Emuna: The Only Choice

Research shows that when we are in inner mental conflict, most of us 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 Hashem 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.

Emuna is the purpose of the world and the purpose of our individual lives. Emuna is the only way to acquire lasting happiness and live a good life. Emuna is not a form of mystical spirituality, it’s a practical method for happiness and success in life. When a person lives a life of 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 some infectious joie de vivre and happy optimism that we can easily share with others.  

Before I read the Garden of Emuna, I wasted a huge amount of time and money trying to use conventional psychology routes to solve my problems, and to strengthen my connection to G-d, but it didn’t work. My problems only intensified, and at best, my relationship with G-d was weak, inconsistent and very hard to sustain while I was feeling sorry for myself. It was only when I stared speaking G-d about whatever came up, that I began to feel more optimistic about the future, and to feel G-d’s loving presence in my life. Today, I am happier and more successful than I’ve ever been in my life because I’ve learned that G-d is the only true reality in my life and that I simply can’t be happy without Him.

Here’s what emuna taught me about psychotherapy:

• Any form of psychological treatment that is not based on emuna will at best, lead to temporary and incomplete results.
• Psychology can never be separated from morality. It is only through the study of Jewish Law that we can determine what is good and what is not.
• Restlessness, irritability, impatience, anxiety, low-mood, obsessive thinking, impulsive behavior, aggression, competitiveness and sadness – are all reduced or eliminated when one lives in alignment with the Spiritual Truths than run the universe.
• Becoming conscious of one’s unconscious will not lead to psychic liberation.
• Conventional psychotherapy encourages dependency.
• There is no such thing as a neutral and unbiased therapist. Beware, his morality is speaking to your unconscious mind.
• The curative value of a “therapeutically corrective relationship” with the therapist is a myth.
• Ventilating and catharsis of rage only serves to reinforce and strengthen it.
• Therapeutic regression to the scene of a trauma can be more dangerous than helpful.
• A therapist’s abstinence and lack of gratification to his client is not helpful.
• Most psychotherapists have had very dysfunctional childhoods.
• Most psychotherapists have not had psychotherapy on themselves.
• The theoretical underpinnings of psychotherapy are mostly heretical and come from unclean sources.
• A person cannot have mental health without being part of a community.
• Psychotherapy only makes addictions worse.
• Many people go into debt because of the expense of psychotherapy.

Considering all of the above, it became clear to me that Emuna was my only choice. Emuna connected me to Hashem, to my purpose and to myself. Once you learn about emuna, you too will be calm, happy and free from worries.