Can We Repair The World?

Can We Repair the World?

With spring arriving in the next few months, we look towards renewal. The words, “Tikkun Olam” come to my mind. They are words that are spoken and written quite often in Jewish liturgy. If you are not familiar with them, Tikkun Olam is a beautiful set of Hebrew words that means “to repair the world”. So, the question that we all grapple with, especially with the Haiti situation and much chaos in our midst (or an opportunity for healing as I also see it), becomes: How do we repair the world? The answer, I believe, is a simple and yet difficult one to understand. It can be found through our own transformation and renewal.

A few months ago, I had a party at my home. I bought some flowers and was retrieving a large and beautiful vase from my pantry. I was on a stool, reaching high on a shelf and I lost my balance; the vase fell out of my hands and shattered into thousands of pieces of glass. I took a deep breath and thought that there must be something for me to learn from this situation. I stood for a few minutes looking at all the glass surrounding my feet. It hit me that it was a metaphor for the big picture of “Tikkun Olam”, repairing the world. I wanted to put all the pieces of glass together to make the vase complete and whole again, but it would take an enormous amount of work and seemed impossible. What if we, as individuals, were like that beautiful vase and our souls have been shattered and broken? Can the process of individual transformation repair the world?

I believe that every time we go through a challenging or painful experience and are able to create a new positive flow of energy around it, we alter ourselves and shift. When we do this soul work, or “avodah” as it is called in Hebrew, we receive more inner strength and power and therefore restore ourselves and the world.

In many Jewish writings and traditions, the Rabbi’s and scholars have taught that when we do “Mitzvah’s” or “good deeds” in the form of rituals, behaviors and actions, we are participating in Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. We therefore create charities, give money to organizations and institutions that help others, and perform rituals such as celebrating Holidays, the Sabbath or practice the laws of keeping kosher (as some examples) in order to participate in the repairing of the world.

BUT, is the act of participating in the good deed, action or ritual repairing the world, or is the change and transformation of our individual selves through participation actually repairing the world? Please allow me to explain…

Good deeds are a beautiful way to connect to our higher selves, and, when we participate, we feel warmth from the experience itself. Giving of oneself elevates us and brings us to a place of awareness. By doing any good deed, we have the opportunity to transform ….. but what if we don’t transform? The question arises; can we get caught or “stuck” in the doing without ever changing our inner being? Can a person strictly follow religious laws and practices and still have inner conflict, anger, resentment towards others, jealousy, egotism, low self- esteem, broken relationships and unhappiness within them? Can they have an unhealthy body or feel lonely and disconnected to God and to other people? When we look at ourselves and the people around us, the answer is “yes”.

Then how do we actually change?

I believe we can use the guidelines that were given to us as a pathway to take actions that are uncomfortable, and therefore, create change within. For example: being kind to someone we don’t want to be kind to, being vulnerable when it is difficult to own that feeling, being honest when we want to lie, moving closer to others when we want to move away, eating nourishing foods rather than foods that primarily taste good, loving and honoring our physical bodies as though they were sanctuaries, respecting our beautiful environment by being aware of the products we use and many more. The guidelines were given as an opportunity to do the OPPOSITE of what we normally do… to guide us to move into our fears in order to become more true to ourselves, and therefore, create more love and connection.

If we, as individuals, are able to transform, piece by piece, and become "whole" again, like the beautiful flower vase I once owned, then we will all be participating in “Tikkun Olam”…repairing the world. The process of elevating ourselves is “renewal” and the positive energy it brings forth can be remarkable.