“Sieze the Day” thoughts…
In truth, the author of the original poem of Carpe Diem (Latin for ‘sieze the day’) wrote it in the following tone: Realize that life is short and when an object of desire should present itself, take advantage of your possibly last moments here on earth... How morbid!
Now, from a Jewish perspective, we also strive to “sieze the day,” the hour, the moment, to do goodness. Yet, as opposed to performing on a whim that oh, this might be my last moment before death (cvs), we know that the Messiah can come any second, and that what we do in this moment can either hasten His arrival, or (cvs) lengthen our exile.
The Jewish “Carpe Diem” is a derivative of a different source, but has the same underlying objective...
Now is here. The present is what matters. What your evil-self convinced you to do 5 minutes ago has no relevance to what good you wish to do right now.
Being fearful of death…Now that is just pointless (and cowardly?) because it doesn’t do anything. Rather, excite in the imminent redemption, dependant on your actions at this very moment.
I used to think that ‘seizing the day’ meant that I had to take advantage of anything & everything that came my way. How immature. How naïve. If I’d known how much power I had!
We have so much power to choose every single second of our lives. G-d presents us with choices. We just have to pray that we choose the proper direction, and that G-d’s knowledge of our actions, which actually give them their existence, are holy to the core.
I pray that all of my decisions and choices, as well as all of yours, whether seemingly insignificant or life-altering, are in accordance with what G-d has in store for us. In their purest form.
Sieze the day – It’s up to us.
Now, from a Jewish perspective, we also strive to “sieze the day,” the hour, the moment, to do goodness. Yet, as opposed to performing on a whim that oh, this might be my last moment before death (cvs), we know that the Messiah can come any second, and that what we do in this moment can either hasten His arrival, or (cvs) lengthen our exile.
The Jewish “Carpe Diem” is a derivative of a different source, but has the same underlying objective...
Now is here. The present is what matters. What your evil-self convinced you to do 5 minutes ago has no relevance to what good you wish to do right now.
Being fearful of death…Now that is just pointless (and cowardly?) because it doesn’t do anything. Rather, excite in the imminent redemption, dependant on your actions at this very moment.
I used to think that ‘seizing the day’ meant that I had to take advantage of anything & everything that came my way. How immature. How naïve. If I’d known how much power I had!
We have so much power to choose every single second of our lives. G-d presents us with choices. We just have to pray that we choose the proper direction, and that G-d’s knowledge of our actions, which actually give them their existence, are holy to the core.
I pray that all of my decisions and choices, as well as all of yours, whether seemingly insignificant or life-altering, are in accordance with what G-d has in store for us. In their purest form.
Sieze the day – It’s up to us.
posted by yoniQua at 9:40 AM
4 Comments:
Doesn't Judaism say that one should repent one day before their death and therefore they should say Tachnun daily?
True. We do take those precautions. BUT - we dont live our lives with the constant fear of death. tachnun is for our souls.
Contrary to secular belief, we have moshiach(messiah) imprinted in our minds (hopefully) every moment of the day so that our actions reflect our common goal of ultimate good, rather than fear of death.
Tell me if I what I said makes any sense to you or not...??
Anonymous was me.
What your saying sounds good I guess, though there's certainly more to be said and researched.
I recall a Gemara in Kiddushin that speaks something regarding life planning:
It comes out that a person has to divide their life's learning into three parts: Mikrah {Chumash}, Mishna {Talmud} and Halacha. The Gemara says that it shouldn't be divided into your whole life, i.e. to change sections every third of ones life, because who knows how long one will live. The gemara queries whether it should be a tri-yearly cycle, then lowers to a tri-monthly, than tri-weekly and even tri-daily, but all of these divisions are discounted, since a person can never know their lifespan, and who says that they'll still be around even tomorrow. The gemara concludes that one should divide their day into three equal parts, because we don't assume that one will die before the end of the day.
Not sure how to apply this to the matter, it's just that you reminded me of it.
That's interesting. Reminded me of chitas, actually... But we should also be saying rambam and sefer hamitzvos too - so that would cover it all...until then, we have 24 subjects weekly...
My next post...i hope wont offend anyone, and that ull comment..
Post a Comment
<< Home