Burnout, Shavuot and living with purpose
Burnout, Shavuot and living with purpose by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
It’s official. Last week the World Health Organization just concluded that the official compendium of diseases needs to include one more common contemporary disease under its list of sicknesses to be taken seriously by the medical profession.
Burnout has been upgraded from a “state of exhaustion” to a “syndrome” – which means that a truly significant number of people are not just sick of their jobs and sick of their lives; they are sick in the literal sense, ill mentally, emotionally and physically to the extent that their condition requires professional attention.
Perhaps this new phenomenon can shed light on a famous biblical story. Moses' first encounter with God took place at a bush. Commentators claim that very spot would be the location for the giving of the 10 Commandments. The holiday of Shavuot and the giving of the Torah are inextricably linked with the scene of the miracle shown to Moses. A bush burning with fire was strangely not consumed.
Superficially it was simply the scene of a miracle. It was God demonstrating his supernatural power. It was the prelude to God asking Moses to assume the heavy burden of leadership. Yet the question begs to be asked: Could not God have performed a more amazing feat than this? Surely there must’ve been some greater meaning to this particular miracle. Indeed, the specific nature of the miracle must have also been a sign and a message.
Permit me to suggest that God was giving Moses a powerful answer to the very same problem currently identified as key to contemporary culture. A bush was burning – yet it was not consumed. So too, God assured Moses, having a life filled with meaning and purpose, is the best way to never suffer from burnout.
The “burning bush” is not so much the story of a miracle as it is a vivid depiction of the miracle of lives filled with a fiery passion for a greater cause.
Burnout, psychologists tell us, is apathy, akin to the feeling that life has no meaning. There is a crisis of purpose in our world today. People feel overwhelmed, lonely, and unfulfilled. In chasing the “good life,” they have sacrificed their relationships, their health, and, at the end of the day, still, find themselves with lives and work that bring them little joy and meaning. Depression is on the rise and many people can’t cope with the pace of change brought on by technological, cultural, and social transformations. Some turn to drugs and other forms of avoidance, some put on a happy face to mask the issues, while others simply withdraw.
Viktor Frankl, the world-renowned psychiatrist, existential philosopher, and author of the classic bestseller, Man’s Search for Meaning, described it brilliantly. People today, he said, are living in an existential vacuum. Vacuums need content - and the content must be purpose.
The holiday of Shavuot recalls the single most important moment in all of human history. At Sinai we were given a call to make our lives filled with meaning. We were given the commandment that our lives must have purpose – and the pursuit of that purpose would ensure far greater joy than the pursuit of happiness.
Sinai reinforced the message of the burning bush. In making our lives meaningful we have found the divine response to the dreaded disease of burnout.
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”