Filed under: other dimensions, Renewal, Running and Returning-Ratzo v Shuv, teshuva, The Guide, Transformational Experience
How can one not feel shame and loathe past behavior when he realizes, as taught by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin in Nefesh HaChaim, that each transgression causes damage in the upper worlds. The level of one’s understanding determines the extent of damage that results.13 Obviously an unlearned unintentional sinner14 does less damage than the sin of a holy man who has revealed the essence of his soul, because at that level, Heaven forbid, from his transgression the damage begins, affecting many worlds, while the unintentional sinner was only acting with his animal soul so the damage is less widespread.
This is one reason it is difficult to ascend into Holiness, to reveal the higher powers of your soul. One who only has a Nefesh, his sin only damages in peoples “animal souls”. If one acquires their Ruach, they by sin can damage the flow of Divine abundance going to Ruchot “the emotional soul”. If a man acquires his Nashama “Soul of Divine intellect”, he can damage the way people think by his errors, God forbid. Such a man by his foolish thoughts can lead many astray by the power of their thoughts and their words.
Rebbe Nachman teaches that in order to avoid temptation one must direct his mind away from the object of his desire completely; he must not confront the desire at all. Nor should he speak, think, or wonder about it; he should totally avoid letting his thoughts confuse him. 15 This applies to the unlearned man, but the scholar all the more so, so that he does not defile his intellect with impure thought; he should turn to the Torah and meditate upon it, putting sin out of mind.
In the prophecy of Ezekiel, it says: “The Chayot ran and returned” (Ezek. 1: 14). The sages say that this running is entering into holiness, contemplation of the divine, and returning is descending back to the more physical level. We too,
12.Tanya 155.
13.Nefesh HaChaim..
14.Rabbi Nachman’s Stories 21.
15.Duties of the Heart 295.
when faced with temptation, can run, approaching God and freeing ourselves from the temptation, and when we return we’re in a different place. King Solomon is talking about this running in the Song of Songs when he says, “Draw me and I will run after thee; the king has brought me into his inner chambers” (Songs 1: 4). Elijah the Prophet explains this as meaning that the Holy One has an innermost sanctum in the innermost chambers of the Torah that he has composed, so the disciples of the wise, each and every one of them, have an innermost sanctum in the innermost chambers of the Torah. If you see afflictions creeping up nearer and nearer to you, run to words deep within the Torah, and afflictions will at once flee from you as Isaiah teaches, “Come my people, enter into thy chambers … until the indignation is past” (Is. 26:20).
There are many Holy places to go to with your soul!
This idea of running and returning also applies in the physical sense, as it is known that wandering causes humility and a lowly spirit fitting for teshuvah(returning to God) . The breaking of arrogance of spirit by wandering is like the decomposition of a seed before it begins to grow; likewise in spiritual growth the ego must be broken so that divinity may permeate. The breaking of the seed coat from sprouting of Godly revelation can be difficult to handle at times but one must always remember, as the Malbim teaches, that all precious things together cannot compare with the survival of the soul, which is the end purpose of man and of his hopes. 16 It is taught, in tractate Magilla, that snow is good for mountains, heavy rain good for trees, gentle rain for fruits of the field, and drizzling rain to seeds under a hard clod. A young scholar is like a seed under a hard clod; once he has sprouted he soon shoots forth. A scholar is inflamed by the Torah, and should be as hard as iron that can break a rock into many pieces. When the young
16.Malbim parsha Chayah Sarah
scholar’s seed coat is breaking and he finds it difficult, let him become inflamed by the Torah and his difficulties will be as nothing, as he is then as hard as the iron that breaks rock. From becoming inflamed by the Torah one can see, as Rebbe Nachman teaches, that there is always rejoicing in the Holy One’s presence-so even if one falls one must remain happy. Whenever a person falls it is for the sake of ultimately elevating them further; when a person remains happy he will eventually reach the higher level. 17 And one should never despair no matter how bad the situation may look, for as Rabbi Avraham teaches in his book Meditation of the Sad Soul when God is angry with those that fear Him He punishes them in a natural way, but when He delivers them He employs wonders and supernatural means. 18
We are talking about a complete transformational experience here. It is and will be dramatic. But by this “reassembly” you will become purified and refined, you can acquire the higher levels of your Soul your Ruach, Nashama, Chayah and Revelation of Yachida.
17.Rabbi Nachman’s Stories 355.
18.Meditation of the Sad Soul 91.
