Beyond Happiness

Today, there are literally hundreds of psychological theories and methods. As each new idea goes out of style, new “truths” are being invented all the time. Psychological and Psychiatric research is no different than any other corporate enterprise. There are significant financial and status incentives for researchers and research institutions in the form of government grants and private grant money from foundations. Unfortunately, the competition between mental health research institutions for money and status doesn’t always lend itself to honest, impartial research findings. These schools of psychology are promising you the “truth” – everything from permanent weight loss to perfect confidence and charisma; to how to “restructure” your personality – but don’t be fooled.

If G-d isn’t in the picture, these “truths” will either just end up further complicating the problem, or will only provide some temporary, illusory “progress”.

Nowhere in the many psychology books that I’ve read has the road to happiness been so clearly described as in the books of Rabbi Shalom Arush.  He tells us that the root cause of unhappiness is doubt – doubt in oneself, doubt in others, doubt about G-d and doubt and inner conflict about what’s going to free us from doubt! Secular psychology and philosophy not only take us away from the Torah and give us a useless, artificial substitute, they also weaken our ability to be sure about anything. When an average person goes down the secular therapy route to try and solve his problems, his mind inevitably becomes filled with doubts about everything, but particularly, with doubts about G-d’s existence and influence and kindness. Those doubts rob him of the strength and clarity that he needs to turn to G-d in simplicity, humility, purity and faith – which is the only way he’s going to permanently solve his problems at their root!

By contrast, when a person picks a spiritual guide and sets out in earnest to find G-d, he will progressively strengthen himself in emuna and Divine wisdom until he can literally perform miracles.

It takes real desire and persistence to let go of secular knowledge and jump head first into G-d’s camp. Perhaps it’s even more challenging for psychotherapists and other “intellectuals” who have absorbed very toxic doses of heresy during their years of training and daily exposure to the “religion of psychotherapy”. It’s hard for us “thinking types” to admit defeat and throw ourselves completely after G-d and holy leaders. But in the words of Rabbi Arush: “It’s time we stopped the hypocrisy. Every person (and that includes every therapist) who defines himself as a believer must believe that everything comes from G-d – not almost everything – everything! Otherwise, he cannot call himself a believer.”

So many of us have become so jaded by all the “latest” fads, which promise us so much and simply don’t deliver. How is Emuna Coaching any different from Freudian Analysis, or Behavioral Therapy, or all the rest? The difference – and it makes ALL the difference – is that secular psychotherapy takes G-d out of the picture, thereby compounding the root problem, that people’s souls are crying out for a direct connection with their Creator.

We are faced with a choice: either, we can continue to chase after the latest psychological fads and trends that leave the real solution completely out of the picture, or we can choose a method  – Emuna Coaching – that’s based on a deep, fundamental belief in G-d.

One of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology is the theory of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance refers to the very uncomfortable feeling that we get when we’re conflicted about something, or in a state of doubt. Research shows that when we are in inner mental conflict, we will use almost any mental or behavioral strategy that we can to relieve ourselves of the painful feelings of confusion and doubt.

Doubt and confusion are more mentally toxic than anything. When people doubt or forget about G-d they risk developing a psychiatric or psychological disorder. Lack of emuna can also destroy a “normal” person’s life-potential. The simple faith that there is an all-powerful loving G-d who oversees our lives with His superior wisdom, and who yearns for us to turn to Him with our problems, is really the only formula for personal fulfillment and mental health that we have.

The goal of Emuna Coaching is to encourage our clients to let G-d into the picture, and to live lives of emuna, that will enable them to acquire a happiness that is beyond our present conception of happiness and beyond psychological and philosophical speculation. When a person lives their emuna, their joy will be deep, powerful and permanent. Their daily mood will be elated, happy, optimistic and upbeat.

When we realize that we can be happy right now, with what we presently possess, we stop worrying. Then, we start to re-discover our own latent powers and abilities, and we realize that we, too, can help and heal other people. G-d starts to fill us up with His light, and before we know it, we are full of an infectious joie de vivre, and happy optimism, that we can easily share with others.  

Now, I want to share this path to true emotional healing with you.