grade? Or do you think God is in first grade?
I think each person is born very simple. Like a triangle. The world is very black and white, there is good and evil, and we choose to be on the side of what we consider good. You do good and you get good.
And then it's all shattered and the world becomes - say, a tetrahedron.
When you see that some people might not be perfect, but they are on the side you call good. They might not wear a kippa. but they're still Jewish. A shock. And also, not all Jews "look Jewish", as you understand it. Some of them had no idea Jews could be white. Some of them are allowed to eat locusts and marry two women. Could you imagine? It's a reality-crumbling realization. Just like finding out that not all those who suffer are punished by God for terrible sins - usually we (and they) have no idea why they suffer. It has nothing to do with their deeds. And we shall never know why. And then we can choose how we believe and how we settle the conflict...
And then you graduate to be a cube.
Another dimension: what about the people who are not on your side of things, not what you choose to call good, but they believe themselves to be right? Some believe in the right of women to wear tefillin, others believe in their right to remain childless, and yet others think it's not Jerusalem but Al-Quds. And could you imagine, to them it's the absolute truth. Wow. Could you come out of your comfy little world and try to enter their heads just for a second? Because calling them "wrong" will not help you grow, no, not in the least.
How about becoming an octahedron? If you are a thinking person and wish to dive deep.
Some people live in an entirely different reality from yours. Fishermen in Burma and beer brewers in Ireland. Do you think they know God? The world is full of nations, and they have no idea about you and your chosen-ness. And yet their life rolls on for thousands of generations. I think it's both sobering and humbling for a Jew to know about them. We are so not running the world. We are so not the only ones here. We are very little indeed and the only reason we are still here is because we have a job to do. But it's not about just resisting temptation - that's Catholicism. Simplifying the task the way Christianity did. God is both in complexity and in simplicity- the living cell is both simple and infinitely complex. Just like our souls. Just like science. Like every sunrise and sunset we are lucky enough to see here. Just like our job in this world - both so simple and so complex.
And there are more dimensions, more shapes, more depth. Here is a dodecahedron.
I don't know where the fifth dimension is. .Maybe it's in seeing everything you see, and yet keeping your faith. Faith bound to knowledge and understanding, faith full of hope and curiosity. But the world is infinitely complex, and by deeming it simple, we insult God. By pretending the conflicts do not exist, we cheat ourselves out of possible depth of character.
No, I don't really envy the people who are still a triangle by age 40 something.
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