Bilvavi Part 2 - Chapter 11 Divine Providence

"Strength and Joy are in His Place

We will summarize the most practical points discussed until now.

One point that a person must work on is the remembrance of the Creator.  We explained at length that one must contemplate this literally thousands of times.  One must contemplate and then say, "Who created this object?" and so on.  Throughout the day, at first, every half hour, and then, more frequently, one should articulate, "There is a Master of the World," until this truth is fixed and exposed in one's soul.

The second point is that one must live with the reality that Hashem is nearby.  In the previous chapter, we elaborated on how this can be accomplished.  The ultimate of that level is, as we said, where one is in a state where there can be no sadness, because he always has the "company" of Hashem.  He never feels lonely.  "Strength and joy are in [Hashem's] place, and Hashem is everywhere, so at all times and in all places, one can sustain the clear awareness that Hashem is nearby, and naturally live with this strength and joy.

To reach this level, one must first feel a love for Hashem that is very passionate and alive, as will be explained.  When one senses that Hashem is with him, and he has a true inner love for Hashem, with no ulterior motives, one can indeed live with the sense of "strength and joy are in His place," with no feelings of loneliness whatsoever.  But in truth, this level can only perfectly be attained in the World to Come.

We must be clear about this, to avoid any error:  If one only feels Hashem's presence, but there is no love, one cannot live with joy!  You need both together, a burning love for Hashem and the recognition of His presence.  With Hashem's help, when we will talk about loving Hashem, we will return to this concept.

The Faith in Hashem's Existence and His Involvement

In the beginning of our words, we mentioned emunah with regard to the existence of the Creator.  In truth, even when we speak of Divine Providence, the holy works refer to it as emunah, but one must have faith in His involvement.

With each thing, there is the entity itself, and there are the actions it can accomplish.  For example, with a car, there is the ability to move from here to there, to travel at a certain speed, and to hold a certain number of passengers.  So there are two aspects: the car, and the activities carried out through it.  If there is no car, these activities naturally cannot occur.  A non-entity cannot do an action.  We must first acknowledge that there is a car, and then, we can see how to use it and what it can and cannot do.

The same is true with emunah in Hashem. The first step is to recognize that Hashem exists and is present everywhere, including one's own location.  After that, one must see His actions, seeing how He acts in each thing and in every situation in the world.  We will now focus on this step.

Firstly, every Jew must know with absolute clarity the established principle that each thing and detail in the world is guided by specific Divine Providence. 

Although this is deep, and the acharonim (recent authorities) explained it in depth, it is still a simple truth.  In other words, even a child (or an adult) who has not studied all the texts and understood their tremendous depth with clarity must first know the most simple and basic fact: there is a Master of the World!  This is the recognition of His existence.  In addition, he must know that Hashem absolutely controls everything, as the Talmud states (Chullin 7b), "One does not bang his finger down here unless there is a proclamation from Above."  Hence, each thing in creation, with no exception, is guided by Hashem!

One must first know these things in his mind, and gradually settle them in his heart!

The question is, how can we experience this knowledge?  How do we awaken the soul so that it will be exposed and live with the sense of Divine Providence?

One does not Bang his Finger Down here unless there is a Proclamation from Above

We will provide some examples, but we must stress that these are only examples.  Each person must find a meaningful illustration and develop it for himself.  We have already said many times that a person must devote an hour daily to contemplation, which will be the point of origin for his daily avodah, so that throughout the day, he can keep returning to the object of his thought of that hour.

Thus, a person should sit alone in that hour of quiet, lift his hand and move it around.  He should ask himself, "Who moved the hand?"  And he will answer, "I did!" He should then ask, "Did Hashem determine that I would move the hand, or did I determine it?"

He should think and contemplate this well.  After a while, he should be able to say, "It seemed to me that I moved the hand.  It's up to me: if I want, I move it, and if not, then I won't.  That was my feeling.  But I know the words of Chazal, whose words we must accept like those of Hashem.  What do they tell us?  "One does not bang his finger down here unless there is a proclamation from Above." 

"If so," he should say to himself, "My feeling that I am in control and can decide if I want to move my hand or not is in error, according to Chazal.  This mistaken notion comes from blindness and the feeling that the evil inclination is trying to plant in my heart!  This is not the feeling of my soul, but of my body.  The absolute truth is that only Hashem determines whether or not I will move my hand! ‘One does not bang his finger down here unless there is a proclamation from Above.'  If so, at the moment I am moving my hand, Hashem Himself is proclaiming that I will do so!"

The person should take this idea and repeat it again and again.  He may be sitting at a bus stop and move his hand there, and repeat to himself, "Am I moving this by myself, or was there a Divine proclamation to that effect?"

