Chapter 30. This chapter continues to discuss how we can overcome the dullness of the heart. The methodology of this chapter is to see ourselves as so low that we must fight to survive. I offer a read of this chapter as using the evil impulses own tool to fight the battle against it. I found this chapter a bit challenging both as presented as well as from a psychological point of view, in that unless it is contrived, it can be dangerous to see ourselves as so lowly. I contend that his goal is to create the scenario but not to truly see ourselves in this manner of lowliness.
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In the modern world, the practice of a religion and the journey for increased spirituality are often at odds. Many times it is because we create false dichotomies between the two as a means of explaining away the ways of people. It is an example of how I often will say don’t a religion by the people who practice it. Religion can and should be a pathway for spiritual growth and hopefully spiritual growth will come along to help show people the beauty of time-honored ritual. Yes, our modern world doesn’t always jive with ancient ritual and yet so often we see the reintroduction of these ancient rituals as finding a “new” method for better self-care and help. My favorite of these which I often quote is when we read about the importance of a Sabbath, as if its a new notion of setting aside a day a week for “rest.”
All of the above relates to this idea of Rebbe Nachman on faith. For Rebbe Nachman, and in reality for anyone actively pursuing the spiritual, our growth and journey is built on faith, the trust of the unknown. As Rebbe Nachman posits:
We only speak of faith when the one who believes does not know why he believes. But even so, for the believer himself the thing he believes in is perfectly clear and obvious to him — as if he saw it with his own eyes. This is because his faith is so strong (62:5).
Notice the two points in the above lines. First, is the admission of faith being something we cannot “know.” It is something non-intellectual. This doesn’t mean our faith is purely an emotional state. Rather, it is a reflection on how we cannot presume faith as intellectual, as sitting in the mind. At the same time, we also learn from this passage that our faith must be as it is “known.” Our mission is to build our internal faith into something unknown but known. It needs to remain faith, but be so clear as to be as if we know.
As it relates to the struggle of bridging religion and spirituality, too often the challenge is that religion is that which is more of a communal nature while spirituality has a stronger individualistic bent. The bridge is faith. Faith can be cultivated by the rituals and practices we take on as individuals and as a community. At the same time, faith is something that is purely individualistic, for only we can see our beliefs. The spirituality aspect is supporting the individuality that we can imbue the communal ritual with.
Today, may we continue to work to cultivate and enhance our personal faith/spirituality while also finding the ways to bring that spirituality into our communal, religiously inspired rituals.
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As we search for ways to enhance our spirituality, our sense of personal holiness, we go on a journey to find a path. What if the path is not outside of ourselves but rather is already here for us to travel on? I think this short passage from Rebbe Nachman might be hinting at this methodology.
The gates of holiness are opened through faith (57:8).
Faith is an internal barometer of our spirituality. If we sit with our thoughts and our emotions as it pertains to our spirituality, we will begin to see this faith come to the forefront. I would go out on a limb to suggest, though not from Rebbe Nachman himself, that this faith can go beyond the particularistic sense of Gd’s providence in the world. It can be a sense of seeing the world as something not chaotic, not left to random chance. With that said, when we find and cultivate this sense of faith, we open ourselves to the deeper experiences that place before us a sense of kedusha, or feeling the sacredness of life. Faith is the key to the sacred.
On the journey of life, so often, we are looking to travel on a path outside of ourselves. Perhaps we need to recognize the journey is not a road out there. Rather the road is paved by our feet as we walk forward step by step.
Today, may we find our key that is right in front of us to open the door to our internal feeling of being holy, of being sacred.
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Part two of Chapter 29 – We discuss two methods of overcoming the sitra achara, the “dark” side of our soul. We learn about spiritual accounting and how to rage against this dark side. This chapter also works through being a vessel for the divine, leading to a quick thought on this week’s Torah portion, Terumah.
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Our mission in life is to train ourselves to see the truth of every situation. We are tasked with making things better by working on recognizing what is truly in front us. Of course, this can be quite the challenge. In this short one liner, Rebbe Nachman tells us quite simply about the danger of falsehood:
Falsehood damages the eyes — physically and spiritually.
By being exposed to falsehood, we experience two concurrent problems. One is that we become susceptible to not seeing the world for what it is objectively is. As we know from a lot of modern psychological literature, we constantly deal with a variety of confirmation biases, including that we are often predisposed to what we see in front of us based on the experiences of the moment. For example, if we are thinking about buying a red car, all of a sudden we see red cars everywhere, causing us to presume that all of a sudden there are an extraordinary amount of red cars. Objectively this is not true but our perception is biased.
Spiritually, falsehood can also damage the mind’s eye. It can lead us to stray off a path. There is a well known explanation for the verse we recite in Shema:
so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge.
Numbers 15:39
Why does it say follow the heart and then the eyes? We would presume that first we need to see and then it will come into our hearts. The reason it says heart first is because if the heart desires something, then the eye will see it. If we are struggling with spiritual falsehood, we will be more likely to struggle with the results of how the struggle changes our perceptions spiritually.
