Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

As my readers probably know, Psalm 23 is my favorite Psalm of the Psalms-as it is probably the case with many of you. In the Introduction to my new book, Psalm 23: A Spiritual Journey, I raised a new question: What happens to us if we make something or someone other than God, our shepherd? Well this morning I came across a very interesting answer to this question from a blogger named Liberalchick. Here is her version of the Psalm. While some of you may not agree with the politics, her recasting of the psalm is very clever:

The State is my shepherd, I shall not want.
It makes me lie down in federally owned pastures.
It leads me beside quiet waters in banned fishing areas.
It restores my soul through its control.
It guides me in the path of dependency for its namesake.
Even though our nation plunges into the valley of the shadow of debt, I will fear no evil, for Barack will be with me.
The Affordable Care Act and food stamps, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me of Michelle Obama approved foods in the presence of my Libertarian and Conservative enemies.
You anoint my head with hemp oil.
My government regulated 16-ounce cup overflows.
Surely mediocrity and an entitlement mentality will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in a low-rent HUD home forever and ever.
Amen.

In much of the contemporary world, the power of the State looks to control the most personal decisions affecting a person’s life. Indeed, we seem to be living in a time when the State looks to govern almost every aspect of a person’s life from the cradle to the grave. This has certainly been the case with European socialism, where religion has been marginalized in favor of social progressive movements. The underlying philosophical force behind this political philosophy is the notion that man is nothing more than a materialistic entity moving through space. Moreover, the State not only demands, but also expects our complete allegiance. In place of religion, authoritarianism asserts that religion is an illusion and that every aspect of human existence can be explained away without recourse to an incorporeal or immaterial soul. Good and evil are relative terms that are bereft of any absolute or inherent meaning. Contrary to the biblical principle that humankind is cast in the Image of the Divine, the dystopian world of authoritarianism regards such beliefs as threatening, since it undermines their desire to control and enslave the individual to the ruthless power of the State. Man is nothing more than a cogwheel in the machinery of the political world.

Modern self-reliant and independent minded people often find it difficult ask for help beyond themselves. Sure, when life runs smoothly without a hitch, who needs religion? The loss of faith goes unnoticed. However, when suffering occurs—especially when it is unexpected—that is when people begin to seek a way out and to reflect about the meaning of life and its bewildering and painful experiences. A close brush with an approaching death often gives a powerful incentive to such thoughts. The loss of a beloved spouse, child, friend, job, home can literally turn what seems to be a well-adjusted life upside down. It is only then we come to realize that something important has been missing in our lives—the realm of the spirit that forces us to take a hard look at our lives if we are to comprehend the mystery of our existence.

For this reason, we yearn for something more fulfilling and spiritual. In many ways, human beings are a lot like seedlings waiting to grow at the right time and place. Life is mysterious. Before an acorn can transform into an oak tree, the seed must first lose its former existence. For the seed to actualize its potential for growth, it has to yield to the Mysterious Power that is permeating it and resurrecting it with change. Like the seedlings, it takes an external cause to open us to the undiscovered possibilities of the human spirit. Our quest for authenticity may begin with the loss of a job, a home, a loved one, or sometimes an illness that turns our lives inside out. Most of us would probably wait to experience some sort of spiritual epiphany rather than consciously pursue such an experience or close encounter with God. Human mortality has often served as a catalyst for our change. As we slowly approach the end of our life journey, we start wondering about the existence of another reality that beckons us to look beyond the physical world for ultimate fulfillment. For a change of a spiritual magnitude to take place, we must first realize that we are not the mere by-products of a material world and existence.

However, many of us are no longer certain about God or the experience of transcendence. Science, State-controlled political forces, and technology have caused this religious intuition to fade into the unconscious where it is not easily or naturally accessible. The nature of that loss is logical. When, with the inauguration of the scientific worldview, human beings started considering themselves the bearers of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of everything, meaning began to ebb and the transcendental stature of humanity to diminish. The world lost its spiritual dimension, and we have been struggling to regain it ever since.