Rabbi Lazer Brody has been known to pepper his blog's musings and advice to people in difficulty with Garfield posters et. al. as a way of making his points to a general audience. Recently, he posted a piece called "The Lessons of Roadrunner," which explains what we can learn from watching Wile E. Coyote.
Wherever you find a learning experience, there is thy guru. As my opening post for the 2004 High Holidays, I asked for and received permission to add my own riff on the Rabbi's Road Runner Spiritual Philosophy. It's an ecumenical post, combining Chuck Jones' rules for the Road Runner with Jewish ideas and stories to make its points. So, what can you learn from Wile E. Coyote as the Jewish New Year begins?
1. Road Runner symbolizes yetzer tov, the inclination toward goodness in every human being, while the Coyote symbolizes the yetzer ha-ra.
Yetzer ha-ra literally means "evil inclination or desire," but some translations define it as "animal instinct or impulse" instead. I will use the hebrew term plain or refer to "coyote mind," in order to avoid entanglement in the semantics.
Note the duality here, and the centrality of choice. Judaism does not believe in the Christian doctrine of original sin.
2. The Road Runner's only two weapons are his speed and his "Beep-beep". He never confronts Wile E. Coyote directly.
Confronting the coyote mind head-on only locks us into internal conflict on a battleground favourable to our yetzer ha-ra. If you want to begin freeing yourself from your coyote mind, you must take a different path entirely and draw yourself toward the divine presence instead. Then it will simply fill your life until there is no room for yetzer ha-ra. Still, beware; when more obvious forms of the yetzer ha-ra are crowded out, more subtle forms will take their place. One breakthrough is not the end.
Road Runner's speed is an allusion to his immense attraction to goodness and to the service of Ha'shem; for Jews, his expression of joy and triumph in his double beep can symbolize the joy of prayer and the voice of Torah learning as expressions of that service.
For most of us, task #1 is actually becoming a Road Runner who is drawn toward goodness this way, instead of putting our coyote mind in charge and chasing after temporary satisfactions. The story of Rabbi Pinchas in Gates of Repentance, the High Holidays prayer book of Reform Judaism, illustrates this:
"The disciples of Rabbi Pinchas were talking with animation when their master entered the House of Study. Upon his arrival, they fell silent. He asked them: What were you talking about? They replied: We were discussing our feat that the evil inclination will pursue us. He replied: You need not worry. You have not yet reached so high a plane. For the time being, you are still pursuing it."
It's not easy to become a Road Runner.
3. No outside force ever harms the Coyote other than his own ineptitude.
On one level, Wile E. Coyote always succeeds in assembling these fantastic and complicated devices. They look so impressive. Yet these successes are always very temporary, and they usually backfire when it counts the most. A life ruled by the yetzer ha-ra is empty - and when it counts the most, its achievements are finally shown to be empty and harmful.
Because the yetzer ha-ra is not aligned with the divine presence, it cannot succeed in a universe ruled to its most subtle and invisible foundations by the expression (a.k.a. "laws" to our limited human minds) of that presence. Despite the Rube Goldberg complexity of its attempts, the coyote-mind is defeated by its inherent disharmony; it is inevitably its own worst enemy.
Evil must ultimately turn upon itself. The yetzer ha-ra must inevitably harm the one who follows it.
4. The Coyote could stop persecuting Road Runner at any time if he were not a fanatic (Repeat: "A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim." - George Santayana).
The evil inclination tries to prevent the good inclination from getting close to Ha'shem. Ultimately, the person him or herself suffers. This is not a reasonable course of action, but the yetzer ha-ra does not stem from reason (though it may wear reason's cloak when convenient). That is why it cannot be defeated by reason alone.
5. Road Runner must stay on the road - because that's what he is, a Road Runner.
The road is the path of alignment with the divine presence. It seems to give those who follow it much less freedom of movement; after all, Wile E. Coyote can go anywhere. Yet the seemingly simple but aligned approach of the Road Runner succeeds in the ways that matter most, and so will those who keep to the path of righteousness and closeness to Ha'shem.
It isn't always easy to see this path – the Road Runner often runs over invisible paths that span great chasms, or into painted roads that are only real for him. Jewish teachings, religious traditions, and the light of torah and prayer are all designed to help us see through illusions and recognize the true path when we come to it.
For humans, too, can lose their names. Judaism says that to stray from the path of righteousness is to cast off the lofty identity of a person created in G-d's own image. These risks increase as one gains speed on the path of righteousness, just as physical risk of losing control increases with speed on the highway. Judaism's concern with hillul ha'shem via poor conduct by the outwardly religious is a recognition of that truth. From the Talmud, via Gates of Repentence:
"What do you call 'profaning God's name?' Rav said: In my case, since I am reputed to live strictly under the discipline of Torah, it would be failing to pay the butcher promptly."
6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters -the southwest American desert.
This world is like a desert, and it can be harsh - but that harshness is what gives us our unique opportunity to make spiritual gain and to perfect our souls. If this religious doctrine offends you, see Harlan Ellison's short story "Pain God" for a non-religious perspective.
We can see this principle at work in the real world, too. Lance Armstrong endured great obstacles and great suffering on his way to winning the Tour De France an unprecedented 6 times in a row. He became a champion "Road Runner" on his bicycle because he used those challenges as fuel in his quest for perfection. It's the same for those who would reach great spiritual heights.
If life's challenges seem like more than you can bear, it may be a huge spiritual opportunity in disguise. In Richard Bach's fictional story Illusions, The Messiah's Handbook contains this little gem:
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts."