One can add and expand to this point.  For example, a person may be sitting at the bus stop and see a cat passing by.  He will look at it and think, "Did it decide to move, or is Heaven causing it to move?  Does it have the ability not to move, or is there no such possibility?  What is the ordinary perspective?  That it has both options."  But then he should say to himself, "The ordinary perspective is incorrect!  It is Hashem Who is directing it to move, especially since it is an animal, which does not have free will.  Certainly, each of its moves is directed by Hashem."

To take this further, after one has finished waiting for the bus, it arrives.  The person notices the wheels of the bus turning, and he might ask himself, "Who is turning these wheels now?"  He might answer, "It seems that the driver is making the wheels turn.  He pressed on the accelerator and made the bus move.  He decides now if the bus should stop or not.  That is how it seems.  But (he should add and say to himself) that is an error!  Every moment the bus moves is a decree from Hashem.  Hashem Himself is causing the wheels of the bus to move!"

And in this way, one must repeat this point again and again, thousands and tens of thousands of times!  This is not an exaggeration.  It can take a year or two until one attains this state, but it must be done properly, repeating contemplation of the smallest and simplest details, until the heart finally feels the emunah that exists in the soul.

One Must Begin in Peaceful Periods

We must emphasize an important point here.  At first, one should not focus on situations where there are problems or distractions.  For example, a person might be home and hear a terribly loud crash.  He looks around and sees that an expensive object fell and shattered.  Naturally, a person will get emotional and angry and become aggravated over the major loss.

The truth is that one who lives with real emunah will find that the more strong and firm his emunah is, so will his anger and rage in such situations be weak.  He knows that is was not his son and not the strong wind that broke the object, but Hashem Himself!

However, it is very difficult for one to react this way in such a situation.  If one does not first strive to live with the simple feeling that Hashem runs the world when it relates to simple things and there is no internal opposition, when he is in a tense situation, the evil inclination will be very strong and his sense of sound judgment will generally be missing.  Even when it will return, the inner anger will be so powerful that it will prevent him from contemplating the simple truth. 

Therefore, at first, one should not primarily work on this in difficult times.  These rare occurrences disturb one's capability to sense that Hashem is causing the event, due to the financial loss or whatever it may be.  One should rather take some very simple points and work with them.

When one moves his hand, besides his inner ego, there is no reason for him to oppose the fact that Hashem is the One doing it.  There aren't other factors that arise, such as a financial loss or stress.  Therefore, one must work specifically with these simple examples and live with them for a long time.

Even when there is a financial loss, and one initially gets upset, when he finally calms down, he should spend time in contemplation, and stop himself and say, "This event occurred today, and I lost money.  Intellectually, I know that Hashem Himself caused this, but what does my heart feel?  Not that Hashem did it.  Yet I clearly know there is a G-d, so should I get angry at Him?  He knows what He is doing, and He only wants to bestow good upon me, but the foolishness of my heart does not allow me feel that this is from Hashem."

He should continue and think to himself: "I know that the truth is that this is from Hashem.  I also know that I feel that it came from another person, such as a family member, not from Hashem.  That's why I became upset.  My anger was not correct, it was not justified."

However, he may not accept upon himself a commitment that next time he will not get upset in such a situation.  Such commitments are illusions that come from self-deception.  Rather, he should commit to working on sensing Hashem's guidance, so that the next time such an event occurs, he will not get as upset.  But one must not expect a dramatic change in the span of a week or so.

First of all, one must recognize his level.  After he became angry, he must realize that the anger came from a lack of faith.  An awareness of one's state and the source of one's feelings is itself progress in avodas Hashem, in relation to the prior failure.

The person should continue and say to himself, "I know that this scenario may very well repeat itself.  I might become angry again, but I will not give up.  I will instill faith again and again, until I truly feel that Hashem is the One Who is doing everything."

In other words, one must take the simple, small daily events that present no difficulty to emunah, and work with them.  When those difficult times arise, one should contemplate.  If one can think properly during the difficulty itself, that is ideal, but if he forgets all about Providence at the time (which is common), his avodah will be to realize that his reaction was wrong, and to sense the contradiction between his mind and his emotions.    

This process of considering one detail after another can take a year, two years, or more.  There is no fixed schedule for this progress.  One must deal with the pace of his soul, and work with small and simple, yet fundamental, points.

Working with Hashem, not Alone

There is a particular problem with our presentation of the principles until now. 

In this way, the person is essentially living alone.  He considers the fact that Hashem is doing everything.  He knows that his body doesn't sense it but his intellect does, and he tries to instill in himself the true fact that everything comes from Hashem.

