Tanya (Part 16)

Good morning, Booker. Welcome back to 10 minutes of meaning. Please uh feel free to come up, pull up a chair. We learn say for Tanya together. We remain grateful to Michael and Marilyn Fedak for the generous sponsorship of 10 minutes of meeting. Please help yourself to coffee, slushy or pastry in the lobby. Wishing everyone a good yontiff. You say good yontiff. What is the yontiff? The yontiff is yud and yudgiml in tamos in the world of labavich is a yontiff. The Fria is released from prison yesterday was informed of his release and today Yudgiml was the release itself and because of that it is a yontiff and celebrated in different ways. Did you say takan in this minion? The minion said taken but Dr. Wolf did not. So it is a yontiff for for everybody not saying taken is is somewhat of a yontiff. So on the 12th of Thomas 1927, the Fria Deereba got the news that he was to return home from exile and the following day he was finally released. For 11 years, he had waged a courageous battle against the Soviet regime regime, a solitary leader standing firm for Yiddish kite. And uh it all started in 1927 and after that enduring brutal imprisonment and narrowly escaping death, he was able to get out and therefore it is the for him and those who follow. Okay, we're on safe perk gimmel. In the beginning of perkim of Sana, we've been learning about the anatomy of the soul. The first paric was about the animal soul, the neph, the animal soul that we're not trying to slaughter or purge. We're trying to train and elevate. Second paric was about the the godly soul literally a godly soul inside us. We don't have to look and search, try to find evidence or proof for God's existence elsewhere. All we need to look is in the mirror because is inside mamish literally inside each and every one of us. And now the third perk. Now that we've established the two souls that are within each person that struggle who's the core identity, who's the real us? Now we get to the anatomy of that real soul. And we began last week that within the nephema within the three souls or layers of the soul that we have there are 10 spheros. And the 10 spheros that are and we gave the example a white light that's coming into a prism comes out as the different colors of the rad of the rainbow. So the ores light that goes into the prism of where he is constricting himself in order to make himself accessible and a revelation to the world comes out as the 10 spheros. The 10 spheros are divided into two parts. The first three are the emos, the mothers, the matriarchs of the uh of these attributes in the world. And then the next seven are what are called the kthalos are the kulos. They're the seven doubles. They're the letters bimal k and tough that can have a dish or no dagesh that can be soft or can be hard that can be justice or that can be compassion. Ways that au expresses himself. We're going to focus on not the seventhos theos but the first three emos which are intellectual which are cognitive and the first three are and so the last seven the 10 the seven days of creation because those are the midos in this world and so on and similarly just like the world and just like We can access him through the tensiros his orain his radiating light that we can't begin to comprehend or understand that is entirely beyond us that we can't know that orain he expresses himself through these 10 spheros and so to all of creation and so too in understanding ourselves and having a self-awareness the 10 spheros are the decoder ring the 10 spheros is the language that we use to best understand ourselves the first three are the emos the cognitive And then the next seven are the midos which are the different and so on. So we can divide the 10 attributes or spheros within ourselves into two categories. The first three are the they are the self, the intellect, the cognitive and then come the midos which Miller translated as emotions and translates as drive whatever word you want to use to translate but the midos the character traits the way we operate and navigate the world. So these first three which is the anatomy of the soul which is what the safer with the Tanya is all about and what is all about the human intellect like the divine has three levels and now these aren't synonyms we don't repeat we don't have words that mean the same thing if we have three words describing intellect they must have subtle or even more than subtle differences between them and that's what we need to unpack. What's the difference between and we first find it by when the Torah when says that Bal at a very young age uh distinguished himself to be the architect and the general contractor of the mishkun the designer of the mishkun what made him have that uh position of prominence was that he contained the himself testified about him that he had and so So the the intellect is and they express themselves in the emotion or the drive within us how we navigate operate the world the feelings the interconnection love fear reverence and so on. So what