The Point

of Life

is Life

- Goethe

“Don’t search for answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way to the answer.”– Rilke 

Some of my current questions: how to be a storyteller…how to live a healthy creative life AND make a living…what structure do I need to work within to do my best work…where I can learn more dance…how to be motivated do record and finish stories I already have…how to publish children’s books…should I do another degree…what should I eat for lunch (which reminds me of this poem) 

A musing: I am listening to rain and smiling as I remember something my good friend and colleague, Joep, said "I have met very few trees who are confused by their existance"

The story that greeted me this morning: I woke up to one of the stories elluded to during the Passover narrative - the story of Rabbi Elazar Ben Azaryah "And Rabbi Elazar Ben Azaryah said "I am like a man of 70 years…".

Why I am like? When one reads deeper into commentaries and midrash (interpretations) there is the story that this Rabbi was actually only 18 years old and he becomes the Head of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court.

It goes on to say that even though his wisdom was recognised at this young age, he (or his wife - the passages differ) seem to be concerned he won’t be taken seriously. So he prays/she prays and overnight his hair turns white ‘like a man of 70′.

I chuckled when I remembered this story this morning. Firstly, because I have no idea why it came up and also because it is an OLD tale! It highlights that for 1000’s of years now, young people have been making significant contributions to widsom and knowledge in this world - and yet, it still seems to us that wisdom sometimes sounds better out of the mouth of a white haired man or woman (I have been known to joke about this to colleagues and my grandmother - about bringing them into clients to share what I have uncovered for it to be taken more seriously).

It also, however, highlights how young people (including myself, though whether you would consider me young is all relative) may also feel they have to look or act older for their wisdom to be heard and yet, here you see that this ‘young in earth years’ (my own way of saying this) Rabbi is given the position BEFORE his hair turns white.

From this I suppose one thing I was thinking is that we must be happy and proud of speaking in our own voice and from our own wisdom - at any and every age (for Elderhood certainly bestows lots of experience and wisdom to share!) - and trust that the recognition, listening, dialogue and reward will come - perhaps especially if we give that same respect and listening to others…

 
A lot for a Sunday morning, perhaps, but when it flew into my head this morning, I wanted to share - whatever the interpretation* you prefer this story.

*In Torah interpretation there is a concept of 70 faces/facets of the Torah - 70 valid/legitimate ways to undertstand a passage (Bamidbar Rabbah 13:15) though of course I am no Torah scholar and these are my own musings…

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 15th, 2007 at 3:55 pm and is filed under beauty, knowledge & wisdom, musings, questions, quotes, stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.