As we mentioned, while instilling this, one says to himself, "I know that the only One who determines things is Hashem.  He alone controls the world, and He causes my hand or a chair to move, and He guides the clouds, the sun, the moon, and all the heavens." The person should take one detail and develop it tens, hundreds, and thousands of times. 

What is lacking here is that he is not working with Hashem, but alone!  He has emunah in Hashem, but not with Hashem.  It is better to do this with Hashem, not alone!

For example, we mentioned a statement before: "One does not bang his finger down here unless there is a proclamation from Above."  A person might move his finger and say, "Who is moving the finger, I or Hashem?"  He may speak in this way, but he can also switch it and speak in second person:  "Who moves the finger, I or You, Master of the World?"  Thus, he will be speaking with Hashem in second person, not in third person!

One's avodah must not be with a sense of separation.  Rather, one should instill the emunah with Hashem, not only about Hashem.  This way is truer and purer, because it creates in a person both emunah and a connection to the Creator.  One will instill emunah while he is talking to the Creator.

A person will move his hand and say, "Master of the World!  I feel as if I am moving my hand, but I know that You determined that I would move it, and it isn't really up to me."

And this is how it should be with every aspect of contemplation.  One will see the clouds moving, and speak to Hashem, and say, "Who is moving the clouds?  Is it the wind, or is it You?  I feel, or it seems to my eyes because of my feelings, that the wind is moving them, but in fact, I know that, as Chazal revealed to us, You are the One Who moves them."

It's true that there is the idea that a person should first contemplate by himself, and then speak to Hashem, and with Hashem's help, we will explain that later, but nonetheless, the process of contemplation must lead to speaking to Hashem and instilling the emunah together with Him through the speech.

The Avodah Must be as a Structure, with Level Above Level

If a person doesn't do this, he is liable to lose all the effort he invested when striving to attain the awareness of the presence of Hashem.  He will be so involved in the work on Divine Providence that he will lose the feeling of Hashem's presence.  This is a level that is "difficult as gold vessels to acquire, and easy as glass vessels to lose."  He could lose all his effort invested in the recognition of Hashem, chas veshalom!

If this is done properly, though, even while one is working on emunah in Divine Providence, he will not lose what he has attained until that point.  To the contrary, because he is aware of the existence of Hashem and feels His presence nearby constantly, he develops the matter further and builds upon it.

This is a basic principle of avodah.  We cannot always stay in the same place; we must advance.  "Scholars have no rest in this world or the next, as it says, ‘They will go from strength to strength, to appear before Hashem in Tzion'" (Tehillim, 84:8; Berachos 64a).  They always advance from one level to the next.  If, G-d forbid, the next level allows to the prior one to be forgotten, one will lose his earlier attainment.

You must therefore know that much wisdom is needed for this.  This requires great skill, so one can build each step on the one before it.

We will use the three aforementioned levels for example.  At first, one strives to sense the existence of the Creator, until he acquires that sense.  Upon that, he builds the sense that the Creator he knows about is with him at all times.  That was the second level. 

The third level is that this Creator guides everything.  Here, one is liable to separate between the second level and the third.  He might attain the feeling that the Creator dwells in the Heavens and from there controls the earth.  If so, while working on the faith in Divine Providence, he is forgetting that Hashem is nearby!

The true way, then, is to build each level on the previous one: there is a Creator, He is near me, and I can speak to Him at any time and say, "I see that You are here and are guiding everything.  You are not only in the Heavens, but right here.  You are here and are causing the bus to move, and the clouds...."

Hence, the sense of Divine Providence is rooted in the recognition of a Creator Who is right near me!

The concept of Divine Providence is broader than the sea.  There is, in fact, a problem with the quick way it is being covered here.  We must remember that each step discussed here requires literally years of effort.  This is true effort day after day.  There must be an hour for contemplation, as the Ramchal taught us, and then, throughout the day, one must remember the idea each half hour, and then every 25 minutes, then every 20, and then every 15 minutes, and so on.

At first, it is necessary to attain a clear picture of the ideas, but it is essential to remember that one cannot rush to the next stage.  To rush from the stage of remembering the existence of the Creator to the stage of feeling His presence, or from that stage to the stage of His guidance of every detail, can ruin and damage the attainment of the previous stage.

These are the principles of inner work.  One must take every aspect and work with it day after day.  Even if one fails, he must never give up.  He should just continue forward.  But one must see to it that he is actually building something within, not merely knowing and wanting to advance. One must sense that this is the essence of life.  Because it is true, it is the reality!

One must build level above level and place them deep in his soul.  One must attain a palpable sense of the existence of the Creator, of His presence, and of His Providence.  Then he may advance to the next stage, that of prayer, as we will explain further, with the help of Hashem.

May Hashem help us to understand this and to truly acquire these levels and to act upon them.