Chad Silverstein describes turning to spirituality after his kids were born and a conversation with a rabbi that shifted how he sees accountability. He argues that repentance and mending broken relationships now beats carrying regret for life.
Chapters
So I grew up with very little spirituality or religion. God wasn't mentioned in my home, and I really didn't know what I believed at all. And I remember when my kids were born, that really kind of kicked off my journey to kind of find my path, find my way, you know, figure out what I believed. And I'll never forget one time I was talking to a rabbi, asking him questions, and I never held back. I asked the hardest questions. And a lot of times, if I'd hear something, I'd say, you know, show me the source for that. I want to see it. And, you know, he'd pull it out and he'd show me. I had to humble myself in many situations, you know, thinking, you know, I got him and I didn't. And I remember he said to me one time, he said, the recorder is always rhyming. And I remember sitting back saying, okay, what does that mean? He's like, the recorder is always running. And he explained to me that in our faith, you know, there. There is a higher power. And that higher power is directly, you know, integrated into our life. And just because you can't see him doesn't mean that a creator doesn't exist. And he said, can you think of anything in this world that doesn't have a creator? Besides nature? Is there anything in this world that doesn't have a creator? This table. The book. Did someone create the iPhone? Did someone create the. The. The little plastic thing on the end of the shoelace? And he asked me if I can think of anything that exists in the world that doesn't have a creator. And I couldn't. And then he asked me, well, let me ask you this. Of all the things that you can think of that have been created in this world, is it true that most of the things that are very advanced and very technically advanced, technical advanced, that the more advanced the thing, the more incredible the creator, meaning how more smarter the creator is. And it doesn't. Not that way all the time. But if you look at the person who created a computer versus the person who creates maybe the plastic spoon, you could argue and say that that person is on a higher level. And so then he asked me, well, if everything in this world has a creator, and if the more incredible the thing, the more incredible the creator's mind, how could the world be the only thing that doesn't have a creator? How could that be the only thing? And if you look at the world and you look at the French Alps, and if you look at, you know, the great wonders of the world. If you look at what was created, wouldn't it make more sense to say that there is a Creator who created all of that? And the more incredible the thing, the more incredible the Creator? And I really. I remember being stopped in my tracks, and I remember, I. I didn't have. I didn't have a response for that because it made sense to me. And he circled me back to the fact that if you think you're just going to be able to do whatever you want in this world and get away with it, you're nuts. You will be held accountable one day. And in my religion, we have something that we can do when we repent and we ask for forgiveness. And the rabbis like to tell people, you know, there's no double jeopardy, you're not going to be tried twice. And the mindset behind it. Again, this is just my belief. I'm not trying to push it on anyone else. Is that if you can take responsibility for the things you've done, things you're not proud of, the things that you want to repent for, then, you know, if your Creator sees that you've been able to achieve that, you know, what's the point of maybe punishing you later on or making you hold you accountable to it? You've. You're a different person. You're a completely different person. If I have a bad habit and I change, well, the day that I change, I'm not that same person anymore. It's a powerful concept. And however you see it in your world, however you feel like you're going to either be held accountable or not held accountable, however you need to become whole with people in your life or something that you did. Are you aware of it? Is there anything that you've ignored? Is there anything that you can do that will make you move more towards wholeness? The worst thing ever is to look back at your life and have any regrets. So whether it's forgiving someone, whether it's letting something go, whether it's an apology, whether it's making good on something you did a long time ago, you definitely can make changes. And it can have a complete transformation in your life and one that you don't even know and something to think about, that's what today's day is all about for you to get clear on what that is for you.