the batanya now is going to do is try to unpack these three and because what really defines us the self-awareness we have the way we can regulate ourselves interpersonally in our relationship with Hashem with ourselves and the world is by engaging those three attributes of the intellect and which are the emos. These are the mother the matriarchs of all the other emotions and drives that we have. In other words, in other words, people wake up, people live in each day and they feel, you know, I have emotions, I can't control them. What can I do? I get angry. I get envious. I'm jealous. Or I have arrogance. I'm prideful. Or I get anxious. Or they feel these emotions overtake them. They're passive and fatalistic to them. They have no control over them. They can't regulate them. They can't determine them. I have these emotions and they define me and they are who I am. And what can I do about it? And what the Balatana says really way ahead of his time, what modern psychology is only still catching up to today is that all of the so-called feelings, emotions, drives within us, they stem and they come from our thoughts. It's what we think about, what we concentrate on, what we focus on, what we marinate in. Our thoughts give birth to the emotions and drives. It's not that the emotions and drives are born within us or they overtake us or we can't regulate them but rather all those emotions and drives everything in us is born is conceived and then given birth to by the thoughts that we have by the thoughts that we have. The word for example, he doesn't say this, but the word is where you put your thoughts. Happiness is not an emotion. Happiness is a decision that we make. If you focus on what you have, not what's missing, you'll find yourself happy. Happy is not an emotion. Never say, "What can I do? I don't feel happy." Who said happiness is an emotion? Happiness is a decision. It's a decision. Modern psychology and research has caught up that don't wait to feel happy and then smile. Do you know that if you smile, you engage micro muscles in the face that release endorphins that yield a feeling of happiness. If you make the decision, if the thought is to smile, if the thought is to be positive, as the Rebi used to say, think good and it'll be good. If you think, this is where it comes from. If you think good, what we think about gives birth, conceives, and then gives birth to the feelings that we have. Not the opposite. Not the opposite. It's not that I have what can I do? This is how I feel. How am I supposed to change it? How am I supposed to regulate it? As has often been said, we are thermostats, not thermometers. A thermometer tells you your temperature. It just reports what's happening. A thermostat lets you change your temperature. So, we make the mistake of thinking that we're thermometers. And we just report to one another, I'm angry. I'm impatient. I'm happy. I'm jealous. We just report like a thermometer, but we're a thermostat, not a thermometer. We can regulate the temperature. We can set the temperature and then our wife will come and change it. But at least we can try, at least we can try to set the temperature to start with. So the alterb is introducing again way ahead of his time and what research is only catching up to now, the notion that our emotions and our drives, they are born from what we think about. told us are called the mothers and source of the emotions because emotions are the children of the intellect. How we feel, the drives that we have, how we operate and navigate the world is born from what we think about and so much of the rest of Tanya not in the far I am the farthest thing from an expert in it but thank God the wonderful teachers I have who are helping me understand it and learn it and share it with you. So much of what Tanya is about is built on this principle that if you think about Hashem, you'll come to feel and experience Hashem. If our emotions and drives are born from our thoughts, then imagine if we think about Hashem, contemplate Hashem, meditate about Hashem, then we'll come to have feelings for Hashem, which is also the reverse of what most people mistakenly think. Well, if I loved Hashem, then I'd think about him. If I felt him, if I saw him, if I loved him, if I feared him, if I knew him, then I'd come to learn about him. Then I'd want to spend time learning. Then I'd meditate about him. Then I'd think about him. No, it's the opposite. You got it backwards. Think about him, come to know him, and that will give birth to feelings that you'll have for him. In a letter written in 1805, this is in Miller's commentary. In a letter written in 1805 defending Tanya to one of the critics, the author revealed that this emphasis on meditative work was not his innovation. This is what he writes. In order for there to be reverence of Hashem, there must be deep contemplation and meditation as stated in Likum. Everyone in the region of of in Ukraine who's ever had a whiff of the teachings of the Bashmto and his disciples knows the explanation