Ethics & Spiritual Excellence

Mesillas Yesharim

Chapter Four - (Part 1)

In the end, the very best way to develop the sort of caution we’ve been talking about, Ramchal advises, is to delve into Torah. Because it will invariably point out what matters in life and what doesn’t, which will then inspire you to be cautious in your life-choices.

But Ramchal then makes a very astute point that has bearing on a lot of things having to do with how we’re to grow in our spirit. He asserts that while one person might be moved to change by one thing or another, someone else might be repelled by the very same thing, and vice versa -- and yet both would need to grow. So it’s obvious that we’d have to know what inspires us and what doesn’t if we’re to move ahead.

He says that there are three sorts of people over-all as far as spiritual yearnings are concerned: “those who fully understand (what matters most)”, “those of somewhat lesser understanding (than they)”, and “the great majority of people”; or, put simply, there are people in search of spiritual excellence indeed, there are also people not quite there but on the way, and there are some who are willing to settle for spiritual mediocrity but who could be inspired to do better if given the right impetus.

For the truth of the matter is that not everyone yearns for nearness to G- d or for a chance to dwell close to Him and to bask in His light forever. While we contend that everyone’s soul yearns to do that, since the soul originated in G-d’s Being and would love to “go back home” for good, the lower elements of one’s beings can actually be repelled by the thought. After all, an individual drawn to “wine, women, and song” his whole life, who is repulsed by the thought of praying for example for any amount of time or of contemplating loftier things, would be aghast at having to spend eternity in Heaven. Yet his soul would want to dwell there, in fact, and would want to know how to. So it should be encouraged to and nudged along (albeit tenderly and appropriately if it’s to be effective).

For Ramchal’s point here is that in fact anyone could be drawn toward goodness (if not out-and-out righteousness) if properly motivated. We would just need to be aware of what makes a person “tick” and use that to his soul’s best advantage.

As such, a more altruistic person would be motivated by high ideals, and should be offered them; someone less high-minded but good should be inspired by fine and correct points that would nonetheless be closer to the ground and less idealistic; and someone lesser-yet who could only be appealed to by more self-serving needs should be told about them. We’ll explore these three types and what motivates them in some detail in the following sections. The wise among us would pinpoint his or her own standing and act accordingly.

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

For any comments, questions or topic requests, please contact Rabbi Yaakov Feldman.

Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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Mesillas Yesharim

Chapter Three - (Part 4)

Our inability to see the big picture and the truth in full is tantamount to our walking through a huge convoluted maze all the time.

As Ramchal evokes the image, the maze would be like the kind that was actually constructed hundreds of years ago by the wealthy for entertainment. Each one was comprised of “row after row of walls, with identical small paths between each one”. And the whole set-up was purposely put together “to confuse and confound” a participant who “couldn’t see … whether or not he was on one of the direct paths” since he’d “never entered into the maze before or reached the rotunda, its goal”.

The difference of course is that the participants in that maze would choose to play the game, while the maze that has come to be our way of living has chosen us, or so it seems.

Like the people in this maze game, we too never know what we’ll encounter, and we likewise hope against hope to escape failure (and injury) and to find our way out. For we also have never been through this before; and besides -- as Ramchal makes the point now -- we’re blinded by our yetzer harah and thus closed off to clarity and insight into our actions. For the yetzer harah baffles us all the time, it has us follow paths of false hope and faulty calculation, and it convinces us to squeeze our uneasy and square selves into round and awkward situations that threaten our very souls. But the truth is that there is a way out, as we’ll see.

Ramchal advises us to seek out the advice of someone “who would have already reached the rotunda himself (and) could see all the paths before him” and who would be able to pick out the right one for you to take. Only such a person -- only someone who had already managed to overcome his yetzer harah and to reach his full spiritual potential -- “could … say, ‘That's the path to take’”.

And the path those more experienced souls would invariably tell us to take, Ramchal offers, is this one: to “constantly, consistently ponder … (and) consider the true path according to the rules of the Torah you should take (in life). Then contemplate your actions and decide if they agree with that or not”. In other words, always take stock of your ways, as we were told at the beginning of our discussions of caution, and see if they conform to the truth or not as best as you can. And then affirm the right and stick to it, while steering clear of the wrong.

Do that, he assures us, and “you’ll find it easy to … set your ways straight.”

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

For any comments, questions or topic requests, please contact Rabbi Yaakov Feldman.

Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

SOURCE: My Email Subscription - Excellence - The Path of the Just

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Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

Copyright 1995 - 2007

Project Genesis, Inc.

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Mesillas Yesharim

Chapter Three - (Part 3)

Even though we’re advised to catch sight of what we do in order to set things right, that doesn’t mean to imply that we truly see things for what they are! In fact, our sages likened this world -- reality as we know it -- to night-time (Baba Metzia 83b), which Ramchal takes to mean that the world is mired in darkness. And as a result of that, he asserts, we simply don’t “see what’s in front of us” or understand what we’re looking at.

So we lose sight of the glorious fact that we were placed in this world to perfect our beings and to do as much good as we can (Adir Bamarom, pp. 458- 460), and we tend to flutter about here and there as a consequence.

