Proud To Be A Duns (Dunce): Food For Thought
Jun 18th, 2009 by Rabbi Simcha Weinberg in Spiritual Growth
John, Doctor Subtilis, of the village of Duns in Berwickshire, Scotland, (1266-1308) developed the notion of “Haecceity” as a way of giving expression to the uniqueness or the indivisible “thisness” of a person. His followers were called “Dun’s Men” from where we get the notion of a “dunce” or stupid fellow who believes himself subtle.
I don’t know about the subtle part, but I do believe in the importance of appreciating the uniqueness of a person.
A great debate rages in my family whether each of us must first focus on becoming individuals and only then submitting to God or vice versa. Is the submission of a person who does not have a sense of self, worthwhile? Is it too risky to focus on self-development? Even if we acknowledge the importance of developing ourselves: Do we consider the challenges of our times so terrible that we must sacrifice our self-development in order to fight for the Jewish people?
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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.
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I don’t know about the subtle part, but I do believe in the importance of appreciating the uniqueness of a person.
A great debate rages in my family whether each of us must first focus on becoming individuals and only then submitting to God or vice versa. Is the submission of a person who does not have a sense of self, worthwhile? Is it too risky to focus on self-development? Even if we acknowledge the importance of developing ourselves: Do we consider the challenges of our times so terrible that we must sacrifice our self-development in order to fight for the Jewish people?
Author Info:
Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.
I invite you to join this discussion by commenting below:
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I think I’ll join the Dunses
R’ Shlomo gave over the following Ba’al Shem Tov torah on the following verse “v’Chol Komah l’fanecha tishtakhaveh”=’and all height before You will bow’( as part of the ‘Nishmat Col Chai’ prayer we daven on Shabbat and Yom Tov),to wit:
By a human king the act of subservience usually entails his subjects bowing and groveling,making oneself a nothing. However, the King of all kings wants His people to show their subservience by emulating The King and Standing Taller and Taller.
That would seem to indicate that each person should develop their G-d given gifts to the fullest extent as part of their submitting to G-d. (just be careful not to pick up some arrogance on the way).
With regard to R’ Simcha’s poser at the end “Even if we acknowledge the importance of developing ourselves: Do we consider the challenges of our times so terrible that we must sacrifice our self-development in order to fight for the Jewish people?”, I’d like to offer the following 2 comments:
1.The Izhbitser Rebbe has a doctrine dealing with ‘R’tzone HaShem and Omek R’tzone HaShem’= basically What does G-d want? and What does G-d REALLY want? This is a difficult concept and I’ll try to give over the flavor to the best of my abilities in a nutshell:One of the greatest challenges facing each individual at any given moment is How do I serve G-d NOW? What does G-d want from me at this moment? Since we can’t read G-d’s mind (at least I can’t), we come up with our best shot and do what we do. Many times, our plans don’t occur as we’d planned and we end up doing something else with a totally different result. Although the result doesn’t mesh with our plans,that doesn’t mean it is unsatisfactory or unwanted by G-d.=> In fact, as the Izhbitser frames it- perhaps,our intention was to fulfill R’tzone HaShem (what G-d wants), as we saw it, BUT the result of our actions fulfilled the ‘Omek R’tzone HaShem’(what G-d really wanted).
In other words=> who says that my self-development is what G-d wants (altho’, how could He not?); perhaps, what He really wants is for me to fight for the Jewish People !!!
2.R’ Shlomo always shared the following Rebbe Nachman torah before Rosh HaShanah -If someone makes a mistake (an aveirah), surely part of the process of t’shuvah is recognizing the mistake and regretting it (otherwise, how could one return to the state as before the mistake!).HOWEVER, Rebbe Nachman says, GUILT IS EVIL,in that one can become mired in despair and not move on.
On a similar note, if one has chosen a path in service of G-d, it is absolutely DESTRUCTIVE to play the ‘what if game’ while attempting to move forward in that path. This is not to say that one can’t or shouldn’t reevaluate at some touchstone; however, while putting in the effort to succeed, doubt can be counterproductive and self-defeating.(safek= amalek in gematriya)
HaShem Ro’i Lo Ekhsor
The choice between individual or G-d is not one a 5 year old asks, not because he is not sophisticated enough to understand, but because he is too busy being. We ask these questions because we have lost sight of who we are.
So says, the first two lines of the Path of the Just.