VLK 8 - Ahavas Yisrael on Fire - Lessons from a Blind Man

[Music] I once sat down next to a blind man at a cafe and began to chat and I asked him if there's anything about being blind that he is grateful for and he looked at me and he said actually there is for when others have to view people through the lens of externality my view on others is only what's in the inside I don't care what people look like because I'm blind and I discovered that once you get past the external casing of a person it becomes far easier to like them when it comes to liking people we don't actually like the absolute first step is to somehow get past whatever external issue is preventing us from seeing their pure Nish it's like kesana every single month we go outside to say KES to get inspiration from the Moon to renew and change ourselves the same way the moon changed and renewed itself now there's an obvious question that's begging to be asked just about the only thing in the entire solar system that does not change is the moon the Earth has Seasons stars come and go the sun is forever burning itself with more and more energy the moon just sits there there's no wind no water no gravity there's no life Neil Armstrong's Footprints are still there exactly L where he left them 55 years ago in 1969 the moon doesn't actually get bigger and smaller it just gets blocked by the Earth at varying degrees but in actuality it never changes why would we choose as our symbol of change the one thing in the entire solar system that just sits there the answer is that is precisely the point change is not about waiting for the season to pass or the climate to improve change is not about dreaming about different settings and scenarios more conducive to Our Success change is about changing our perspective change is taking the circumstances at hand and seeing them in a different light with a different angle change is getting rid of the habit of blaming conditions and focusing more on inner transformation so of course the Moon is the perfect Paradigm it sits there it never moves a muscle and yet it waxes and waines every month because our perspective of it changes it screams out to us that in order to grow and climb and ride the wave of life we need to be forever enhancing ourselves to be forever improving the quality in ourselves to stop blaming external pures places and things and start focusing on ourselves to like somebody we don't like isn't about waiting for that person to change it's not about them becoming less annoying or more with it or less snobby it's about changing our perspective it's about telling ourselves that if we would care a little less about money we wouldn't get so uptight and angry every time that rich guy walks by or to tell ourselves that perhaps our neighbor who is extremely from and is mtic in all areas of Hal isn't actually threatening but but inspiring and perhaps my slightly lazy attitude towards Hala is fueling my hatred towards him we should tell ourselves that perhaps if we cared more about the Beauty and the diversity of Yiddish kite it wouldn't bother us that the person who moved in next door was yeminite perhaps all our issues with the world around us only exist because our perspective of the world is flawed liking someone we don't like requires a change in perspective it requires us to look at the world wearing 3D glasses to view each and every yid as if they are hashem's only child for in his eyes they are [Music]