MUCH ADO ABOUT MIRACLES

Q: I’m reading Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, a must-read for spiritual seekers. Yet he seems quite gullible about his gurus’ miracles. On the other hand, I never question Christ's miracles in the gospels. Am I just biased?

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RABBI RAMI: The miracles in both books may be true, or they may be false. Or maybe it doesn’t matter. In the Book of Acts, we learn that God is “that Reality in whom we live and move and have our being” (17:28). All life is divine life, and every event is miraculous. The key isn’t to accept or reject the miracles reported by others but to recognize the miracles that occur in and around you at every moment.

Q: My family says they love me, but things have been strained since I came out as a lesbian. James Baldwin wrote that “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” Mr. Baldwin allows me to stop loving my parents, but the Bible commands me to love them. Whom should I follow?

RR: As far as I know, this was a 2015 tweet by Robert Jones Jr. (@sonofbaldwin), not James Baldwin. The Bible doesn't instruct you to “love” your parents but to “honor” them (Exodus 20:12). The apostle Paul stated that honoring your parents means obeying them (Ephesians 6:2-3); his rabbinic contemporaries said it means caring for them in old age (Kiddushin 31b). Honor your parents by ensuring their well-being; honor yourself by loving whomever you choose.

Q: My Buddhist friends tell me I don't exist, that the self—my self—is an illusion. But this is silly. As Descartes said, “Cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I am.” Am I wrong?

RR: What if you're wrong? Fallo ergo sum (I'm wrong, therefore I am) is just as convincing as