from Thunder in the Soul (2021)
Plough Spiritual Guide SERIES
The beginning of faith is not a feeling
for the mystery of living or a sense
of awe, wonder, or fear. The root of
religion is the question of what to do
with the feeling for the mystery of living,
what to do with awe, wonder, or fear.
Religion, the end of isolation, begins
with a consciousness that something is
asked of us. It is in that tense,
eternal asking in which the soul is
caught and in which man's answer is
elicited.
Wonder is not a state of esthetic
enjoyment. Endless wonder is
endless tension, a situation in
which we are shocked at the inadequacy
of our awe, at the weakness of our
shock, as well as the State of being
asked the ultimate question.
Endless wonder unlocks an innate sense
of indebtedness. Within our awe there
is no place for self-assertion. Within
our awe we only know that all we own
we owe. The world consists, not of
things, but of tasks. Wonder is
the state our being asked. The
ineffable is a question addressed
to us.
All that is left to us is a choice ---
to answer or to refuse to answer. Yet
the more deeply we listen, the more
we become stripped of the arrogance
and callousness which alone would
enable us to refuse. We carry a
load of marvel, wishing to exchange
it for the simplicity of knowing
what to live for, a load which we
can never lay down nor continue to
carry not knowing where!
[pages 22 - 23]
ISBN 9780874863512
Abraham Joshua Heschel b. 1907 -
passed into eternity 1972
a singular figure in philosophy,
history, and engagement with one's
society and human/civil rights
