|
Reading Room
ViewPoint
The Process of Soul-Searching:
The Four Rs
February 1999
The following ViewPoint
was intended to provoke thought and discussion.
The process of
soul-searching is necessary for each individual Noachide. Soul-searching
allows the Noachide to attain an introspective view of one's own personal
world. This soul-searching, or spiritual reckoning, must penetrate every
aspect of one's world. It encompasses the whole gambit of one's existence.
Broad generalities, major principles, and even minute detail and items
that seem to be of lesser importance are exposed to the process of soul-searching.
In general terms, there are what can be classified as the Four Rs of
the process of soul-searching, which are essential elements of the process
of soul-searching that man must utilize. They are:
- Review
- Recognition
- Repentance
- Remedy
The criteria established
that gives relativity to soul-searching are the values given to man
by Hashem; the mitzvot (commandments) define what is good and
what is evil.
Review
If the person who is soul-searching does not subjectively review his
own world, then the process will be flawed, and of no use to the participant.
Justification is not the emphasis of soul-searching. A thorough soul-searching
examines what lies beyond the apparently justifying motive; the substantive
results of going beyond the facade of justification delineate the actual
root value that a person has set for himself as a fundamental principle
of existence. This principle was set in motion by the person (either
consciously or subconsciously) as the result of an action which occurred
previously in that person's life.
Recognition
Resulting from the intense review of one's own world, recognition of
offense takes place. The offense is determined by its action which results
in its dismal failure to meet the standard set by the mitzvot
that G-d commanded. These exacting standards are incumbent upon all
non-Jews, and are known as the Sheva Mitzvot B'nai No'ach, the
Seven Laws of the Sons of Noah.
Recognizing the
transgression and addressing it is the imperative accorded to the individual.
This stage in the process of soul-searching is perhaps the most difficult,
for it is here that many individuals would seek to justify their transgressions.
Repentance
Ascending above the transgression is the penitent individual. The point
of turning from the selfish and lustful desires of human want to the
seeking of the fulfillment of the mitzvot, or G-dly want, is
the moment of repentance (teshuvah). When a sense of despair
is reached (as a result of a sin that preceeded the despair) man has
the possibility of leaping over his past. This is the only way that
the past can be nullified, and this can only be accomplished by the
individual who is focused and following the way of G-d.
Remedy
Correcting the faulty mechanisms that cause man to blunder his way through
the complexities of life begin in the desperation of repentance. Only
then can tikun, correction, change the significance of the past.
Now man must build and balance the completeness of his life. Certain
obligations are necessary to complete this balanced picture. The sadness
of the past actions is not dwelt on by the individual. However tragic
the acts were, the ascension beyond them makes no room for dwelling
in, or returning to, the painful memories of the past. The sparks of
holiness that were captured by the forces of evil are restored and transformed
to forces of good.
Soul-searching
is never finished, it is woven into the pathway to G-d.
Back to the Reading
Room
|