of the holy zor is teaching that bina is the mother of the children. This is a teaching of the zor based on a tilum the zar the paronim this teaching anyone who's in the Ukraine I'm going to Ukraine next week you got to cross the border by foot mash will all go well so anyone who's been in the Ukraine I'm looking forward to having a whiff of the teaching of the bashto that's the wording of the alterb in this letter anyone in Ukraine who's had a whiff of the teaching of the I'm hoping to to take a whiff of the teachings of the bashmto knows this explanation of the holy zora that Bina is the mother of the children. The children are love and reverence of Hashem and they're born through meditation and deep contemplation on the greatness of Hashem. Each person according to his ability just as it's impossible to give birth to a child without a mother in our religion. So too, I threw that in. It's impossible to rever God without meditative work. That's the alterb's letter. Just like it's impossible to have a child who doesn't have a mother. Every child by definition has to have a mother. So you also can't have your hashem without its mother. And what's the mother of a hashem? Contemplative work thought process. The mother is the work that we do. The contemplative work that's the mother of the mother of these of these midos that we have inside us. Just give me two more minutes. The divine rational soul intellect which is the power to understand all things. What distinguishes us from the animal kingdom? What gives us that godly soul is the intellect. How we come closest? Remember he quoted the Rambam in the first paracet. It's true the Maral disagrees but the alterba went with the with the Rambam that what gives us the greatest access the greatest connection to Hashem is our intellect is our intellect. That capacity to think our intellect our cognitive ability the divine rational soul inside us. That intellect is the power to understand all things. The first word in is called because is a conjunction of two words it's called which is the fusion of the two words the power of ma what's ma what ma is what this is also based on a zakma if you have to distill and define what isma is the power to say What is this? Is curiosity, inquisitiveness, wanting to understand, wanting to pursue, wanting to be a makish. Is the of aid who asks, doesn't just passively accept, but seeks to understand, to learn. What is potential? Potential. So the level of an idea is raw and undeveloped. its precise contours need to be drawn out by bina. We're going to go from and bina and das and the difference between the difference between the the three the bina and the das. What is the difference between the three? So for example this uh this example is given often isma is the beginning is the initial thought or idea. So for example, a person decides they're going to build a house. Before you want to accomplish that feat, first you have the idea, I want to build a house. I want to build a house. How many square foot? What's the design? What's the layout? How will it work? What are the materials? Is the what I want to build a house. Bina, the second step in the process is weighing all the options and the possibilities, contemplating, strategizing, analyzing. And then das is the absolute final decision. Here are the plans. Here's what's going to happen. And that is the journey. All three happen in the process of thought. But from the initial idea, the ma what to the bina to distinguish between this and that to strategize and analyze. And then das das is the final conclusion. Here's the information. Here's the data. Here is the plan. Here's the conclusion. So the first power is that when you bring the potential to action through meditating your mind to clarify an idea. So that's bina when do we insert when do we insert into the in which we had 19 to choose from. Which one do we insert it in into the migill wonders why? Why? Because if there's no if there's no there's no is we say if there's no if there's no there's no there's no is the capacity to distinguish is the ability to see between this and that. The word comes from the word bane means to distinguish between this and between that beginning with the so isma it's asking what it's the initial thought then what's the difference between this and that analysis and strategy so we'll pick up with next time to get from toina to d and to see how all that all will happen. Those are the emos, the thoughts, what we think about, what we ask about, our level of curiosity, inquisitiveness, our to ask what to have ideas, initial thoughts and then to take it to the next level of this and then to take it to the next level of all that and gives birth to the next seven of the gives birth to the midos to the emotions and drives which are what our lives are all about. We are off for the next two weeks and then we'll resume in three weeks hashem from today. We'll post the complete schedule in our WhatsApp group so you could stay posted. Should be here. Have a good tamas.