A Clean Brain

Thanks to Rabbi Shalom Arush and Rabbi Lazer Brody, more and more of us are actually being taught how to guard our eyes.  In my late teens and early twenty’s I was a model for sports clothes, tuxedos and local newspapers, so most of my secular life was amongst the so called ‘glamorous’ of society. As I grew in Torah and started to try to live a more spiritual life, I noticed subtly that every time I’d glance at a woman, I’d get this bad feeling in me. Little did I realize that I was in those instances violating the Torah’s commandment to not go after one’s eyes.

It wasn’t until after four years of keeping Torah that I ever heard a rabbi talking about this issue!  In fact my Reform Jewish upbringing had the Rabbi telling us to practice on the non-Jewish girls but to make sure we marry Jewish. – -!Ouch!- – 

“Clean Brain” opened my world to the idea of becoming a holy person not just through external commandments like tefillin and tzitzit but by working on myself from the inside out through prayer.  I was amazed at this concept and sought more information on the issue. Luckily I listened to “Eyes of Holiness” which inspired me to make this a huge part of my self-work within Judaism. Now at this point, you have to understand that I didn’t just listen to both of the CD’s and immediately become a pure angel. No, dear friend, the battle continues for me till today years later but the good news is it’s incredibly more in control then where I was.

Nothing in life which has value comes free and this certainly includes personal holiness. So how do we do it? Well for starters, let’s ask ourselves why the heck do we have this intense explosive nuclear alarm that sirens anytime we see some woman in a skirt? It seems completely opposite of nature not to look, and if you try to guard your eyes, you will feel that you are trying to control a kite in the midst of a war, hurricane and earthquake combined. So what’s going on?!? Why is Hashem doing this to us? Don’t we just want to be good little Tefillin wrapping Jews and learn Torah? Why all the excitement and danger?

The answer is one that I’ve heard many times from Rabbi Arush and Rabbi Brody, and that is that Hashem wants us to be glued to him. Like it says in The Path of the Just, our goal in life needs to be as if we are drawn to Hashem as iron is drawn to a magnet.

That’s nice to hear, but you might say “Hey!!! HOW DOES THAT HELP ME!! I HAVE NO CONTROL!”

Hashem want’s your clinging to him, but when we step outside our home the challenges come from all the garbage. How are we able to cope with all the temptations? The answer is prayer and only sincere honest and heartfelt prayer. It’s not the first time you’ve heard this but prayer actually has the power to change nature, including your base desires for women, especially if you commit yourself 30 minutes a day on this subject of guarding your eyes. You will see amazing results within a week guaranteed!

You may be thinking, what’s the big deal if I see a woman, I didn’t talk or touch her!?

The thought of the act is worse than the act itself, the eyes see, the heart desires and the body finishes the act. But what’s worse is that when it comes time for you and your wife to be together, you really aren’t together. You have all this extra unwanted company from all the advertisements and unclad women you were dreaming about in the street. This has terrible repercussions on your marriage and your offspring if she conceives see Garden of Purity for further details.

When we are honest with ourselves, we all are harboring this huge enemy in our hearts which is waiting in an ambush at every moment to rob us of our focus on Hashem. So to fight, we need to pray 30 minutes a day.

What happens once we get this under control is that you reclaim your sanity. Your eyes stop acting like ping pong balls and begin to see miracles in your life. You start to gain more clarity on what you need to do, you worry less and you gain success in your marriage life. Your marriage life will blossom and if you aren’t married yet, you’ll soon be engaged.

Homework:

1. Carry a book with you to cover your eyes when on the go (bank, bus, in line, etc) 

2. Pray 30 minutes a day for Hashem to completely erase this desire.