Text-Based Tanya Class—Week #45

welcome to the weekly text-based Tanya class that means we are studying Tanya the holy book of Tanya every single holy word we started over a year ago some people are new we'll catch you up a little bit um what chapter are we on 28th very good okay yes we are on chapter 28. okay just for context in chapter 26 we began discussing the issue of joy and things that interfere with our joy and we establish the importance of Joy just for review why is it important to be joyful why is it important everyone wants to be happy but why as Jews according to Tanya is it important to be happy it breaks down barriers okay kind of yeah it's not it's not wrong it's not wrong uh that's like the most on the nose like yeah like everything done joyfully is done better yeah everything done joyfully is done better remember Tanya is a manual for how to serve Hashem so at the point we get to a chapter 26 he says okay and now every other every other tool that I've given you so far in the first 25 chapters will only really be successfully implemented if you do so joyfully because everything you do joyfully is done better if you do something and you're sluggish and you're feeling down and you're feeling heavy and self-conscious you're just not going to perform excellently but when you do things joyfully you do everything well including serving a ship that's why happiness is important not just because you want to be happy okay so and I'm not going to go through it but we spoke about in different chapters different things that could get us down and interfere with our joy and we gave troubleshooting tips how to not let those things get us down okay the last chapter I'm just saying for context I'm not reviewing all the previous chapters but the last chapter chapter 27 we're speaking about a person might feel down because of religious reasons in other words he or she is a religious person and wants to serve Hashem and wants to do the right thing as dictated in the Torah and is ashamed that uh he or she still experiences temptations that are antithetical to his or her value system and that shame could get you down and we explain don't let it get you down and we explain why but I'm not going to get into that I'm not going to get into that because it took us how many times three weeks four weeks to go through the chapter so I'm not going to attempt to do it in and the the amount of time that I want to allow for this review what I want to say is we're going to deal with today in chapter 28 chapter 28 it's a very short chapter I think we'll finish the whole chapter uh with hashem's help in chapter 28 we're dealing with another source of I would call it moral melancholy and that is where a person feels bad because every time you go to pray all of a sudden there's this bombardment of thoughts that are not conducive to prayer and the person's feeling bad about this what kind of a person am I that I can't even concentrate on prayers how come specifically when I go to pray my thoughts are the worst and he or she is feeling really bad about that and we don't want to let you feel bad about that because if you start feeling bad about even though you're feeling bad about it for a moral reason because you're trying to be a better servant of Hashem but actually it's counterproductive because you're feeling bad about your inability to serve Hashem perfectly is actually going to undermine your ability to serve Hashem at all so we have to deal with that okay that's context that's all I've got for you okay chapter 28 starting from the very beginning like I said it's a very short little chapter we'll probably finish he says uh even if even if means he's amplifying on what he said before before he was talking about you're just going about your day trying to work trying to shop trying to do carpool whatever it is and you're having these uh Temptations now we're seeing specifically at the time we were trying to pray learn Torah or pray but it kind of focuses more on prayer so specifically even if at the time you're trying to pray you have stray thoughts do not pay them any mind is how I would translate that well what does it mean don't pay it any mind what don't pay it any mind doesn't mean that you should pretend it's not there it means remember I told you about my tinnitus which Americans often pronounce as tinnitus okay and thank God it has gotten better and when I'm teaching it's almost completely gone so probably should just teach all day but one of the things the guy said there was a this guy in YouTube I watched a lot of YouTube guys and some of them were not helpful well the most helpful guy though said you have to have a very neutral attitude towards your the tinnitus is this constant ringing in your ears it says yeah and it's not really in your ears it's in your brain so he says you have to have a neutral attitude toward it because basically it's your brain not your cerebral brain that thinks and learns Tanya but like your very basic basic brain that's just for survival the alarm system basically alerting you to something that it thinks is bad like oh you better hear of this ringing because this is this is important you got to know about this like if you hear like uh like a bear growling at you you got to go run away from it right it's like this Primal Instinct oh you hear this noise this is a bad noise so pay attention this is a bad noise well here's the thing you're not supposed to pay attention to it everyone has some ringing in their ears and you're just supposed to filter it out just like we filter out tons of stimuli not no no stimuli there