Capacity For Reverence

Reflections for Rosh Hashanah:

Have you lost your capacity for reverence?

Remember the feeling you experienced when your child stood on her/his own for the first time and then took their first steps?

Better still, remember how you stood up for the first time? Remember the first time you noticed a butterfly, the tree outside, the rain? Remember how special your secret place was? How meaningful everything around you was? Can you remember the sense of vitality and how each and every day was unique and full of texture? Do you remember how meaningful your first time away from home was for you? The first kiss, the first love, the first time driving on your own, your first solo flight…

Reverence was your daily bread. The world was filled with questions, wonder and great mystery. We now live through times of great uncertainties and a great many questions. My question to you is – have you lost your capacity for reverence? Is the uncertain and the unknown a burden and a stress or can you rediscover the spirit of curiosity, of reverence? Can you embrace living with new excitement in the face of the unknown?

Reverence is the medicinal remedy for a sense of shortfall.

If you tell me you failed, my question will be can you access your capacity for reverence?

If you tell me you are frustrated or you are afraid, my question will be can you get in touch with your capacity for reverence?

What else can survive cruelty, defuse hatred, alleviate pain and redeem stupidity? It’s your capacity for reverence.

© Aviv Shahar