Rabbi Michael Lerner: Revolutionary Love
Rabbi Michael Lerner: Well, we lost our way in part because we could not embody the loving and caring that we believed was necessary for the world to change. Many of us as individuals said, yeah, that’s what we need, but then when we got together in groups—our organizations, our demonstrations, our political/public discourse—did not ever talk about love, kindness, generosity, and caring. In our meetings, we were great at arguing with each other, but we’ve very rarely shown genuine caring for each other.
And so we were told, or we told each other, that’s not the place for this. So, after the meetings, we can have dances or have time to get stoned or whatever, but there was no place for a manifestation of spiritual consciousness or love of caring, kindness, and generosity. We thought those were private concerns, not public concerns. But it turns out that this is a central need that people have. So more and more people began to look for other ways, for other places in which those kinds of needs, the spiritual needs, the psychological needs, the need for respect and care could be met and at the same time, simultaneously, the state under Nixon, was indicting people, shooting people—I mean, don’t underestimate the importance of repression.
The repression was real, but it wouldn’t have worked if our organizations had felt more of that love and caring and kindness and generosity. But, unfortunately, we didn’t, and I tried several times to revive the new left energies.
I even created an organization called The New American Movement. At its founding conference in Iowa, we had so many people there who came to make sure we didn’t do anything. So instead, we became a group of old new lefters talking to each other rather than reaching out to American society that was another part.
There was a profound elitism in many of us who were part of those progressive movements. We thought that we cared about higher values, but we acted as though anybody who wasn’t yet part of us was almost certainly below us, not really to be respected. And in particular, there was a great deal of antagonism towards American working-class people. Well, you can’t build a transformative movement unless you can open your heart to America’s working class. Most of us are part of it; most of us are part of the working class, but we didn’t. We conjured up images of workers as all sexist and racist and so forth.
That kind of way of treating other people in our own movement made people say. I want out of here. That I don’t want to be part of a movement where I’m under suspicion because of the conditions of my birth, because I was born a man, or I was born white or born a Jew. It was crazy. And all of that contributed to undermining what was beautiful in our public message. So it was damaged by that kind of put down of each other.
Victor Fuhrman: Our respective generations work toward equality for African Americans and other people of color, women, and marginalized people. And again, significant strides, yet the undercurrent of racism never went away, and 2020 so it’s horror, really profound once again. So how may we open our hearts to the oneness of all?
Rabbi Michael Lerner: Well, the way to open our hearts to the oneness of all is number one, to do just that: to open our hearts individually and collectively.
We need institutions like churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places where those institutions raise this issue, teach about it, and teach how it happens. Teach what was in American society, but it’s not just American racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia anti-Semitism are global problems.
And so, we need to teach each other. That should be taught in public schools at every grade level from kindergarten up through graduate school. It should be required courses on that so that people learn deeply how all this craziness and hurtfulness has originated and has been sustained by our society’s various economic and political arrangements. But that’s not enough. We also need to try to change those institutions simultaneously. There’s no way you will overcome racism in this society as long as you don’t make reparations for slavery—payback to African Americans for what was done to them.
Reparations for Native Americans and the genocide done to them and simultaneously built into all of our institutions the necessity of giving the struggle against racism and sexism and homophobia, etc., a part in every institution. So that is talked about that that is discussed, but it has to be done lovingly. It can’t be done by saying, we need to do this because you, white man, you, man, you’re all evil because of your sex or skin color. This is just a reversal of the sexism and racism in this society, and it doesn’t work. It leads people away from any progressive movement.
We have to approach people in a way that supports what’s good in them and not focus on what we suspect might be wrong in them. So that’s a step in that direction.
Victor Fuhrman: Absolutely. Both your magazine and synagogue have the word Hebrew word, Tikkun, in their respective names. And in the first segment, you mentioned that the word Tikkun means to repair the expression, Tikkun Olam, to heal or repair the world. How does that apply to the work of spiritual activism and social responsibility?
Rabbi Michael Lerner: Well, there’s a prayer that is said three times a day in the Jewish world in the prayer. It’s called the Amidah. It’s upon us to give praise to God. It goes on and on with the honor and recognition that there is one God and nothing else. That’s all there is, is God, okay? We are all part of God, but we’re all part of the God of the universe. This is not a picture of a big man in heaven. It’s a picture of a God energy that is part of all being.
So, when we look at the world this way through that framework, the God energy of the universe is also the nurturing energy, the loving energy that we are called continually to be in that state of consciousness. So, that’s when we can make our religious and spiritual life connect with our healing and transformation of the institutions of society that has to be an end to the division.
Still, the array of religions of humanity should be taught about, and people should come to understand what people seek in spiritual life.
Now that again, it’s a slippery slope, possibly if you have that done crudely. But, still, you have that done consciously, in a way in which those who are hired to do that kind of teaching were invited from various religious and spiritual traditions to share what they have to say, which can only be good. And yes, there may have to be some strong guidelines there that so that if a teacher starts to advocate that everybody should do it their way, that person should not be invited back to teach in a school. But many people can’t teach their own religious life without insisting that it’s the only way to religious or spiritual life.
Victor Fuhrman: Those of us who have been in the interfaith movement recognize in our studies that at the foundation of every major religion is the same message. Love one another take care of one another.
Rabbi Michael Lerner: Yes, exactly. Right. Very, very important.
Victor Fuhrman: Is there a way that we can teach people or have them re-establish the sense of emotional intelligence that seems to be missing?
Rabbi Michael Lerner: Well, it should be taught in school. Again, it should be emphasized that this is a requirement for getting into any college. You do well on emotional intelligence, not just intelligence, but also in actual acts of caring and involvement in some form of Tikkun Olam, in some form of healing and repair of the world. That doesn’t have to be one form, but this should be a central requirement for getting into colleges because you spent some of your energy or time doing that, developing your capacity emotionally. And that if that were the case, then most schools would start to teach it.
Victor Fuhrman: The concept of emotional intelligence that we’re also talking about is that when you disagree with someone, you can use your heart and your love to understand where they’re coming from and why the disagreement exists.
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