is you know what here should I really mess with all the people who are like hsps like myself okay sure why not so um did you notice the feeling of your shoes on your feet think about it oh why weren't you thinking about it before why because in order to stay sane your brain filters it out because it's not important information no I don't want to talk about it I don't want to hear about I'm too sensitive I don't hear about it okay so listen to me listen to me listen to me it's not relevant information so your brain is supposed to filter it out the ringing in your ears is not relevant information so you're supposed to filter it out my brain was filtering it out until like three years ago one day because of stress all of a sudden my yeah my limbic system told me oh you better pay attention to that because it's a threat to you and you got to go get safe so maybe I'll do a motion code yeah okay so some people do that with the trains with the train if you live in Cedarhurst eventually you don't hear the train yeah yeah or JFK yeah that's true that's right what airplanes if you live if look if you live in Five Towns you don't hear airplanes if you live in Brooklyn you don't hear car alarms or Sirens you just don't hear it you don't hear it okay me too so ladies okay he said if you don't like the ringing in your ears you're actually telling yourself to look out for it more oh that's a bad thing okay so we gotta gotta be on alert we got to be on alert no I don't want to be on alert for it I actually want to just come to ignore it so this is what I'm saying back to Tanya when he says Al Yoshis which I'm translating as don't pay at any mind what he means is don't regard this as something super significant he's not saying pretend you're not having the thought because that's maddening that's by the way you want to make yourself have like an obsessive thought is just become hyper conscious of your intrusive thoughts and try to stop yourself from having them and then you'll really have them okay so that's a formula for making yourself insane well don't resist it don't be mad at it don't regard it as negative meaning it's just there it's just there just observe it yeah just observe it it is what it is okay that's what he's saying if you try to pretend it's not happening then you drive yourself crazy and become obsessed with it but if you just can have an emotionally neutral position now why is this so hard because obviously somebody's studying Tanya wants to serve Hashem and they want to serve Hashem better and so they're a moral person and a spiritual person and so obviously it does disturb them when they're trying to pray and all of a sudden the middle of prayer you're having inappropriate thoughts yeah that's very upsetting I get it that's very upsetting but here's the problem if you allow it to upset you you're actually going to make it worse so this is what he says don't pay it any mind Ella rather yes instantly remove your attention from it daito is Das Das means dasa's you know they're okay I'm not getting into a whole long explanation but you know that there are different intellectual faculties who study this in chapter three Das is basically Focus or attention or or personal connection to an idea in other words yeah I'm aware of the fact that this is happening yeah I'm having these thoughts but I'm not focusing on it I'm not choosing to have an opinion about it it is what it is whatever yeah oh I hadn't really thought about it like should I point out that it's humid in the room it is humid did anyone notice that that's a little bit humid here yeah okay now have fun because now I pointed it out okay right why Das is did you notice it's humid in the room that's Das I called your attention to the fact that it's humid by the way it's not that human it's not like Florida humid but it's a little bit it's a little bit humid I'm a little uncomfortable here and now that I pointed it out I drew your attention to it what is that called so there's Beena there's Das I know that it's I know that it's there and I don't have any particular opinion about it and I'm certainly not actively focused on it yeah yeah know it but don't be emotionally attached to it only three of the things are in the Chabad initials they're all three you said there's four there's three levels three I said three okay thank you so much it's my water control okay uh the guyman also oh okay maybe we won't finish the chapter because this is a whole all right we got you're gonna hear you're gonna hear okay don't be a fool to attempt elevating or sublimating the emotional component of these foreign thoughts as is known okay as is known means if you have the sufficient background then it's known most people learning Tanya do not have this background they don't know this yet so I'm going to try to fill it in and I'm not going to do justice to it there's a method that the balshamtov taught Al tareva does not mention that it's from the belshemtov but it is that sometimes when you're having an uh an inappropriate thought he says like for instance you're feeling an attraction to something that's forbidden so the object of your desire is not healthy but the desire itself as sort of like just a raw energy could be redirected and re-channeled to an object of Desire that is healthy or even holy or you're feeling fear of something of this world which is inappropriate to fear anything of this world so just re-channel that all extract the awe and apply it to hasha and fear Hashem which is appropriate and healthy and holy so that's a method the belshamtov prescribes when you're having a thought