An antiphon to the divine wisdom, and who finds it, he should keep it. The wisdom is the light which shows us the way. And that was the theme of Martin Gruber's little book, of which weeks ago I spoke to him, The name of it is The Way of Man. And in this little book, he coordinates or puts into a certain order various sayings of the Chastity, this Jewish Protestant sect of the 16th and the 17th century. and that fitted at the time in some way to our talks about the seventh chapter of the rule of Saint Benedict and it also fits into this time because as you know our own collection of the saints of the fathers and all these have belonged to one and the same family

[01:18]

the way in which the master hands down the wisdom which shows the way to the disciple who is eager to fight, walk in the right direction. So in this book, The Way of Man, Martin Buber tries to sketch the various stages, and we call it the various stations or acts through which would serve a man to find his way. And the first, as you remember, he calls it the sepsis, the reflection on oneself. or the remembering one's death, or recollecting one in oneself.

[02:21]

It is, man is brought to this stage by the Christian, divine Christian, which God directed to Adam at the moment when Adam had lost its way and was tired. Instead, the question was directed to him, Adam, where art thou? Where art thou? And so I remind you, when God asks such a question, he does not want to receive some knowledge from man which he does not have. But he wants to lead man the way he wants to have him. He wants to pierce the heart of man.

[03:24]

And he wants to, how can we say, wake him up. Always under the supposition that the heart of man is open. And we must say that the voice of God is usually the voice, the still small voice of silence. And this still small voice of silence, not the voice of God, but this still small voice of silence can easily be suppressed. by the apparatus which man has always had on him. He's always busy with something. He always has to do something terribly important. He has always had some knowledge of his little human importance.

[04:32]

bring this dear small voice of yours to bury it so that it is not heard. But as soon as man really confesses, I was in hiding. There is on this question Adam, where are you? He comes to light, opens to give the way. Before he realizes, before man realizes his various attempts to hide, he does not get into the open. No real way is before him. He will hopelessly and endlessly circle around himself, impede each of us.

[05:36]

Those who do not think of God, they are lost in their own go-around, in their own circle. But there is also danger which may hinder This question, this divine question, Adam, where are you, to turn into a word? And that is the human pessimist, distrust. If he answers, yes, where I am now, or the place where I am now, no way leads to God. I cannot get out. I'm too far away. I am lost. There where I am here at this moment, nobody leads into the open.

[06:40]

That is the answer of despair. That is the answer of a wrong self-concentration. It lost it in oneself. Now the next stage, outside and after this first initial turning and asking, am I right? Where am I? After that, the next group of sayings that Martin Hoover speaks about and explains in his little book is, as you remember, the special way. This way which now opens, God's way, is not a mechanical, it's not a universal principle.

[07:44]

It's not going according to one literal rule. It's not the same for everyone. But everyone in God finds in himself a unique and uniquely precious individual, a person. And therefore he has his own personal function, which can not be repressed. You remember Rabbi Buchan's word, if Abraham were Moses, or Moses were Abraham, what would God indicate? So at the end of my life, I'm not going to be asked if I was Moses, but I am going to be honest if I was my wife.

[08:46]

So it's therefore this individual, personal, unique way that God has in mind for every individual. And in that way, every individual has his own way and everything in the world of this individual can become a way to God. If one meets it in such a way that it leads to God. At the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, the book which we are reading, or have been reading, it says, at the end of everything, we hear the whole thing. And what is this for? Fear God. At the end of each day, wherever you go, at the end of each day, and you hear only this one word, fear God.

[10:02]

And this one word is the whole thing. So in a special, personal, inimitable way, every human being is guided to that hopeless confrontation with God, fear of God, in which he really then reaches his own personal fulfillment. And the third group was, as you remember again, decision or resolution. Even asking about the worry of the special, personal, inimitable worry of His own according to his own personal unrepeatable mystery.

[11:05]

We ask the way or the how the man should go with this his own personal way. The answer is with recognition or in unity with a whole and undivided soul. You remember there the nice, nice story that Dr. Buber tells us in that connection where this rabbi had been fasting an entire week from supper to supper, and then he comes by the afternoon just before the goal is reached. He sees that way. And he goes and he wants to drink. But then, at that moment, he remembers, now it's only a little hour, one little hour, and should I for this one little hour undo the whole work of this entire week.

[12:22]

And therefore he did not drink. He left the will. And then pride came to him. That he had stood this test. And then when he realized this pride, he said, oh, whether I go and drink, that my heart may not be lost in pride. And then he returns and he goes to the will. and she's already been slow to get the water, and then he certainly realizes that the thirst has been taken away from him. And then when the Sabbath has come, he goes to the rabbi, and the rabbi tells him, patch me up, patch me up. Now, that, of course, is hard to say. because the poor man really had tried to do what he thought at the moment was best.

