m031 026b Tanya Teves 14b ~ 20
Questions for today:
Can I get to a place where the ‘good that I am doing’ is actually ‘me’?
yesterday we learned of the state of being of a ‘Beinoni’, a so-called intermediate person. This is a character in whom the full Divine Soul that wants to be one with the creator, and also the Animal Soul that wants to be self-serving, are both at play - even if the person is thinking, saying, and doing, the right thing.
Today we learn that sometimes this person could have the Divine soul in full control.
What are grown-up thoughts? These are when our thoughts have a practical outcome. When we say the shema and when we pray, we induce ‘grown-up thoughts’ in heaven, and the Divine thoughts take over practical control.
This also happens parallel below with us.
When we go through the intellectual exercise of the blessings before the shema, which lead to the shema process – Shema literally means ‘to comprehend’ the Oneness of the Ceator, which leads to ‘veohavta’, the ‘love’ of the creator, which leads to a desire to ‘connect’ to the creator through ‘Ukeshartom’, doing the commandments.
With this we're not just thinking, saying, and doing the right thing - our divine soul is in control.
Study today’s Tanya in full: https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/24/2021
See Today’s video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OkzY8DMbw0
Additional thoughts:
Even though we are describing a scenario where the intermediate person is fully is being ruled fully by the Divine Soul, this doesn’t change their status to a ‘Righteous person’.
If they would have truly changed, then when they finished praying they would not revert back to their natural state.
The fact that afterwards they revert back, means that even at the time it was not a true change.