Bilvavi book two:
The call in number is : 530-881-1200
access code; 1091004#
Chapter 4:
Senses of the
Soul:
Hashem can
only be felt through the soul:
If you cannot sense Hashem, then you need to awaken a faculty inside of you.
What is it and how do we wake it up???
When chazal say that “Hashem, the Torah and the Yisrael are one”,
it is taught that the Yisrael is: chelilek Eloka mimaal: the soul.
So we need to uncover our soul and maintain constant contact with it
to sense its counterpart= Hashem.
How??????
“Man became
a living soul”- a speaking spirit
Hashem created the souls of Yisrael before He created the world.
Then what was created on the sixth day? “Hashem attached the soul
to a physical body”.
The result of that attachment is “man became a living soul”,
which Onkeles translates as: “it was in man a speaking spirit.”
This pasuk teaches us an AMAZING SECRET: “the original connection
of body and soul created within man the power of speech....speech
has the ability to connect the body with the soul...thus when a
person uses the power of speech properly, he can awaken the level of
his being that preceded this world.”
Speech bonds
the body with the life-force of the soul
(parable-
man buys appliance and doesnt realize has to plug it in)
nimshal:
Hashem tells us to choose life (devarim 30:15, 19); and man became a
living soul shows us that life means a combination of body and soul.
“The
soul is present in the body, but the body conceals it. How can we
expose the soul?...use the faculty that results from and enhances the
bond of body and soul, the power of speech...then the soul can become
revealed to us.”
Shlomo
hamelech teaches “kol amal ha'adam lieihu: all a person's efforts
is for his mouth. ..speech is the faculty through which one can
really serve Hashem. If we overlook it, we cannot reach Him.”
Two kinds of
speech:
- noiseless chatter 2. speech that awakens the soul
So the way to reach palpable emunah, is through the power of
speech...
(next week read chapter 5 and based on this chapter and what we
learned so far, begin to ask Hashem out loud: “Please Hashem enable
me to live up to this truth and use speech in a way that will awaken
and expose my soul.”)
In Forest Fields:
Hashem wants a relationship with
us. Sometimes, He needs to get our attention and pull us close in
ways that may feel painful. We can choose to have a relationship by
doing hisbodedus every day and taking stock of our thoughts, speech,
and actions in past 24 hours, and asking Hashem to bring us closer to
Him.
Pay
attention:
“One who devotes an hour a day to
personal prayer in on an even higher spiritual level than a person
who accepts his tribulations with joy, for the former doesnt wait to
be aroused by tribulations, he seeks to serve Hashem on his own
accord” (56)
Start
walking!
“The
first step to teshuva on character perfection is establishing a daily
60 min session of personal prayer and self evaluation.” and this
shows that you fear Hashem.
Two
types of fear: 1. of punishment 2. of losing a close relationship
with Hashem, making Hashem sad= teshuva from love= can convert all
transgressions into merits.
(page
60 has example of what to say)
it
becomes one stop shopping, because
he who fears One, fears no one- attain emunah, and a life of joy and
satisfaction.
(continue
with daily hisbodedus and read pages 61-66)
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