Ten Minutes of Meaning (Part 119): Essential vs. Non-Essential - Mesillas Yesharim

good morning BTO welcome back to 10 minutes of meaning our weekly learning of L's incredible guide and formula for how to live our best lives how to live and Achieve our best selves how to be the most disciplined and the most dignified the most elevated the most enriched the path of the just the mesilas yes I want to thank our generous sponsors for the year our dear friends KH and Lenny gin who sponsored in memory of father Mr Aron Tambour Aon Ben Y is the sh should have a wonderful Aliyah if you'd like to sponsor a future class of 10 minutes of meaning or any of our shum please email Lee BRS online.org Lee BRS online.org we are concluding the 13th chapter of the 13th per and tells us the following principle the following rule here is the genuine here is the fundamental principle the fundamental rule again to catch us up we have been learning about the principle of precious how to live a life of the ultimate IND discipline how to be in control of ourselves how to not give into our urge how to not give into our ego but how to learn to live without which is the only thing that can entitle us to live with the the very first step in this process was zus how to live a mindful life how to be conscious and conscientious in all that we do how to be mindful in our thought speech and action then we move to zus not to be so mindful that it becomes analysis paralysis but zus how to act with alacrity set a goal and then strive to achieve it the goal can be in learning the goal can be in relationships the goal can be in health and wellness the goal can be professional and career set a goal and with zus go and pursue it and then we moved over to nikus how to identify what are the things that could bring us down what are the challenges that can undermine what are the things that can knock us off course and how to conquer them how to always need to protect move them from conquered move them from the Battleground to the conquered territory and that led us to this mid of precious is have an elev life just because things are permissible doesn't mean they're good for you or that you should do them so a big bag of potato chips and a six-pack of beer and four football games in a row doesn't say anywhere in h it's forbidden there's nowhere morally or ethically that that's considered corrupt there's nothing wrong with it technically there's also nothing right with it and there's nothing righteous with it and therefore a person has to ask themselves at all times and in all moments is this going to make me better will it bring out my best there's nothing wrong with Recreation there's nothing wrong with entertainment there's nothing wrong with enjoyment we all need in order to rejuvenate re-energize we all need to disconnect in order to get elevated however it has to be done so in moderation we have to ask ourselves so here's the here is the general rule that leaves us with anything that a person is not need in this world a person should learn to live without now my dear friends we could have learned this at any time of the last several hundred years since theal gave us and gifted us this Monumental work but no time in those last few centuries have these words been so resonant as they are for us this past year what is saying is live life and divide between what is essential and what is nonessential what is essential and what is not essential you want to live a meaningful life a rich life a purposeful life you want to live a happy life and a functional life and a balanced life then always remain aware and mindful of the difference between what is essential and what is unessential and it doesn't matter that we can't enjoy and experience also what's unessential but we can never confuse and think it is essential and so ask the people of Texas what's essential Heat warmth security last week those snowstorms the loss of power power in our lives is essential it's a risk to the life without it Corona we have re-evaluated and rep prioritized and recalibrated our very definitions of what is essential and what is nonessential and the things that we always thought were essential we've learned if we have our health and our Wellness if we have the next meal on our table the people in our family are surrounding us then those other things are not essential what is essential what what is not essential and very importantly gives us both sides of the coin and he says if you confuse and consider something not essential essential you're going to disrupt your life you're going to compromise your life your happiness your well-being but also and equally importantly true if you confuse what is essential and you consider it unessential you're also going to compromise your life the things that should matter the most you dismiss and neglect and throw them away and declare them non-essential what a waste what a mistake you're making a terrible miscalculation it is a terrible mistake as Jack writes here in the comments the difference between needs and wants what are our needs and what are my wants there's nothing wrong with wanting things I want a whole lot of things but I can't confuse my need with my want as I said the people of Texas learned having heat in your home is a need having a bigger flat screen TV or the latest iPhone that's a want so we have to know the difference between a need and a want essential and non-essential in fact one of the extraordinary things to come out of this year in this pandemic is that the whole world are using these words it's not just the Jewish people but these core values of constantly evaluating and re-evaluating essential and non-essential need and want is become part of the vernacular to become part of the casual conversation of the world and that's what the Meda of preious is all about this year this year of the pandemic has by force has by force uh caused all of us to live a life of precious we haven't been able to travel we haven't been able to shop we haven't been able to go to sporting events we haven't been able to gather we haven't been able to do all these things that we were used to and all these things that we thought were so core to our lives but it turns out as important and as enjoyable as they are many of them are not essential what's essential is health and well-being what is Essential Safety and Security what is essential family what is essential is spirit is soul is Nish those are essential so to confuse and to think that non-essential is essential is a terrible mistake but so is to confuse and think that which is essential and to dismiss that is unimportant and is non essential what a terrible mistake this year has taught us a lot about ourselves a lot about the world about a lot about our lives about what we can't live without and what we can't and we've learned we can live with the question take it and build on this med of precious we've been forced to abstain and to transcend and to recoil to live without and now what do we do with it this is a sound rule this is a sound rule it is a sound rule but the application of the specifics are left to each person's discretion says there's no there's no paragraph in the code of Jewish law there's no verse in the Torah that's going to detail for each person how to live without even that which is permissible there is no code of Jewish law which tells you this is the definition of essential and non-essential these are critically important conversations to have with ourselves and with those around us she to be able to use our own our own judgment in Proverbs that a person is extolled in accordance with a degree of intelligence because says the r we cannot gather we cannot ex explicitly lay out all the details they're complicated they're difficult and they're different for everybody and therefore a person needs to everybody on their own everybody on their own and so I leave you with that thought that we continue this conversation of essential versus non-essential and that we always re prioritize and recalibrate in our lives and that when we've learned to live without we can truly live and enjoy and make the most out of living with join us at 8:45 for living with amuna we concluded the 13th par the par of preious we'll pick up next week per the different parts of precious in fact Tas Esther tomorrow we're going to fast there's no preaches greater than that there's no experience of living without greater than a fast day and learn which we literally learn to live without by depriving ourselves of food and drink and proving that we can be Angelic that we are a soul that is a body not a body that has a soul on a fast day we tap into and we remind ourselves of that capacity for precious of that capacity to train transcend of that capacity to live without so don't just feel the growl of your stomach don't just long for the fast to be over but lean into that fast and lean into the recognition of what is essential and not essential and what it is to live without and what it is to tap into that Holiness again join us 845 living with the moon join us 9 o'cl tonight we've got a special perm edition of behind the Bea planned for you you don't want to miss it take a moment please to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you're watching on YouTube you see the Subscribe button please take a moment to press it and to be alerted and notified in real time every time we go live with our next year our next program until next time stay happy stay healthy and stay holy