[Avodah] Fwd: [VBM] Chassidic Service of God (continued)

[Micha Berger]

This is where our compartmentalization into camps holds us back. The
Piaseczner Rebbe (the "Aish Qodesh", R' Kalonymous Kalman Shapiro zt"l
Hy"d) is largely reinventing Mussar. Admittedly his goals are different;
the elements of the ideal Jew that are emphasized in Chassidus and Mussar
differ. But he procedes to build and advocate from scratch a toolset for
somthing that another tenu'ah invested the lion's share of their effort
on -- self-awareness.

To quote RYGB's loose translation of REEDessler (MmE vol 5 pp 35-39),
cut-n-pasted from <http://www.aishdas.org/rygb/forks.htm#Footref30>:

    In our times: The qualities of "Emet" that personified the Ba'alei
    Mussar [Mussar Masters] are already extinct. We no longer find
    individuals whose hearts are full with profound truth, with a strong
    and true sense of Cheshbon HaNefesh [complete and rigorous reckoning
    of one's spiritual status and progress]...

    Contemporary Chassidus lacks the component that was once at its core:
    Avodas Hashem with dveykus...

    For today's era, there remain only one alternative: To take up
    everything and anything that can be of aid to Yahadus; the wisdom
    of both Mussar and Chassidus together. Perhaps together they can
    inspire us to great understandings and illuminations. Perhaps
    together they might open within us reverence and appreciation of
    our holy Torah. Perhaps the arousal of Mussar can bring us to a
    little Chassidic hislahavus. And perhaps the hislahavus will somewhat
    fortify one for a Cheshbon HaNefesh. Perhaps through all these means
    together we may merit to ascend in spirituality and strengthen our
    position as Bnei Torah [adherents of a Torah centered lifestyle]
    with an intensified Judaism. May G-d assist us to attain all this!

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
micha at aishdas.org        and he wants to sleep well that night too."
http://www.aishdas.org         - Rav Yosef Yozel Horwitz, Alter of Novarodok
Fax: (270) 514-1507

Yeshivat Har Etzion
PHILOSOPHY > Great Thinkers > The Piaseczner Rebbe >
Shiur #24: Chassidic Service of God (continued)
Dr. Ron Wacks

Ways of Achieving Hitragshut (continued)

The Importance of Self-Awareness

One of the primary keys for entering the gates of inner service is
self-awareness. Remarkably, although a person is generally concerned for
his own wellbeing, he is not always aware of what is happening in his own
inner world. His psyche is in constant movement, expressing its will and
its aspirations, but even though the person may sense something going on,
he is not equipped to interpret it and to take the appropriate steps:

The hiddenness and imperceptibility of what is happening inside
him distances a person greatly from himself. He is unfamiliar with
himself and ignorant of what goes on inside him. Even the psyche of the
simplest person never ceases its restlessness and writhing, crying out
in supplication over its lowliness, and over all the blows and trials
and tribulations that he causes it through his foolish actions, speech,
and thoughts. The fact that he senses none of this is because he gives
no thought to listening to this tempestuous wretch.[1]

A person naturally tends to occupy himself with matters external to
himself; he is not attentive to his own inner workings. It is easier to
engage with the outside world, with its affairs of greater and lesser
importance, than it is to listen inwardly. Even when he detects inner
movement, he is unable to decode and make sense of it:

For that is the way of man: he always strive for that which is extraneous
to himself, the affairs of the world, both those that are vital and those
that are not. He interests himself in what happens at the end of the
world, but he pays no heed to his own psyche, and does not listen and
give attention to the business that is within him. Or he may sense it,
but since even at the moment that he senses it his desire, his attention,
and his thought are turned to the lowly muck of this world, he hears the
moaning and its voice only weakly. This may be compared to a person who
is asleep and a mosquito bites him on his forehead. If he is a merchant,
he dreams that a bag of his merchandise has fallen on his forehead and
struck him; if he is a tailor, he dreams that his needle has pricked
his forehead, etc. Each individual perceives his inner workings in the
guise of his own dreams.[2]

The psyche expresses its longings in different forms, but often a person
is unable to decode any of these spiritual needs, such as a desire for
teshuva and the fear of God. Sometimes, when he feels something oppressive
inside him, he goes to the refrigerator and takes out a bottle of sweet
drink and some cake, or he tries to distract himself by joking with
his friends. Often, a person makes the mistake of thinking that it is
his body that is suffering physical hunger, and he believes that he can
satiate it by filling his stomach - while in fact it is his psyche that
is starved and crying out in distress:

Sometimes the psyche of a Jew is animated by regret, teshuva, submission,
fear of God, and so on, and the person feels some sort of movement and
restlessness within himself, but he has no idea what the problem is. He
thinks he may be hungry, or thirsty, or in need of some wine and wafers,
or he may think that he has fallen into melancholy, and in order to lift
his spirits he chatters playfully with the members of his household,
or goes over to a friend to joke and engage in lashon ha-ra, gossip,
foolishness, etc.[3]

R. Kalonymus's grandfather, author of Maor Va-Shemesh, also addresses
the connection between an unhappy psyche and stuffing oneself with
food. Attention should be paid to the chain of wrongdoing: Bnei Yisrael
complain, convincing themselves of how bad things are for them. This
leads them to melancholy, which gives rise to the craving for meat and
the punishment that follows:

"And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord" - This means
that they fell into melancholy... and the Lord's fire burned amongst
them, for black bile is detestable and abhorrent, for it is a tinge of
idolatry... and for this reason they were punished. And Moshe prayed,
and the fire subsided, but it continued through their melancholy, for
they felt a lusting and they said, "Who will feed us meat?" For as we
explained, the lust for food is drawn from black bile... Therefore, one
has to distance oneself far from melancholy, for it brings a person to
all sorts of sins. And despondence begins with a growing desire to eat,
as we see when a person is mired in black bile, heaven forfend, he eats
with lust, ravenously, and very quickly.[4]

When a person tries to "quiet" his inner distress with sweets and
snacks, not only has his psyche not received what it really wanted,
but it is greatly pained by his failure to understand its true needs.
Sometimes, after a person continually ignores and steamrolls his inner
voice, it simply grows silent:

Sometimes, after all of these actions which he has done, he still feels
inner discomfort, since with these worthless medicines not only has he
not cured the sores of his psyche, nor given it relief from the blows
that he has administered to it, but he has in fact added further injury
and assault. But sometimes it happens that after these misguided actions
he actually feels better, and his spirit is quieted within him, because
the blows and injuries and sores that he has added through his actions
have rendered his psyche unconscious, or he has piled mounds of dirt and
refuse over it to the point that it is completely hidden. Then he will
no longer hear even the slightest peep out of it - and he can relax.[5]

The psyche also transmits signals of joy, not only distress. A person
often misses these signals too, failing to give them expression. For
example, when a person fulfills a mitzva or rejoices in his prayer,
and his psyche awakens with joy and hitragshut, he will fail to notice
this - both because of his general insensitivity to his inner world and
because his attention is oriented elsewhere.

R. Kalonymus argues that the way to achieve hitragshut and hitlahavut
is not by "importing" new feelings from outside of oneself; they are
already to be found inside him. However, they must be given more powerful
expression and allowed to effect a greater influence on his consciousness:

It is not new excitements that you need to seek, nor a heavenly-initiated
awakening. First and foremost, the work is required of you yourself,
for everything exists within you. You are capable of hitragshut, and
you are a person who is able to attain fervor; you simply need to try
to get to know yourself and what is going on inside. Your psyche is
full of signals, shouts, and supplications, and all you need to do is
to provide space within yourself within which it can be revealed and
strengthened. Then you will come to know and feel your natural hitragshut,
with no need to garb yourself and your needs.[6]

R. Kalonymus not only demands self-awareness, but also explains how to
attain it. A person has to learn to listen to his own inner world and
ask himself questions: Is my psyche happy, and if so, about what? Is my
psyche sad, and if so, why? What are the inner feelings that accompany
me in this situation, and how did they come about?

At first, this work will involve only the major movements of the
psyche. It is not advisable to start with weaker movements, since,
owing to their delicate nature, their meaning is not always clear.
Attention should therefore be paid to the stronger signals, and when
one notices them, he should "provide space" and allow them expression.
This is facilitated through paying attention to them, strengthening them,
and allowing them to reveal themselves through our power of imagination.

We will now elaborate on each of these tools individually.

(To be continued)

Translated by Kaeren Fish

_______________________

[1] Hakhsharat Ha-Avrekhim, p. 29.
[2] Ibid., p. 40.
[3] Ibid.
[4] R. Kalman Kalonymus Epstein Ha-Levi, Maor Va-Shemesh (Jerusalem,
    5748), Parashat Beha'alotekha.
[5] Ibid., p. 29.
[6] Hakhsharat Ha-Avrekhim, p. 30.

Copyright © 1997-2017 by Yeshivat Har Etzion