Watchfulness – people of intelligence must use their wisdom to protect their souls from falling into destructive behaviors.

Ramchal: Chapter 2: Man [should] exercise caution in his actions…to deliberate and …determine whether or not they are good, so as not to abandon his soul to the danger of destruction…This is demanded by one’s intelligence. For considering the fact that a man possesses the knowledge and the reasoning ability to save himself and to flee from the destruction of his soul, is it conceivable that he would willingly blind himself to his own salvation? There is certainly no degradation and foolishness worse than this….For there is no difference between natural blindness and self-inflicted blindness, the shutting of one’s eyes as an act of will and desire. P. 29 The evil inclination,….is a warrior and well versed in deception. One cannot escape it without great wisdom and a broad outlook…Clearly even if one superintends himself, it is not within his power to save himself without the help of HKB. For the evil inclination is extremely tenacious…If a man looks to himself, HKB helps him, and he is saved from the evil inclination.  But if he gives no heed to himself, HKB will certainly not superintend him; for if he does not pity himself, who should pity him?  “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” p 31-33.

People are self-deceiving - Hashem gives us free will and it is incumbent upon us to acquire wisdom to override our natural instincts

Rav Dessler Discourse on Free Will p. 50:  “What causes the person to adopt the fallacious argument (“one cigarette can’t hurt”) and ignore the correct one (“one will lead to another”) which he knows as well as anyone else to be correct?”…There must be something else, other than the two contending wills, that determines his choice. This something else is none other than the person himself.  He is the one who is capable of deflecting his mind from the truth, even thought that truth is perfectly clear to him.  He is the one who decides to adopt the fallacious argument in order to cover up his deviation from the truth.  What induces him to do this? Not the competing wills, but the freely choosing person himself…Behira depends on the person alone. There is no outside cause involved the primary cause is the person himself.  This is well known to anyone who has even once exercised his behira and conquered his evil inclination,. ?Such a person feels with the utmost clarity that he has relinquished illusion and opted for the truth.”…to those who deny the reality of free will we therefore say “Your philosophy is merely a reflection of your own heart. You deny free will because you are in fact unfree, you have enslaved yourselves to the evil within you.”  “The essence of good behira is to recognize the unique and indivisible nature of truth; and this in effect is to recognize the Creator. The essence of a bad behira is to accept falsehood as reality, and this in effect is to deny the oneness of Gd and to accept the falsehood of a duality of powers in the universe…the yetzer hara is like an alien Gd in the human heart. P 52

Because Hashem gave people free will, Hashem created teshuva before He created mankind.  Teshuva is a pathway to Hashem that is built into the creation and, whether in this world or the next, Hashem brings every soul to rectification. Teshuva is an infinite energy that inspires us toward Gd

Rabbi Moshe Weinberger p. 24-25:  Teshuva preceded the world (Pesachim 54a).  ..Teshuva..is the ideal goal of a human being and of the entire world,. It is where we come from and what we are headed towards…it is the power that impels a person and the entire world to return to a natural state of health, an infinite energy that drives us to transcend the circumstances of our lives and return to Gd.

People have a subconscious energy called Primal will that is behind our actions.  Wanting to serve Gd is uncorrupted primal will.  Just wanting to triggers this infinite energy!

R. Wolbe in his work Alei Shor Book 1-Gate 2-Chapter 25-p120 writes about the most powerful force we have within us:There is one power that sits waiting in every man. It is the deepest of all powers. It is an outstanding power. It brings one to action,

and the path it enlightens, because also help from the heavens it awakens: This power is the power of (primal) will. In our speaking on will we are not talking about desires that come and go every morning that for the most part their foundation is in illusion. (Whether their end is either  physical or spiritual.) It is possible to concentrate all of the powers of the “me” in one ratson that fills the man’s being.

That this ratson will determine his every step Whether it is day to day things Or whether it is about very substantial issues in ones life. 

“There is nothing that stands in the way of will” In the way that man wants to go, in that way he will be led (Makos 10b) He who comes to be purified-he will be helped-he who comes to be defiled-a way is opened for him (Yoma 38b)  A person that succeeds in entering a desire to come near to G-d …so that this will (ratson), will fill him totally and unify on this ratson, to be close to the Creator…behold this will (ratson) will pull after him all of the powers of the body and the soul, and all of them will be enrolled to this aspiration. Not only that but this ratson will be like pressure on a button that through this one will be enlightened from above as to the way to go.  

The power of (primal) will is powerful. And the secret of ratson is the wanting  (chayfetz) and this is the highest of all of the creations. This is the closest thing to the Creator!!!  It is found then that the man who his (primal) will is strong to get close to this Creator-

he is already the closest to the Creator  And there is no closeness greater than this. Now we can answer to the questioner how to get close and how to serve:You only have to strengthen your (primal) will in Avodas HaShem so that it never ever weakens.  

Someone who wants to get educated in the character trait of  chesed you only have to strengthen your will a lot to do chesed.

And from the heavens you will be helped to see where and how to do actions of chesed. If someone wants to be educated in how to pray

strengthen your will in this.And from the heavens you will be guided. And also the strength of your mind and soul will be pulled after your will. It is upon us to know this amazing truth:What that a man REALLY wants This is what he will achieve in his life. And the opposite is true. What that a man achieves in his life-this is a revelation of what was his primal will in the beginning.

To serve Hashem means to bring out the aspect of the Divine within us.

Rabbi Moshe Weinberger p. 28:  Rav Kook teaches in Mussar Avicha (1:1) that like all of the Creation, we contain within ourselves the sefiros, our traits, which are pure and holy. They are the vehicles that Hashem has given us to handle everything that we must accomplish in our lives.  But more basically, our tendency is to use all of these traits in the service of Hashem.

Our self-esteem, to be healthy, is best connected with our free willed choice to do what is good and right in Gd’s eyes, to bring out the aspect of the Divine within us.

Dr. David Lieberman: The million dollar question is where to do go to seek our self esteem, to the body that wants to feel good, the ego which is the yetzer hara that wants to look good or to the neshama that truly wants to do what is good and right in Gd’s eyes?  The alarm goes off in the morning and these three aspects battle it out.

This infinite energy is always engaged – but it could be pointed at a goal other than serving Hashem.  If it is pointed elsewhere, there is corrupted primal will which is self-destructive and in need of straightening.

Vilna Gaon: mishley 16:2. All of the ways of the man are pulled after the primary will. And whatever goes up on his spirit in the primary will they are pure and straight in his eyes. But the substance is the spirit of Hashem. And he knows that if he didn’t have in his spirit falsehood.That is to say his first will if there was no bias at all to this he would be pure and straight.

Even when our basic energy is diverted in part, we maintain the basic traits Hashem instilled in our souls, to love, to fear, to communicate.  With free will, a person can access the built into the cosmos teshuva pathway.

Rabbi Moshe Weinberger p. 30:  If the drive to serve Gd were not in our nature, it would be easy to lose. Therefore, Hashem hard-wired these traits, which contain the capacities to love, to fear and to communicate into our souls.  We only have to direct them in a good way.  Initially we do not know how to utilize our natural traits for the good and to serve Hashem. That is because our first impressions come from the world of the body. From the very beginning, before our minds have been developed, our interactions are with the physical world. But from the aspect of the spirit, the initial nature of a person’s traits is certainly directed towards the highest level. And because a person’s intrinsic nature is to be a servant of Gd, if he feels that he is not instinctively and intuitively kind, good-natured, loving, respectful and so on, he must realize that this is due to the unhealthy turbulence that comes from outside of who he really is….But with teshuva, he overcomes the unnatural direction that his traits took and returns them to their original, good state. And that is the core of teshuva: to bring ll of our natural powers back to Hashem Who is the goal of all of our hopes. All of the wisdom within this enterprise requires only that a person understand that everything associated with his traits tends naturally toward Hashem be He blessed, and to His glorious name. (rav Kook Mussar Avicha (1;1)

How do we tackle the challenges of using free will to re-direct ourselves?  The source of our experience is our thoughts.  Our thoughts reveal where we have deviated from Torah principles.  The emotions that result can be very powerful.  How do we summon the internal ability to change the precedent thought when we feel so constricted?  There is an unlimited amount of Divine energy available to every person to draw us to return.

Rabbi Shapira: Appendix C  Actualizing Human Free Will A taste of the power of free will:

Rabbi Nivin – your thoughts are not the real you. When a person is fully present then nothing will disturb his calm

Rabbi Shapira – thoughts are just migrant squatters passing through…there is a constant turnover depending on the day and what’s going on in the person’s world.  But where are you?  Where is your real self?  Because when a person is fully present and at home at his deepest being, then neither will joy intoxicate his consciousness nor will distress disturb his calm.

Rabbi Nivin – to create this inner sanctum of calmness one needs spiritual energy

Rabbi Shapira – To create this inner sanctum and make it the control center for one’s inner world, not to be a victim to external circumstances that trigger thoughts through the mind’s open door, one must become infused by and inspired with a divine source of spiritual energy.

With the unlimited Divine energy, we look to the free will point – the place where the non-Torah thought meets the challenge to choose Torah principles as a way to govern our actions over the desiring emotions.

Rav Dessler: p. 32  Truth meets falsehood – behira takes place at that point where the truth as the person sees it confronts the illusion produced in him by the power of falsehood.  Free will is exercised and a valid behira made only on the borderline between the forces of good and the forces of evil within that person.

When we realize that the challenge is given to us as an opportunity to become more Gd-like, for our ultimate growth and development, and we begin to ask Hashem for the energy to rise above our limitations, we begin to grow.

Rabbi Moshe Weinberger p. 44  There is no independent power of evil, and there is thus no cosmic battle between good and evil, light and dark. Darkness exists simply in order to be illuminated.  The evil inclination is not a sinister, dark being. Rather its ultimate goal is to bring us to the highest level that we can reach. It is an angel, a messenger,. Its ultimate purpose is to make us better people.

Once we see the free will point and yearn to be like Gd and serve Him, we can access unlimited free will to become the master over our emotions.

Rabbi Shapira – there is one cosmic substance and many forms and qualities that it can take…the form has the power to draw energy from that common ground of existence and express it in its unique form.

Rabbi Nivin – we live in a world of form that is a mask for the cosmic energy that is the reality of life. There is one unified energy. There is energy in the world that sustains us.

Human free will is limitless and includes unlimited power

Rabbi Nivin – since one of the characteristics of the human form is unlimited free choice, human energy must then also be limitless….consciousness itself is only bound by his free will

Rabbi Shapira – Free choice takes place in consciousness and will, so into them one can draw added energy.  “Somewhere there is the Infinite Source…the root of all that is holy and pure…greater than Creation a light of absolute truth…the Source of true life beyond limitation…why am I so distant from this Source? 

Rabbi Nivin – this will arouse a tremendous passion that will energize your entire body

Rabbi Shapira – a passion for the holy will be aroused at the core of your being, a passion that will energize your entire body. And because the human form can draw to itself unlimited power with its will, it can draw from this Infinite Source…when such intense spiritual energy enters the human system, the body becomes shaken and numb – the ego shell is shattered and the person is transformed into someone else. He experiences things that he could not before and yearns for things he did not until then.  He may even then attain divine inspiration….The quintessence of the human form, that which defines him as different from all other creatures, is his ability to draw energy at will. As long as one has not actualized his form, he cannot really be called a human being – he has yet to enter his inner sanctum and take control of his inner world…..re Adom:  Rather than drawing spiritual energy to myself to strengthen my control of my life, I have remained a doormat to the outside world and have remained hidden from myself.

The challenge is to not deceive ourselves with confusion over that is the greatest pleasure in life.  Man is created to experience the spiritual joy of connection to Gd in this world and the next

Rav Dessler p. 54-55  Behira comes into play only when one is tempted to go against the truth as one sees it, and the forces on either side are more or less equally balanced….every human being possesses the power of perceiving the truth available to him at his particular level, clinging to it, and refusing to be deflected from it by the seductive illusions of falsehood.

Patterns in thoughts that bring us constriction may reveal to us a tikun, a character trait that we have to uproot, or a soul correction.

Slonimer:  Some people have been blessed with a refined nature; they remain far from anger and are not driven from the world by jealousy. Lust, and arrogance.  …some people are completely engulfed in negative qualities; they are filled with lusts and overwhelmed by them…when such a person experiences clarity of mind he realized that his whole purpose in life is to exert himself unceasingly to uproot his negative qualities….when a person transgresses or experiences some spiritual failing he needs to realize that his task,…is to resist resigning himself to the circumstances. His mission..is precisely to draw himself free from whatever pit of destruction or depths of filth he fell into.  This is his specific service in this moment.

Hashem tells Cain that even as angry as Cain was, that Hashem is there and Cain has the ability to conquer it.  Cain had a thought that generated a negative emotion and he did not conquer it

Beresheis 4:5-8

But to Cain and to his offering He did not turn. This annoyed Cain exceedingly, and his countenance fell.  And Hashem said to Cain, “Why are you annoyed, and why has your countenance fallen?  Surely if you improve yourself you will be forgiven. But if you doo not improve yourself, sin rests at the door. Its desire is toward you, yet you can conquer it.  Cain spoke with his brother Abel. And it happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

It is will that we need to rise above strong emotion, and we have unlimited free will, all we need to do is ask Hashem for more

Rav Wolbe:  “don’t ever say Gd is not giving me siyata dhmaya because that shows you don’t really want it.  …He calls a complaint on help from Gd and says there is none, he makes the creator the guilty one that He (Hashem) is the one holding back as if he (the person) from his point of view did everything that is incumbent on him.  This is a sign that he did not use that power that he alone brings to the execution of a good deed.  That is will. Lack of success testifies always on a weakening of will , of a lack of use of will  (see Rabbi Shapira?)

The matter is totally in the free willed choice of a person, not on anyone else.

Rav Dessler: p. 56  There are no outside factors which can affect the act of behira itself. Here the human being himself reigns supreme.

Rav Wolbe: “How common is the oversight and the horrible distortion in this: Someone complains about his lack of success in Avodah Hashem and he sighs, “You just need Siata D'shmaya.” He calls a complaint on Help from G-d and says there is none. He make the Creator the guilty one that he is the one holding him back as if he (the person) from his point of view did everything that is incumbent on him. “One day he will get judgment on the fact that he put false accusation on Hashem because there is a promise that someone who comes to be purified, he will be helped, and when someone didn’t succeed that means that he didn’t come to be purified and do what s incumbent on him “On the other hand, This that claims on matters of Avodah whether in prayer or in guarding fences or in exertion in his learning: “It did not go for me”-he is making a huge mistake. This is a sign, that he did not use that power that he alone brings to the execution of a good deed. That is will. Lack of success testifies always on a weakening of will of on lack of use of will.*“Certainly we are speaking of matters that they are in the realm of possibility for this man whether from the aspect of his strength or his madrega. A desire for the impossible is a lack of daas.”

Once we engage free will to serve Hashem, the cosmic process of teshuva instantaneously brings us to Him.  Effort is success!

Rabbi Moshe Weinberger p: 185: As a cosmic process that preceded the Creation of the world, teshuva brings us back to the world of absolute freedom.

Comprehending the reality and unreality of what stands before a person is crucial.

Ramchal Chapter 1 …”for if he is pulled after the world and is drawn further from his Creator, he is damaged, and he damages the world with him. And if he rules over himself and unites himself with his creator, and uses the world only to aid him in the service of is creator, he is uplifted and the world itself is uplifted with him.” P. 21

To be drawn to choose high requires that a person’s mind be filled with Torah, ahavas Hashem and Yiras Hashem.

Rav Moshe Weinberger commenting on Rav Kook in Song of Teshuva, p. 47:  on intellectual teshuva:  It is in that world that a person exercises his free will on the highest level, forcing himself to use his mind despite the urgings of his body and his environment. By doing so, he demonstrates that he as regained control of his life.

Our motivation to rise above what comes naturally is an outcome of emunah and bitachon, based on comprehending what is truly pleasurable and for our ultimate good, - ahavas and yiras Hashem

Chazon Ish:  Emuna and bitachon, the fight for primal will and purity has to be total It can’t be half way. ..in the root is just one good mida and one bad mida. The bad mida is letting the natural life go in their natural way (free flow without boundaries)..the good mida is a total commitment to choose the ethical way over the desiring emotions.  It is not possible that this decision can be halfway.

Hashem is the first reality

The Sefer HaYashar Rabbenu Tam Chapter 11: We know that the Creator is one and His Creations are many. and there are many things that distance a man from his Creator. And the things that bring him close are few…And know that the creations are many,

and above them all are the soul and the mind and the knowledge are three.And above them is desire. (Chayfetz)And above that is the first reality and He is the Creator.

When we realize that Hashem is Everything, ein od milvado, we still have free will regarding whether we fear Him or not.  If we choose to not fear Hashem, it can only be that we do not comprehend Ein Od Milvado or deceive ourselves regarding a Torah principle.

Rav Dessler p. 57:  All is from Heaven except the fear of heaven…the only thing in man’s hands is the fear of Heaven which is the sense of responsibility to the truth which he can either adopt or reject as he wills. The fear of Hashem –whether the fear of material consequences or fear and awe on higher levels – is essential to prevent one being deflected from the truth. This is the essence of behira.

He comes to be purified will be helped – learning with sincere intent and examination of our actions, thoughts, and speech is our service.

Rav Wolbe – This is our all of our Avodah. To continually strengthen our will to come to purity. Everything we learn in the books of Fear and in mussar and the statements of the Rabbis They teach us to strengthen our intention and will to come to purity.  And every cheshbon hanefesh of a man should concentrate on if and how to strengthen our (primal) will to come to purity. You should fear and be scared lest there is a little root and desire to come to tumah.

Why should we come to be purified?  What if we do not feel yiras Hashem?

Ramchal Mesillas Yesharim Chapter 24 and 25 concerning the fear of sin:

p.311:  Fear of Divine Majesty, of which fear of sin is a part…consists in one’s withdrawing himself and abstaining from sin because of the great honor of the Blessed One. For how can a lowly despicable heart of flesh and blood permit and abide the doing of what is opposed to the will of the Creator of blessed and exalted Name?  This type of fear is not very easily attained, for it is born only of the knowledge and intelligence which go into reflection uon the majesty of the Blessed One and the lowliness of man. It is born only of the activities of the understanding, insightful mind….One who experiences it will feel shame and will tremble in standing before his Master to pray or in performing an act of Divine service….”To fear this honored, Awesome Name, the Lord, your Gd (Deut 28:58)

p.313: The fear of sin which we are here concerned with is, in one respect, part of the fear of Divine Majesty mentioned above, and, in another, a distinct entity.  It consists in a person’s constantly fearing and worrying that some trace of sin might have intruded itself into his actions or that they contain something, small or great, which is inconsonant ith the grandeur of the Blessed One’s honr and with the majesty of His Name. Here we see the strong relationship between fear of sin and fear of Divine Majesty –their common concern being that one do nothing in opposition to the great Majesty of the Blessed one. There is a distinction between them, however, which sets the fear of sin apart and gives it its distinct name: The fear of Divine Majesty obtains only during the performance of a deed, during Divine service, or upon the materialization of an opportunity for transgression….

p. 315 The fear of sin, however obtains at all periods and times. At every moment one must be afraid of going astray and doing something or part of a thing in opposition to the honor of the Blessed One’s Name. Hence the expression fear of sin, the essence of the fear being that sin not enter into and involve itself in one’s actions, whether through an intentional act, weakness, oversight or any other means…Happy is the man who fears always (Proverbs 28:14)…Even when one does not see a stumbling block before him, his heart ust tremble within him for fear that he is threatened by one hidden at his feet…”And so that His fear be upon your faced, that you not sin” (Exodus 20:17) This is the central element in fear – that a person constantly fear and tremble until the fear can no longer depart from him.

p.317:  In relation to the present, a person should always fear and worry that there may be present in what he is doing, or that there might enter into what he is going to do, that which is not in accordance with the honor of the Blessed One, as mentioned above.

p. 319:  …it is characteristic of Saints to worry even in relation to the mitzvoth that they have done, fearing that some trace of impurity might have intruded itself into them (Gd forbid)….”Do no fear” is  said only to one who fears Heaven in truth.” This is the true fear about which it was said (Berachot 33b) “The Holy One Blessed be He has in His world only a treasure of fear of Heaven.” Only Moses because of his intimacy with the Blessed One could attain it easily.  Others, unquestionably, are greatly deterred by the earthy element within them.  However, it befits every Saint to exert himself to attain as much of this fear as he can, as Scripture states (Psalms 34:10), “Let His holy ones fear Gd.”

p.323 The manner of acquiring this fear is to reflect upon two truths. The first is that the Divine Presence is found everywhere and the Blessed One looks to all things, great and small, nothing being hidden from His eyes, whether by its magnitude or by its smallness…”Know what is above yo: a seeing eye, a listening ear and a book in which all of your deeds are inscribed. (Avoth 2.1)…all actions leave an impression. And they are all inscribed in a book, whether they be in one’s favor or against him. This understanding, however, imprints itself in a person’s mind only through constant reflection and deep analysis, for since it is removed from our sense, our intelligence will formulate it only after much thought and consideration. And even after the idea has been assimilated, it may be easily lost if it is not constantly reflected upon  [VERBAL INSTROSPECTION, Hisbodidus]…..and the only manner in which one may learn to fear is through constant, uninterrupted study of the Torah and its ways, through constantly (when sitting, walking, retiring and arising) reflecting upon and analyzing, until it implants itself in his mind, the truth of the existence of Gd’s Presence in all places, and of our literally standing before Him at all periods and times.  He will then fear Gd in truth.

Developing proper fear of Hashem is crucial to yearning to be purified and choosing service.

Rabbi Moshe Weinberger – p. 48  With his every moment of self-restraint, of giving up what his body urges upon him and instead doing the will of Hashem, he is joining together with Yitzchak Avinu, who allowed himself to be bound to the altar in order to serve Hashem.

It is our mission and must be done

Rav Dessler: p. 60  There is no greater sin than wasting one’s opportunities. Not exercising behira is the greatest sin of wasted opportunity, because the purpose of man’s creation is to exercise free will

More ways to inspire ourself

Pisgomey:  …it is simple to say that everyone can fulfill the Torah because he who comes to be purified Gd will help him. And in order to get this you need to request and pray to Hashem and to scream, Gd I don’t want to be an idiot I don’t want to be evil, even one moment before you!.

Parshas Beshalack Pisgomey Oraysah –Chasam Sofer:  Parshas Eikev page 38 – even though it says Everything is in the hands of heaven except fear of heaven, nevertheless fear of Gd is in reality dependent on Hashem. And when it says everything is in the hands of heaven except fear of heaven it means it is up to man to choose the right direction to go in; whether it is in the way of fear of heaven or Gd forbid the opposite. Nevertheless in order to merit truly to fear of heaven, after having chosen the way of fear, for this, he needs divine assistance. (end of chasam sofer)…therefore that which remains to us is only the very small part of the initial act of choosing….if our intention is sincere and we request with tears and supplication from Hashem that it is our will to go on the good and desirable path, then certainly the rabbinic statement will be fulfilled (makos 10b). In the way that a man wants to go, in that way they will lead him. ,,,the angels that were created from that will and thought that are in him (Maharsha)….when we humble our hearts before Hashem, not to want anything in opposition to His will to request and to pray with understanding, with an outpouring of the soul and breaking of the heart…a broken and contrite heart Gd will not despise.

…the duty of man in the world is continual exertion without ceasing. Behold there are times a man thinks to himself “how can I be a righteous servant of Hashem and a pious one? How many times have I already tried? So many times I tried to do the will of Gd and I did not succeed: …and this is what Hashem wants…

It is not a valid choice but error to choose nothing over something

Rav Dessler p. 62  It is only  an error on [the part of a person] to think that he had been free, because what kind of freedom is there to choose between truth and falsehood?  Truth is reality and falsehood is nothing; it is surely no valid choice but simple error to consider nothing as something….We do not wish to remain in that confused state in which truth and falsehood seem equally valid alternatives. “

Once we realize with love and dread that the Creator is real and the opportunity being given to us, we come to a deep ahavas Hashem, the highest for m of service possible.

Rav Dessler p. 62 there is still a higher level…to recognize the falsehood and unreality of evil with such intensity that all desire for evil dies and the person loves only good with all his heart…one cannot speak of compulsion to do something that one loves. This is the level which our /rabbis called those who act out of love. At this point the human being becomes truly free, finding no resistance within him to the good which he loves…the man whose sole interest is in Torah and whose sole love is for Torah.  This man of the spirit is the truly liberated man.