Ask Questions Later

Share this post

This Yom Kippur, remember your nemesis is hubris

danperry.substack.com

This Yom Kippur, remember your nemesis is hubris

We can be killed in an instant by a random falling tree, and yet we are hubristic

Dan Perry
Sep 14, 2021
6
Share this post

This Yom Kippur, remember your nemesis is hubris

danperry.substack.com
Well-pleased with oneself (Dan Perry photo)

I am intrigued by the list of sins Jews own up to in their prayers on Yom Kippur. It is eye-opening to consider that all have in the course of a year committed many, probably most and perhaps even every one of those transgressions.

Certainly we have slandered and scoffed. Robbery and abomination are iffier but plausible if defined a certain way, even for those who do not serve in government. Definitely we have been obstinate, now more than ever in the Age of Infinite Mulishness. But I am puzzled by some omissions. I’m no Jewish scholar, but it seems to me that we have also commit thoughtlessness and reckless disregard. Most confoundingly of all, almost all of us fall prey to the nemesis whose name is hubris.

Think of the person sitting in a car, engine running and lights on, checking phone and adjusting hair as they signal with wagging finger that they are not about to vacate the precious parking space. In fact they surely are, and in the refusal to hurry even a little while the line of cars waiting piles up, they show reckless disregard.

Or those responsible for litter left behind on the beach, garbage strewn about the street, and cigarette butts on the sidewalk. They probably don’t even think there is a defense for this. They simply don’t care, and likely do not think. Thoughtlessness.

Of course, even making these pronouncements can seem hubristic. And hubris is most fascinating, because it is so sad.

What have any of us to be hubristic about? We know little about the most important things — like what is life. We can make a billion and be killed an instant later by a random falling tree. An asteroid could knock our planet off course and turn us into blocks of ice.

Yet we commit hubris all the time. Some have accused even me of it, which perhaps the reader finds unbelievable. I do try to be aware, and I have noticed something strange: when I’m at  hubristic heights, a magical force with a developed sense of humor will instantly take care to bring me crashing down.

For this reason when wishing a sports team well I avoid all confidence. The Eagles could be up by four touchdowns with three minutes to go and I will still fear a comeback by the forces of evil. Such improbabilities tend to happen when I am watching, so I must be vigilant. The magical force is strong, and it hates it when I show hubris.

Just a few weeks ago I was in New York feeling well pleased with myself for reasons too undignified to recount. I have enjoyed a series of little successes and I had fancy plans the next day, first with my daughter and then with a visiting childhood friend. Distracted by thoughts of myself and my excellence, I stepped carelessly out of a cab and into a pothole. Minutes later I was in an ambulance enroute to the hospital, with a broke ankle to show for my hubris.

It is not just I who am pitiable. Society is suspect of collective hubris at all times.

We act as if what is now is what was always meant to be. We pretend things are stable and close to permanent. I think the pretense of knowing comes from fear of death. It is literally the only thing we can confidently predict, and yet we don’t know what it is.

In Greek mythology Nemesis is the goddess that exacts retribution for hubris. For our purposes, in our society, they are one and the same thing.

This Yom Kippur I shall reflect on the paradox of life. We are worlds unto ourselves, however piggish we may be. But we are also little cogs in an unfathomable machine.

We are lucky if we live 80 years. We have no idea what follows and only some of what came before. The pace of change makes any confidence absurd.

One average lifetime ago there were no computers, no Internet, no mobile phones and basically no TV. Two lifetimes ago there was no aviation, no cars, no radio, rampant slavery and no democracy, because nowhere were women allowed to vote. Go back a few more and find plagues and Inquisitions and no United States. Go back 25, and you are in the time of Jesus and the Roman empire.

If you take the Bible literally, it takes only 72 lifetimes to go back to Creation, when “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” The science is suspect in that passage, but the symbolism strong.

Perhaps, upon reflection, not all that much has changed.

Share this post

This Yom Kippur, remember your nemesis is hubris

danperry.substack.com
Comments
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Dan Perry
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing