BRUCE LICHT
FOUNDER OF MY ELEVATOR PITCH FOR GOD, ENTREPRENEUR, AND AUTHOR
Bruce grew up in Lafayette, California and received a BA in Political Science from UCLA as well as a Graduate Gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America. After graduating, Bruce operated his family’s 100 year-old retail fine jewelry business for twenty-two years. Bruce had a passion for computers and graphic arts, so he changed careers and joined his best friend at a national technical publishing company for seventeen-years as the company’s Publisher, where they invented the modern labor law poster industry, including the first “All- On-One Labor Law Poster” and “Labor Law Poster Compliance Plan.”
Aside from being the Founder of the website, “My Elevator Pitch for God,” Bruce was the co-editor of the book, My Elevator Pitch For God: Volume 1, and author of the cookbook titled, Immediate Chef: No Previous Experience Required.
Revealing What’s Already There
BRUCE LICHT
I once heard (1) that Michelangelo (2) said that he never actually sculpted the legendary “David.” Instead, he just chipped away and removed whatever was not part of the finished statue—whatever was “not David.” The masterpiece was always there, just hidden, deep within that big block of white Carrara marble. (3) Michelangelo’s job was simply to remove all the extra stone so David could finally be seen and appreciated.
This analogy of the sculptor revealing the statue that existed within offers a powerful metaphor for understanding the nature of spiritual perception. This concept is similar to what is required for one’s ability to “see” God. Although God is not readily visible to the eye, this does not mean that He is not there. He can be seen in other ways.
We’re often blind to God’s omnipresence because we are burdened by our own excess stone. The quest to see God is less about a dramatic, earth-shattering event than a quiet, persistent refinement of our awareness, because God is all around us and within everything. We live in a world that clamors for our attention, filling our days with work, technology, and endless obligations. These are the unnecessary “chips of marble” that prevent us from recognizing what is hidden all around us—hidden in plain sight. Our anxieties, ego, and worldly distractions act as excess stone, obscuring the divine masterpiece that fills the universe.
The practice of chipping away at what is not God can take many forms, from the stillness of meditation, the mindfulness of gratitude, the appreciation of nature, to the thankfulness for the kindness of a stranger. It’s discovered by opening up one’s mind and attuning to God’s constant presence. God is in the sunlight that warms our skin, the breath that fills our lungs, and the deep love we feel for others. All that’s required is to deliberately shift one’s focus, to look past what’s on the surface-level and see what's extraordinary, that lies beneath.
The route to seeing God is a path of self-discovery. Each time we remove a layer of our own self-imposed clutter—be it a grudge, a fear, or a preoccupation with material possessions—we allow the inherent spiritual reality of the world to come more into view.
Seeing God, therefore, is not a matter of searching for something absent, but of removing the extraneous. It’s a journey of silencing the chaos so that the sacred can be heard. The task of revealing God is a lifelong endeavor, and one’s relationship with God is a continuous, active, pursuit of clearing our vision.
Just as Michelangelo's work on David was a painstaking and lengthy process, so is our journey toward spiritual awakening. The reward is a profound shift in our perception of reality. The process of learning to see God requires unveiling Him one careful chisel stroke at a time. Allow God’s inherent beauty to become the new lens through which you view everything, remembering that you are, with God’s loving guidance, the sculptor of your own spiritual life. (4)
Footnotes:
1. I heard this from The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe (from Torchweb.org): Nitzavim – Repent Up Demand, Sep 17, 2025, starting at 23:30
2. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (March 6th, 1475 – February 18th, 1564), known mononymously as “Michelangelo,” was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the “High Renaissance.” The High Renaissance is a relatively short period in art and culture that dates from the late 15th century to the early 16th century, with dates commonly ranging from around 1490/1495 to 1520 or 1527. While there is some debate among scholars, the period is generally marked by the rise of artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael and concludes with events like Raphael's death in 1520 or the dramatic Sack of Rome in 1527.
3. The marble came from the Fantiscritti quarries in Miseglia, Carrara.
4. In a manner of speaking, God is the potter, and we are the clay. What is required of us is to allow Him to chisel away at us, so as to more fully reveal the goodness that He planned for us since time immemorial; to have us be the person He made us to be, rather than a marred, buried, or broken version of it. Or, one could say, to have us partner with Him in the chiseling, with our hands laid on His, knowing that the strength and precision required to knock unwanted bits off is really found more in His “hands” than our own.