that's not appropriate take out the emotion extract the emotion re-channel the emotion and Target it towards something redirect it sublimate it okay so the altareba says don't do that in fact he says don't be we just read we just I'm going to back up I'm going to reread the line the Garment also by Allah do not be a fool and attempt to elevate the emotion of the thought as is known in other words do not attempt this method why shouldn't I the belshaft said you should he says because that was only said to sadikim those who study Tanya know what Sadiq are Sadiq are people who have no they have or they so you're asking a great question hold on in What scenario does Italian even have such a thought great question it shows you're actually taking this seriously okay so I'll answer you the altareb is going to explain in the very next line how it could even happen that somebody who has no evil inclination would have an inappropriate thought where would even where would it originate from great question he said listen what he says whatever foreign because they don't suffer from their own stray thoughts but from others they have ESP not HSP ESP which may be connected by the way extra sensory perception you didn't have that crazy set of Time Life books in the 70s but the lady was in her kitchen she felt a pain in her hand and her child a thousand miles away burned her head on a cup of coffee that creeped me out yeah you know what I'm talking about the time life paranormal series okay you guys today you're spoiled you go on YouTube and you can see all types of conspiracy theories and our days we had we had the Bermuda Triangle and Bigfoot Bigfoot was a big deal in the 70s My Brother David and I went to the Museum of cryptozoology in Venice California it's a museum of cryptozoology it's about animals that are like no not no crypto means hidden like uh no so he had like a whole Bigfoot exhibit there and Loch Ness monster so unicorns so we asked him where is the yeti the yeti some people call them Abominable Snowman or Yeti um anyway so we asked him where's the yeti so the curator of the cryptozoology Museum in Venice California told us the yeti has a Yeti to have been discovered yeah yes what yes standing next to you right and you're putting out your ridiculous thoughts and bombarding him and he's like excuse me could you turn your radio down yeah that's right yes yes so here's what we're saying you're asking so what does he do with it so this is what he's saying so he elevates it for you for he he didn't have it it's not his problem it's your problem so he realizes you're having this inappropriate thought but he says you know what I can do for you I'll extract the emotion from it and I'll re-channel it toward an appropriate Target of that emotion and we'll we'll redeem the whole thing do you know what's happening well I don't know have you ever been conscious of it happening and yet I bet you it's happened so no I don't think that we we know that it's happening but we benefit from it yeah that like some people that are when you're very sensitive you can feel other people's energy yeah but here's the deal yeah okay so you're saying if you're very sensitive you know like us empaths right so we feel other people's craziness which is why I just can't have people around me because most people are crazy but listen to me listen listen listen listen listen listen he doesn't say it's Unique to at Sadiq to pick up on other people's thoughts there's there's another step here it's Unique to itsadiq that the oh the only extraneous thoughts he has are from other people and therefore and this is an important word therefore he can elevate it for them watch what just read just read let's leave let's read the words come with me into the text come with me into the text [Music] focus on the text please put your dos on the text but somebody whose extraneous thoughts are of their own making they're not picking up on someone else's thoughts they generated it themselves coming from the left ventricle of their heart I'm not going to explain that but we all know that means the origins of your animalistic Cravings okay how could that person who is is generating his own negative thoughts and when we say negative here we don't just mean self-defeating I know that's the way like in New agey Way negative thoughts stinking thinking that could also be but negative thoughts here means anything that's not holy anything's not for not for the service of God can you elevate it the when at the same time you're tied below you understand what you're saying you cannot lift yourself up by your own bootstraps that's a an idiom there's no such thing lift yourself up by your own bootstraps is is intentionally ironic and people started distorting it to use it seriously like let them eat cake basically by the way that's not even a far reach to say pick yourself up by your own bootstraps is the same as saying let them eat cake it's an absurdity you cannot pick yourself up by your own boots dress you can't lift yourself off your chair by grabbing Yourself by by the hair and pulling okay okay so no you're not allowed to try because you're gonna because you're gonna get pulled in and you're gonna make it worse right so this is what he's saying to you follow me we know just follow just follow just follow he says first thing if you have these thoughts during diving don't attach yourself to them don't focus on them just let them let them slide by and then he says and hold on a second I know you're going to come to me and say hold on but the balship said that I could engage them I could extract the