Living Consciously

In Chapter 17, Ramchal descibes the way of attaining Tahara - purity. In this chapter he describes that one of the ways of attaining purity is by making sure that you take ample time to prepare to do mitzvot, so that you do them in the right frame of mind and with the right intentions. As a paradigm he describes the Chassidim Rishonim, who would spend an hour preparing themselves for davening.

For many mitzvot, preparation is an important step, but there are many times when we don't have an opportunity to take an hour to get into the right frame of mind. If someone's parent tells them to do something, they can't say "hold on for an hour while I meditate on how to best do the mitzvah of kibbud av va'em." They have to just act.

How can someone properly purify their actions in the more spontaneous things in life?

I heard a drasha once from Rabbi Bess in Los Angeles, who was discussing the story of Manoach, the father of Shimshon (I forget who he quoted in telling over this story). In short, an angel comes to Manoach's wife and she rushes home to fetch him to talk to the angel. He runs after her and the gemarrah comments that you see from this story that Manoach was an am haaretz (ignoramus) because he shouldn't have run behind his wife as it is not appropriate for men to walk directly behind women. Rabbi Bess questions how we can tell anything about Manoach from this story? There was a fiery angel waiting for him, and everything was crazy. He ran out as fast as he could and everything was presumably very chaotic. He answered that precisely at these chaotic times we can tell what a person is really all about. If he has worked on himself to such an extent, that certain behaviors becomes second-nature to him, then you know that even in a chaotic time, he will act appropriately. And if he hasn't properly internalized these messages, then even if he acts appropriately when things are calm, his true nature will shine through when things go crazy.

This is one approach to the question above; make sure that you work on yourself to such an extent, that you are always considered as if you are prepared for the mitzvot that come your way. To me, though, this approach lacks practical steps to actually implement it. In this chapter, Ramchal is trying to describe practical steps to purify our actions, and just saying "totally integrate purity into your being" falls short for me.

In Sefer HaYashar, the author discusses how to battle theological challenges that might come up in life. He suggests thinking through potential challenges that may come up in life in advance, so that when the challenge actually arises, you have the tools to deal with them. For example, there have been many people who have lost their faith through having financial difficulties. He suggests that it would be worth while for people who have enough money to think about how they would maintain their faith should they fall on hard times.

I think this idea can be extrapolated to the issue at hand. There are certain things we have to do which are, in their essence, spontaneous. We can anticipate these issues, however, and think about how we are going to approach them and handle them when they arise. We can then store that preparation in our back pockets, and when the situation actually comes up, we will already have the tools ready to deal with them. Obviously, the preparation will not be as fresh as having just sat meditating for an hour, but without having prepared in advance, we will be caught unawares, and who knows what actions will come out.

Refining the Heart

The next level is Tahara, "purity." As the Ramchal explains it, Tahara is reached when human behavior is free of any and all ulterior motives. We should do what we do "L'shma," because it is the right thing to do - it is God's Will. As long as a person's actions - Mitzvos included - are even partially motivated by a personal agenda, the act may be righteous, but it cannot be called "pure."  This, the author tells us, requires "refining" the heart, just as precious metals are refined of impurities.

How does Prishus lead to Tahara?

The answer is that Prishus is to Tahara what Zehirus is to Nekius. Just as avoiding sin (Zehirus) causes the person to lose interest in sinning (Nekius) (see chapter ten), so too avoiding the permitted pleasures (Prishus) changes the person inside to eventually lose interest in those things too (Tahara). The Mesilas Yesharim has thus described the process in which any person's heart can be slowly refined and his behavior purified, eventually reaching the point where he is unsullied by any motivation other than doing the right thing for its own sake, L'shma.

Amazingly, even at this exalted level, the Ramchal keeps hammering the "foolishness" angle. At the beginning of chapter 17 he writes that Tahara is "easy" for those who have succeeded in achieving the earlier levels, for when they contemplate the "lowliness" of the pleasures of this world they will be disgusted by them and recognize them as evil.  And towards the end of chapter 17, referring back to this contemplation, he describes a lack of Tahara as nothing other than "foolishness." The Ramchal reiterates this idea again in his final words on the subject: "A lack of preparation [for Tahara] will prevent the departure of the natural [human] foolishness which comes from our physical nature, and this person will thus ruin his divine service in his rottenness."

Harsh words indeed. But for the Ramchal everything always comes down to the wisdom, sincerity and maturity of our behavior. And, once again, it is as R. Pinchas ben Yair said: One good thing leads to another.