Seeing the world in a new “light”

Last post we noted the difficulty of a boor awakening to the luminous principles of Shechina. As we said today in Hallel (tehillim 115:4-8):

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. They have eyes, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. They have noses, but they smell not. They have hands, but they feel not. They have feet, but they walk not, neither do they speak through their throat. Those who make them are like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.

The external symbol of the idol is a reflection, an artistic projection of the internal personal space orientation of the boor. The sense that the world must be governed by my personal pleasure is the boor's very "map" of interpreting the data from his senses. It is this underlying god fantasy which is projected on the idol, that causes the boor's senses to fail him. The boor "sees" women- but not for what they truly are. He "sees" food, entertainment children friends, an entire world of resources, all orbiting around the "good" of his desired personal space. He has eyes but, since everything he sees is interpreted via the lens of his fantasy good- he sees not. How is such a Nefesh, so remote from the palace as it labors in the forest, to gain access to the eye of the soul, thereby bringing human eyes online to interpret the world through the light of Chochma?

In answering this question, let us consider our methods. It is always a difficult challenge to keep a proper balance between formulation of abstract principles luminous to the theoretical mind vs. exemplifying these in ways that are interpretable to the practical intellect. In keeping with my commitment to the wise KB, let us move more toward the side of practical interpretation. The key to transcending the god fantasy is actually the focus of the story of Adam. Having listened to his wife, choosing to interpret his world via the god fantasy, Adam is given divine therapy to aid in recognizing cheyt and teshuva.

3:17 To Adam he said,“Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 3:18 It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field. 3:19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

In essence, since we lack the power to realize our god fantasy, enormous frustration and failure will necessarily result from its pursuit. The man who cannot accept the causal reality of his material vulnerability- who has no yiras cheyt, will constantly see thorns and thistles. The man who sees not will necessarily fall and hurt himself badly. If only he could accept his material limitations, so succinctly summarized by Hashem: For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

It is this teshuva aided by frustration, pointed to by Mishlei chapter 1 as well, that is the basis of Mussar. The light of Chochma is personified as a voice of mesorah calling to man as he hides in the illusion of his secure artificial creation- the city. Do we really believe we can create an artificial environment that will remove us from the consequences of ignoring Causality- having no fear of cheyt?

Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares. She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words: “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge? Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you. Because I have called, and you have refused;I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention; but you have ignored all my counsel,and wanted none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you; when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come on you.Then will they call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me; because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Hashem.

When the calamities are seen as real, when one's personal plan has been dashed yet again, there comes the final straw. One's confidence in the unexamined "plan" cracks and the quiet voice of Chochma is finally heeded.

2:23 It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 2:24 God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 2:25 God saw the children of Israel, and God knew.

The moment arises when the call of Chochma, long suppressed and ignored, comes to the fore. For one whose parents and Rabbeim and forebears had some recognition of Shechina, the thought arises: perhaps the wisdom of the species is greater than my own dream. Perhaps there is something to the wisdom of the ancients; the illuminating principles of the Mesorah model of the world. This is the very first premise of Mishlei.

1:7 The fear of Hashem is the beginning of knowledge;

but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

1:8 My son, listen to your father’s instruction,

and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:

1:9 for they will be a garland to grace your head,

and chains around your neck.

1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.

At this point the immature nefesh becomes open to letting go of personal space and a 'copernican revolution' begins. The immature nefesh begins to yearn, not for a model of Aretz that secures his god fantasy, but for one that brings his senses online. He sees the need to reinvent himself through yiras hashem, step after step starting with replacing his personal orbit with a Chochma orbit, his own artificial melacha with the melacha of Hashem. He only dimly understands what a world in Chochma orbit means, it is in some way going to be a world, as depicted by the mashal of Creation, a world whose chaos is removed by tzedek, an Ohr of law in matter. Nonetheless, a new reader of Torah is now born. From the vantage point of Chochma a new light is shed on reading which points to a new nimmus, a series of reformulations of the relationship of self to environment that is the path to Mitzva. Each of these reformulations will involve teshuva, seeing one's frustrations and failures in a new light. At the center of all of them however, one Copernican revolution towers above as the principle of all teshuva and hope: one looks to Creation and sees, at least in small ideal areas, reflections of Hashem's mighty causality that extends to our world, as indicated in Brayshees.

אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי, אֶל-הֶהָרִים-- מֵאַיִן, יָבֹא עֶזְרִי ?
עֶזְרִי, מֵעִם יְהוָה-- עֹשֵׂה, שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