[Avodah] Avodah] Teshuva - postive or negative?

[Daniel Eidensohn]

received this email off list regarding the topic:


Rav Kook’s Orot Hatshuva is a natural source, and following 
are some passages that might be relevant (some of which address the darkness 
associated with the method of tshuva that these students are experiencing):


* Tshuva is joyful b/c it represents a link to the divine, and when it is 
invoked, one senses a refinement of the soul, with tshuva penetrating the 
physical w/ the spiritual.  Even if one has not been successful in 
redressing all one’s wrongs/sins, one should be joyful, pursuing G-d w/ awe 
and love.



* A sin (including sinful states of being, such as melancholy, rage, 
despair, fear, etc.) disrupts the unity between an individual and all 
existence.  A sinful person does not see light in the world.  He rests in 
darkness and is thus depressed and pessimistic, while a pure person sees the 
world thru a clear lens, and is joyful, resplendent in divine light.



* When one becomes conscious of one’s sinfulness, one naturally becomes 
disturbed, shaken from an illusion of righteousness, but concurrently one 
becomes aware of the divine light within, which provides one with a renewed 
sense of optimism.



* A lower form of tshuva actually damages the will.  Tshuva is not meant to 
break one, but to elevate the person.  A verification that an effective 
tshuva has taken place is clarity of mind.



* The focus of tshuva is on the future (dealing morally/properly in future) 
rather than past (an opportunity to mend and deal with past wrongs will 
eventually arise).



* If one contemplates tshuva in a melancholy state, one should intentionally 
divert one’s attention, and return only in a state of joy, when one’s 
internal state is more settled.



* Depression/self-criticism deprives one of vitality.  The observing part of 
one’s psyche must be very gentle in its criticism.



* One tends to have paradoxical feelings of tshuva, with (1) anxiety over 
one’s sinful state, (2) joy over renewed and positive state.