Indeed, Ramchal says here that “the coarseness and materiality of this world” in fact “doesn’t allow you to notice the (ethical) stumbling blocks along the way” and has you “misinterpret things so that what’s actually bad seems to be good, and vice versa”. And all because we’ve become so ensnared by our yetzer harah that we’re incapable of making rational decisions. So we’d need the advice of those who are able to see things for what they are if we’re ever to grow.

We’ll return to that last point shortly; for now though it would do us well to see how Ramchal explains our “night-blindness” in more detail. He says elsewhere that G-d actually restricted our insights on purpose by creating us with our five senses (though we think that they are what we depend on for our insights in the first place!).

As he explains it, “the soul itself actually sees and hears everything” as it really is, “because it isn’t subject to the (influence of the) senses”. It easily sees what “impels everything from the inside-out”, which our five senses prevent us from doing. That’s why we misread signals, miss cues, and make wrong ethical decisions (Adir Bamarom, Ibid.).

That isn’t to imply though that that’s a universal phenomenon. For there are some rare individuals who do see things as they are -- people who “have been freed from this state of imprisonment and can see the truth for what it is, and who can advise others” about how to grow. They know very well that we were created for the higher purposes we’ve indicated and that most of us only see the outer reaches of things. And they also know what has us make the sort of mistakes we make as a consequence of that (Adir Bamarom, Ibid.). Hence, we should seek them out and ask their advice.

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

For any comments, questions or topic requests, please contact Rabbi Yaakov Feldman.

Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

SOURCE: My Email Subscription - Excellence - The Path of the Just

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Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

Copyright 1995 - 2007

Project Genesis, Inc.

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Mesillas Yesharim

Chapter Three - (Part 2)

Ramchal offers that we should “sift through and analyze our ways each and every day” in serious reflection much the way successful business-people regularly “evaluate their business practices” in order “to be sure they don’t suffer loss”. That’s to say that we should “take stock” of ourselves each and every day in order to see just where we’re successful and where not, where we’re in a rut and where we’re on the wing.

But let’s emphasize that we’re expected to do more than cast sporadic glances at what we do. Instead, we’re to reflect deeply -- to lay each move and motivation under bright light; look at it top, side, and underside; to draw it closer in to see it anew, perhaps a degree or two higher-up than we’d ordinarily took at it, or close enough to us to catch a whiff of it, if you will. And we’re to then adjudge its worth and either accept or reject it.

The truth of the matter is that if you don’t actually ponder your ways and strive for such insight and self-understanding it “will never come your way” and “you’ll linger in the dark” instead -- oblivious, and awash in “a fog and in utter darkness”, as Ramchal had put it (Derech Eitz Chaim p. 137). For if we were in fact self-aware and sensitive to what urges us on, we wouldn’t sin, Ramchal assures us there; as that sort of “knowledge boosts the soul” on one hand, and dampens the yetzer harah on the other.

He also makes the point that not only should we reflect upon what we do and what drives us, but also on our very beings. He suggests that we set aside time each and every day to dwell upon the sort of profound existential questions that the great ones do, like, “Who am I?”, “Why am I in this world?”, “What does G-d Almighty require of me?”, and “What’s expected of me in the end?” For, it’s very difficult to grow in your spirit if you don’t do that (Ibid.).

Do all that regularly, that is, “delve deeply into all of your actions and examine all your ways” the ways we spoke of, and you’ll be successfully cautious; and you’ll eventually “leave yourself without any bad habits and traits, or … sins or transgressions”. For a circumspect soul would be leery of making the same mistakes again. Don’t follow through on this, though, and you’ll find yourself “bound and imprisoned” by your mistakes.

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

For any comments, questions or topic requests, please contact Rabbi Yaakov Feldman.

Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

SOURCE: My Email Subscription - Excellence - The Path of the Just

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Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

Copyright 1995 - 2007

Project Genesis, Inc.

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Mesillas Yesharim

Chapter Three - (Part 1)

Not only would we have to be aware of a number of things to acquire the trait of caution as we’d indicated, but we would also need to be conscious of our own inner motivations. For if we’d hope to achieve spiritual excellence we’d need to know the depths of our heart.

For the human heart is awash with contradiction: there are bright, clean and pious corners there, but there are also some quite murky, smarmy and unholy ones. But the truth of the matter is that as a whole the human heart is an untidy brew of all of that, which should be unsettling.

In any event, Ramchal tells us here that if “you want to master yourself, you will need to involve yourself in two kinds of self-analysis,” first “a consideration of what is the true good you are to choose, and the true bad from which you should flee,” and the second is “a consideration of your own actions to determine whether they are good or bad” -- which is all quite reasonable. Since it simply points out that we’d be expected to weed out the bad from the good.

And he adds the following in its wake: “Do nothing without (first) considering it in light of this notion” that is, without bearing in mind whether what you’re about to do is a good and lofty thing, and should be followed through on, or if it’s wrong and should be abandoned.

