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is to ask Hashem to give him will: “Give us the heart and will to in him like fire, and control him. Even if he succeeds in overcoming people, even from people who recognize the importance of intent.
fear heaven. Give us the heart and will to love Hashem. Give us the them, he remains in great danger, because one day the genie will They know that everything, including inner change, depends upon
heart and will to emerge from all cravings. Give us the heart and come out of the bottle. That being the case, why don’t people it, but they do not know which intention is being spoken of. The
will to truly serve You.” If a person does not devote time to this seek a fundamental solution? Why do they persist in gambling intention that has the power to change a person internally is that
every day, that is a sign that he does not want it. Then the days dangerously with their lives? You might be a Torah scholar, living which that causes him to set aside time for prayer in which he
and years will pass as he remains with all of his ingratitude and all a spiritual life, so that outwardly you appear to be far from coarse focuses upon a single goal until he attains it. We must set aside time
of his cravings. and physical cravings. But in the desert the children of Israel lived to want.
lives no less spiritual than yours. Do not think that there are no
The Essence of the Work more cravings and no more dangers. There are cravings—it is just The Secret of Life
that they are sleeping lightly. If you look within yourself, you will
Even a person who devotes significant time every day to personal see that they are still in their full force and might. Don’t you have In The Wisdom of Rabbi Nachman (Sichot Haran 51), Rabbi
work must know that the essence of that work is to take one topic the desire to gaze at forbidden sights? Don’t you gain pleasure Nachman of Breslov states that “the principal factor is the will,”
and invest at least a half an hour of intentions and prayers on it from the many instances that you look around? Doesn’t superficial and he explains: “Although everyone desires and wants to serve
every day. attractiveness—“false is grace and vain is beauty” (Proverbs 31:30)— Him, not all intentions are equal. There are many gradations of
still attract you? If so, know that you are in great danger, and you intent. Even in one person, at every new moment there are great
I learned this fundamental principle from my own experience. I must do the work of the will. fluctuations in his levels of intent.” That is to say, the following
can testify that for many years, every day I would dedicate much question is implied: if you say that the principal factor is intent,
more than an hour to work on myself, to engage in a personal Make a personal accounting. Examine yourself until you know why are there people who do not succeed and achieve? Certainly,
accounting and in personal prayers—yet I did not see tangible what your true situation is. And then … get to work! You must they also have intent. The answer is: yes, everyone has intent, but
changes in myself. I did see improvements, but not anything arise to do the work of the will. Spend half an hour each day the secret of life depends upon the nature of that intent: upon
essential, such as completely nullifying a craving or an evil trait—an entreating the Creator of the universe to eradicate your negative its amount, strength and firmness. As Rabbi Nachman says: “The
actual transformation. Only when, with Hashem’s help, I began to desires, to entirely extirpate all of your attraction to sensuality in all principal factor is the will. A person’s will to come close to Hashem,
dedicate a half hour every day to want only one thing did I of its forms. If you do not do this, the years will pass by and you may He be blessed, must always be strong and firm” (ibid.). Which
begin to see fundamental changes in myself. Only then did I begin will not change. And if one day you find yourself in situations that type of intent is of principal importance? That which is strong, firm,
to attain achievements and change inwardly. you never dreamed that you might come to, that is only because and consistently unwavering.
you never worked on yourself fundamentally. There are only two
And I saw the same thing in my students. Although they devoted possible paths: when a person works, he changes; and when a And the principal element upon which everything depends is that
a significant amount of time every day to personal prayers, they person does not work, he does not change. a person must set aside time to focus on his intent without allowing
nevertheless saw almost no progress. But when they began to focus his mind to be distracted—because if a person does not connect
on one issue only and to pray for it every day, they saw changes If every member of the generation of the desert would have done himself to his intent and connect his intent to him, it will be a mere
from week to week and from month to month in a way that the work of the will, focusing on emerging from sensual lust by momentary thought that will fly up into the air. If a person does
astonished them. They had not believed that it would be possible to praying half an hour each day for 40 years, he would have nullified not recognize the importance of planting his will within himself
achieve such fundamental changes and gain such help from heaven and entirely disconnected himself from sensual lust, and the properly, it will not be able to strike roots in his heart and change
with such easy work. enticements of the daughters of Midian would not have constituted him. That can only occur when a person sets aside time to focus his
any kind of a test for him whatsoever. Even if such a person were not intention. Only such consistency and stubbornness in proceeding
As I contemplated this more, I understood that the generation of entirely cleansed from his lusts, because he had not yet managed to upon this path express a strong intent, and they themselves
the desert had also dedicated time to personal work and personal eradicate them, he would nevertheless not have stumbled, because strengthen a person’s intent. A person who does this every day is
prayers. Immediately after the giving of the Torah, the children “in the way that a person wishes to go, he is led.” And since this certainly bolstered with a forceful and firm will, and eventually he
of Israel were commanded to engage in the practice of prayer. person had stood in prayer for half an hour every day and sincerely will be able to transform his intent to deed, literally and actually.