[13:33]

Of course, the idea here is that what man does in the service of God, he should do with his whole heart. and he should avoid a kind of zig-zag course. Now, we have spoken, I think, about as we, on the background, in the light, Christianity, maybe we would look at this problem in a little different way. For us, the wholeness that we achieve in our service of God. His springs are the whole source, and there is an absolute trust in God's love for us. He alone, in his love, he looks into the depth of our hearts.

[14:42]

So resolute is oneness, that was the other thing. That one achieves, of course, also, and Martin Buber continues a treatise on this, only through the evil of training, and the training which is guided by the principle of the checkers' game. There comes the rabbi who finds these students there in the prayer house at Shanukka, at their Jewish Christmas, playing checkers. And he says, now, they are a little bit more abandoned. He comes and finds them there. But he asks them, now, do you know who? What are the laws of this game?

[15:46]

They are kind of afraid to open their mouth. So he says, I will tell you the laws of the checkers game. The first is, one should never do, try to do, two steps and walks. The first law of the checkers game. The other one is, you can only go ahead and not return back. And the third, when you are up there, you can go wherever you want. So that is just the description of that process of uniting one's soul in one's day. the depth for us which is accessible and open through faith God's love for us.

[16:49]

Faith makes us interiorly free and humble and therefore we also take the risk and we are not afraid trying this and trying something else. being attacked by this thought and then by another. And in this way, the devil is succeeding to getting us involved in contradictions and we are losing the way. Let the fourth chapter in this start with music. Start with yourself. Now that is a very important station, this development. Start with yourself. There were these various rich Jews, but they're together, and they talked to one another about their servants, and they said, what a wonderful thing it is that you have a good servant in your house.

[17:58]

Everything goes well. And then Rabbi Isaac says, he objects to that, disagrees. He says, yes, I thought that once, but then my teacher showed to me that everything depends on the Lord of the house. When I was young and I suffered much from my wife, and although I was able to bear up with it, But I am very sorry for my servants. And therefore, I went to Rabbi David, my teacher, and I asked him if I should visit my wife. And he said, why do you talk to me? Talk to yourself. Now, for a while, I didn't know what he really meant.

[18:59]

But then I remember the words of the Baal Sheik. He is the kind of great master, the Cassidy. And he says, there are three things, the thought, the word, and the action. Thought corresponds to the housewife, the word to the children, and the action to the servants. Now the one who is able to get the three of them, thought, word, and action, into one, in himself, calling himself. He makes himself. Now, in this take, of course, the idea is that conflicts with others have their reason in one sense. should not tackle situations, a conflict situation, looking at the same object in an objective way.

[20:10]

Looking for the leader in the other. Or in the general situation and blaming. Also tackling, let us say, as a judge, Between two, tackling the thing in this way with this kind of objectivity. Saying, now, let's see. Let's see what's wrong in the other one. Let's see what's wrong on yourself. Let's look, you know, at your motives. It's true that all external difficulties are mutually internal. But it's still something more. One should not approach it, and that is here the teaching of Ecclesiastes, as a situation of conflict in an objective way at all. But one should tackle it in a subjective way.

[21:14]

One should, without mercy, call and direct the attention of the individual to the irresistible necessity that he or she has to begin with himself. That's a conflict with others which makes a conflict in oneself. But that as soon as one's failure is really brought to peace, as soon as oneself has found. And that is, of course, always these three, of these three principles, so to speak. Thought, and word, and action. That are the origin, the beginning, where all conflict, social conflict, conflict with others starts. It starts from this, that I don't say what I really think, and that I don't do what I say.

[22:24]

That is the root of confidence. That is the root of confidence. And therefore I have first restored, found peace in myself. Bringing to harmony thought, earth, and action. Say what I think, do what I say. And in that way, every individual and every person really is, and that's the uniqueness again of the person, every person is a universe. So the, let us say, reducing to peace of one person is the peace of the universe. In a very unique way, man is not only an isolated piece of mosaic in a bigger picture, but man is the whole universe in itself.

[23:26]

So peace in one bag is the basic contribution to the peace of the universe. And that is the only way in which true peace in the universe can stand. And that is, of course, in the life of any family, community, any social community in which one lives. Therefore, it's that really starting with what's it. As the rabbis say, look for peace at your place. Look for peace at your place. Or cannot search for peace anywhere but in what's it. Until one has found him there. And that is the reason why it says in the psalm, there is no peace in my world because of my sin.

[24:33]

So starting with what's it? He closes this little paragraph, little chapter, with another tale of Rabbi Enoch. He says there was once a stupid man, a fool. One called him a fool. One called him stupid. So stupid. In the morning, when he was at rising, he had a terrible time to get his various pieces of clothing together and in the right order. Such a terrible time that in the evening, when he looked forward to the morning, he very often couldn't get to sleep at all. And one evening he made a decision. He said, now I'm going to do something about it. So he took a piece of paper and he wrote on this piece of paper every single piece, when he was untrusting, where every single piece was and where he put it.

