m030 026 Tanya Teves 14 ~ 19
Questions for today:
Who or what ‘determines’ how I act today?
Until now the Tanya was talking about lofty characters of a person, for example somebody that doesn't even have a temptation to do a sin.
That level is attainable by everybody, but not in the level that it's a mandate for everybody to attempt to achieve.
Today we discuss something that is also lofty, but it's at a level where there is a mandate for each and every person to strive for.
This is an expectation for things that are practical; the actions that we do, the words that we speak - even the thoughts that we think, shouldn't sin for a moment.
In fact, the wording that Tanya uses is that a person ‘never did a sin’ and ‘never will do a sin’.
This doesn't mean we need to have control over the past or the future. What it means is that, even though the nature of a sin is that it pulls a person to do another sin, today I'm detached from all that, I'm a new person. No matter what I did yesterday right now it's as though I've never ever done a sin.
This concept applies for the future as well. My stance now is not that “I'm behaving today”, I'm in a place now that come what may, I will never do a sin.
Study today’s Tanya in full: https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/23/2021
See Today’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIM5QKVLhsM&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=26
Additional thoughts:
Until now we described the two parts of a person, the internal part which is the ten components of the soul, and the external part, the persons thought speech and action.
We mentioned that we all have two full sets of those, one set selfish and animalistic, and the other set which is Divine.
We then gave examples of people with various forms of control of either one. Today we discuss someone who is not ‘fully’ under the control of either.
Both sides are active in the person’s consciousness, and factor in whenever a choice comes up.
The description today includes a person who never sins and in fact - doesn’t even think of doing a sin.
How is that different from a righteous person?
The distinction is inside. There is no comparison between a person who is sober for ten years, to a person who is simply not struggling with alcoholism.
A righteous person is someone who internally is controlled by the G-dly Soul.
What we are discussing today, is a person that is ‘sober’. They are not even thinking of ‘taking a drink’, but they have not gotten past the fight.