Hedonism and Spirituality

ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE FOR THE SPIRITUAL TRAVELER

- RABBI RAMI SHAPIRO

For over half a century,RABBI RAMI has been devoted to a single teaching: Alles iz Gott, “Everything is God.” To learn more, visit the website rabbirami.com.

I’m not a hedonist, but I love good food, fine wine, and nice clothes. My friends say my love of the material keeps me from realizing the spiritual. Is this true?

RABBI RAMI: No. Listen to this parable from the Zohar, the bible of Jewish mysticism:

There was once a cave-dwelling ascetic who ate nothing but raw wheat. Curious about life outside his cave, he visited a city and tasted thick black bread, cake, and honey-dipped pastry. “What are these made of?” he asked. “Wheat flour” he was told. “Then I am master of all of these,” he scoffed, “for I eat the essence of them all—wheat!”

Commenting on the parable, the Zohar says, “This ascetic was a fool: focusing solely on the essence, he never learned to enjoy the delights that flow from it” (Zohar 2:176 a-b).

The goal of spiritual practice is to know the essence and enjoy its delights. If your friends don’t see this, I suspect they may be out of touch with both.

I came home today to find a church flyer attached to my doorknob. It read: Is Eternity Worth One Hour? The question intrigues me. How might I think about this?

You might begin by inquiring into the nature of eternity. If eternity is time without end, an hour isn’t worth much at all. If eternity is the ending of time, the very notion of an hour is irrelevant. In either case, the answer to the question Is Eternity Worth One Hour? is probably “no.”