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70 | A New Light
took a few small topics and dedicated about ten minutes to each
one, and the like. In truth, this is the only way to progress and
change. Thus, he acquired a wonderful tool for life, a tool that
helped him a great deal in his marriage and in all his struggles, and
a tool that will help him for the rest of his life.
That student began a new custom: to celebrate the anniversary of
the date on which he had heard my lecture on anger as his spiritual
birthday. On that day, he comes to bless me and thank me, and
he tells me, “It is true that I was born on day so-and-so, but I only
began living after I heard this recording! Therefore, this is my true
birthday. This is the day on which I really began to live. And I
thank Hashem with all my heart for having given me such a terrible
evil trait, because that is the only reason that I began to live with
faith. Thus, the trait of anger didn’t destroy my life, but it saved my
life. Because of my anger, I began to live!”
This is the story in brief. In the context of our topic, we can
now consider, see easily and understand what changed him. Not
his good will alone changed him, because even before he began to
dedicate time to pray, he had an intense desire to change, but that
intention by itself did not change him. He suffered greatly, and he
went to advisors and rabbis, he learned books, he made efforts. But
that did not change him. What did change him? The time that he
dedicated every day to express his will in personal prayers to the
Creator of the world—that is what changed him!
As a result of my contemplating the pathway of my own life and
tracing the progress of my students, the secret of life—which is the
secret of the Torah and the secret of free choice—was revealed to
me. What is that secret? The secret is the will. The will determines
and influences everything in a person’s life. Nothing can stand
before the will. By means of the power of the will, everyone can
attain whatever he wants. But if that is so, why doesn’t everyone
succeed? Certainly, everyone wants wealth, happiness, a good life,
and so forth. Certainly, everyone wants faith, tranquility, good
traits, and so on. Why doesn’t everyone attain them?
The answer is simple and clear-cut: because people do not set
aside time to want. That is the principal secret that is hidden from
Chapter Three: | 91
wanted nothing at all to do with sensuality, heaven would certainly
and assuredly have guarded him from that sin.
The Writing Is on the Wall
And if this were so in the generation of the desert, it is a million
times more the case in our generation: that unless we invest half
an hour a day in the work of the will to ask Hashem to distance
us from sensuality and licentiousness and to help us attain holiness
and the ability to guard our eyes, we will not have the ability to
choose freely and withstand tests! There is no necessity to expand
on the details, because everyone can see with his own eyes the
human condition in regard to matters of holiness. Does anyone
delude himself into thinking that he is inoculated? The opposite is
true. In our generation, the unleashing of the drives and lusts of the
body has penetrated even into the most guarded circles, until the
self-control of every individual, without exception, is in a constant
state of dangerous descent. The truth is written on the wall, in hot
and bubbling blood, and it cries out: a person who does not work
on holiness in this area is liable to abandon everything in a single
moment and fall from every level!
In our generation, the evil inclination does not need to work hard
in order to persuade people to sin. It has brought about the internet
and all of the various devices that incinerate people’s lives and drag
them down to the lowest level of Sheol. Everyone runs after these
devices and pays money in order to sin and not have a moment
free to do things that are truly good. The evil inclination is simply
a genius. He has upgraded himself to the high-tech generation. Its
devices do his work for him, and he can rest. Therefore, the evil
inclination has gone on pension….
This is not the place to detail all of the problems of the
generation, and a word to the wise is sufficient. But this is not
merely theoretical, but a painful reality. We see and hear again and
again about fine and holy families that were shattered into pieces
because of the temptations of sensuality. People about whom you
never would have believed it possible have fallen tragically into
realms of uncleanness, and smashed all of their children and family