Second Nature

Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody

In Forest Fields, Part 61

Here’s a rule to live by: Speaking to Hashem should be second nature. One should speak to Hashem at every opportunity, at every hour of the day. Most importantly, one should be candid and sincere, speaking from the heart in his own jargon. One should be spiritually sensitive enough to be aware of and ashamed of one’s misdeeds, knowing that he has transgressed against a great, loving, and benevolent King. Most importantly, a person should pray extensively, especially asking Hashem to help him overcome his bodily urges.

Bodily urges are certainly no blessing. They are comparable to chocolate-coated poison – they seem sweet, but they’re really lethal. Every bodily urge resembles a brick wall that separates between a person and Hashem, blocking out the true sweetness of life which is the illumination of Divine light on that person’s soul. The bodily urge fools a person into thinking that he has already achieved his goal of sweetness in life. One must be a valiant spiritual warrior to withstand the strong temptation of bodily urges and their illusion of the sweet life.

How can a human being withstand such strong temptations? The appeal of beauty and pleasure to one’s senses virtually captivates a person when faced with a test, and time after time ensnares him. Even when a person discovers the bitter aftertaste of the sugar-coated poison, he’ll usually fall into the same trap the very next time he’s faced with it. The bodily urge pulls him like a magnetic field against which he can’t resist. The more he loses control, the more he loses his powers of reason, until the bodily urge completely subjugates him. How can a person possibly resist and overcome a bodily urge? How can he turn his back on temptation, when every single cell of his body seems to be screaming for him to indulge?

There’s only one to rid oneself of a bodily urge, bad habit, or negative character trait: one must turn to Hashem every single day in personal prayer and ask Him for Divine assistance in nullifying and overcoming whatever negative aspect that’s sorely impairing one’s personal and spiritual development. As with bodily urges, bad habits and negative character traits also impair one’s thought process and powers of decision-making especially when subjected to a test of temptation. A person should never give up praying until he has totally overcome his problem.

Words from Heaven

Rebbe Nachman of Breslev writes that Hashem derives immense gratification when a person turns to Him in prayer with an assortment of arguments, trying to persuade Hashem like a son or daughter tries to persuade a loving parent. Not only that, but the Gemara (tractate Bava Metzia 59b) says that Hashem actually enjoys when a person “out-argues” Him. This sounds strange apparently, for how can a mortal defeat the Omniscient in a debate, so to speak? The answer is both simple and wonderful: Hashem illuminates the person’s brain with the right claims and arguments to win his case. In that respect, when Hashem has gratification from a person and from his aspirations, Hashem allows Himself to be convinced, and the person’s prayer is answered.

The words that a person speaks to Hashem are Divinely inspired and tantamount to the holy spirit of prophecy. Just as Hashem sends words to a prophet, He literally puts words in the mouth of those who seek Him. Therefore, a person should speak to Hashem at every opportunity about every subject, always looking for new ways to plead his case before Hashem. Since the words one speaks to Hashem are Divinely inspired, the more a person purifies himself, the more he becomes a worthy receptacle for Divine input. The best way to purify oneself is by guarding the “seven holy candles,” a metaphor for the gateways to the brain: two eyes that we must guard from forbidden sights, two ears that we must guard from unwholesome things we shouldn’t hear, two nostrils that shouldn’t become inflamed with anger, and a mouth that should never lie or slander. The reward for guarding these seven gateways is a pure heart; the reward for a pure heart is more and more Divinely-instilled and inspired thoughts and words with which to speak to Hashem.

Every single request or expression of desire to cling to Hashem helps a person realize his untapped inner potential for greater spiritual and personal achievement. One’s yearning for Hashem brings out the best in him. Such appeals as, “Hashem, I want so badly to get close to You,” or “please help me guard my eyes,” or “help me develop sufficient spiritual awareness to make really beneficial priorities in life.” Hashem is more than happy to help us pray with intent or learn Torah with true understanding and proper motives. He’ll be glad to help a person to stop smoking or win the battle of overeating, especially when overcoming such bodily urges will be conducive for a person’s service of Hashem. All one has to do is ask, persevere and keep asking until he attains his goal.

Speaking to Hashem brings one’s aspirations and yearning from the status of inner desires of the heart to the status of tangible self-improvement. Not only that, one’s speaking to Hashem is beneficial to the entire world in that it invokes Divine compassion, blessings, and abundance. It’s also a wonderful spiritual influence that arouses others as well.

One’s emuna in the power of personal prayer and his simple and diligent daily practice of it help rectify a person’s soul of all blemishes.

To be continued