Whatever happens, remember that Ha'shem loves you always and believes in your ability to be a champion. So, I might add, does Rabbi Brody.
N.B. Judaism's High Holidays, the most important holidays of the year, begin tonight. Happy holidays, Rabbi. May the New Year give you the wisdom and insight to guide all of the people who read your blog and seek your counsel, that you may rise in spiritual achievement and truly fulfil your old IDF nickname in the service of Ha'shem. As the old song goes:
"...this is it, we'll hit the heights.
And oh, what heights we'll hit!
On with the show, this is it!!!"
Beep, beep!
UPDATE: Perhaps Yeshiva students should be assigned Looney Tunes cartoons as a gloriously funny reminder to help them perfect their souls. See also Rabbi Brody's piece on Yosemite Sam and 'spiritual vigilantes.'
Oh man, have you touched on a sensitive point...
The road runner is a glorification of the worst of human nature - he doesn't apply his wit, hard work, persistence, anything at all to better his condition. He simply wanders around living out a rote existence of utter pointlessness.
The Coyote, on the other hand, thinks his way towards the solution of his problems, applies his energies, and persists even though the very forces of nature conspire against him. He is goal oriented, passionate, dedicated. He does not seek anything unnatural or twisted - he just wants to eat - it is his nature. Would you have him starve? His persistence in the face of insurmountable obstacles is a lesson to us all. I believe in my heart that it will eventually be rewarded and he will feast on that irritating stupid bird.
The whole roadrunner cartoon is anti-technology, anti-"the man" and pro hippy dippy nature worshipping. It's intensely ironic that the cartoon is broadcast over a device that could only have been created by intense technological effort and dogged persistence in the face of technical problems.
Wile E. Coyote is my hero. Roadrunner sucks.
"Despite the Rube Goldberg complexity of its attempts, the coyote-mind is defeated by its inherent disharmony; it is inevitably its own worst enemy."
This reminds me of the ending of Lord of the Flies, but with a twist. If you recall, the evil tribe has set the entire island ablaze in the dogged pursuit of the last civilized boy who remains unconverted to primal Jack's tribe. Had the rescuers not shown up at that moment, and civilized Ralph had been killed, evil Jack's tribe would have been without shelter and doomed to starvation. They let their animal nature dominate, so they end up consuming themselves.
The twist is that they are saved only to be brought back to a world in the midst of a brutal war- out of the frying pan into a hotter frying pan. Number 2. "One breakthrough is not the end."
(FYI, I think your numbering is screwed up.)
Andrew,
Human beings are supposed to use our minds, and create things, and solve problems. Science, art technology - these are good things, and when healthy they are connected to each other. I'll never stop being a fan of the people who push it forward, and solve problems, and create the future. In a very fundamental way, they're "my people."
Truth is, I've always cheered for Wile E. Coyote myself; Rabbi Lazer "roadrunner" (that was his nickname in the Israeli Special Forces) Brody's initial post caused a rethink.
More to the point, I connected some of the things he was talking about to the kinds of letters he publishes from people asking him for help with crises in their lives.
A businessman who had spent tremendous effort building up an elaborate business and a million+ annual income, only to find one day that his business was bankrupt, his wife wanting to leave him, etc. He had built this elaborate contraption of a millionaire's life, at great effort, and missed the important stuff - and now he's writing in wanting to commit suicide.
Fortunately, Rabbi Brody kicked his ass and talked him out of that.
There have been many other examples. The varsity athlete, suddenly paraplegic, the girl who couldn't stand her life because people teased her about her weight (and followed his advice, and dropped 74 pounds in 11 weeks without starvation dieting, and went to the prom with a member of the football team), etc. etc.
The common denominator for many of the people who wrote in is that they had built their lives - positively or negatively - around things that were vulnerable to disruption, and could not give them inner satisfaction.
In other words, they were built around defective products that would fail life's stress testing. If your source of core structural support will fail stress testing, a good engineer knows that the stuff you build around it will have to get more and more elaborate to compensate - and even then, it can all collapse quickly if subjected to the right stresses.
That's what I saw in the letters.
I thought, too, of the Buddhists, Sufis, martial artists et. al. that I write about here. Like the Road runner, the best of them seem to be doing very little, yet somehow they accomplish a lot (q.v. Wu Ming, The Cucumber Sage). They've cut away all the extraneous things, and just flow like water, and seem to just wander about sometimes. It seems so simple.
But then, elegance is the sign of great engineering too. "Of course! How could it be any other way?" Build your house the right way, and it can be largely self-heating, self-cooling, earthquake & fireproof, etc. just by nature of its design. It's "quiet," and seems to do little work. But stuff gets done. But before the engineer/architect got there, it wasn't that way - and the design process to create elegance and simplicity is the hardest of all.
Elegance is a difficult goal, and we have to start somewhere. Maybe Wile E. Coyote start by looking closely at the quality of his core suppliers, and instituting better testing and quality control procedures for the things he builds?
Something that's worthwhile for all of us at this time of year, as we contemplate our lives.
Thanks, alice. Fixed the numbering.
Joe,
Is Wile E. Coyote's ongoing business relationship with the Acme Co. a metaphor for sole-source or non-bid contracts? Could be an interesting case of implied warranty of merchantability (i.e., product defect), maybe even product liability for all his injuries.
Good product placement, though.
Thank you for all this Joe, beautifully done. I wish you a good yontiff and shena tova and all that stuff ;->
Humans are not at an age that try men's souls; they are at a stage of defining men's souls, a different sort of trial.
The celebration is that men are discovering they have souls worthy of defining, and need not be told what they are.