R. Yisrael taught that preaching to one's self what is right or wrong is not sufficient for personal transformation. Intellectual awareness,[i] and even meditation, [ii] is only the first step but Man must be confronted at all levels of his being. Thus, the way of mussar is to engage the heart. Therefore, R. Yisrael’s method of hispaalus is to learn mussar with excitement and passion.
In Telz the theory was the same but their method was different. R. Yosef Leib Bloch advocated a calmer emotional arousal. He writes:
“A person should not force himself to learn with enthusiasm. He should not try to coerce his thoughts and energies towards this, because this way is unnatural. Furthermore, when someone "pulls" the enthusiasm forcibly ... he won't succeed, because the other forces and emotions which reside within him won't let one of the forces loose to be aroused and exalted by itself; they won't leave it alone. At this time - more than any other - the yetzer (impulse) that disturbs and hinders thought, stands vigilantly on guard so as not to allow the exalted emotion in man to achieve the pure, inner arousal which this sacred study ought to bring.
“So it is: man does not have the power to arouse his good feelings by forcing his nature; he cannot detach and hold the feeling of enthusiasm and excitement just in order to learn Mussar; he cannot push away at that time all that lives within him, to drive the yetzer from his heart...
“But rather this is the way to learn Mussar: The whole man, with all of his capacities and feelings, the man -as he is - should learn Mussar. He begins to learn calmly and patiently, with a sweet voice and profound observation; he hears every word he utters, examines it and feels it. The study, together with the pleasant and stimulating melody, energizes and brings the whole man to heartfelt inner enthusiasm... Then the whole man becomes exalted - his whole essence, the man with everything in him...”[iii]
In a different place[iv] R. Bloch expands on this approach:
“The most subtle impressions on a person, even if they are hidden from him, are very important…The goal is achieved specifically through these things which do not inspire much emotional arousal (hispaalus) and remain as subtle impressions since these reach to the most subtle “veins” of the soul and arouse them. When we do things more impactful and more identifiable – even when it seems to us that they make a great impression on the person and brings him to great inspiration and emotion – they do not, in truth, make such a great impression. This is because they make an great external impression which first moves the most petty aspects (kochos) of a person, then the impression fills the rest of the person, until the impression does not reach the higher and more subtle aspects of the person.”
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[i] See R. Kook, Mussar Avicha, for a criticism of hispaalus.
[ii] See Ramchal, Derech Eitz Chayim concerning the power of hisbonenus.
[iii] Shiurei Da’as, Limmud ha’Mussar.
[iv] Shiure Da’as, Nishmas ha’Torah.
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See also Michtav meiEliyahu vol I's guide to learning Mussar, using Mesilas Yesharim pereq 1 as an example. It would seem Kelm too advocated an intellectualized approach.
ReplyDeleteThe way I understood Kelm's approach is to gain an attachment and baalus to what is taught via learning it until one finds one own's perspective, something they brought and added to the text. Could be a chiddush, or it could be a personal applicability. Once it becomes "my maamar", it becomes much more important to me, and thus internalized.
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Rav Avraham Yitzchak Bloch, in the name of his father, writes that change occurs through learning maamarei Chazal b'iyun. Any external forcing of hispaalus may awaken not just the positive kochos, but the negative ones as well. Learning Chazal b'iyun, b'ameilus, brings out only the positive kochos.
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