emotion from it I could redirect it and then I could redeem the whole experience he says the alpha Deva says I know what the Val Hashem says but do you know who he was talking to when he said that that wasn't a prescription for everybody you don't stand in line at the pharmacy and when they got up to the pharmacy say I'll have whatever she's having no you need your prescription you need your so he's saying when he taught that Sadiq him he said you know you know how it is when all of a sudden your tadiq ESP is picking up on other people's stray thoughts and that said you can be like yeah totally that's so annoying oh so what you can do for that is you extract the emotion from it and just redirect it toward a positive uh object but people who that he was only speaking to people who were not tied down by those thoughts so they were up above sort of grabbing those thoughts and pulling them up to their level but if you're down here experiencing those thoughts because they're of your own making you don't have that leverage you don't have that position they are of your own that's what he's saying they are of your own making well they come from where they're of your own making he said he says very clearly here that the left ventricle of the heart which again I'm not going to explain here because that was in chapter one but your own animal Soul Your survival impulses your your need for comfort and security is generating these thoughts of course on a subconscious level right it's not like I sat down and said let me meditate on this particular desire it feels it feels like it happened out of nowhere obviously it didn't happen out of nowhere there's a backstory to it the point is the back story is it's from me and if it's from me I'm not outside of it and I can't I can't deal with it so therefore he says don't deal with it remain neutral about it even though as a moral person it scares you and it's offensive to you and maybe it's scary to you but he says just don't worry about it this this kind of stuff happens and the less attention you give it the better okay I'm gonna go just [Music] I don't know I'm just gonna go like I'm just gonna go in order and we'll get okay um I never heard of such a method to do it the opposite way like I know that Sonic can do it for us I don't know about going to the tsada and asking them to do it I'm not aware of such a method okay there's a craving for going on a shopping spree really you want to do some doctor so you should get stuck yeah where did you read that okay yeah he says don't do that so right maybe he was Tanya says specifically not to do it maybe he's telling you what this method is that you're not supposed to do and it wasn't clear that you're not supposed to do it this is specifically for davening if a negative thought or uh well it comes to mind in general this is not this is safe for sure pain in him the book for the intermediates yeah is not into that [Music] um what's so wrong with it apparently and I believe the altadaba here as my personal guide he's telling me that that type of introspection not all introspection that particular type of introspection is going to be a slippery slope and it's going to pull me in and I'm not going to emerge from it stronger so I just shouldn't mess with it that's what he's telling me okay who is not okay I'm just going in order yeah meaning what the outer rabbit the alterable was the student of the student of the balshamtov so the alterbah basically says everything I know I learned from my rabbit who was the Magid and the maggot said everything I know I learned from my Rabbi who's the belshant of so in in other words what I'm saying to you is and I don't want to get a whole long discussion about this but hopefully this will be sufficient as far as the chain of transmission the outer rubber would be in a unique place to tell us what the balship's intent actually was so the only one who could have a different opinion would be somebody who would be on the same level meaning another student of the belsham or student of the Magid but the altarebe is part of that chain of transmission and he's telling us what it means that answers okay and all right yeah maybe explain to her question which was my question what about taking shelving those thoughts or dismissing those thoughts but we talked about the time of Shema at the end of the night to process okay so like I said it's not that there's no such thing as introspection you're asking about the end of the day about Shema of course there's something called of course there is literally means a sole accounting some people call it a moral inventory okay of course there's such a thing what he's saying is In the Heat of the Moment do not think that you're going to do some Judo move and take the force of this thought and redirect it in any type of positive way introspection has its place it has its context you know the difference between karate and Judo Jiu Jitsu you know the difference between what but I don't have a joke about Jiu Jitsu you know a joke about you know that please I'm trying to tell a joke or please you know what's the difference between karate and Judo karate is a form of Asian uh martial arts and Judo is what bagels are made out of [Laughter] focus on time Paula is very upset I agree wait hold on but I'm going to go to you and then to you okay this aroused a lot of questions okay yeah yeah so like I when I went to the revenue when I was 16 um he was giving out dollars you went to the laborator but for dollars and my friend she was like my classmates like why don't you ask the rabbit for a bracha and my mind