Chabad Shluchim ('Emissaries') as Ultimate Marketers

While (and since) I first read The Rebbe's Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch - a sociological description by Susan Fishkoff of Chabad shluchim ('emissaries') scattered around the world - several years ago, I asked (and have been asking) what contributes to their overwhelming success. More and more shluchim are sent to less and less Jewishly favorable places, and all of them are expected to become financially independent (and most of them do become financially independent) within a year or so.

They can be called ultimate marketers. What do they market? Authentic Judaism envisioned by the Lubavicher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Recently I reread the above mentioned book by focusing on the question about the possible factors contributing to their overwhelming success. This reading has been complemented by my personal encounters with a number of Chabad shluchim in their twenties, thirties or forties in the past few decades.

The first, and the most decisive, factor for their success must be their faith in their life mission to implement the vision developed and presented by the Lubavicher Rebbe - to spread the fountaions of Chassidus to the four corners of the world where Jews live however assimilated they are.

This faith of theirs leads to their devotion. They dedicate the lives of their own and their still young families to this life mission, fully knowing that they may have to spend the rest of their lives in distant locations from major centers of Judaism in general and Chabad Chassidus in particular.

This faith also leads to their confidence. They are fully certain that they will succeed in their life mission, so they have no fear of failure simply because the idea of failure doesn't seem to cross their mind. They are living manifestations of "Think good and it will be good" - a famous saying ascribed to the thirs Chabad rebbe, Tsemakh Tsedek - a grandson of the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad.

This "ultimate marketing" of theirs is fundamentally different from the commonly accepted approach to marketing, which was also the common denominator among my four former teachers of marketing - a fear-based approach. The approach of these "ultimate marketers" are joy-based.

I had to spend a lot of time and money with their four former teachers who tried to teach me their fear-based approach in order to realize theis difference and start appreciating the joy-based approach of Chabad shluchim.

Their joy-based approach to marketing manifests itself most prominently in their love of fellow Jews (and probably other human beings as well) and their nonjudgementalism. As a student of Chabad Chassidus and a life coach anchored in it I'm better tuned to this joy-based approach. My present challenge is how to implement it in practice.

Why Is a "Universal" Language Insufficient to Unify the Mankind

* Warning: If you have a blind faith in Esperantism (and aren't open to different ideas), you may find this blog entry offending.

Finally I feel prepared both intellectually and emotionally to articulate why I became convinced that a "universal" language is insufficent to unify the mankind and there is a far better solution for this purpose. Nevertheless, this attempt is a rather paradoxical one as I'm going to explain the limitations of language with a language.

Esperanto must be the most widely known and used "universal" language. The greatest obstacle Esperantism faces as the movement to use Esperanto to unify the mankind is ironically Esperanto itself, or a blind faith that a "universal" language is sufficient for this purpose. But the truth is that no problem can be solved with the same level of consciousness as Albert Einstein said.

Zamenhof was rather naive in this respect. I'm not sure how many Esperantists are aware that one of the most important functions of language or any specific language is to articulate or divide the world, including all the creatures inhabiting it. Language is a tool of duality and its illusions. Esperanto is no exception to this. So Esperantism has to trascend its reliance on Esperanto or any other language, whether "universal" or not, to attain its purported goal.

There is no doubt that the level of consciousness of average Esperantists is higher than that of their conpatriots in their respective countries of residence. But as long as they are stuck in language, they are also stuck with the illusions and limitations of duality, which in turn prevents them from raising their level of consciousness.

Another important problem neither Zamenhof nor many Esperantists seem to be aware of is that a language is a powerful tool to forge, maintain and strengthen the collective ego of the social collective it serves, and Esperanto is no exception to this, either.

When I told one prominent Esperantist that I had completely stopped my involvement with Esperanto, he called me a "traitor". But I didn't "discrimiate" Esperanto; I've completely stopped my involvement with all the other linguistic ideologies/movements that used to occupy me for decates, most notably Yiddishism, which in my opinion, is far more illusionary and reflects a much lower level of consciousness of its supporters.

This may sound unbelievable and unacceptable, but we human beings are already unified. We are sparks of the only presence there is, which is known in various terms such as G-d, Universe, etc. We are like waves of one and the same ocean. To claim that each wave has a separate existence is nothing but an illusion. So is the case with us human beings. This illusion created by our egoic mind, which in turn is maintained mainly by language as its gatekeeper.

So all we have to do is just recall that we are "waves" of Oneness. No "universal" language alone can help us attain this goal because of its very dualistic nature. The best way to raise the level of consciousness I've found so far is to study teachings of nonduality intellectually and practice them through direct experiences without any language, thus bypassing the dualistic illusions and limitations it creates.

The most sophisticated Jewish version of nonduality I've discovered so far is Chabad Chassidus, and this is why I've become so enthusiastic about its teachings and practices. It's true that it does use human languages, but words uttered by nondual masters such as Chabad rebbes can transcend the illusions and limitations of the egoic mind.

Study of Nonduality and Its Outcome So Far

Since about three years ago I've been learning nonduality from a number of non-Jewish Western nondual masters, including Eckhart Tolle, David Hawkins, Frank Wanderer, Steve Taylor, Adyashanti, Stephan Bodian, Jon Bernie, Jean Klein, and Rupert Spira, in addition to Chabad Chassidus, which is the most sophisticated form of Jewish nonduality.

The more I study it, the more difficult it has become for me, at least so far, to interact with not only strangers I meet for the first time but even friends and acquaintances I already know as most of them seem "asleep" in that they seem trapped in various forms of dualistic illusions, which manifest themselves in interpersonal relationships most prominently in the form of conceptual labeling. I simply can't bear any more being targeted for their constant unconscious conceptual labeling.

One thing I don't understand is why I have to be bothered by this if I'm fully aware that I am (period) with no illusionary dualistic identities these people label me with. I can't deny the possibility that something is fundamentally wrong with my study of nonduality as it is supposed to lead me to love all the other human beings. I'm also afraid that the very idea of mine that these people are trapped in dualistic illusions might be a suble form of dualistic illusion on my part and I'm labeling them conceptually.

In retrospect, my life was a series of self-imposed sufferings when I was "asleep" until I started to wake up in November 2017. My new, intensifying, suffering only occurs when I interact with other people. When I'm alone, seclude myself in nature, or interact with a small number of like-minded people I know, I feel serenity.

I've even starting thinking of becoming a hermit. But the problem is that ascecitism is not part of Judaism and there are no Jewish monasteries. So I have no choice but to continue living with other people in community.

The only viable solution I can think of not to allow anyone to destroy my serenity in interpersonal relationships is not to feed them with any material they will use in turn for their conceptual labeling. But I have to be resolute and persistent.