There are times when we feel a spirit of emunah, chiyus and joy. This awakens us to love Hashem and brings us to a clear awareness of Him. We know that Hashem desires us, so we learn Torah with connection, daven with inspiration, and find the strength to overcome life’s tests.
On the other hand, there are times of hiddenness when a person loses the light of emunah. He feels so heavy and materialistic that even when he learns and davens, he thinks he’s far from Hashem. His heart is closed, without any yearning or motivation, and it appears to him that he can’t truly serve Hashem because of the countless challenges he faces. This can be a very difficult spiritual situation.
However, there is even greater danger for someone who is not consistent in his learning and avodas Hashem, and he spends his time with materialistic people that make him forget about HaKadosh Baruch Hu and lose the sweetness of Yiddishkeit. This distance makes it hard to start over and do teshuvah, especially if he actually fell and committed sins.
Even though the danger of feeling distant from Hashem is well-known, some people think the only way to overcome it is to succeed in Torah and avodah. They are afraid of trying to feel close to Hashem, because they’re concerned that their emotions will cause them to have illusions. There is some truth to this problem, since it is easy to cloud facts with feelings.
However, through the true revelations of the tzaddikim it is possible for us to find a clear path to having positive feelings, which are essential in maintaining and growing our connection to Hashem. In particular, Rebbe Nachman reveals in this lesson that just like we should feel emunah in the reality of Hashem’s G-dliness as we study Torah, so too, we should awaken ourselves to feel close to Him even when we’ve fallen into the darkness of the material world or we’ve committed a sin.
We achieve this by thinking about the truth of Hashem’s existence in every single place and situation. The tzaddikim teach us how to connect our minds to Hashem as we learn and daven, and they show us what to think as we’re involved in the physical world as well. This is the foundation of avodas Hashem: to constantly attach ourselves to thoughts of emunah that bring us to have feelings of kedushah.
We must remember that Hashem is always with us and we’re never far from Him. Through this, it is possible to serve Him at all times.
True Da’as
The first paragraph of lesson 10 begins with the words "לָדַעַת צָ רִ י ךְ—A person must know.” Similarly, lesson 11 starts: "שֶׁ תֵּ דַ ע צָ רִ י ךְ כֵּן גְּלָל—“Therefore, you must know....” The reason for this is that we must awaken our da’as to allow these words to enter our hearts and have a real impact on us. Through this, Rebbe Nachman’s wisdom can increase our awareness of Hashem and bring us truly close to Him.
This wisdom is the light of emunah that is revealed by the Zohar HaKadosh that we should think about all the time. We should always consider that Hashem created the universe, and He alone constantly renews it so that it can continue to exist. He watches over and runs everything that happens in this world, and with His compassion, He chose us and desires our avodah. Every moment we awaken ourselves to have such thoughts we are truly serving Hashem.
Advice for Every Level
Rebbe Nachman reveals in this lesson that this practice of thoughts of emunah is not only for people on high levels of deveikus in Hashem. Rather, every person must work on thinking like this, even if he’s fallen into the heaviness of the material world. He must overcome his yetzer hara and strengthen himself to find Hashem by remembering that “the whole world is filled with Hashem’s splendor” and there is no place void of His Presence.
We must remember that without Hashem’s G-dliness, nothing in this world would exist—not the ground we stand on, not the food we eat, not the billions of people all over the planet, and so on. Hashem alone gives life to everything. Therefore, Hashem is certainly close to us at all times, and we must not let the physicality of the material realm make us forget about Him.
The main challenge to living with this reality and thinking about Hashem’s G-dliness is that as soon as we begin to do so, a question enters our hearts: “If this reality is true, why do I feel so materialistic?” We must know that this feeling itself is from Above. Hashem wants there to be many spiritual worlds that cover His light and cause us to feel distant from Him in order for us to strengthen ourselves to break the hiddenness with the power of our emunah. Through this, we elevate countless sparks that have fallen into the darkness of the physical realm.
L’Ma’aseh—Practically Speaking
Regardless of our spiritual level, we must remember that we are on a mission to break the feeling that the physicality of this world is a reality that is disconnected from the Creator. We must understand that this feeling is just like clothing that covers the truth of Hashem’s existence. Therefore, we must find Hashem’s G-dliness at all times by thinking thoughts of emunah: Hashem gives life to everything and the whole world is filled with His light.
When we think about this truth, even if we don’t actually experience it, our thoughts accomplish incredible tikkunim, which bring down new awareness of Hashem that can awaken a love of Him in our hearts. This is the path to come close to Hashem in every situation and merit attaching ourselves to Him with deveikus.
