Jonny- ON AHAVA

Hi Rabbi,

I have a clarification question about one of the side points in shiur this week. Matt asked regarding making brachos how we should go about seeing things in the ahava perspective. We can't pretend that we care about the systemic world if we really don't feel it, so should we force ourselves to see things in this perspective or should we allow the perspective to come naturally as we continue to learn? I understood your answer to be that brachos are meant to force you to come to terms with this framework and one must let his learning influence his life outside of learning in this area because that's simply what brachos are: tools to make you see things in the proper perspective.

And the method to do this is not simply to force yourself to see the ahava perspective, wait through that thought process, and then continue on your way. But you have to coax your psyche by allowing it to see how systemic reality as it is really is something to care about. Natural systems affect us in ways the psyche finds to be very important, and the realizing of this will allow the psyche to subject itself to the mind to provide its needs.

First of all, I want to know if I misunderstood anything from your answer. But after that, I was unclear if this degree and manner of forcing the ahava perspective was specifically regarding areas of mitzvos. It seems like you were saying that brachos are a tool and you have to use it as one. But outside mitzva performance, when you're just living your life, to what degree should you force himself to see things as a mind? Should you just allow yourself to experience the glimmers of the systemic perspective when they come or should you always be using this method of making the psyche see the systems and why they're important?

My intuition is that you should not be forcing yourself. This comes from an understanding I have from Rabbi Moskowitz about how to implement the ideas of mishlei. If you're forcing yourself to reject emotional choices, then you're not really being guided by the ideas, you're just being guided by a different emotion: the superego. That idea seems to apply here too. If a person forces himself to live like a mind much more than he is naturally to, its likely he's relating to being a mind as just another thing to dominate. And if he's forcing his psyche to live in a way its not ready for, he will overestimate his development and be caught off guard when it blows up in his face.

But on the other hand, there must be some degree of, like you mentioned today, learning leading to action. So what is the proper way to implement the objective framework into the rest of your life?

I was also wondering about the point you made about feeling shame about one's immaturity. I remember you covering the topic last year on a week when we were feeling particularly down about the whole framework meltdown. I mentioned how when I learned under Rabbi Moskowitz, there was no real reason for guilt over my imperfection because it was just missing out on the extra benefit of a happier life. But in learning with you, I felt very embarrassed about my immaturity because it was an actual distortion about what man is. Living like a god when intellectually you know you're not is definitely reason for shame.

The answer you gave, as I remember it, was that really there was no reason to feel guilt over these things because you're doing what man does. Man is a creature who is constantly reevaluating his idea of the Good. So no matter where you are in this development, as long as you're developing this way, you're living as man. You're removing false ideas of the good gradually, and even though you're not a perfect mind yet, the life of removing distortions in the idea of the Good is the life of man. So you should not feel ashamed over the distortions because that's what man is.

That idea seems to be different than the idea you said today. I understand acknowledging the distortions of your psyche as things that are wrong. But why should that lead to shame if that's what being a human is? Also, I don't ever see escaping from the shame, which doesn't seem like a good human life. So I'm not understanding why shame is a good and proper reaction here to man's natural process of development.

I forgot what protocol is for general questions, so I don't mind if you want to post this question on the blog or forward it or whatever. Anwyay, thanks for taking the questions,
Jonny

RS
Excellent questions Jonny. I will have to think before I respond.

Clearly there is a tension that must be resolved between the chiyuv to reflect on oneself in the framework of Shem Hashem in tefilla and Brachos vs the attitude of Mishlei. The issue of "shame" has to do with differentiating humility and recognition of the challenge and danger of being immature vs guilt.