Derech Hashem/The Way Of God IV

Human Responsibility

Even though we are tied to the physical, ie: eating, relationships, societal mores, Hashem made it absolutely possible to transcend these potentially negative aspects of life.

RamChal: Man is able to rise to perfection through his worldly activities and the physical world itself. It is precisely through these that he attains a pure and lofty state.

In my opinion what this means is that in order to prove our deepest intentions, actions are required. Talk is cheap. Because of the lowliness of the world we have the opportunity to make correct choices. Truth is Truth and will never be changed to fit the generation in which we find ourselves immersed..

RamChal: For wen man transforms darkness into light and deathly shadow into sparkling brilliance, he personally earns for himself unparalleled excellence and glory. ( Zohar 1:4a)

In my opinion this states that there many ways to use many situations, but only one correct way will promise the desire to perfect the next step along the pathway. The Sages refer to this a mitzvah goreros mitzvah, one good choice leads to the desire to do the next thing to the best of your ability.

RamChal: When a man abides by the limits, arrangements and intentions ordained by the Creator, then the mundane activities themselves become acts of perfection.

So man is constantly in flux. He should find himself elevated to a certain degree, no matter how seemingly insignificant. It accumulates very, very indistinguishably for a very long time, but in the end, in retrospect, the person will realize clearly just how far he has actually come.

RamChal: The HIghest Wisdom took into account all the categories of man's natural faults as well as all the concepts of true excellence and value required by man to come "close" to God (Dvakus, Zelem Elokim). Taking everything into account, He set up patterns and restraints through which everything excellent should be incorporated in man and everything separationg him from God is removed.

This world, this life is not a free for all to make up on the fly. It is a testing ground, whereas we have been given time to perfect the character that we were given. We don't just spend time trying to prove we are all that, we realize that we are all nothing in comparison to the Master of Universe. This nothingness is only discouraging to the people who believe that this life is an "end" in itself and we need to get everything we can get out of it, physically speaking.

There is only an allotted time to do an allotted purpose. That purpose is to work on ourselves to the degree that our Audience is Hashem alone. Once we realize true Emunah, faith in Hashem, then all we want to do is perfect our weaknesses and do the best job for the One we love.

As you go along, you see yourself and all your idiotic processes in which you were convinced that you were perfect and the world was wrong. I look back at my life and I am ashamed. I cannot believe I have been given the opportunity to love Torah the way I love Torah. I was not exceedingly bad according to what a "church lady" may consider, but I was bad for society as an arrogant person. I was a liar, and no one knew it. I was a yeller, and I didn't know the long range impact on the world by this arrogance. I'm ashamed. This is not the easy path, but it is a way to rectify so when you are face with the Beis Din Shamala, these arguments are not something new, they are something attended to and addressed in this lifetime.