When we raise children, we always try to accustom the child to take certain actions so that they would become a habit, such as to wash himself, brush his teeth, or clean the table after himself. We insist on these things day after day, until a person can no longer do without them—he begins to feel uncomfortable. Eventually, this habit frees him from effort.
My mother reminded me to brush my teeth so many times. I tried to get out of it, but she would not let me. Now, I am bound to brushing my teeth, even without my mother’s reminder, because I became used to it.
This implies that we can create habits that will literally become innate and will not require any effort on our part to do them. On the contrary, it will be difficult not to do them because they have become part of our nature. All of this comes from actions that we constantly repeat until they become habits.
How does this law of habits becoming a second nature work? We receive a correcting force every time we make the effort to repeat an action so many times that it becomes imprinted upon us. This is the rule according to which habit becomes a second nature.
This is why a person can become accustomed to anything. One can also attain feelings that he has never experienced before. In this way, he will become accustomed to the upper Light that he has never felt before. Right now, we are in an ocean of Light, but who perceives it? So, what do we lack? We need to become accustomed to it.
We must always try to become sensitive toward the Light. Where is it? How does it operate? Do you feel it? Is it already here? It comes closer and closer, and I can almost feel that it is here. What do I need to do inside myself to start feeling it? What do I need to change? What do I need to do to become more sensitive to it?
When a person tries to reveal the Light in this way, he begins to ask questions: “How can I feel it? I lack the quality of bestowal, a little greater sensitivity toward what exists outside of me, and then I will perceive these vibrations until the Light reveals itself, and not temporarily, but constantly.”
Everything materializes through habit, and this is why our work consists of acquiring habits. All the advice that Kabbalists give us are directed toward accustoming us to actions relative to our friends, dissemination, and study. Why is that?
Try to come out of your “beast.” Start becoming accustomed to the fact that you exist outside of yourself. As soon as you really acquire this inclination, you will perceive the Light. You will never reveal it within yourself, only outside.
[56301]
From the 6th lesson at the Toronto Convention 9/18/11
Related Material:
Cursory Thoughts On Shamati, “What Is The Reason For The Heaviness One Feels When Annulling Before The Creator”
Cursory Thoughts On Shamati, “Lishma Is Awakening From Above”
Cursory Thoughts On Shamati, “There Is None Else Besides Him”
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The sages said that the “three reasons that increase man’s reason are: a beautiful woman, a beautiful house, and beautiful Kelim (vessels).” These are desires to enjoy, which are called “house,” “woman” and “vessels.” To the extent that I worry about these desires, for them to assume the form of bestowal, to that extent I expand them.
