Traveling First Class

In his unfailingly interesting and often brilliant, "The Act of Creation," Arthur Koestler understands breakthrough ideas in science and art as something that happens exclusively in the mind. In the early 1990s, Kevin Dunbar, a McGill University psychologist determined that the ground zero of innovation is not the lone scientist peering into his microscope, or the mind. It's the environment.

The story of Genesis is one of movement, not environment, fostering innovation. Yet travel was a punishment, something to be feared. Adam was forced out of Eden, Cain was punished with permanent wanderlust, Heavenly Beings were exiled from Heaven, Noah floated around in the Ark, and the Tower of Babel begins with people fearful, "lest we be dispersed across the earth," and concludes, "and from there God scattered them over the face of the earth." (A recent experience riding the subway after an hour of driving in Manhattan traffic supported the idea of travel as punishment.) The great innovators made their discoveries battling against the punishment of movement. It's similar to the idea that Judaism has thrived in the Diaspora in a spiritual war waged against constant displacement.

The seeds of Judaism were planted by movement. Abraham, the great innovator, hears God's voice for the first time instructing him, "Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and your father's house to the land that I will show you." God clarifies that this trip was not a punishment, but a blessing: "And I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing." Travel was not a punishment but an opportunity. This is the Judaism that expands from its exposure to different civilizations and societies; movement as the root of its creativity.

Abraham was an innovative traveler: "There was a famine in the land, and Abram descended to Egypt to sojou
there." There was no Divine message to travel, nor any promise of blessing, and yet, Abraham who travels as a result of a famine certainly perceived by his contemporaries as a punishment, was intent on using the trip as an opportunity to receive blessing: "And he acquired sheep, cattle, donkeys, slaves and maidservants, female donkeys and camels." Once Abraham experienced travel as a blessing, he approached all movement as an opportunity to expand. He took that one Divine instruction to travel, and rather than believe the trip was an anomaly, used it to change his perception of all travel, movement and change. That ability to change his perceptions was Abraham's greatest innovation. It empowered him and us to constantly move forward and grow. I hear your complaints that Abraham benefitted from his trip to Egypt at Sarah's expense, however, when we realize that mistakes and sins are an essential part of the dynamic process of innovation, we understand that Abraham's manipulations were also part of his journey of change and growth.

We all are travelers through life. We grow older, meet new people, and face different challenges. Some experience the journey as punishment, others, as a blessing. Some believe that our ability to change is all in our minds. Others search for an environment that will nurture growth. Abraham teaches us that there is one journey that defines our ability to master all others: the movement from one perception to another, to rethink what we believe, to look at something differently than do all others. "Go for yourself," to Abraham meant the ability to discover himself by moving away from all preconceived notions. It was he who inspired us to innovate and follow our own unique path through history. Abraham began the journey that continues till today.
Shabbat Shalom,