As we work on our spiritual growth, may we find ways to avoid seeing the falsehoods around us and only strive to work toward truth seeing.
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Part one of Chapter 29. We discuss the challenge when our heart becomes like stone, when our heart becomes unfeeling. How do we overcome this? I offer a brief foray into the distinction between knowing something and feeling/experiencing it. We discuss the struggle of the beinoni as a source of growth, working through various levels of returning to Gd.
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End of chapter 28. We discuss how foreign thoughts during prayer are natural, as they are part of the battle between the divine and animal souls. We discuss how having a positive goal oriented mindset is better than an avoidance mindset when it comes to focus and concentration. The Alter Rebbe reminds us of the importance of turning to/including Gd in our fight to overcome the foreign thoughts breaking our focus.
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Waking up each day, we start off on the next leg of the journey of life. Each day contains elements of that which happened in the past and many of us feel that one day blends into the next. Yet, each day is a new beginning, another opportunity to do new things or bring newer attitudes to that which might seem monotonous.
Rebbe Nachman tied in the notion of faith with waking up each morning, saying:
When a person is asleep he enters the category of “faith”, and this refreshes his intellect, which is the manifestation of his soul. The refreshment a person gains from sleeping can help him to attain new levels of religious awareness and perception of God. He can actually receive a new soul from the light of God’s countenance (35:3-5).
The epitome of faith is found in the state of sleep, the state that allows the soul to reconnect without the constraints of the physical. This opportunity affords us the chance to awaken with a new sense of perspective in life. Too often we all believe once we walk along a certain path we do not have the chance to veer off and do something new. By recognizing that each day is a fresh start, even in the midst of outwardly doing the same tasks from the day before, we can find new levels of spiritual growth.
May each of us work toward seeing all aspects of life, from the awake state to the sleep state, as opportunities for enhancing our faith and growing in our spirituality.
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Part one of Chapter 28. We continue to discuss the topic of extraneous thoughts that come into our minds in the midst of our actions. This time the focus is on how to handle these thoughts in the midst of prayer and Torah study. We get into a discussion of how a tzaddik will deal with this versus how we, the beinoni, needs to work on not allowing the thought to bring us down. I offer a short parashat Mishpatim thought based on the past couple of days of Tanya as well.
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Faith manifests itself in many forms. Much of our approach to faith is emotional/intellectual, in that we either try to gain clarity and understanding in what we see in the world or allow experience and gut to guide us on our journey. In the below quote from Rebbe Nachman, he suggests that faith has a more pragmatic, action oriented element as well:
Charity is only perfect when it is combined with faith. The same is true of all the blessings which flow into the world through acts of charity. They are only perfect when there is faith. Faith is the source of blessings. Keeping the holy Shabbat — which is called the “source of blessings”— is the foundation of faith (31:2).
From this passage, we are given a shift in our perspective on both charity and faith. As to faith, Rebbe Nachman gives us a clear approach to its value in that faith allows us to be a receptacle for blessing. Through faith in its ideal, we open ourselves up to a more selfless approach to life as a whole. Obviously, this takes work and effort to overcome selfish faith, one in which we claim faith only so that we can receive blessing. Rather, we have to cultivate faith in our individual and collective missions to make the world a better place. All of this leads us to charity.
Charity is a complicated idea. Maimonides, for example, makes it clear that tzedaka, which we translate as charity, a term that implies a certain subjectivity in that we can choose how to be supportive, is not the correct translation of tzedaka. Rather tzedaka should be seen as a required form of supporting others in positions of need. Without tzedaka, the world wouldn’t stand as we would be relying only on acts of kindness, chesed, which are contingent on the goodness of one to another. Others work with the more colloquial approach to tzedaka as the equivalent of chesed, which I would argue is what Rebbe Nachman is suggesting. As such, this is where faith comes in. If we combine faith with our sense of charity, we will find it easier to give because this combination cultivates our sense of trusting our giving is not a diminishment in what we have but rather a conduit for furthering our collective mission as human beings in caring for all.
Finally, how does Shabbat fit in? Shabbat, cessation from doing, is the source of all blessing. When we allow ourselves to take a moment to witness all we have done, we can often gain a deeper perspective. We can see the bigger picture. We can have the time and space to reflect and to not be caught up in doing, allowing ourselves to strengthen our spirituality and ultimately our faith. This foundational principle is in line with the above. When we allow ourselves to stop, we are saying that we trust that even if we aren’t doing, the world can continue because we have done what we could. Faith is the sense that we do our part and believe that Gd will take care of the rest. Faith is a deep sense of trust. Resting/Shabbat and Charity both must be accompanied by this notion of faith in order for them to be done to their utmost and if they are, then we should hopefully see blessings come into this world as a result.
As we get ready to enter the Shabbat of the special reading for Parashat Shekalim, which is about the obligatory giving of a half shekel to support the tabernacle and Temple, may we see the merits of our giving shine a light on our lives.
Are you struggling with your spiritual growth? Faith? Feeling lost in the midst of the journey of life? Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com
New beginnings: A blog about spirituality, chaplaincy and renewal 