Chassidic Thought

In the academic world, ancient Greek philosophy is society's archetype of intellectual prowess. Spiritually, though, it leads to darkness and confusion. In stark contrast, the light of Torah and its commandments illuminate the soul and bring happiness to the heart. This is the Chanukah juxtaposition of Greek and Maccabee, light and darkness...

There are people with upright hearts. They have the desire to perform an important commandment, but for some reason, they are unable to. This desire stimulates the Heavenly heart, which personally comes to the aid of such individuals.

Lewd, evil and idolatrous thoughts all come from Fantasy World. This is a domain under the exclusive control of the evil inclination. It shows a person illusions of extreme pleasure which are none other than dark-side spirits to lower the victim to the depths of depression. Here's how to avoid it.

The evil inclination with its three layers resembles an almond. On the outside, there's a course shell. Once you break through that, there's a thin husk that clings to the meat of the nut. Yet on the inside, there's a fine biochemical – glycoside – that's dangerous, because the body breaks it down into cyanide. That's a metaphorical insight into the angelic evil inclination that wants us to do premature things that ultimately cause damage. They must be mitigated and purified.

As a person moves up the ladder of spiritual awareness, his or her evil inclination is no longer down at the level of coarse lust and animal-urge temptation. People on high levels of emuna and observance of Torah rise to a level where their evil inclination is a holy angel. On a very high level, we find lofty type of angel that fought with Jacob. A similar angel pounced on King David, in the episode of BatSheva.

There are times when a person suddenly contemplates a desire to get closer to Hashem. At that cherished moment, he becomes an upright individual. Don't ignore such a magnificent gift from Above.

It's not enough to guard our brains from so-called intellectual disciplines that are outside the realm of holiness. We must renew our intellect constantly. Rebbe Nachman shows us how.

The human brain is quite similar to the hard disc of a computer. Just as your computer has a certain memory capacity, so does your brain. Professionals are careful in protecting their computers from needless files and programs that waste memory space. All the more so, people must protect their computers from worms and viruses. The same goes for the brain.

A lack of motivation leads to laziness. That's only the beginning of the downward spiral because laziness leads to sadness. If a person lacks the power to persevere in any endeavor, he or she can forget about success. Perseverance requires motivation. So where do we acquire motivation, especially in spiritual endeavors? Rebbe Nachman provides the answer.

Emuna teaches that everything is from Hashem and His glory fills the world. The more a person has emuna, the more he or she knows that Hashem is everywhere. The more a person has emuna, the closer he or she gets to Hashem. The closer a soul is to Hashem, the more it feels at peace, like a baby in its mother's arms. So with emuna, no matter what Hashem does, we're at peace with it.

A Ukrainian villager had a pain in his hand. Three visits to the country doctor didn't help at all. He finally traveled to the big city and scheduled an appointment with the big professor... This is an old Chassidic parable that explains Tisha B'av and exile.

Rebbe Nachman teaches us how to train our minds to remain positive in any circumstance. A suffering soul is a thirsty soul. Focusing on the physical world heightens tribulations and suffering. On the other hand, a person who focuses on life's ultimate purpose experiences much less pain, if none at all.