Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A Lovely Way to Overcome Loneliness

In Hope Against Hope, at 98-99, Elie Wiesel comments on what he calls God's loneliness:

"God, only God, is alone.  By definition.  Human beings are not alone.  They have other human beings.  But whom does God have?  God is condemned to be alone.  It is true that God has us, but this is not the same.  We human beings are not God.  What I am thinking of here is God's tragedy.  If a human being no longer wants to live, he or she commits suicide.  God cannot kill himself.  Therefore we should have sympathy for God, compassion for God.  This is an old Hassidic idea: compassion for God."

It is an intriguing idea that I have something that God wants and values in my relationship with Him.

How do we love God?  Wiesel thinks it is through other people.  "One person alone is not close to God.  In order to be close to God that person must be close to another person.  There are many ways of relating to their people. . . . I am absolutely convinced that God is to be found in a simple human relationship.  We have few certainties, but this is one of them:  When two people love one another, God is there.  God is present when people are present to and for one another in a human way.  God does not say, 'Your life belongs to me.'  God says, 'Your life belongs to your neighbor.'"


Listen to the Beatles' "With a Little Help from my Friends."

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