Why should I be spiritual?

Why should I be spiritual?

Man is unique in Creation, the ancient Jewish oral tradition tells us,.  In all of the Universe, there are only 3 types of beings.   First, there are purely spiritual beings, such as angels.  Second, there are purely physical entities—we call them animals, or nature, like rocks and the ocean.  Some of these are alive, endowed with the gift of life.  But, like the rest, they are all purely physical.  (No, Fido does NOT have a soul, according to the Sages.)

Finally, there is Man.  As described in Ibn Pakuda’s classic exposition of this tradition, Derech Hashem, The Way of the G-d, man is the only creature who is a combination of these 2 aspects, the physical and the spiritual.  The Bible itself says, “And G-d blew the breath of life into Adam.”  Man is a composite of the dust of the universe, and the breath, or better, the spirit, of G-d.  Thus, I only have 2 choices:   will I live for my physical aspect, or--- will I be spiritual?

To live for my body  is to imitate the Babylonians of yore—

“hani bavloi tipshoi, d’ achlin nehama b’nehama, Those foolish Babylonians, who eat bread, as a side-dish to bread! 

The Rabbis weren’t merely commenting on their non-Jewish neighbors’ choice of menu.  They saw in their manner of eating a reflection of their entire approach to life.  If one  eats in order to live, and then lives in order to eat— he testifies that all that exists is his body and its nutrition, nothing more.

This worldview was taken to its pinnacle by the ancient Greeks.  They valued the human body for its form, its strength, its aesthetic beauty:  for itself.  The Olympics were their paean to this view, athletic prowess performed naked.  Bread with bread, so banal!  And yet, we Western moderns look longingly to the “Greco-Roman” ideal!

So—what else should I live for?  My spirit, of course.