We are taught by tzaddikim that the Ribbono shel Olam takes the incredible light of the Torah and He condenses it down so that we, on this lowly world, will be able to access it. Even a child... even a ba’al aveirah... can find something that he can rectify in this moment.
This tikkun is like hishtadlus. We know that we must do hishtadlus for parnassah and for other things that we want to attain. This is not because the hishtadlus will bring the yeshuah, but because it is the right thing that he can do right now—and once he does this hishtadlus, it helps him get to the next step. So too it is with teshuvah: Do the right thing right now. It will propel you forward.
Indeed, the צמצום — the condensation of the light of teshuvah (i.e., our ability to latch onto a small, concrete action and be propelled to the highest levels of teshuvah) is beyond anything we can imagine. Often, a person doesn’t realize that he can do teshuvah during a conversation with his friend. He’s conversing with another person when he realizes that the conversation has gotten out of hand... he spoke in a manner that is unbefitting for a yerei Shamayim (he spoke in anger, for example). He becomes aware of this, and he’s pained by it.
If this person believes that the light of teshuvah reaches down low, he can awaken himself right there during the conversation and say, “I apologize. I shouldn’t have spoken in such a manner. I want to repeat what I said—this time in the right tone and tenor.”