[25:48]

morning, and he woke up, and he took this piece of paper, and then he read the cap. Yes, here it is. I took it, put it on the cap. Then he read the next item, pants. All right, there they are. So he slipped into his pants. And so on, the idea he had with Onyx. And then he was in heaven, just Yes, but now where am I myself? Where am I? And he looked and looked and looked and he couldn't find himself. And then the rabbi says, and that happens to every one of us. So then there is a big, you know, little group of things and that is another, say, a rule, you know, the way of weapon.

[26:52]

Starzner said, yeah, but not to be concerned about himself, not to be concerned, not to have yourself involved. And he says that story of Rabbi Eliezer who married his daughter, to the son of another rabbi, so he goes to his in-law, and he says, now tell me, today you have become very close to me, and so I will go out for you, and I will tell you what bothers me. Look here, my hair and my beard, they have turned white, and still I have not done any things. And then the other rabbi says, Oh, my dear, you have only yourself in mind.

[28:00]

Forget about yourself and have the world in mind. Now that is the Yes, and I know the doctrine, the teaching of that little chapter is one should not, no first, one should not constantly be concerned and torture oneself with the things that one has done wrong in the past. Because as the Bible says, The time that you use to torture yourself with the sins of the past, you can use in order to, through good actions, make pearls which you have around the neck of your only father. So it is said, therefore, in the psalm, Declina amato et fac.

[29:06]

So, but not only that, also the further speech. Deeper truth is always expressed. In this, Ernest the Rapper has also bring out that whatever you do, always observe three rules. One is that everyone should keep and sacrifice his own soul its own way and its own place, and should not envy other souls at other places.

[30:09]

At the other room, everyone should respect the mystery of the soul of his neighbor. And not try in fresh curiosity to penetrate it and use it for his own purposes. And third, everyone should in this life and in his living in this world, guard himself, be careful not to aim at himself. Don't have yourself in mind, but have the world in mind. And the rabbis say, the seed one hears, says a rabbi, would not regret it, that he had the keys to all the fellows, to all the hands. And why not this? The man who does not aim at himself,

[31:15]

He receives all the keys of the house. What gives the keys only to the one who has not himself in mind. And then there's things that we close then. And that is here where I stand. Here where I stand. So that's the last, let's say, principle. And then it's introduced by that story of Isaac, Rabbi Isaac, the son of Rabbi Jacob in Crackle. And Rabbi Isaac, the son of Rabbi Jacob, has a dream. And in this dream, he was being told that he should go to pray. And there, under the bridge, which leads to the royal castle, There he would, he should look for treasure.

[32:18]

First he didn't pay any attention to the dream, but after he had called back to it three times, then he finally went up and went to pray. And when he came to the grave, then he found that there were garlands posted by day and by night. And he didn't dare to start digging. But every morning he'd get to the bridge, you know, and he was kind of sneaking around there and looking and so on. He didn't know what to do. Finally, the colonel there, you know, he became aware of this pretty jewel running around there. And he asked him, what do you want? And then Raza told him why he had come from so far, you know, from Poland to this place.

[33:28]

And then the colonel laughed. And he said, now, poor fellow, now there you are with your shoes, you know, all in, let's say, in ruins, you know, and all that just for a dream. Oh, yes, now that is what happens to the people who trust and pay any attention to dreams. If I would, you know, if I would do what I told him dreams, yes, then I should have been now, you know, going to Poland to Krakow. Because I received in a dream, I received the order to go to the house of Sonju, Isaac, the son of Jacob. And there under his stove, he should look for treasures. I should look for a church.

[34:32]

And then Isaac, the son of Jekyll, he said, Isaac, the son of Jekyll, imagine, you see, I can just think when I lay back, I have to go from house to house, and how many Isaacs, sons of Jekyll, no more are they. One after the other, and soon he laughed about it. But then while Isaac, son of Jekyll, made a deep bow, And he went home, and he dug under his stove, and he found the treasure, and he built the house of prayer that he wanted to build. So he said, Rabbi, now take this story to heart and listen to what this story tells. There is something that you find nowhere in the world that you may want at the most famous setting. And still there is a place where you can find it.

[35:38]

But where is that place? It's right there where you stand. Right there where you stand. Now that, of course, too, is a principle. of great importance again also for us, that again, in our idea of stability, you know, is to express what is really and truly important to life and every man is that no meeting with no thing or person and immediately surrounds us, is simply taken as a matter of chance, simply taken as something only for all of which, and from which I look away, in order to look to the big, you know, the big mountains, snow clouds, very attractive, from a distance, from a distance.

[36:47]

Else, use up my time and waste my time in looking into far-off lands, while the real treasure that God has hidden for me is right at the place where I am and is found as soon as I see all the people with whom I live, whom I meet, people and the things as the expressions and signs and guideposts of that divine love which guides me to the place where finally my whole being is fulfilled with that pleasure, that pearl of which our Lord speaks, that pearl for which man's self

[37:51]

everything that he has in order to find it. And that's in our monastic life. That's the meaning of that. The stability is that that's complete and so diving in that love of God, which is rightly where I am, the God in that.

[38:18]

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