Knowledge is Power -- G-dly Knowledge is Super Power.
“It will be when you come to the Land that G-d gives you…you
will be happy & joyous, thankful & grateful with all the good that G-d your G-d has given
you….”
The way to begin any day, the first commandment when coming
into the land is – BE HAPPY & JOYOUS. How can we put ourselves into the
mood of Vesomachta – to be cheerful, by looking around and discovering the so
many reasons to be grateful and thankful in life.
When we eat, G-d didn’t have to grant us the enjoyment and
pleasure involved. When we go to work and/or come back, G-d didn’t have to make
the birds chirping or the beautiful sunset, and yet that is part of the
wonderful miracle of a regular day in life.
The trick of the evil inclination is to put blinders on the
eyes of your soul so you persist in focusing
on the little that still needs improvement while you ignore and forget
to pay any real attention for all that
there is to be thankful and grateful for.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745 – 1813) explains in his
seminal book Likutei Torah on the verse, “…because you did not serve G-d in joy
and in good spirit …..” therefore all the punishments and curses come into our
lives.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman asks. Why such severe punishments as
reckoned in the Bible, just for not being happy? And he explains the following.
It is written in the holy book of the Zohar that G-d mimics
our actions and behavior. When we are sad, G-d is sad. When we exude happiness
– up in heaven, G-d so to say, is also happy. Almost like when a parent sees
their child is happy, they too become happy.
When someone is happy it is like an oxycodone surge that
relieves and eliminates and actually cures pain. When someone is happy the
negative is overshadowed by the happiness (because between the two, happiness
is light, which is way stronger than the sadness and darkness, as in the verse
“a little bit of light chases away much darkness”) and the darkness is severely
reduced and/or entirely eliminated.
When there is joy above, all the negativity that may be
accumulated against this individual is ignored, overshadowed, reduced and
sometimes entirely eliminated.
When someone finds the reason to be happy, because they know
and feel in their heart that all that happens is always for the good, and/or
they have faith and trust in reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, (they
can already see and feel it now) the natural consequence in his/her life,
because this is the way G-d created the world, he/she is not punished for their
sins and past bad choices, because the joy in heaven has erased all that.
However when there is no joy, automatically there isn’t this
special elixir to protect him from the negativity that he himself unfortunately
created in the past and so automatically the punishment finds its way to where
it was already waiting to go to.
Simcha - Joy and happiness – a cheerful disposition to life,
is the most powerful shield and protection from all that is negative.
“Simcha – joy, breaks all boundaries.” The flower of life,
the soul of G-d inside, opens and blooms. When someone is depressed, oy
vey…..it’s just the opposite…..the poor flower shrivels up into and unto
itself.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel, the Tzemach Tzedek (1789 -1866) says.
“A person must be very cognizant of his/her thoughts that they are always only
happy and upbeat thoughts. He must be very careful to avoid speaking words that
carry in them a spirit of sadness, depression and darkness. (Because words
alone affect a person’s emotions). A
person should (always) conduct himself as if he is filled with happiness and
exhibit actions (posture) of Joy and happiness and eventually this will
permeate inside of him and it will become his true feelings inside. “
Rabbi Shneur Zalman explains. When a person does a Mitzva,
any mitzvah, this is a tremendous source of joy in one’s life because, the
person gets to connect and unite his soul eternally with the essence of G-d who
commanded and derives satisfaction from the performance of this Mitzvah. “The
commandments of G-d are straightforward; they bring Joy to one’s heart.”
Rabbi Bunim of Pshischa (1765-1827) said. “The joyous heart
that seeks G-d…” The nature of a person
is that when he is seeking, he is unhappy until he finds it. In the case of
someone who is on a journey of reaching G-dliness and more G-dliness, even on
the journey, there is already great inner happiness and joy.”
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