PART FOUR V 5 REVISED [05.02.2017] BUILDING A Sanctuary In The Heart HISBODDEDUS AND RATZON MEDITATION & WILLPOWER A STRUCTURED PROGRAM FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH UNEDITED SPECIAL INTERNET EDITION Bilvavi Part Four V5 | 1 Editor’s Introduction ______________________________________________ 6 Author’s Introduction _____________________________________________ 7 PART 1 Reflecting ________________________________________________ 9 1.1 | Recognizing Our Father In Heaven _____________________________ 10 The Common Goal of Every Jew __________________________________________________ 10 “We Are Orphans With No Father” ________________________________________________ 10 How To Change Our Attitude ____________________________________________________ 11 Recognizing Hashem In Our Life __________________________________________________ 13 1.2 | Building Ourselves __________________________________________ 15 Introduction __________________________________________________________________ 15 Practice What You Learn ________________________________________________________ 15 Inspiring Yourself vs. Building Yourself _____________________________________________ 16 How To Gain From Inspiration ____________________________________________________ 17 1.3 | The Importance of Reflection __________________________________ 19 There Must Be A Basis __________________________________________________________ 19 The Ramchal’s Amazing Advice ___________________________________________________ 19 Deciding To Practice This ________________________________________________________ 20 What To Do During This Time ____________________________________________________ 21 The Hour That is the Basis for the Rest of the Day ____________________________________ 22 1.4 | Making A Self-Accounting ____________________________________ 24 Always Remembering the Goal ___________________________________________________ 24 Making Time for Self-Accounting _________________________________________________ 24 Bring Your Life to a Halt _________________________________________________________ 25 What To Think About During This Time ____________________________________________ 26 “For We Are Your Servants” _____________________________________________________ 28 Teshuvah ____________________________________________________________________ 29 Daily Reflection _______________________________________________________________ 30 Reflecting Throughout The Day ___________________________________________________ 31 1.5 | Calmly Detaching From This World _____________________________ 33 Before Reflection, First We Must Be Very Happy and Calm Inside _______________________ 33 Step One: Physical Calmness _____________________________________________________ 34 Bilvavi Part Four V5 | 2 Step Two: Calmly Letting Go of This World__________________________________________ 34 The Real Reason Why People Fear Death ___________________________________________ 35 This World Has Nothing To Offer__________________________________________________ 36 The True Test: What Does Hashem Want? __________________________________________ 38 A Life of Giving ________________________________________________________________ 39 1.6 | Constantly With Hashem _____________________________________ 41 The Secret to Success: Be Constant ________________________________________________ 41 Reflect About the Emptiness of this World __________________________________________ 42 Think What You Are About to Do _________________________________________________ 42 Daven Before You Daven ________________________________________________________ 43 Daven About Your Learning ______________________________________________________ 44 Davening For Every Last Detail In Your Life _________________________________________ 45 Connecting All Of Our Life With Hashem ___________________________________________ 46 1.7 | Building An Inner Life of the Heart _____________________________ 48 Recognizing in the Heart the “True Good” __________________________________________ 48 The Beginning of Avodas Hashem: Establish Yourself on the Good Path __________________ 49 Revealing the Inner Point of the Heart _____________________________________________ 50 “Always Repent A Day Before You Die” ____________________________________________ 51 The Next Step _________________________________________________________________ 53 Will We Choose This On Our Own – Or Will We Be Forced? ____________________________ 54 Our Reward In The Next World ___________________________________________________ 54 1.8 | Aspirations for Greatness _____________________________________ 56 Greatness – A Gift that Comes After Much Effort ____________________________________ 56 We Must Be Patient In Our Avodas Hashem _________________________________________ 58 Realizing That It’s All From Hashem _______________________________________________ 60 Only A Stubborn Person Is Successful ______________________________________________ 61 1.9 | Temimus: Simple Earnestness _________________________________ 63 Our Tefillos Need Temimus/Simple Earnestness _____________________________________ 63 Learning Torah with Temimus/Simple Earnestness ___________________________________ 64 Temimus Brings D’veykus _______________________________________________________ 65 The Way To “Talk in Learning” With Others _________________________________________ 66 Understanding the Torah Is Only Possible By Connecting To Its Giver ____________________ 66 Bilvavi Part Four V5 | 3 The Proper Attitude To Have Towards Learning Torah ________________________________ 67 1.10 | The Inner Point Is The Simple Earnestness ______________________ 70 Our Focus In Learning __________________________________________________________ 70 Serving Hashem, But Not For Ourselves ____________________________________________ 70 Dedicating Your Learning ________________________________________________________ 72 1.11 | The Very Nature Of The Soul Is Simple Earnestness _______________ 73 Beyond The Inspiration _________________________________________________________ 73 Better To Be Simple Than To Be Cunning ___________________________________________ 73 Bargaining Ruins Our Temimus/Simple Earnestness __________________________________ 74 Small Lies That Ruin Temimus/Simple Earnestness ___________________________________ 75 Temimus Is Our Essence ________________________________________________________ 75 Bitachon _____________________________________________________________________ 76 Temimus Solves Self-Consciousness _______________________________________________ 77 1.12 | Renewal To Our Prayer _____________________________________ 78 Renewal – Returning To The Root of the Soul _______________________________________ 78 Renewal of Prayer _____________________________________________________________ 78 Eighteen Separate Blessings, Or One Common Yearning? ______________________________ 80 “If Only A Person Would Pray The Entire Day” _______________________________________ 81 All Our Ruchniyus Is Based on Tefillah _____________________________________________ 82 Davening When You Go To The Doctor _____________________________________________ 82 “From the Narrow Straits, I Call Out To Hashem” ____________________________________ 83 1.13 | Beginning To Act Lishmah ___________________________________ 85 “Die Before You Die” ___________________________________________________________ 85 “All your actions shall be for the sake of Heaven” ____________________________________ 86 “I believed, for I spoke” _________________________________________________________ 87 Example - Tefillin ______________________________________________________________ 88 The Basis of the Day ____________________________________________________________ 89 To Please Our Father ___________________________________________________________ 90 Davening to Hashem To Remove The Ulterior Motives ________________________________ 91 1.14 | Reviewing The Basic Goal ___________________________________ 93 An Inner Point That Unifies Every Detail ____________________________________________ 93 Bilvavi Part Four V5 | 4 You Can’t Tire From The Purpose of Life ____________________________________________ 93 The Basic, Fundamental Point ____________________________________________________ 95 Siyata D’Shmaya (Heavenly Assistance) To Fight the Evil Inclination _____________________ 97 Three Levels of Recognition ______________________________________________________ 98 “Taste and See That Hashem Is Good” _____________________________________________ 99 PART 2 Developing Your Ratzon/Willpower ________________________ 102 2.1 | Your True Will _____________________________________________ 103 Nothing Stands In The Way Of Your Inner Will – When You Reveal It ___________________ 103 The Test To Uncover Your Ratzon ________________________________________________ 105 Revealing The Inner Ratzon - By Being Alone _______________________________________ 105 The Evil Inclination Cannot Defeat Your Inner Ratzon ________________________________ 106 Davening To Reveal Your Inner Ratzon ____________________________________________ 107 Knowing Our Direction In Life ___________________________________________________ 109 2.2 | Opening Your Ratzon _______________________________________ 111 Ratzon Is A Constant Power ____________________________________________________ 111 The Purpose of An Unfulfilled Ratzon _____________________________________________ 112 Ratzon – The Basis of Everything We Want to Build _________________________________ 113 How Important It Is To Have A Ratzon for Ruchniyus ________________________________