The Path of the Just
Chapter 24 (Part 2)
The sort of fear most of us typically experience is termed “the fear of
punishment” in classical Jewish sources. We’d liken it to the natural sort
of fear or anxiety we’d have about some unexpected harmful consequences of
our actions. It’s something we all experience when we worry about a decision
or a choice we made, for example, which might prove to be detrimental.
That sort of anxiety and fear, Ramchal offers, “is certainly very easy to
come to, because everybody has an instinct for self-preservation and is
concerned for his well-being, and because there’s nothing that’s more likely
to keep you away from doing something harmful to yourself than the fear of
its (detrimental) consequences”. But “that sort of fear is only fitting for
illiterates” and the like, Ramchal says -- not for anyone in search of
spiritual excellence.
That’s because it’s a primitive sort of fear, in fact, that’s rooted in
illusions of personal control, in misconceptions about the nature of
reality, and in a lack of faith in G-d’s place in the universe and in His
very real role in the give-and-take of each and every moment.
True and spiritually consequential “fear of punishment” comes down to being
“afraid to transgress G-d’s dictates because of the punishments … that
transgressors will have to suffer”. That’s to say that given that there are
many specific things that G-d notified us that we’d need to do in order to
draw close to Him, it would do us well to experience a certain discomfort
about our standing in G-d’s eyes if we don’t heed His advice.
Ramchal’s clear implication (since he contrasts this with the easier form of
fear above, and because it’s offered so late in the course of the
conversation as we pointed out earlier on), is that it’s actually quite
difficult to arrive at this sort of fear.
That’s undoubtedly due to the fact that it calls for a deep and stunning
realization of G-d’s presence in one’s own life, and in a heart-felt
willingness to set one’s own will aside when it collides with G-d’s. For as
every sensitive soul knows, the pumping human heart always wants to assert
itself in the face of this and that -- even G-d’s own will.
So, we will need to see what Ramchal offers in light of that.