Now, that would obviously call for a lot of analysis and forethought, both as to the nature of the thing we’re about to do along with reflection on whether the Torah would deem it right or wrong (since we’re to only factor in Torah-based moral values). But it’s here that Ramchal adds another point that should stop us cold.

He warns us that we should not only be weeding out the obviously bad things we do -- but that we should also be “inspecting and observing” the “good ones”, to see “if there is any underlying motivation that is not good, or if there is any part-bad that you might be forced to extricate and remove”, given the multi-faceted makeup of the human heart we spoke of.

For even the grandest deeds can be tinged with self-interest; as everything we do is riddled with hidden under-moorings. We might contribute a great deal of money to good causes in the hope of being known as a philanthropist, or we might pray with special fervor in the hope of being seen as “really religious” by our neighbors.

At bottom it comes to this: be honest with yourself (as you must to become pious) and you’ll come upon a lot you’ll like and a lot you won’t. Sigh deeply, admit to your humanity, and isolate the best to offer to G-d.

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

For any comments, questions or topic requests, please contact Rabbi Yaakov Feldman.

Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

SOURCE: My Email Subscription - Excellence - The Path of the Just

Subscribe to Spiritual Excellence and receive the class via E-mail.

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Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

Copyright 1995 - 2007

Project Genesis, Inc.

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Mesillas Yesharim

Chapter Two - (Part 4)

It’s not easy coming upon caution, though. For not only does it call for a lot of self-awareness, forethought, concern and determination … there’s also a hitch attached to it. It’s the fact that even if we do our level best to be as cautious as we can and avoid all the traps of the yetzer harah, we’re still-and-all not likely to succeed -- “without G-d’s help” that is, as Ramchal adds.

That’s because while some have indeed come to be quite pious and even holy, such individuals are rare. For as we’ll see in the very last chapter of The Path of the Just, becoming holy (and pious, too) is essentially a supernatural phenomenon; for it “begins in striving and ends in being given as a gift. That is to say, it’s initiated by your sanctifying yourself and concludes with your being sanctified” by G-d.

And that’s also true of lesser levels of achievement like caution, because it calls for transcending your baser instincts. For, “the yetzer harah is mighty”, as Ramchal puts it. It long ago figured you out and knows how to trip you; and it has the uncanny ability to have you agree with it again and again, even though you know you’ll regret it later.

Nonetheless if you do in fact make the effort to be on top of your choices, G-d will “save you from the yetzer harah” and grant you caution, because He wants you to draw close to Him. But if you don’t try, “G-d will certainly not oversee your doings” and will allow you to falter. “After all”, as Ramchal worded it, “if you will not have compassion upon yourself, who will?”

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

For any comments, questions or topic requests, please contact Rabbi Yaakov Feldman.

Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

SOURCE: My Email Subscription - Excellence - The Path of the Just

Subscribe to Spiritual Excellence and receive the class via E-mail.

Join the Jewish Learning Revolution! Torah.org: The Judaism Site brings this and a host of other classes to you every week.

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Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

Copyright 1995 - 2007

Project Genesis, Inc.

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Mesillas Yesharim

Chapter Two - (Part 3)

Most of us today are rather pleased to be busy and take pride in how much we can juggle. In fact the sort of adrenaline rush that comes with managing to double-, triple-, and quadruple-task that we strive for today is a sort of modern seventh-heaven. Some even encourage that, offering that being busy allows you to forget about your troubles and to lose yourself to the task at hand.

That would be fine if we’d fulfill our life’s mission by forgetting ourselves and if our sense of what’s expected of us didn’t matter, or if we were only granted life so as to be productive. But Ramchal, like the great preponderance of the sages, doesn’t think that’s true at all. As we’d depicted it before, he contends that we’re expected to change ourselves for the better and to amend the world. And that sometimes calls for quieting down and dwelling on the basics.

For as he words it, “relentlessly burdening yourself with tasks so that you haven't the time to reflect upon or consider where you’re heading” which so many of us are guilty of,” is in fact one of the devices and guiles of the yetzer harah” rather than a good thing.

Interestingly enough, though, he adds the insight that the yetzer harah knows that ”if you were to concentrate upon your (wrongful) ways for just an instant that you would certainly repent of them, and a strong regret would grow within you that would lead you to utterly abandon your sins”. That means to say that just given the chance to slow down, to dwell upon self, and to refocus upon goals would automatically have us turn a new leaf and improve ourselves.

Because deep within our beings is a draw to G-d that cannot be denied, but which is covered-over by this, that, and so much else that vies for our attention, and distracts the soul from the task at hand.

So the only way you can escape from all that would be to foster the trait of caution, by setting aside time to reflect upon yourself and your ways.

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

For any comments, questions or topic requests, please contact Rabbi Yaakov Feldman.

Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

SOURCE: My Email Subscription - Excellence - The Path of the Just

Subscribe to Spiritual Excellence and receive the class via E-mail.

Join the Jewish Learning Revolution! Torah.org: The Judaism Site brings this and a host of other classes to you every week.

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Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

Copyright 1995 - 2007

Project Genesis, Inc.

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