Vertigo
Jet pilots undergo rigid training to prevent vertigo. They learn to trust their avionics - their sophisticated flight instruments - and not to trust their own judgment.
Vertigo is a term that jet pilots use to describe spatial disorientation. When a pilot approaches the sound barrier, strange things can occur, especially on a clear-day’s flight over water. The pilot is liable to become disoriented, and to confuse the blue of the sea as the blue of the sky, and vice versa. Some pilots become dizzy and others elated; in any event, vertigo causes disorientation whereby the pilot thinks that up is down and down is up. A particularly special young man, IDF fighter pilot Yonatan Begin of blessed memory, grandson of former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin of blessed memory, was killed in a vertigo-related accident when his F-16 crashed into the Mediterranean exactly eight years ago.
Today, jet pilots undergo rigid training to prevent vertigo. They learn to trust their avionics – those sophisticated flight instruments that show a pilot the course, speed, altitude, and position of the airplane’s axes in relation to the earth, including a screen that displays an artificial horizon – and not to trust their own judgment. That way, a pilot can know whether he’s “up” or “down”. A pilot’s unshaken belief in his instrument panel is therefore vital to his survival.
People experience a lot of “spiritual” vertigo, and oftentimes don’t know whether they’re up or down. They stubbornly trust their own judgment, and therefore make serious mistakes in life that take years to repair. Some mistakes are irreversible and can never be rectified.
A trusty, knowledgeable, and saintly spiritual guide – what we call in Chassidic thought a “rebbe” – can keep anyone on an even keel and a path of success. If you don’t as yet have a spiritual guide, keep your eyes open for an individual of intelligence, superb character, modesty, wisdom, faith, and impeccable character. If you have access to such a person and trust his/her judgment, then chances are that you’ve found the right spiritual guide for you.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslev writes (Sichot HaRan, 68), that a person can become completely disoriented in this world – literally insane – without a spiritual guide. That’s what causes spiritual vertigo.
When we rely on the judgment of a tzaddik, a righteous individual who is totally immersed in Divine teachings, rather than relying on our own subjective, often mistaken judgment, we can navigate this world safely and avoid spiritual vertigo. Not only that, but Hashem illuminates the tzaddik’s brain so that he can give us the right answers.
If you’re flying a plane, keep one eye on the control panel at all times and you’ll avoid vertigo. If you’re navigating your way through life, keep an eye and ear open to your rabbi and spiritual guide, and you too will avoid the type of spiritual disorientation that could cause a crash-landing in life.
Breslev Israel has an outstanding set of spiritual avionics. Everything we do and write here is under the watchful eye of one of this generation’s greatest tzaddikim, our beloved rabbi, teacher and spiritual guide – the Master of Emuna, Rabbi Shalom Arush, may Hashem bless him always. So, when you’re connected with Breslev Israel, you’re connected with Rabbi Shalom. That way, you can surely reach your destination in life smoothly and safely, amen.
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