A gadol said that once, in a mikvah, he saw a sign, "Use cautious not to slip on the stairs." The gadol noted that when one descends the stairs, which implies that he is going down levels, he must be careful not to slip and fall even further, chalilah.
Sometimes, the yetzer hara comes to a person and tells him, "You took on kabbalos tovos to improve your way, but you soon forgot about them, and you returned to your old ways. Eventually, you made another kabbalah, hoping this time would be different. But that didn’t last either. Then you took on another kabbalah and failed a third time. This pattern has been going on for months and years. What did you gain from all those kabbalos? You don't keep them and are at the same place where you started. It is obvious that you are a failure at avodas Hashem."
However, one can turn this discouraging claim into a source of hischazkus. One can respond to the yetzer hara, "Why do you say that I am distant from avodas Hashem? The exact opposite is true. No matter what happens, I keep trying. My trying proves that I am very connected to Hashem."
Reb Mendel Futterfas zt'l tells that when he was in prison, in Russia, he once watched a spider spin a web on one of his cell walls. A fly flew into the web, tried to get out, but after each attempt, the fly fell back down. Reb Mendel noticed that the spider was watching the fly from a distance, but wasn't doing anything. However, when the fly lost hope and stopped trying to escape the web, the spider came in to finish the job.
One can learn lessons from every occurrence in life, and Reb Mendel contemplated what he saw, trying to learn a lesson in avodas Hashem. He came up with the following thought. The spider represents the yetzer hara (see Succah 52a). When the yetzer hara sees a person trying, it leaves him alone. He knows that at this time, he can't conquer him. But when the person loses hope, the yetzer hara swoops down.
It states (11:21) "However, among all the flying insects that walk on four legs, you may eat from those... which hop on the ground." Those who "hop" are kosher. They fall down afterwards, but they try to jump up and reach higher, so they are kosher creatures.
In contrast, Rashi (Bereishis 1:20) states, "Anything that isn't higher than the earth is called a שרץ." This hints at a person who doesn't elevate himself; he doesn't try to go higher. He is compared to a שרץ, an impure creature.
It states (11:7) "The literal translation of the pasuk is that a chazir is impure because, although it has split hooves, it doesn't chew its cud." But are pshatim according to remez on this pasuk. When the Arvei Nachal visited Rebbe Reb Boruch'l of Mezhibuzh, he said the following pshat on this pasuk: When a person wants to jump high, he will first take a few steps back, and then with a running start, he can jump high. The same can be said about ruchniyus. To reach higher levels, one must first experience setbacks. As it states (Mishlei 24:16) "The tzaddik falls seven times and rises." This is alluded to in the pasuk, if a person falls back from his level, it isn't really a descent. Rather, he will take a larger step forward. The fall will help him reach even higher levels. The condition is, he mustn't live (גר) at that low level. If he plans to remain at that low level that he fell to, he will likely drop even further. Instead, when one falls, he must be prepared to bounce back, and then he will rise to even higher levels than ever before.
