Ten Minutes of Meaning (Part 81): Don’t Let the Thoughts In - Mesillas Yesharim

okay Toph good morning everyone thank you so much for joining us for our weekly ten minutes of meaning they're empowered moshe haim lutz otto and his great miss Celia Sharon give us a charge for the day and help us realize our best selves help us try to advance our mission in life and fulfill our purpose and feel the best and the most meaningful life that we can I want to thank our sponsors for this year dear friends Connie Lenny grunts teen in memory of Connie's father mr. Aaron Tambor Aaron Bennett's we thank the greenstein's we can't wait for them to get back to Boca safely we are on parakeet olive the 11th chapter of Mithila Sasaram the quality of Nikias the quality of how to purge the negative instinct the negative temptations within ourselves not simply to confront and encounter them not simply to be challenged by our drives and triumph over them but to in fact purge it from within ourselves so we begin the first quality is the hero's caution mindfulness vigilance conscientiousness the second quality was ERISA's alacrity enthusiasts and the pursuit of who were meant to be and now we're up to Nikias how to purge or eliminate from the repertoire of our lives the very urge of temptation to do the wrong things and in that context we spoke about Gazzo honesty and integrity our character and all that we do following through on our word not over-promising and under-delivering being punctual and on time being honest and our interactions and our business dealings having integrity in every area of life we're all driven by this thymus mom of this temptation for money money makes the world go round it supports and enables and enriches our lives and therefore we all struggle with that drive that was area number one area number two we talked about was our eyes promiscuity sexuality that component of life we know has sabotaged and as corrupted and compromised some of the most brilliant most accomplished most charismatic men and women who allowed themselves to be distracted in their judgment to be clouded and the third area he's talked about now is what he calls Nusa Penida hosen where we began last week the notion of the profanity not only with our behavior but profanity with our speech profanity with our communication with the way that we interact and we spoke last week about nivel pet how a person lowers themselves we diminish the selam aleykum the godly spirit or soul within ourselves and in fact instead of articulating using that power the gift of speech to articulate a persuasive argument people who instead resort to profanity for the shock value of using a curse or a lewd image or in fact lowering themselves they're forfeiting their very humanity what differentiates us from the animal world so we continue now being and I'm a shava karim rabbits are a social on you when it comes to thought they're on how it tells us vanish Martha McCall davara the passage says that we have to safeguard ourselves from any negative influence from any negative impact personal has to be mindful of the things that threaten us and safeguard and protect ourselves from them and the Gemara derives from the Shailaja higher urban biome the of early day tomorrow ila what does it mean to protect ourselves it means social distancing and when wearing a mask when you're out it means Purell in your hands and washing to the tune of happy birthday it means all these other guidelines that we've been given in the physical sense but what it means to protect ourselves from the metaphysical sense in the spiritual sense is to be very aware of where we allow our thoughts to go surely you higher are them beyond because if we fantasize during the day if we imagine during the day if we allow our thoughts to wander whether it is for the images the actions of the foods the gossip whatever area of life if our mind wanders and dreams of in fantasizes after a certain pleasures behaviors day to mobile ila if we do that in our conscience then in our subconscious we will act out negatively long road here who revere Akasha Madeira the Gemara omaha's test tells us something really astonishing that the truth is fantasizing or dwelling or marinating on a thought of a action that we shouldn't have in some ways is even worse than violating the act itself because you see in the moment of the act itself one can help it viii Sahara overrides that drive simply draws the person to the behavior that doesn't mean you're not accountable or each accountable for our behavior but it means in moment in that moment it's very hard to overcome and therefore when we find ourselves in that circumstance in that Drive in that moment it's not understandable but it's explainable why a person would give in but here who really era when they're not in a moment of temptation when that non kosher food or non kosher website or non kosher person or non kosher context or non kosher language or speech or act when it's not happening but you simply allow your mind to go there and you enable your thoughts to dwell there to fantasize there who are there a caution may Avera Kassala rabbis presume that we have more control over our thoughts just because a thought comes knocking doesn't mean that we have to let it in just because that thought arises doesn't mean that we have to allow ourselves to dwell on it to pursue it to expand it to think about it to marinate and stew it in it we have to in fact rid ourselves purchase a thought that's not going to lead me anywhere good that thought will not conduct itself anywhere other than a drive to act out on it looma chromoly who it's a pasta Qamishli tov a Sasha Maximo sera that evil thoughts are the abomination of the eternal and as the story I've told many times I saw him as safer over arriving there and he quoted it from Arab I don't remember which rabba how can we control our thoughts here who would have here a curse from hi Vera the drives have thought the temptation the urge to do something wrong is even worse than that doing that which is wrong how can you control that thought so there was the story of a hostage who went one night was struggling with his hero Vera he was struggling with thoughts of inadequacy thoughts of temptation of Drive thoughts rv-8 Sahara thoughts of so he went to his rabbits house what else does a hosta do to look for physic to look for strength to look for support and he knocked on the front door of there ever no answer so he banging on the door he needed to speak to his rep but he needed to get that physic and there was no answer so he went to the side of the house and he peered through the window someone brazenly and he saw their ever sitting at his table with this