Ten Minutes of Meaning (Part 126): Aspiring for Purity - Mesillas Yesharim

good morning anne bocato welcome back to our weekly 10 minutes of meaning our study of mesilas sharom are charting a path towards a better you only 10 minutes at a time we're so grateful to our generous sponsors of the ten minutes of meeting for the entire year our dear friends kanye eleni grunstein in memory of ghani's beloved father mr aaron tambor aron ben yitzchak thank you so much for your generosity also this morning so honored and pleased to have wonderful sponsors andrea sidney jacob and noah zucker in honor of our dear friend nathan the great pilot who listens to us each and every week from around the world and has been learning together on wednesday mornings for a very long time nathan a very very happy birthday and also a huge thank you to dear friends merrill and jeremy strauss in memory of michael strauss of jeremy's father nishama shadow and aliyah the wonderful work the tremendous generosity you show on a regular basis we are starting a new chapter a new paragraph hashem we are up to chapter 16 which is the next step in our program of personal growth of our own recovery the rampart of the tzato hundreds of years ago based on the teachings of repentance charted this path this course to a better us it began with zeros mindfulness consciousness being present in every thought speech in all of our action don't just act instinctively intuitively don't act on a whim but rather be thoughtful do i want to say this do i want to do this do i want to think this zahirus how we can grow in our level of mindfulness then zeroes us after we've mastered or after we've improved in the area of caution and vigilance how can we unleash our enthusiasm our energy how can we pursue goals and make resolutions this reason us how can we live with alacrity how can we make goals and then go achieve them and celebrate them and then we moved over to the world of nichias how can we identify the pitfalls how can we eliminate and purge from ourselves the urge and the attitudes that are undermining that are sabotaging our own success and then we moved over to the world of precious how can we live with more discipline how can we not act based on urge but how can we be disciplined live not an ascetic life of abstinence for the sake of abstinence as an end or a goal in itself but rather how can we identify that which is essential from non-essential learn to live without the non-essential so now we can enjoy it in a way that we own it it doesn't own us and that brings us to the virtue of purity me the satara chapter 16 purity what is this notion this aspiration for purity it is talking not about our actions not about our deeds or behaviors but purity is the ambition and the aspiration to even be able to regulate to control to improve our thoughts our emotions our feelings our heart vazel matsano david we find this language with king david as it says and as swine made famous lave tahor bralee elokim leif tahor we asked hashem leif tahurbral elokim god create for me god you created for me a pure heart we're born with a pure heart and our heart that's getting contaminated our heart gets impacted our heart becomes molded and shaped by the reality by the world in which we live for some it becomes hardened for some it becomes cynical for some it becomes stained but we ask hashem for help to restore and return our heart to its purity to have a sense of an innocence and a purity so what is this goal what is the mission of this step what are we working on next says the purpose of this virtue a person should prevent that yet zahara from influencing our actions a person should be able to create a force field around ourselves a protective layer to have software running on our selves which is virus software there are all kinds of viruses that can infiltrate and the viruses are the eight sahara the temptation to look at or say or do or think the wrong thing in a way which sabotages our relationships our happiness our health our success there are viruses that try to penetrate so what is the virus software that we can live with that blocks and that protects and that knocks off it is this ambition to live with me this tahara it is to try to be pure to try to be pure to strive to be mindful of not only what we do and how we speak but even how we think because ultimately it's what we think and how we think that leads to what we do yes that all of our actions should be permeated all of our actions should be informed and inspired and guided by wisdom and by allah there are people driven by temptation by urge there are people who are animals animals in the form of humans who just listen and follow their animal instinct and their animal intuition and their animal-based desires and they live like animals and then we have those who strive to be at selamu kim to be godly we have the capacity to strive to stretch to reach to be more to live more to be higher and that's what we're striving for a purity in what we think and how we behave is this is relevant to action that involves physical material thing be precious even after we learn to grow greater in our discipline totally engage and only enjoy the world that which is essential not non-essential to consolidate to simplify to live essential life and to not be distracted and not be fragmented and divided by the non-essential a dying historical attire levovo or marshaw so we can condition our behavior and we can develop good habits but that doesn't say anything about who we are on the inside our mission in this chapter our mission in this next meda our mission as we try to grow in this next quality is not only to regulate and not only to be in control and discipline sovereign over our behavior over our actions but also the accompanying emotions and thoughts that go with them you know a person can have a hatred in their heart of someone else person can have this drive this insatiable appetite to gossip or slander or to get involved in some kind of controversy and they come on wednesday mornings they learn ten minutes of meaning they join us to learn messier so they find the strength in order to hold back the strength in order to filter what they say but you know they walk around inside as bubbling marinating inside stewing in that negative thought in that hatred or tension in that drive and desire to gossip or slander or hurt someone else so such a person stewing and marinating in such negativity even if for the time being they can regulate their behavior but nevertheless the impact of that virus and that's why we're working on tahara this quality this media is to be able to let go and let god it's to purify our heart and our mind it's to not only not misbehave in the world of action but it's also to not allow ourselves to go bad places in the world of thought and the world of feeling to not pay attention to personal uh ego to not pay attention and to not be drawn to temptation to be strategic and thoughtful and mindful in all that we do but not only to be to to the conclusion of regulating what we do but to be strategic and mindful also in regulating what and how we think and what and how we feel we sometimes forfeit or we concede that i'm not in charge of my thoughts and my feelings my actions i can be responsible for my actions god and the torah could tell me what to do but how i feel and how i think it just arises it just comes who can control it but this means to this quality this next media of tahara of purity is telling us that's not true we have the capacity don't forfeit don't concede don't let go we have the ability to regulate certain thoughts come in our mind we're able to shut the door they come knocking we don't have to answer and if that thought entered into the door of our mind we can expel it we can throw it out and close the door slam the door behind it we can choose to occupy that space with something else so there's no room it can't come in if we have a certain feeling if we marinate and if we stew in that feeling then it's going to grow and bubble up and bubble over until it comes out but if we get rid of it if we expel it if we replace it with another feeling i'm not suggesting that a person shouldn't realize their feelings it's healthy to have an outlet it's healthy for people who need therapy and support i'm not suggesting we stifle and suffocate feelings but we also can't allow ourselves to be guided by feelings that are unhealthy that are negative and that are self-sabotaging so we are in control don't forfeit and don't concede that capacity we have the ability okay tells us who had such control over his temptation his desire and thoughts the wisest of all men told us in all your ways know him and he will align your paths we could know god in all of our ways we could know god not only in our actions but in our thoughts and our desires we can aspire for holiness we're living in a world in a pop culture that says dress and act and look and think and behave and do whatever you want but we come from a people in a religion that says no we don't live for happiness we live for holiness for purity we have that capacity and it's not a coincidence that in fact a life of purity and holiness is what generates a life of happiness don't stop aspiring don't stop having this drive this goal we can live with this purity and we will continue to investigate and pursue exactly how a very happy birthday to nathan and then sharma of those for whom it is sponsored shaving aliyah rejoin us at 8 45 20 minutes for living with emunah and tonight 9 o'clock we go behind the beam until next time stay happy stay healthy and stay holy