The astonishment of life, is the absence of any appearance of
reconciliation between the theory and the practice of life.
reconciliation between the theory and the practice of life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
Sweet friends!!
I know so many people who live with a very high degree of cognitive dissonance. They believe in certain things but when it comes to action their behavior is not consistent with their belief system.
Examples abound: People will tell you that their children are more important to them than anything else in the world but when their child is speaking to them they will interrupt constantly to attend to their blackberry.
Everyone knows that talking in shul is wrong, yet look at how much talking there is in some shuls.
Everyone believes that lashon hara is morally wrong. I have never heard anyone offer a defense for lashon hara [except a gossip columnist] yet there is so much of it around.
That is why Rav Yisrael Slanter came to the world. He taught that unless a person learns a healthy dose of mussar he is doomed.
I, in all of my puniness, join forces with the Holy Rabbi in encouraging everyone to learn mussar and consistently scrutinize their actions.
