The World’s Best Computer

The human brain is the greatest computer in the universe. It has virtually unlimited memory, unlike human-created computer memory. Everything that a person ever saw or heard is contained in the brain’s memory bank. Therefore, such forbidden sounds and sights as anger, heresy, slander, violence and debauchery can never be dislodged from the brain. Furthermore, a person acts in accordance with the contents of the brain. If he sees horror movies or is exposed to extreme fear, then the image of fear will be strongly engraved on his brain. He’ll readily feel anxiety and panic because of a violent memory, whether from a book, a movie or an actual experience. The same goes with other lusts and emotions.

On the other hand, if he uploads Torah, prayers, the ethics of our sages, and the concepts of emuna to the brain, his reactions in turn will be in accordance to this positive content. Such a person is doing himself a great favor and assuring his mental, emotional and even physical health and well-being. His “computer” is loaded with everything needed to serve Hashem and live a happy life with inner peace.

Our choice is what content are we going to input in our brain’s memory bank; this choice is frequently a very fine line. The content that gains access to the brain determines a person’s thoughts. Therefore, one must make every effort to monitor everything that the portals of the brain – the eyes and ears – are exposed to. Better yet, one should avoid negative influences and expose one’s brain to positive influences only – words of Torah and ethics, voices speaking emuna, and melodies of holiness. It’s so important to expose our eyes only to things that are conducive to serving Hashem, for any image that becomes engraved on the brain can never be removed. After a person’s 120 years on earth, all his brain’s contents are removed and the Heavenly Court shows him everything he ever saw, thought, spoke, heard and did. The brain’s content serves as the evidence in his favor or against him, so he should spare no effort in exposing his brain to wholesome content only.

If you have negative content in your brain, don’t worry – you can reformat! Just as one can re-program or re-format a personal computer from time to time, one must also re-format the brain, every single day. Daily personal prayer re-formats the brain, for in personal prayer, one can attain the power to clean one’s mind and to invoke a renewed Divinely programmed vitality.

This is what the prophet refers to when he says (Isaiah 40:31), “Those who hope in Hashem will have renewed strength; they will grow wings like eagles, they will run and not tire, they will walk and not be weary.” In other words, anyone who earnestly puts his hope and trust in Hashem, prays to Him and believes in Him, will come to rejuvenate himself and receive new vitality. His mind becomes crystal clear as if it was re-formatted anew, and all thoughts fall into place. His limbs even function better, with no fatigue, for when one rectifies his brain, he rectifies his entire being.

Once a person realizes the critical need to guard the brain, since everything becomes engraved onto it, he naturally becomes stronger in the area of guarding his eyes. Just as we would do everything in our power to guard our super-sensitive eyes from not only harmful physical objects, like even a grain of sand, we must guard our eyes from any potentially harmful image that could lead to a brain-contaminating lewd or negative thought.

The more a person fills his brain with holy content, the more he forces the impure content into the “closed vault” of the mind, those thoughts pushed aside that have no access to a person’s consciousness. The opposite also holds true – the more a person fills his brain with impure, unholy and content, the more he forces the holy content into the “closed vault” of the mind. Spiritually speaking, this is the war between Esau (internet, iPhone, movies, etc.) and Jacob (Chumash, Gemara, tales of tzaddikim, prayer, etc.) This is the Kingdom of Edom and Ishmael fighting the Kingdom of Israel, so one must be on guard for the enemy is a fierce one.

Despite my own minuscule spiritual stature, I can make the following promise with a full guarantee: anyone who devotes a half-hour daily to personal prayer, asking Hashem to help him guard his eyes and maintain personal holiness, will succeed in purifying his mind and heart, and will traverse this world unscathed. Surely, anyone who devotes a daily half-hour of personal prayer to personal holiness and especially guarding his eyes won’t be so foolish as to keep an iPhone in his pocket, for this is like an open pit in the middle of a public thoroughfare. And, if a person needs the internet for his work and livelihood, he’ll certainly have a strong filter that protects against undesirable websites. How can a person pray to Hashem daily and beg, “Don’t bring me to temptation,” when he brings himself to temptation by reading and watching media that have no place in an observant home?

King David begged Hashem (Psalm 119:37), “Avert my eyes from seeing futility; give me vitality in Your ways.” We must all plead to Hashem to remove any forbidden sights from our eye shot, and to help us avoid seeing anything that blocks Divine light from us. We receive our true vitality in “Hashem’s ways”, which are Torah, prayer, and mitzva observance. These include the pleasantness of connecting to true tzaddikim, visiting the grave sites of our sages, listening to melodies of upright musicians, enjoying Sabbath and holidays and developing our own personal connection with Hashem; these are the paths to true joy in life.

But to be truly happy, one must avoid the chocolate-covered poison of television, internet and movies, all of which might be enjoyable in the short-term, but devastating to the soul in the long run. Only Hashem’s path leads us to genuine energy and vitality. This is the path that we should all be fortunate enough to follow, amen!