farm open learning and he thought oh I can still get my rebus attention so he he knocked on the window of the rebus house and you know what the rabbit didn't look up he didn't give him any attention this fondant deflated with despair the hustling went home didn't have an audience with his remember the next day he went to shul most days you're still allowed to go to shore and domine ended and he walked up and he approached the red but he said it at me I needed you so badly last night I was in such a bad way my thoughts were driving me we're owning me we're taking me to such bad places and I needed to speak to you so that ever said I know what you needed I know your question and I already gave you the answer so the Rasta looked at him he said how could you know my question what do you mean he gave me the answer you didn't even give me an audience I didn't get a chance to explain you didn't tell me anything so they never said I know what's bothering you is these thoughts common and you think that you can't control them and they take you to bad places and bad behaviors but I want you to know I answered you because just like you came to my house and you knocked but the choice was up to me whether to let you in or not and you knocked hard harder but the choice remained up to me whether to let you in or not so to my dear fussing those thoughts can come and they can knock and if you don't let him in they can knock even harder but never forget the choices up to you whether you let the thoughts in or not and revolving near and the safer quotes cabbalistic literature that tells us that because borrow from the almighty doesn't hold us accountable for the thought that knocks when you walk down the street remember the days you're allowed to walk down the street and you see an attractive person who is dressed provocatively seductively and it catches your eye and you're tempted to think we're not accountable for that initial observation for that initial draw or drive for the initial temptation to think we're accountable if we let the thought in if we let it remain there if we continue to carry it with us for that for that we are accountable and so the Ihram how emotional kind of stop that tells us here that here hooray are they recording huzzah are worse than a terre allowing the thoughts in giving them real estate in our precious mind giving them time and attention in our precious lives we are the gatekeepers of our mind we are the gatekeepers of our soul and even when we see something and even when we initially think something it can come knock but it's up to us and it's up to us alone what betted in the Navy Barnum is name goofy a various commercial a Adam crow him the cash open family Reuben Sean oven we're open the TST bushel other metallus our layin this completes our discussion of the two most foremost transgression says that I'm how the area of finances and business of honesty of integrity the area of promiscuity both in thought speech behavior Mohammed rakish lishus Alfred I guess of our eyes Lindemann Kenda and the third universal area of driving temptation after we talk about money and after we talked about promiscuity or sexuality in a hula is sir what would you say if I took a poll what are the three drives that humanity struggles with universally their money sexuality and food food look at the obesity statistics in this country and others look at the challenges we have with diabetes and high blood pressure and and heart challenges Indian mahalos are challenged with the temptation and the drive for food who doesn't love food we love the taste and we love the crunch and we love the flavor and we love the smell and we love the quantity and our Jewish life styles so revolve around food baden-baden trade facades number they were talking about non kosher food Bay Dominion tower was saying we're talking about a mixture that contains non kosher been been your muscle mahal of meat and milk but hey love a dumb then you be sure like garland we're talking about the prohibition of consuming food cooked by a non Jew any cool they go him or whether we took our Calum to the mikveh yeah in this caboose Tom Yanam whether we're drinking the wine that we should be drinking and so on the Ron cow reviews the list of potential foods and I say not that he omitted from the list but maybe it didn't apply in his time as it does ours we have a different plague in our time which is people who are consuming purely kosher food that meet all the criteria of kosher that's cooked and prepared in a kosher way that served on kosher dishes that went to the mikveh but we're eating poor choices of food and poor choices of the quantities of food that we're eating which is also a form of non kosher finish Martha Michael Deborah we said we have to protect ourselves and I see some doctors who are joining us here on unzoom and they'll tell you that you can eat food which is entirely meet the criteria of kosher and yet if you're eating all the sh mouths and all the carbs and all the sugars and all the white flour and if you're stuffing your face to the point not that you're even full but beyond full that that is literally shortening our lives it's destroying our physical health and our mental health and that too is a Halawa it's a violation of elephant to shorten our lives it's a violation of our lockup to put ourselves in compromised and precarious health situations this is an area of life the third area of life that we all universally struggle with says Dunham how and this is alluded to I read doc I see mr. Rambis point out we say Ms Moreland of it tyrella ferrosilicon naked Souter I set for me a table in full view of my adversaries so the Rabbids interpret what does it mean tire off the phone I show fun negatory when I'm sitting at a table nuggets are awry I'm sitting opposite my enemies my enemy is my seventeenth piece of Fowler my enemy is my 14th piece of cocoa my enemy is three desserts after it's my ninth course my enemy is the whole bag of potato chips one of my nuggets are awry on the flesh Oh hon when I'm opposite the table that is before me and therefore this is the third area that we have to achieve a level of Nikias to cultivate habits and patterns and attitudes that I see the food that could harm me as the enemy mama so awry and not that each time I encounter it I have to overcome it but I'm not even drawn to it I have no temptation for it to me it becomes a poison that I would never eat and please God will pick up with this me Josh em next time have a fantastic day living with em when it begins in 15 minutes right back here in the same place if you're watching on YouTube please subscribe it to the YouTube channel have a great healthy happy and holy day