There is a great old blessing in the Jewish tradition:

“May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.”

Campers – what does this mean? Well… to me, it means that you are following the teachings and habits and life of someone more learned, experienced and wise than yourself. The blessing then means… take that which you want to imitate from that teacher and become more like them.

The Imitation Game

We humans are an interesting bunch. We’ve got these great opposable thumbs, a huge brain relative to our bodies and the most intricate communication abilities in the animal world. We discovered the use of fire, survived millions of years of evolution, built machines to ply the waters and explore the stars and… developed things like Tiktok.

(Sorry – couldn’t resist.)

How did we make it this far? How did we – who are certainly weaker than lions and bears and the weather – survive and thrive from then to now?

By imitation.

We learn by imitating those who came before us who survived and thrived in a difficult place and time. We, as a species, kept doing this over and over for thousands and thousands of years. So much so that this imitation operation is unconscious in many ways. What we eat, the words that come out of our mouths, the mannerisms…

We are covered in the dust of our teachers, of those we follow and observe the most. Which begs the question:

You Choose

Who are you choosing to follow?

If this impulse is hard-wired into our operating systems, then we need to be thoughtful about who we are observing, who we are following. Because their dust – their actions, mannerisms, words, opinions – are going to collect on us and influence everything we do.

How can you tell who you are following, whose dust you are collecting?

When you are young, it’s pretty easy: just look at your parents and your older siblings. But it’s more about your parents. (So, parents… whose dust are we collecting?)

When you get older and start to naturally shift your focus towards the larger world, this is when you need to get more serious about your choices. Take a look at your phone history, web browser or calendar. What books do you read the most? What was your most listened to artist on Spotify this past year? What stories do you tell yourself the most?

My friends, we all collect dust from those we follow. Be thoughtful on who you choose. Have a great weekend!