Acidophilus in Spiritual Yoghurt…writes Rabbi Laibl Wolf

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Something’s missing?  Can ‘t quite put my finger on it. I have this vague sense that an essential, albeit micro-sized, ingredient is missing from life today.

Rabbi Laibl Wolf

Like a tiny drop of catalyst in a chemistry experiment. Or acidophilus in milk, to make yoghurt.  Or those few grains of salt in the chicken soup. Or the minute essential enzyme missing in the body. Miniscule amounts – yet transformational.

I suspect that the missing catalyst in western life is call belief.  Not only religious belief, but also belief in oneself, in others and in the future. There exists a fjord-paced subtle movement to the ancient Egyptian adage quoted by the prophet Isaiah “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die” . This nihilistic attitude belies a mistrust of all three – self, other, and future.

I feel we have lost belief in each other’s innate goodness, each other’s instinctive wish to please, each other’s loving nature. Nature abhors a vacuum. And the vacuum of belief is being filled by the demons of insecurity, puffery, bravado, anger, deceit, and fear – serious secondary infections from the one virus.

So allow me to offer ten cures – ten homegrown commandments:

1. Be humble and admit you aren’t in charge. And don’t pretend to be.  The release of this heavy (and illusory) personal baggage will relieve you of a dozen neuroses and psychoses, and may even make you a likeable individual.
2. Make the conscious assumption that all people who enter your daily domain possess a wonderfully generous streak. Speak to that side of the person. See them in context of imitatio Dei (an image of G-d). Doing so actually draws on their innate higher qualities.
3. Go out right now and give someone a gift, a random act of goodness, to anyone at all.  Your act helps change the world and allows people to recognize their self worth.
4. Give your children an extra kiss tonight. Demonstrate your trust in them and they will live up to your belief in them.
5. Forgive those who might have hurt you. It may change nothing – except you and your self-belief.
6. Climb a mountain. Fitness training, gathering the correct equipment, learning map-reading – all these are the spiritual tasks that allow you to climb the mountain of belief in a higher cause and purpose –your Mt. Sinai.
7. Draw on your compassionate egoless soul when facing challenge and adversity – especially when it is couched in rudeness, dishonor, and ethic-less behavior. Don’t just walk away (which may be a useful momentary strategy), but commit to assisting the other to change, slowly.
8. Speak softly. And check the propriety of the occasion before opening your mouth. Allow your voice to be an honest and reliable vehicle of your higher-self (Nefesh Elokit).
9. Wake up in the morning thanking the Creator for providing you, and you alone, with the unique opportunity to share your gifted self with the world, this day and every day.
10. Jews go to Synagogue on Wednesday morning (Shavuot occurs on Wednesday/Thursday of this week)  for the ‘renewal of marriage vows’ between the Jewish people and G-d. We recommit to the ten vows – the ten commandments – adopted at the original Mt. Sinai ceremony. If you happen to be Buddhist, Christian, Moslem, B’hai, Hindu or any one of the other 70 spiritual soul types in creation, choose to believe in the future, in a higher Power that guides the world benevolently.  (There’s a 50/50 chance that it’s for real. So hedge your bets!).

Transform your life with a spiritual drop of catalyst called Emunah  (belief).

Rabbi Laibl Wolf is the Dean of  Spiritgrow – The Josef Kryss Center, Melbourne, Australia