On Dov Baer of Mezritch

Can it be that the favored son of rabbinical Hasidism could be a closet Buddhist? A Hindi? An Upanishad? More on that later...

"When you gaze at an object, you bring blessing to it. For through contemplation, you know it is absolutely nothing without the divinity that permeates it. By means of this awareness, you draw greater vitality to that object from the divine source of life, since you bind that thing to absolute nothingness."

Let me first say that as I understand it, there are really two types of religionists: the first are those who believe all existence is God, of God, a part of God, a manifestion taking place within God; the second type, primarily Judeo-Christian-styled sects, believe (although not so explicitly) that God creates anew, meaning man and all other physical forms are separate and under God's watchful eye. This allows for wonderful stories of intervention, chosen-ness, sacrifice, and punishment.

As I read this selection, I get the impression Dov Baer sees the world through a similar lens to mine--that God is merely a word used to describe a concept. I fully expected to read methods of prostration, obedience, and identification. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to see a man of Religion propound God as nothingness, divinity as vitality. To hear that viewing any object as separate cuts that object from its truthful nature is satisfying, yet I think it doesn't go quite far enough. I need one more sentence added to the end, to the effect of:

"To view oneself as separate from that object in fact separates him from the divine source of life."

Moving forward, yet within the same concept, Baer speaks of ego, my favorite subject (pun intended). To liberate oneself from the ego, and in doing so become silent is a lofty goal. Indeed, how can one possibly hear the voice of the universe if that person can still hear the single voice from inside himself? "The moment you begin to hear what you yourself are saying, you must stop." Although Dov relates this to prayer, how appropriate does this message seem to any situation.

How can I hear the voice of the universe if I can only hear the voice of ego? How can I hear the voice of my friends, if I can still hear the mumbling din of my own self monologue? How can I possibly learn anything if my mind questions everything?

Aha.

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Thus I return to the first sentence of this post, in which I wonder if Baer is not truly Hasidic, by saying he is none of the above. Although most men of faith and/or enlightened thinking tend to be boxed into one particular faith, all men who practice spirituality based in love, tolerance, honesty, humility, and serenity are more than simple religionists. These are men who raise the consciousness of all they come into contact with, and through words not dissimilar, display reverence in thought and deed. The man who respects other men as parts of the same whole, and who recognizes he cannot know the unknowable, rises above human classification and religious order. This is the man of true reason, and not religion. This is the voice of the God.