NOTES for Amo 3:3
Much has been said and written about agreement and disagreement between people, just as about unity of mind and disagreements between God and the human being. And yet the problem of unity of mind, or rather its absence in relationships, whether human relationships or relationships between a person and God, remains relevant. The core of the problem is connected with the fact that the absence of unity of mind, as a rule, does not show itself immediately. If it shows itself immediately, those who disagree will hardly set out together on the road. It shows itself when the companions who have turned out to disagree with one another have already gone far enough from home that returning back is no longer possible. Why does this happen? Of course, problems that arise on the road are often explained by the difficulties of the path, for which one of those walking, or all of them together, turns out not to be ready. But this is far from the only reason for possible disagreements that come to light. More often it happens that, when planning some joint undertaking, future coworkers or fellow travelers do not have a very good idea of the motives and intentions of each participant. And not because someone is deliberately deceiving someone else. The problem is that we ourselves often poorly understand the true reasons for our own actions. And not only when the matter concerns other people, but also when the matter concerns God. Of course, if we are religious, this religiosity has its own reasons and motives, and our religiosity, in turn, conditions the reasons for, if not all, then very many of our words and actions both in relation to God and in relation to neighbors. But religiosity in itself is a reality not so much spiritual as soulish, psychic. And religious motivation in itself means only that it does not contradict our religious worldview. But how far this worldview itself does not contradict the will of God, how far it corresponds to the Torah given by God and to His commandments, remains an open question. Just as the question remains open whether, with all our religiosity, we and God are of one mind or not. Here, perhaps, only testing our intentions for their correspondence to the commandments can give a more or less unambiguous answer. And only if such testing is not one-time, but systematic.