I'm like listen if the rabbit knows everything I'm not gonna just I'm just gonna take the dollar and I'm gonna go so I took the dollar and I walked away and they brought me back and whoever said to me I know that your mind and your heart is very heavy but you are okay and everything's going to be okay and he gave an extra dollar wow very cool wow what school see I remember you as a little girl yeah that's a cool story uh-huh and it was a very dark time and whatever spoke to you in English yeah well wow okay what we're gonna say is that or is that something else are you talking about I'm talking sweetening the gurus okay there there is sweetening the the harsh judgments there is such a thing but this particular method we don't do is that the same method or is that something else like if I learned that okay so for instance is a very abstract concept it's a spiritual idea sweetening the judgments there are many ways where that could be how that could be expressed as a spiritual practice okay so when you're saying is this this it's kind of like you know we're talking about something very general like exercise so if I tell you if I'm your trainer say don't do this exercise oh don't exercise no don't do this exercise okay um you want to talk about an example of how dark is that that we do do he says in chapter 26 which we already learned so I'll refer to it because we we already learned it um that when you're going through a difficult time in life if you can try to see gamsulateva so that will sweeten the severities so that is a method of of hamtaka but when it's coming from within you the call is coming from inside the house you guys were never at a sleepover and had never had that story are you joking the call is coming from inside the house it's the most standard it is the most standard American uh urban legend yeah it's an urban legend the girl is babysitting and she's getting a call from a serial killer and she's freaked out and she calls up the police and the police are like I'm going to trace your call don't worry I'm going to find out where this creep is and then they're like the call is coming from inside the house okay so here's what I want to tell you ladies I know I'm so interesting but here's the thing it ah you're reminding me of my uh youth kids no my Seminary class where anytime I say something interesting I run the risk of losing everybody's Focus okay please ladies I don't want to discuss um ghost stories I just I just wanted to use the metaphor which I thought would be one that you already related to but apparently not I'm not really I guess my pop culture references are not the same as your pop culture references at any rate my point was only that the call is coming from inside the house this thought that you're experiencing which is antithetical to your spiritual growth it's not like it's some foreign thing coming at you no you created it and I'm not saying you're so terrible and evil that you could look we already said there's a part of us that's animalistic that's basic Tanya right there's a part of us it's animalistic it seeks Comfort it seeks security it's not immoral but it's amoral so if something makes me comfortable and it's not spiritually healthy I don't really care as long as it feels good right so there's that part of us and it's so these distracting thoughts are being internally generated since they're being internally generated what he's saying is you don't have the leverage you don't have the position to Grapple with it it's coming from within you so you're going to get engaged with it it's just gonna keep you distracted and and it's going to waste your time it's going to bring you down it's going to Sully you so he's saying just ignore it just ignore it basically we spent the past 40 minutes saying in a very protracted way just ignore it okay just ignore it just ignore it [Laughter] okay let's continue here [Music] nevertheless means this fact should not cause you to become despondent and to have a heavy heart while you're diving because davening has to be done from Joy you have to be joyful When you pray oh really yeah we have to be joyful when you do anything if you want to do it well sometimes you get emotional in what you're praying and why is that a contradiction you have to you have to dive in joyfully talking to Hashem that should be a cause of joy even if simultaneously there's a feeling of awe but there's a feeling of joy as well so he sounds like this don't get down don't get despondent about this fact that you have these thoughts and there's nothing you can do about them other than ignore them but to the contrary not only it shouldn't make you sad but he's going to reframe it for you yes you should focus on your diving even more and you should do so joyfully how can I do it joyfully when I'm I'm in Conflict I'm the source of my own conflict there's nothing I can do about my conflict other than ignore it how can I be joyful so he says listen Place upon your heart meaning think about this here's what I want you to think about here's what I do want you to focus on it hemiclippa this stray thought this foreign thought non-holy thought is coming from negativity which originates in your own left ventricle which means your own animal soul which as we know in a banani an irregular person is fighting his animal cell is fighting his Godly Soul that's the definition of abandoning he's the person who's conflicted he's got a Godly Soul he's got an animal Soul Godly Soul wants Transcendence the animal Soul wants comfort and they're fighting it out now we know people who wage battle and people who wrestle