The Encyclopedia Galactica defines a robot
as a mechanical apparatus designed to do the work of a man.
The marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation
defines a robot as "Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun to Be With."
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy defines the marketing division
of the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation as "a bunch of mindless jerks
who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes."
Douglas Adams, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide
Trust that it is worth scratching on the wall
that God is love and life because,
all appearances to the contrary notwithstanding,
it may just be true.
Trust that if God is anywhere, God is here,
which means there is no telling
where God may turn up next --
around what sudden bend of the path
if you happen to have your eyes and ears open,
your wits about you,
in what odd small moments,
almost too foolish to tell.
Frederick Buechner, New York Times, 2000
September's Baccalaureate
A combination is
Of crickets, crows and retrospects,
And a dissembling breeze
That hints without assuming,
An innuendo sere,
That makes the heart put up its fun,
And turn philosopher.
Emily Dickinson
Every year before the Days of Awe, the Ba-al Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidic Judaism, held a competition to see who would blow the shofar for him on Rosh Hashanah. Now if you wanted to blow the shofar for the Ba-al Shem Tov, not only did you have to blow the shofar like a virtuoso, but you also had to learn an elaborate system of kavanot — secret prayers that were said just before you blew the shofar to direct the shofar blasts and to see that they had the proper effect in the supernal realms.
All the prospective shofar blowers practiced these kavanot for months. They were difficult and complex. There was one fellow who wanted to blow the shofar for the Ba-al Shem Tov so badly that he had been practicing these kavanot for years. But when his time came to audition before the Ba-al Shem, he realized that nothing he had done had prepared him adequately for the experience of standing before this great and holy man, and he choked. His mind froze completely. He couldn’t remember one of the kavanot he had practiced for all those years. He couldn’t even remember what he was supposed to be doing at all. He just stood before the Ba-al Shem in utter silence, and then, when he realized how egregiously — how utterly — he had failed this great test, his heart just broke in two and he began to weep, sobbing loudly, his shoulders heaving and his whole body wracking as he wept.
All right, you’re hired, the Ba-al Shem said.
But I don’t understand, the man said. I failed the test completely. I couldn’t even remember one kavanah.
So the Ba-al Shem explained with the following parable: In the palace of the King, there are many secret chambers, and there are secret keys for each chamber, but one key unlocks them all, and that key is the ax. The King is the Lord of the Universe, the Ba-al Shem explained. The palace is the House of God. The secret chambers are the sefirot, the ascending spiritual realms that bring us closer and closer to God when we perform commandments such as blowing the shofar with the proper intention, and the secret keys are the kavanot. And the ax — the key that opens every chamber and brings us directly into the presence of the King, where he may be — the ax is the broken heart, for as it says in the Psalms, “God is close to the brokenhearted.”
Rabbi Alan Lew, This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared
The Book of Life and the Book of Death are open every day,
and our name is written in one or the other of them at every moment,
and then erased and written again the moment after that.
We are constantly becoming, continuously redefining ourselves.
This doesn’t just happen on Rosh Hashanah.
Alan Lew
This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared:
The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation
We each have a moral obligation
to conserve and preserve beauty in this world;
there is none to waste.
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Here is a relationship booster
that is guaranteed to work:
Every time your spouse or lover says something stupid
make your eyes light up as if you
just heard something brilliant.
Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi