Hashem is 100% in control 100% of the Time - And He responds to us to the degree we behave with that knowledge!
Mesillas Yesharim The Trait of Holiness P. 335
“The deterrents to Holiness are a lack of true understanding and much association with people; for earthiness finds its counterpart and takes on new strength, and the soul remains trapped within it, unable to escape.
However, when one dissociates himself from them and remains alone, preparing himself for the reception of His Holiness, he is conducted along the path which he wishes to travel; and with the help that Gd gives him, his soul grows strong within him, overcomes his physical element, unites itself with the Holiness of the Blessed One and perfects itself in it.
From this level one proceeds to an even higher one, that of the Holy Spirit, his understanding coming to transcend the bonds of human nature. It is possible for one to reach such a high degree of communion with Gd as to be given the key to the revival of the dead, as it was given to Elijah and Elisha. It is this gift which reeals the strength of one’s union with the Blessed One, for since He is the source of life, the giver of alife to all living creatures….then one who is perfectly united with the Blessed One will be able to draw even life from Him.”
This concluding chapter regarding holiness may sound very high and far away to achieve but it is, in fact, the entire basis of what we are to be watchful for at every moment of every day, as the Ramchal shares in Chapter 3 Concerning the Divisions of Watchfulness, p35-37:
“One who wishes to watch over himself must take two things into consideration: First he must consider what constitutes the true good that person should choose and the true evil that he should flee from; and second, he must consider his actions, to discover whether they appertain to the category of good or to that of evil…Let him ‘feel’ his deeds. For examination of one’s deeds refers to an investigation of one’s deeds in general and a consideration of them to determine whether they might not include certain actions which should not be performed….”Feeling” implies the investigation even of the good actions themselves to determine whether they involve any leaning which is not good or any bad aspect which it is necessary to remove and to eradicate….he must feel his actions by subjecting them to a most exhaustive examination to determine their nature, so that he might remain free of any impurities.”
TODAY we can have a relationship with Hashem by recognizing that all there is in the entire creation is the simple unity of Hashem. He is 100% in control 100% of the time. Whatever it is that we are experiencing, it has one universal axiomatic common principle – to utilize our free willed choice and take action that demonstrates our love for Hashem and desire to bring His light into this world, in service to Him.
What gets in the way? Hashem created darkness to see if we love Him and have a desire to find Him that is more motivating than our earthy desires and motivations. We see it from the story of the bitter waters of Mara. After all of the miracles of the splitting of the Red Sea, after being taken out of Egypt, after the 10 makos, we asked Moshe, "Is Hashem really with us?" just because of the matter of the water. Hashem was interacting at every personal level with us as well as in the general sense of running the world and still, His Creation, Free Willed choice, blinded us t the extent that we allowed our consciousness to become trapped within the "other side", the side that gives us the appearance of independent existence, Had we been watchful and had we been integrating the experiences to seek and acquire true knowledge of Gd, we would have seen that Hashem had veiled Himself for us to walk closer to Him in some way. Literally, the action we could have taken could have looked something like "Moshe, what hisbodidus can we do today to tell Hashem that we are reaching up for Him to lift us out of this darkness once again?" and perhaps Moshe would have responded "Daven to Hashem to bring us to believe no matter what that there is nothing but the simple unity of Hashem, that we know that He is all there is and that we ask Him to please help us come closer in consciousness to Him and that we trust that by doing so, we have nothing to fear."
But we know that is not what happened. Instead, our emunah fell and Hashem, in keeping with the way He created the world, treats us according to our involvement with Torah and mitzvahs. He protects us and cares for us when we are lovingly serving Him and He sends reminders when we fall short. Thus what happened next was that Hashem "took us off His Divine shoulders" and, there in the desert, Amalek was permitted to attack us.
In today's modern world, we wander around in our cars, to the supermarkets, carpools, work, shopping and more - feeling bewildered and scared and asking ourselves "Where is Hashem, is He with us?" YES! It is impossible for Hashem to NOT be with us! The place of the world IS IN THE DIVINE MIND!. There is NOTHING that is not completely in the direct and powerful control of the Creator. Except for one thing. Our free willed choice to fear Him or not. And what keeps us from it? The Mesillas Yesharim tells us (see full quote above) - for earthiness finds its counterpart and takes on new strength, and the soul remains trapped within it, unable to escape.
Throughout the millenium Jews have survived because our strength has been the Torah that we learn, in our minds, that we take with us everywhere we go. Hashem protects us. But now, with the ease of associating with many groupings that today's technology makes possible, ARE WE REMEMBERING TO BE WATCHFUL AND TO BUILD AT ALL TIMES OUR FACILITY TO TURN TO HASHEM IN HISBODIDUS AND BRING OURSELVES FROM GASHIMUS TO RUCHNIUS, FROM THE OTHER SIDE TO ELOKUS, FROM SELF-ESTEEM DEFINED BY ME TO SELF-ESTEEM DEFINED BY THE ASPECT OF THE DIVINE WITHIN ME?
May we be able to bitul ourselves to be able to place on the altar with mesiras nefesh allegiance to concepts, groups or behaviors that might be affecting the earthy downward pulls within us and adding a layer of concealment to the already existing hester panim in the world that the Divine Creation of free will generates. Let us be exceedingly watchful to see and not fall victim to trying to club darkness out of existence. Rather, may Hashem help us to find within us that crucial behira point whereby recognizing that all there is within the world is the simple unity of Hashem and may we bring ourselves to clarity and believing that truth, and may we shift our sense of self-esteem from “me” (MY group, MY opinion, MY condemnations) to the aspect of the Divine within us (lovingkindness, forgiveness, forbearance, overlooking faults, casting sins into the sea, patience, resilience). May our actions that result from connection to Hashem and His attributes within us help us to be light to our people and to all the world.
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