Bh
There is what I know and there is what I don’t know and then there is everything else. The everything else completely eclipses the other two.
The expert doctor can’t always diagnosis. His highly informed ‘I don’t know,’ is vastly different from my uneducated, ‘I don’t know.’ The doctor has more of an understanding of what it is he doesn’t know – but even so there is so much more (the stuff the Dr. doesn’t even know, he doesn’t know!)
Hold that thought. Let’s talk about potatoes and baskets for a minute.
You’re not allowed to carry items on Shabbat, outside of an enclosed area. This prohibition only applies to things of a certain size so for example, carrying a small piece of a potato from a private home to a public space is not part of this prohibition. But what if you put the potato in a basket?
Even though the basket is larger than the minimum size, it doesn’t count! The basket is secondary to potato, since it’s sole purpose is to transport the potato, so it’s not included in the prohibition. It’s as if the basket doesn’t even exist.
I can meditate and find Gdliness within world anywhere from majestic mountains to the bright eyes of my children. With proper lenses I can find the divine within the mundane. But there must be more. There must be more to the universe than what I can wrap my brain around. My limited intellect can perhaps lead me to the well where I can recognize that there is more.
What if the world I know which is filled with minivans, timeframes, and endless piles of laundry is really just that basket? What if the purpose of creation is that potato. Even though the car needs gas, the bills have to get paid and deadline needs to be met – it’s all secondary to the potato.
Enough philosophizing. Try this on for size, your loved one needs help urgently. You can talk about how wonderful it is to assist those in need…. but unless you roll up your sleeves offer some practical assistance you haven’t really done anything. What if your entire purpose for being was to lend a hand? What if the aid which you could provide is actually your potato?
It’s hard to know. We know what we know, we know what don’t know, and we simply can’t even fathom that which we don’t even know we don’t know.
