In his example, Rebbe Nachman specifically mentions glass panes and birds. Glass represents our thoughts, through which we see the world around us. In other words, our thoughts are like glass lenses that affect our vision, for better or for worse. For example, when we see the brilliant light of the sun, the trees elegantly blowing in the wind, or the beautiful design of a flower, our thoughts can tell us that these things are just products of the laws of nature. On the other hand, however, our thoughts can process these things as stunning revelations of the Creator.
The bird in this example represents speech, as Rebbe Nachman explains in a couple places Likutei Mohoran. Thus, with this example, Rebbe Nachman teaches us that when negative thoughts enter our minds, it is as if the pure glass of our thoughts becomes broken and our view of the world is distorted. This makes it possible for the evil bird of bad speech to enter our heads and cause us to complain, lie, say lashon hara, and so on.
In this situation, we should be careful not to try to resolve our negative thoughts by analyzing possible solutions. This is comparable to taking the second pane of glass to replace the first one, since it only leads to more questions and problems in our minds and makes us susceptible to saying bad things.
Instead, we should fix the problem directly by strengthening our emunah, which brings us to see the truth of Hashem and the Torah, as Rebbe Nachman explains: “A person must remove from his mind and run away from questions, analyzations, foolish thoughts, and confusion. Instead, he should strengthen himself in emunah alone.” Then, once the “glass” of our thoughts is fixed, we have a new perspective on the bird of speech. We realize that we can use our words to learn Torah, praise Hashem, and give encouragement to a friend.
