Passover: Growth, Freedom, Purpose

Passover has passed over, this is my Passover post. Hooray 😛 🔥🍞🔥

Passover is about a lot of things. Crackers, tears, tears about crackers. Square or round crackers? Cleansing. Being unable to cleanse (is it because of the crackers?). Oy…

Passover is also about growth. We (Jews) tell our “origin story” every year to remind us of the “game” we’re playing. That includes the story of our people, what we collectively want to achieve, and how we’re meant to achieve that. Which is, you guessed it: personal development! 

As we continue to unpack personal development, in the spirit of Pesach we must also ask: what is freedom? Why should I care? Am I free? What is the relationship between growth and freedom?

I’ve come to see growth like a helix. From the top it is a circle. From the side it goes in a direction, like a spring.

The circle is very much ingrained in nature – we go through cycles. The Great Circle of Life. We are beginners, we learn, we master, only to realize ourselves as beginners again. The seasons. A day, represented by a clock’s face. We do Passover every year, a “planting festival” if you will – which leads to a harvest festival. As far as family, we are born and we die – we have a choice to pass on what we have gained from our circle to the next generation. 

Once we understand the cyclical nature of life we can stretch out our circles into a helix. Ask yourself: am I the same person today that I was yesterday?  Every time I go around the circle – complete a cycle – I have a choice to move forward, if only a little. One of my teachers, Brian Zarnet Sensei, said it like this: do I have 10 years of experience, or one year of experience 10 times? 

Freedom is not a straightforward idea. Does it mean to 1) have many options? What if 2) I have options, but the one I want is unavailable? What if 3) the thing I truly want is available, but it’s the only thing I am able to do?

If we’re stubborn enough we can achieve great things. Our obstacles make us stronger. In fact, our obstacles are the whole point. Nurture the seeds to burst forth! Achieve your greatness!

The process of revealing G-dliness in the world is the realization that everything is a manifestation of infinite light telling the grand story of the cosmos. Whatever I’m perceiving as my shackles is the thing I need to shine a light on, to show how this too is part of the Play. But because this is the main “gameplay” element of life, it is also the hardest thing. I wrote about this under the language of “stucking yourself”. Or, elegantly said by my Rabbi, Tzvi Freeman: 

We are all prisoners. But we sit on the keys.

Finitude is our cell.
The universe is our prison.
Our jailkeeper is the act of being.

The keys to our freedom are clenched tightly in the fists of our own egos.

Passover is the beginning of a new cycle, where the seeds from last year’s harvest are planted. Which seed did you plant this year? Next year, when you have nurtured this seed to fruition, what do you suspect will have grown?

This year, the seed I am planting is expressing myself my own way in public. Next year, I hope to have immunized myself from fear of judgement in public. Maybe what I have to say can help someone else, too? That would be an excellent bonus.

Real freedom happens under pressure. Most of the Jewish slaves didn’t leave Egypt, because the whole thing was just too crazy. Actual choice happens when, in the profound words of Steven He, you are screaming “WHAT THE HAIL?”

Whatever is going on in your life that’s got you stupefied, that’s your concrete block. That’s your sea that needs splitting. And that is where you need to plant your seed. I know it’s crazy! LET’S GO!

May we have the clarity to use our time intentionally, the courage to leap, and the wherewithal to enjoy the process. 

Do your best. Pass it on.