Tag: mussar

There are different types of people seeking different levels of comfort for their souls. The Ramchal taught us about the perfectionist in our last lesson. This is a person who seeks only the very best of everything. And why not?! But if that person seeks perfection, they should seek it no less in spiritual matters. How sad that individual may feel when upon arriving in the spiritual world above — after their 120 years in this world — they find they had not reached the goal they could actually have attained. What a tragedy! For those who realise what perfection entails and who demand it of themselves in this world, let them not diminish in their demands for expecting the best of themselves in this world.

How does one acquire the trait of Watchfulness? Watchfulness is the very first trait on the ladder to success in terms of real life growth.

Those who want to progress and grow correctly in life – and those who want to develop themselves to reach the goal of life would do well to listen to those who have already succeeded. Those who follow such individuals in life – will succeed themselves. Those who choose not to, do so at their own peril.

Those under the dominion of their evil inclinations should know well that they are in the dark. But the truth is that most often they cannot see this. They don’t realise they are in the dark. It takes a person who was already gone through the darkness and come out, to know what the darkness is all about. They are also most suited to be able to help others out of that darkness.

There are two types of errors that the physical / material world causes us in life.

There is a difference between “pishpush” and “mishmush”. The first Hebrew word refers to the idea of examination. The second refers to feeling.

With a firm understanding of our obligation in the world and our first step in achieving our goal – Watchfulness – we broaden our knowledge of the attribute of Watchfulness. We begin Chapter 3. We must now understand how it is divided up so that we can actively put it into practice!

We conclude Chapter 2 dealing with the trait of Watchfulness. Though we must do everything we can to save ourselves – to be careful of what we do, it is God who actually helps us to overcome our evil inclinations.

Watchfulness is the trait of being aware of the dangers that surround us. We must be on the constant lookout for those things that can prevent us from being on the right path and flee from them as fast as possible.