[Avodah] Yetzer HoRa Issues - warning - - Long Post

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, 24 Dec 2006 12:50:23 -0500, R David Riceman <driceman at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> The Rambam (Shmona Perakim 2; cf. MN III:8) says that almost all sin is due
> to the passions and not to the intellect (he doesn't use those terms).

In 8P the Rambam includes passion, but only as one of two factors. "It's important to
know that all acts of disobedience and obedience mentioned in the Torah actually
apply to only two parts of your soul: your senses and passions." But in 8P he's talking
more about the domain of chiyuv. For example the Rambam excludes "your digestive
system or imagination" in contrast to enjoying the food or the emotional responses
evinced by dimyon, and writes that the question of choosing thought is somewhat complex
but possible.

Not that all sin is due to the passions, but the concept of sin can only apply to
the domains of the sensory and the emotional.

In the Moreh the Rambam says the whole Torah exists to help people overcome their
gashmi urges, which are the causes of all sin. That goes beyond using different terms,
IMHO. For that matter MN 3:8 promotes asceticism of a sort. E.g. (tr Friedlander):
> As for eating and drinking in so far as it is indispensable, they will eat and drink
> only as much as is useful and necessary as food, and not for the purpose of pleasure.
> They will also speak little of these things, and rarely congregate for such purposes.
> Thus our Sages, as is well known, kept aloof from a banquet that was not part of a
> religious act, and pious men followed the example of R. Phinechas, son of Jair, who
> never dined with other persons, and even refused to accept an invitation of R. Jehudah,
> the Holy. Wine may be treated as food, if taken as such, but to form parties for the
> purpose of drinking wine together must be considered more disgraceful than the
> unrestrained conduct of persons who in daylight meet in the same house undressed and
> naked.

The Rambam here, where he does speak closer to our topic is more like ruchnius vs
gashmius than passion vs intellect.

> The Rambam (SP 4 and H. Deoth 1:7) says that the way to control the passions
> is by practice.  There is, however, another approach.  Modern exponents
> include Rabbi Ziv....  That is by imagining
> scences which impel one to the correct behavior, so that one is trained
> before one encounters the actual experience.

Yes, Mussar can be considered a Behavioral-Cognitive approach, involving both
qabbalos for practicing the new middah, and cognitive elements like hispa'alus
(a way of learning a text and internalizing it) and hisbonenus (what the Alter
is being cited as describing here).

I was going to mention hisbonenus as a positive use of the koach hadimyon. There
is a description of Slabodka hisbonenus in MmE IV which I am not done looking over
before posting. The idea is that since emotions run to deeper levels of our
decisionmaking than ideas, and since emotions are shaped far far more by experience
than by thought, we must construct experiences that allow us to shape who we are.
This is easier through visualization than by setting up live experiences.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             "The most prevalent illness of our generation is
micha at aishdas.org        excessive anxiety....  Emunah decreases anxiety:
http://www.aishdas.org   'The Almighty is my source of salvation;  I will
Fax: (270) 514-1507      trust and not be afraid.'" (Isa 12) -Shalhevesya