The Torah's account of the Jewish people's journey from slavery to freedom is packed with insight about how we can face the things that hold us back from becoming who we could be.
Let's look at the opening lines of this weeks Torah reading: Parshas Beshalach.
The Children of Israel, tasting their first ever freedom, take flight from Egypt in great haste. But look what actually happens:
When Pharoah sent the people out, God didn't drive them directly...because it was near. Because, God said to himself, otherwise the people will regret their decision to leave Egypt when they see the approach of war, and they'll return to Egypt.
Not too much haste, you see, because God specifically took them through a diversion so that they wouldn't be able to retrace their steps so easily when the going gets tough.
God knew perfectly well that the future was to be one of trials and tribulations, and he said to himself, so to speak, that if they were to go on the easy, linear route from Egypt to Israel, then they would be likely to just go straight back to Egypt when confronted with a war. So instead of going straight up the coastline, they were led in a circular route through the desert that would bring them to the Red Sea and across, to wander in the Sinai and further east before finally making an entry into the Land of Israel across the Jordan River at Jericho. Talk about a roundabout way of going!
So, what's the point of this incredible detour? I mean, why, first of all was God so convinced that the Israelites would certainly take the path of least resistance even if it meant returning to slavery and perhaps worse at the hands of the Egyptians?
Then, assuming we can make sense of that, why does going a long way round make that less certain - I mean they're still the same distance away and they could therefore go back directly. Just because they came out in a roundabout way, it doesn't mean they couldn't go back in the straightest way, does it?
Maybe the idea is this: the Israelites who left Egypt were born as slaves. They knew no other life and until very recently couldn't even imagine that life could be different. In a sense, their life, while physically painful and exhausting, was simple and predictable. There were no aspirations, no expectations, no room for their own thoughts and therefore no responsibility for their own decisions. They just had a simple job to do, and that was to perform their work and stay alive.
After quite a struggle, Moses and Aharon managed to engage their imagination, and ignite a spark of hope in them for a new type of life, one in which they would become their own masters, with power to choose and create. They were given a glimpse of the potential within them, and they were shown that the slavery to Egypt's Pharoah was the factor holding them back from realising that potential.
But, and it's a big "but", they certainly weren't convinced. Slavery was predictability, simplicity, and a way of avoiding thinking. Freedom meant confronting the complexity of life, the surprises it brings, the responsibility of using their God given talents to fulfil His design for them.
The fact is that the majority of the slaves didn't even leave Egypt because they just weren't interested.
The Jewish people had the slave mentality burned into them. On the other hand they had come to relish the idea of freedom. Given enough time free from labour to think and imagine, they really did yearn for the chance to become their own masters. But if the two opposing desires, for comfort and simplicity vs. creativity and responsibility, came head to head, the deeply etched need for comfort would always win.
To beat the slavery mentality, a strategy was needed to make sure that there would never be an even confrontation between the two inclinations. How could the situation be engineered so that the odds were stacked up in favour of the original decision?
Seeing the pitfall ahead that would undoubtedly rekindle the desire for the old life in the people, God took them round the world and back to have them feel that the whole Exodus was an epic struggle that they certainly wouldn't want to repeat. That way, when they were confronted with the crisis that came, they were already so invested in their effort to get away from Egypt that going back no longer seemed a reasonable option. True, it was only a short trip back, but because they had already spent so much energy on getting out, they couldn't kid themselves into thinking that they could repeat the trick tomorrow if they could only have one more night in Egypt.
It's a bit like a modern day slave - say a tobacco addict (I know, I've been there) - much of the time, the addiction is a blessed release from all responsibility, offering a simple solution to almost all problems. Yet there are moments when a deeper part of you wakes up and realises that if only you could just kick the habit, there are so many things you'd be able to do and experience that you just can't now.
You decide to give up, and all's well for a little. Then you get knocked over by some unexpected annoyance and you are in real pain. Not only pain but terror because you never dealt with this before without the comfort of the smoke. So you comfort yourself saying, hey, I stopped easily when I wanted to, so let me have a smoke now and I'll stop again afterwards (again, I know, I've been there!)
Of course it's easy to stop, you fool, it's just difficult not to start again! And once you have the one smoke, you're hooked. But the problem is that for an addict, the desire to smoke will always beat the desire to quit if it's a simple fight between them. And even after you've made a decision to quit, the addiction persuades you that since you've stopped easily, it won't hurt to start again and stay in control!!
So again, we need a strategy to prevent a direct and even battle between the two wants. We need to find an answer to that voice that tells you that the way out is easy so you can feel free to take up the habit again, and so stack up the odds in favour of the good decision.
One way of doing this, as suggested by the Torah's account, is to make the escape route a roundabout one.
In other words, I think you've got to be clear from the outset that it isn't going to be easy.
You've got to map in advance the potential pitfalls and chart a route around them.
If you know that interacting with particular people or tasks will trigger the addiction, then plan to avoid them even with a lot of contrivance.
Give yourself an initial period of wandering in the desert i.e. without pushing yourself to reach large goals and without giving you cause to confront difficult situations.
Stretching out the journey to make it feel like it's further might seem counter intuitive but it makes it easier to resist the urge to regress. If you've made it this far, you thing, you're not going to go back now.
This isn't only about a smoking addiction either. We all have our baggage that weighs us down yet acts as a comfort. We all have a journey to make from slavery to freedom. If you haven't felt it it means you really need to stop doing so much and start imagining a little. If you already know what I'm talking about I hope these ideas are helpful and I'd be delighted to hear more ideas from you below.
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Then, assuming we can make sense of that, why does going a long way round make that less certain - I mean they're still the same distance away and they could therefore go back directly. Just because they came out in a roundabout way, it doesn't mean they couldn't go back in the straightest way, does it?
