The Humble King, Part 1
There was once a king who had a wise counselor. The king said to the wise man, “There is a king whose signature declares that he is a great man of might, and a man of truth, and humble: now, I know that he is a great man of might, for the sea flows around his country, and on the sea is stationed a fleet of warships with cannons that don’t allow anyone to approach, and inwards from the sea there is a great swamp surrounding the country, through which there is only one narrow path wide enough for only one person to pass; there too cannons are positioned, so that if someone comes to attack, the cannons are fired, so it is impossible to set foot there.
But his signing himself as being a man of truth and humble — this I do not grasp; and I want you to bring me this king’s portrait.” For the king had all the portraits of all the kings, but the portrait of that king (who signs himself in such fashion as mentioned) was not found by any king, for he is concealed from people”
Although this story is very deep, involving intricate and profound kabalah concepts, like all of Rebbe Nachman’s stories, nevertheless it can also be understood on a simpler level—also like all of the stories. The first king can be understood as a human king. He is a lover of wisdom and understanding, and an acute observer of the world, who knows what he knows and what he doesn’t know. He turns to his wise counselor and sends him out to research his arena of confusion.
Alternately, we could say that this king is every person. Every human being is a king, because every person has free choice. And free choice is the essence of kinglinesss. The wise man could represent the innate wisdom that is within us, which, when sent out to do so, seeks the ultimate truth.
The king that signs himself as a great man of might and a man of truth, and humble, is G-d. He signs himself with the characteristics of might, truth, and humility because these are the characteristics that can be observed in the way he runs the world.
The King’s “country” is protected by ships, guns, and moats. This refers to the nature of the world, and explains why it is difficult to attain closeness G-d.
The world was created through a system of reductions. G-d, Who is infinite, created a world which is finite, and which hides its infinite source. The description of G-d’s mightiness in this story refers to this power of reduction. To reach Him one would have to work one’s way up through this series of vast reductions.
More difficult to understand is the idea that G-d’s land needs to be protected from those that might come to attack it. Who is this referring to? Who can attack G-d?
Perhaps one could say, however, that when people are going against G-d’s Will, it is as if they are attacking Him. Nevertheless, the damage that they can do, even to themselves, is limited, because they can’t get to Him. The reductions which make up the world prevent them from drawing close. They are following a path of illusion, which strengthens the element of concealment and inaccessibility. When people oppose G-d’s rule, the evil they do creates confusion and hiddenness. It “keeps them out”.
It is possible that Rebbe Nachman’s description of G-d’s “nation” is reflecting the description in Psalm 24: “To Hashem is the world and everything in it. For He established it on the oceans; and around the rivers He has set it up. Who will go up to His Holy Place, and who will stand on his holy mountain? The one with clean hands and a pure heart etc.” In other words, only an individual who has purity of action and intention can go up on “G-d’s mountain and stand in his Holy Place”. Otherwise, he is kept out by “warships” and “cannons”. He lives on the surface of life, and can’t get inside it.
“But his signing himself as being a man of truth and humble — this I do not know, and I want you to bring me this king’s portrait.” For the king had all the portraits of all the kings, but the portrait of that king (who signs himself in such fashion as mentioned) was not found by any king, for he is concealed from people. He keeps himself at a distance from his subjects and dwells behind a curtain.
G-d’s signature declares that He is a Man of humility and truth, for we can perceive a Divine harmony underlying the whole world. He has brought down lofty, eternal qualities into our world of lacks and limits. This is His humility. We feel the greatness of truth when interacting with honest people, or listening to our inner voices and desires. We see that someone who perseveres, and is humble and honest, accomplishes. We see that people who are generous and giving attain happiness and loving relationships. There is truth underlying the world. These are G-d’s signature.
If one has learned Torah one has seen these concepts expressed explicitly as well: G-d is humble and true. We feel the Torah’s accuracy, because we have perceived it, on an intuitive level, in the world.
At the same time, however, so much of what we see and experience seems to contradict this feeling that we get about the essence of things. We see that so much of what people and societies do is neither humble nor honest. We see falsehood and deceit all around. We see arrogance and narcissism. Even on the cosmic level, not everything works out or seems fair. We look for truth and justice, but don’t always find it.
The King has put his signature of truth and humility into the world. But we see and experience many things which contradict these. We are confused deep down; we experience cognitive dissonance.
We want to know, why isn’t the King regulating that? Why does He seem to have so little influence?
The other portraits of the other kings are, perhaps, the principals of nature. We can observe the ways of nature, and grasp the principals that underlay them. These are the portraits. But we don’t have a portrait of the mighty, wise, and humble King, because the underlying patterns elude us. It is hard to form a “picture” of Him.
The wise man went to that country. He came to the realization that he must come to know the essence of the country. And how can he find out the country’s essence? — by way of the country’s jests. Because when one needs to know the essence of something, one must know its jesting. For there are many types of jesting: there is one who really wants to smite the other with his words, and when the other takes notice he says to him, “I am joshing! “I am making a joke” as in the verse, “Like one who shoots firebrands… and says, ‘Am I not joking?’” [Prov. 26:18-19], and so there is also someone who really means a jest but still harms the other with his words. Thus there are several kinds of jesting.
The wise man seems to have had no problem getting past the ships with cannons, the swamp, and the narrow path with cannons. This is because he is a tsadik—a righteous person—and as a result, he doesn’t buy into and reinforce the patterns of illusion which permeate the world. His thoughts, words, and actions don’t contribute to the forces of limitation and concealment, which keep one away from the King’s proximity. To the contrary, these are what enable him to penetrate the existing state of concealment and reduction. So he is able to travel to the “nation” of the King, which means that he is able to live with a sense of wonder and fascination, and observe the world with a measure of accuracy and insight, and not be totally confused and derailed by the strata of illusion which covers over the truth of existence.
The wise man is trying to obtain a portrait of the King. To do so, he needs to observe carefully the ways of the world. We can never really see the King. Even “our thoughts can’t grasp him at all”, as is known. Nevertheless, he is behind everything that happens, and “there is nowhere where He is not”, therefore we have to derive a “picture” though careful observation of the ways of the world.
At this point Rebbe Nachman reveals a secret. We can discover the inner character of society by listening to its jokes. The reason for this is that when things are suddenly discovered to be not the way they appeared to be, this makes us laugh. More specifically, when things are following a certain pattern, creating an expectation that they will continue to do so, then something happens which is very different from what’s expected, not fitting with the pattern that we have already perceived unfolding in front of us in our imagination, this makes us laugh. That is the essence of a joke.
Two ducks are sitting by the water. One says “quack!”. The other one says, “That’s exactly what I was going to say!” We thought that he would respond differently. We have encountered a person’s reaction in a duck’s world. That moment of disorientation makes us laugh.
It’s not known why we laugh in this situation, but we do. Our laughter comes down to us from a very high place.
Therefore the things that people laugh at reveal their inner attitudes. For example, if people find stories about lewd behavior especially funny, this is because people are expected to behave with a certain level of modesty and restraint, so when they don’t, it creates a sudden contrast and surprise which makes people laugh. However, it makes those people laugh who themselves behave this way, and not people that don’t. So we can understand people’s character through their humor. However, why that is so, why only if they personally relate to the joke through their own attitudes and actions, do they find it humorous, needs an explanation.
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