Pulling His Own Plug

Part 4 of “A Holy Nation”
 
RECAP: In the last section, we learnt that spilling seed is the most serious transgression in Torah, because the energy of this 'spilled seed' is captured by the forces of evil, with terrible ramifications for the person who caused this to happen, and the world at large.
 
Jewish law
 
In the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law, it's written: "[Spilling seed] is the most severe transgression in Torah."
 
In the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (or Abridged Code of Jewish Law), it's written: "One who spills seed not only commits a major sin, but also places himself in a state of excommunication. It is considered as if he kills a person."
 
Why? Because he 'killed' the spiritual potential of billions of souls, who are now trapped by the forces of evil.
 
Sexual impurity is a very big reason that people feel 'disconnected' from themselves and from G-d and from good, because the evil forces that are created from 'spilled seed' attach to a person at the level of daat, (which is represented by the neck) which is the 'bridge' where the physical meets the spiritual. It's like pulling the plug from the socket – disconnecting the soul from holiness.
 
To put it another way, these evil forces punish the people who created them by blocking G-d out at the level of the neck, cutting them off from any 'higher' spiritual concept of G-d, or emuna. These people are then only alive 'from the neck down', and live lives of unbridled physicality and materialism, cut off from any connection to their soul, or higher self.
 
On page 23 of Holy Nation, it's written: "All the pain, afflictions and challenges of this world come from a lack of daat. Daat refers to recognizing Hashem, His constant supervision in our lives, and understanding our true purpose."
 
Why the mad rush?
 
The Breslev Research Institute has published a book, Anatomy of the Soul, based on Rebbe Nachman's writings, which explains the intrinsic link between physical illnesses and soul sicknesses.
 
On page 181 of that book, it's written: "Daat is the force of the present, the here and now, where we interact with the forces around us. It is only through Daat that we truly become aware of the G-dliness that surrounds us and permeates us."
 
Let's pause for a moment, and think about why so many people can't just 'be' these days. Nearly all of us are rushing around, or 'keeping busy', or constantly texting, or emailing, or talking on the mobile, or Skyping, or surfing the web. Why? Because we can't just 'be' in the present.
 
But the present is the only moment we really have, which is why so many of us feel so empty, unreal and disconnected. We can't access the present, because our Daat is blemished. Once again, this happens either because of sexual impropriety, or a lack of emuna, or (usually) both together.
 
Rebbe Nachman's describes today's world (200 year's ago…):
 
"When Daat is blemished, compassion is diminished, and kindness is replaced by cruelty. People in this state become insensitive to the feelings of others, and negligent towards property. Damage and abuse become commonplace. Worse still, compassion is totally misplaced, so that one's compassion is often spent – and wasted – on those who are unworthy." (Rebbe Nachman, Likutey Moharan, II 8:2)/
 
We live in a world where 'Saving the Whales' is more important than saving millions of starving Africans; where graffiti and litter are every where, and where horrible, abusive, insane people are popping up all over the place. We're so used to this terrible state of affairs that it doesn't even occur to us that it could be different – but if people returned to a more sexually pure lifestyle, it could literally change overnight.
 
Now we have a better understanding of the scope of the problem, in the next section we'll start to look at what we can do to fix it.
 
To be continued
 
 
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Check out Rivka Levy's new book The Happy Workshop based on the teachings of Rabbi Shalom Arush