when one of them starts to get the upper hand s then the other one pushes back harder with all of his strengths follow what we're saying okay when you're wrestling and sometimes you're just kind of holding each other and resting but at one point maybe you I don't know the names of wrestling moves but can't you push no no before you're pinning somebody like you're trying to you're trying to throw the guy so you put a lot of weight into it you're trying to throw them oh so at that point he's not going to stand there he's going to push he's going to counter that move okay therefore getting back to our that was just a metaphor we're not this is not a wrestling manual wrestling is just a metaphor just a metaphor but what's what's in a metaphor for the Locking therefore when The Godly Soul strengthened itself to go pray as I then gamma Clipper Miss Cabela's connector the negative forces are going to resist specifically to confuse The Godly soul from its prayers by throwing stray thoughts at it so he explains to you the fact that you're having these thoughts while you're trying to pray is precisely because you're praying it's not oh what my rotten luck just when I started praying all of a sudden I'm having these crazy thoughts yeah that's why you're having these crazy thoughts because when you're davening your your Godly soul is about to throw your animal soul so your animal soul is gonna push back [Applause] not like the popular misconception meaning this is what most people think but they're wrong should tell him they Heir they're completely mistaken they argue they say that this is proof the fact that I had a stray thought that is a proof that my prayer was worthless she ELO this is their argument their false argument if I would have been diving properly I wouldn't have had this stray thought so they're killing themselves they hate themselves look what a terrible person I am my dominating is garbage because every time I dive in I have stray thoughts you're not getting it you're not getting it that's that it's the opposite it's the opposite the reason you're having straight thoughts when you're dominating is because you're pushing the animal Soul he knows he's being threatened right now he knows that you're about to get Transcendent and he's scared of that he wants you to be materialistic and pleasure seeking and selfish and he knows if you're going to dive him properly you're going to start maturing and giving that stuff up he doesn't want you to give that stuff up so he's pushing you he felt hey you started it that's what he said the animal Soul he doesn't think he's uh an antagonist the animal so from his perspective you started it the animal cells like Hey listen I was sitting here enjoying whatever and then you went you started with me started dominating you threatened me first so I pushed back um the altebra says I love this phrasing here the truth would be like their words which means like they would be right what under what conditions in in what alternate universe would they be right if you only had one soul S one soul that was the Same Soul that was darving as well as thinking the unwholesome thoughts so in that case I would say wow your soul is pretty bad at davening because it's not consistently dominating it Dobbins but then it lapses into thinking unwholesome thoughts but the truth is that's not that's not what how it is there are two Souls which are fighting each other in the person's mind s each one wants Total Domination of the Mind all the pure thoughts of Torah and and of Heaven Come From The Godly Soul because all the mundane thoughts are coming from the animal soul the only thing is they're not fighting an equal ground The Godly soul is invested within the animal soul The Godly Soul came down to this plane to be embodied and not only is it contained within the animal within the body but it's in a it's with a double covering it's yeah it's covered that Godly soul is contained inside the animal Soul which is contained inside the body in other words in order for The Godly soul to do anything down here in this physical plane to express itself I.E to do a Mitzvah it has to get both these layers to go along with it the animal Soul because the animal soul is the energy for the body if the animal still doesn't cooperate The Godly Soul can't do a Mitzvah because Mitzvahs are physical actions and it has to get the body the physical body the the vehicle to go along with it okay so it's like basically you're fighting somebody who's got you completely surrounded yeah you're asking if the animal Soul resists every time you activate The Godly Soul why doesn't the Godly Soul counteract and fight back every time the animal Soul starts up okay so you want to know the answer it does it does but that's precisely what we're describing here that The Godly soul is inside the animal Soul inside the body so it's sort of like muffled it's covered up so when it's pushing back it's like this faint voice this twinge of guilt that is easily pushed aside and then you go and do whatever your animal cell wanted yes The Godly Soul pushes back but we have to be very sensitive in order to hear it of course it pushes back but it's in it it's in a position of disadvantage down here in the embodied state yes we can and part of what we're doing by studying things like this is building sensitivity to our Godly Soul so that we do hear it uh um no I doubt it no no no only God is infinite no no but why are you asking that just stop okay okay okay let's let's finish the chapter he gives you a little scenario here imagine a guy who's trying to dive in vain