Is WORK the only thing that matters?

Do you know how the world works? I’d like to know if your answer is yes, how you found out? Did you learn how the world works all through your own experiences? Did someone teach you? Did you buy a book, watch a film, or rub a magic lamp and ask the genie to tell you how the world works?

Do you care about this question at all? I would guess that we all have wondered how the world works, in relation at least to the ways which we interact with it, on a regular basis. We want to know what to expect from the world around us. We don’t want constant surprises hitting us left and right.

Recently I have been listening to Rabbi Daniel Lapin on his weekly podcast. The main purpose he expresses at the beginning and throughout each episode, is his desire to share with the audience “How the World RRRREEEAAAAAAALLLLYYYYYY Works!” His enthusiasm is electric when it comes to his life’s mission and purpose!

The entirety of his show is devoted to covering general and universal topics like relationships, business, politics and even parenting. He uses modern examples, but steps back and digs down to the very core of the driving force behind all these human experiences. He doesn’t give much for opinion. In fact, his teaching comes from Ancient Jewish Widsom. The Torah itself is the instructor and it reveals over and over again, the counter-intuitive and very counter-cultural design that God has knitted into the fabric of the world around us.

It is a fascinating and free resource that I love to listen to.

I was thinking the other day though, about how Rabbi’s extra intentional growling emotional delivery of the show’s purpose sounds so unique. His statement is bold! He can tell me how the world REALLY works?? Hmm… That is perhaps the most interesting topic I’ve ever been interested in. It is probably the reason behind this blog I am typing on right here. I am quite curious about how the world really works. I am glad that he’s made it so clear.

But what if I have been thinking all along, that I am constantly finding out these answers everywhere I look? I mean, that I am curious about the world, and I might have been collecting clues all my life, maybe we all are.

Is there any other topic being discussed, in any communication, at any time, than the question of ‘How the world works?”

Too abstract?

Okay, what about modified versions of the question. Like ‘how does my world work? Or Yours, or hers, or theirs? Or celebrities or millionaires or warlords or the sick and dying? Or how did the world work, in ages past? Or how does the fictional world work, in this movie onscreen? Or does the world really work, as described in this pop song? I can see that I am always looking at this question and constantly modifying the organic answer.

I see that there are movements and voices and concerted efforts to push certain themes out the general public, about how the world really works. I don’t think all information out there on the topic is designed for my own good. The Enemy it seems has powerful grip on the various microphones plugged into the popular culture.

I like that the Rabbi shows principals and truths that stand firm throughout time and specific circumstance. God’s plans it seems, don’t change, they don’t adapt, they are perfect and unpopular all at the same time.

I am a student, and a poor one, but I know that clarity and simplicity of universal truth, when I hear it. It cuts clean through the chaotic calico calamity of the cultural clutter. There is no mistaking it. Thanks Rabbi Lapin, and thanks to You, the fantastic and fanatical readers of this tiny weird space, I write in every week. You all are appreciated and part of my ever-enlightening journey 🙂

Sincerely,

Aaron Nichols


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