Scaling a Mountain of Faith
If you could make pain feel not much different than pleasure, then every achievement that requires strenuous exertion will become something you can handle.
According to Rabbi Bachye in Duties of the Heart, we are commanded to see no difference between the good and the bad. Once we are able to take in everything as inherently good, straight from Hashem, and for our own benefit, we will thank Hashem for the good and the bad.
My wife jokes that I am always on the 24 hour diet; I always tell her that I will start my diet tomorrow. The athletes say that in order to get fit, you really have to want it. I guess I always wanted the steak more. That was until I started feeling aches and pains in parts of my body that I never knew existed.
Exercise is something that starts out hard, but gets easier as you become physically and mentally stronger. Hiking up the hill next to my home used to be agonizing; now it's manageable. After doing it probably more than 20 times already, it’s to the point where the difference I feel going up the mountain is just marginally different compared to the way I feel going down.
The dread I used to feel just before beginning the hike is not so much different than the relief I felt when it was over. With a lot of hard work, that dread is now excitement, and the relief is more like joy.
All it took was persistence. Doing it over and over again until I was able to handle it better.
Applying the Body to the Spirit
If I, you, or anyone can practice to the point where the mental difference between hard work and rest becomes negligible, can we grow into a state where our response to the good and the bad in our life is the same?
Aren’t the bad phases in our life merely those times when we feel like we are constantly trudging uphill? Can’t we relate the good times to merrily gliding down?
Can you get so accustomed to pushing yourself with each new encounter that either situation can feel pretty much the same?
The One Effort to Spiritual Strength
With constant emuna, we turn to Hashem when things are rough, and thank Him when things are smooth. It's hard at times when the hill is really steep. It can be even harder when the downslope feels like a day at the spa and we forget Who is guiding us in this direction.
During those days when our emuna is weak, such as experiencing a huge injustice where it’s hard to see past the anger you are feeling, the hill can feel like horror. As we struggle to catch our breath and get back our emuna, such as when we are going through an unbearable episode that just won’t end and it feels like it will sting us forever, we need oodles of determination.
Once we make it, the bad is put in its proper perspective. It is something straight from Hashem, it is for our personal benefit, and it is intrinsically good. Even if finding emuna in an uphill situation is harder, we find it and it no longer seems so excruciating.
Every day of our life includes a trip to the “emuna gym.” We are always strengthening our emuna muscles so that we see good and bad as merely up and down in the winding road of our life’s journey.
The Secret Key
Thank Hashem for everything.
The key to stamina can be protein powder, vitamin supplements, or an extra helping of beef.
For the neshama, the soul, the key to emuna stamina, especially during those uphill trots, is gratitude. When anything bad happens, no matter how upset, angry, sad, even depressed you are, do the following as much you can, and as best you can.
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1. Thank Daddy for His gift. Thank Hashem for putting us in this situation. Thank Him for what happened to you. Say it again and again until your mouth forces your heart and your mind to believe it.
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2. See the good in it. Look for something good in this situation. Look for something positive that will come out of it. Tell yourself that whatever is happening, you deserve far worse for your sins and that this is a blessing, a free pass compared to what should happen.
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3. Plan your response. Knowing that this comes straight from Hashem, it is good, and it is for our benefit, what do we do now? Why did Hashem send this to you? Why did He do it right now? What do we do next? This is something you can ask Daddy directly in personal prayer, and also ask your Rabbi.
Just like the athlete will never forget his daily supplements and will never miss his time at the gym, we must do the same. Every day we need to talk to Daddy and thank Him for this gift. We need to look for the good in it and seek out His message to us embedded within.
What is the next step? What do we do?
As we conquer more and more uphill battles, the incline will soon feel a lot like the easy glide.
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David Ben Horin lives in Israel with his wife and children.
1/07/2020
B”H