and he says a wicked Heathen comes to talk to him to distract him so this is like a little cartoon scenario it's just a metaphor imagine you're trying to dive in and some Wicked heathen comes and starts yapping in your ear either just saying or maybe saying really nasty stuff it doesn't matter but his tactic is just to distract you from your Dominique here's clearly the course of action do not engage do not answer not good or bad don't try to befriend him don't try to yell at him make yourself like you are deaf and cannot hear or the kaimasha kosov and to fill that what is written Alton do not answer a fool according to his folly Penny gamato he'll drag you down you'll become a fool if you if you answer a fool you become a fool do not respond to your own stray thought do not try to engage it because somebody who wrestles with a filthy person Miss novel gamkane becomes filthy as well so even if you won you lost he made you filthy rather pretend like you don't hear it he doesn't say don't hear it because you you do hear it pretend as if you didn't hear it meaning give it that much emotional energy as if you didn't hear it just ignore just ignore it right the yes of amidst and just davenmore the main thing is to remember that the fact this is happening to you is not an indication that you're a spiritual wimp It's actually an indication that you're doing something very right and it's having an effect and you are accomplishing something and that's why you're getting resistance so just take it as a sign that if the if if the exercise burns then it's you're accomplishing something and don't give it attention okay why are you ruining the punchline did you read the end of this chapter how did you know that she's smart that's not smart that's like so okay let's find out there's a couple lines left okay if you're having a real hard time ignoring this stuff because it's really coming on strong you're just getting pounded over here as I then Shem you should humble yourself you cannot do this from a place of arrogance you have to do it from a place of humility you should think to don't say it because you're in the middle of praying but think in your mind you can telepathically communicate with God you can hear your thoughts that Hashem should have mercy on you with his abundant Mercy like a father who has Mercy on his own children who come from his brain I'm not going to explain all of that but if remember in chapter two you can go back to the recordings we explain the metaphor in chapter two basically it means that the child is an extension of the Father the child is the DNA of the father so the child is not a stranger to the Father the child is an extension of the father so you are an extension of Hashem and you're saying to Hashem look at us now look at me look at us look what's happening to us you Hashem a piece of your Radiance is embodied in me and it's being tortured right now compassion on your child meaning have compassion on me meaning have compassion on yourself Hashem will then have compassion and rescue you from the evil Waters which is the metaphorical way we describe these crazy thoughts for his sake he does it not for our sake for his sake because the portion of Hashem is literally his people so the fact that I'm having this this experience which is torture for me trying to pray and my my mind is just absolutely running wild it's not just happening to me it's happening to Hashem and I'm asking Hashem have compassion on yourself and quiet this down for us I'll go like this and this yeah it's just when we pray or any other in this context he's saying just while we're praying yeah yeah thank you for clarifying that yeah I said it but thank you for saying it again a negative thought means anything that is not expressly for the service of God yes because at first I was gonna ask something I'm asking bad words and that's my question okay I'm gonna say God isn't that in service of God so it's not considered wow wow wow wow okay so she says basically hold on a second we're trying to not get distracted from Dominic so we're ignoring the distracting thoughts but then if they don't go away he says you can talk to Hashem and say Hashem have mercy on us meaning me and you but that's distracting you from praying but you answered your own question I'll just say it more with more uh maybe more pithy than you said it but you did say it and that is how can you claim that talking to God is distracting you from talking to God right and now I'm going to talk to God about the fact I'm having trouble talking to God right but it's all talking to God so that that itself that's part of Prayer that is prayer that is prayer yeah one last question yeah you want to generalize this to other situations um he's saying specifically that it's in the context of prayer and and we have advice how to deal with this outside of prayer we we dealt with this in chapter 27. um and I don't want to rehash that but it's it's a slightly different way of responding to it what they both have in common is and then I'll finish with this they both chapter 27 and chapter 28 both take an experience that as a moral person you uh would identify as as negative or shameful or upsetting or disturbing and he reframes it and he says actually it's a healthy sign it's good don't don't fight it just I mean obviously don't give in to it God forbid I hope everyone understands we're not saying to give in to this stuff we're saying is just don't give it credence um focus on focus on Hashem and this itself is part of the experience it's all part of the experience of connecting tuition okay all right