Fixing Your Focus - 010 Relieving Boredom & Inner Emptiness

Water-of-Wind: Dragged In All Directions

With siyata d’shmaya, we will continue to discuss the power of focus. In this chapter, we will deal with how the element of water-of-wind affects focus.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the wind represents the antithesis to focus. The ability to concentrate on something generally stems from the element of earth in the soul, for earth stays in its place. This is very unlike the wind, which moves and spreads through all four directions. This is true about the element of wind in general, but water-of-wind specifically is when a person is “dragged” after his “wind” has spread him in all different directions. We will explain this further, with the help of Hashem.

Living “From The Inside Out” vs. “From The Outside In”

To give a general description, there are several orientations by which a person may be living his life and approaching it. The root, inner way of living life, as mentioned in previous chapters, is to be “orderly” (in Hebrew, “mesudar”, from the word seder\order). A person may be an inner kind of person yet he is not necessarily an “orderly” kind of person (which will hamper his inner development), or, he may be living inwardly and he is also an orderly kind of person (which is the ideal state).

If he is an internal but he is not orderly, this will hamper his ability of focus. If he is an internal person and he is also orderly, this is the ideal state, and this kind of person will be very focused. Such a person will be able to utilize his potential, activating the potential from within him, and his inner world in the outer side to his life.

Another way a person may live life is “from the outside to the inside”.[1] He absorbs outer stimuli into his inner world. If he is doing this in a holy manner, he will know how to gain from any of the spiritual stimuli that is available around him. If he is not that spiritual and he is more drawn towards the material world, he will seek various worldly desires, which are of the alma d’piruda (the “world of separation”) – a world which is “scattered”.

Thus, there are two ways of living - “from the inside out”,[2] and “from the outside in.” In the first way, “from the inside out”, and he is also orderly and precise, he will be very focused. If he is not orderly and precise, he will have a hard time with focusing, because if his inner world is not orderly, he is scattered and spread apart inside himself. The amount of how he will be inwardly scattered will depend on how much of an inner world he has acquired for himself.

But if a person is living “from the outside in”, and he is also orderly and precise, like if he has specific aspirations of what he wants to take from the world, whether in the spiritual and even when it comes to the material, since he is precise about he wants, he will be focused.

Most people are not precise about what they want, so when they live life “from the outside in”, what will happen? They will absorb whatever is presented in the world outside of them. What is found in the world outside? An endless amount of worldly desires. In addition, these desires are all scattered. Thus, when we combine a way of living “from the outside in” with a lack of precise aspirations, a person will try to absorb everything in the world outside of him, and since the outside world contains so many desires and so much information, he will become inwardly scattered [and he won’t be able to focus properly].

Most people are not living “from the inside out”. Only a few individuals in the world are living “from the inside out”, who are connected to the depths of their souls, to their very essence, each on their own level. Most people are living “from the outside in” – they develop their inner reality based on the stimuli they absorb from the outer world.

(As an insight related to this idea, the mitzvah to light menorah on Chanukah is from the entranceway of one’s house, so it is “from the inside out” – “m’bafnim chutzah” - with the mezuzah to the right of the entranceway, as a spiritual protection that no negative outside stimuli should enter within. This is along the lines of the above concept).

Living “from the outside in” causes a person to become inwardly scattered, and as a person continues to live his life this way, he becomes more and more inwardly scattered. The stimuli coming in from the outer world continues to increase and the person lives a very scattered and spread apart inside himself. The person gets his vitality from the scattered world around him and he keeps absorbing it into his system.

Emptiness (Water-of-Wind)

There is also another factor which may complicate things even worse for the person who lives “from the outside in”. This is “water-of-wind”: when a person becomes like an “empty void” (in Hebrew, “chalal”), when he is empty inside, and the way he lives his life reflects his inner emptiness. This kind of person certainly does not live “from the inside out” and with inner orderliness, and neither does he live “from the outside in” and knowing precisely what he wants to absorb from his outside, into himself. He is simply “dragged” after outside stimuli, and that is what he busies himself with. And he may just remain there on the outside, on the external and superficial layer of life.

Three Different Scenarios of Living

Let us be clearer about what we mean.

The first level of this problem is that a person is inwardly hollow and empty; he has an internal void, devoid of any inner content, so he is actively involved all the time with trying to fill his inner emptiness.

In total contrast to this, an inner way of living is where a person has a richly developed internal world of his own, full of inner content, and this is expressed outwardly as well, and he utilizes his potential inner forces. He realizes the individuality of his soul, of his own inner world, and he actualizes this potential.

The opposite of this is a person who lives “from the outside in”, who relates to his inner world based on his external side of life, always absorbing all of the outer stimuli in the world into his inner system. If a person absorbs spiritual stimuli from the outside, this is better, but if the person is absorbing the stimuli of the material world into his system, it will be “He who wants a hundred, will want two hundred”, which is negative.

This kind person feels empty inside, but he is always trying to fill this emptiness, by filling himself with various kinds of content - whether spiritual, or material. Slowly, he absorbs more and more content into his system, ranging between the spiritual, the mundane, and that which is harmful to his spiritual state. This person will at least have some kind of content in his system (unless he is only absorbing material that is totally harmful to his spiritual state, which is equal to having no content at all).

Emptiness – When A Person Has No Aspirations

But there is also a third scenario of living, which is worse than the above, where a person is totally empty inside, and he isn’t doing anything to fill this emptiness. If you ask him what his aspirations are, and he claims that he does have aspirations, this is a good sign, because even if lives “from the outside in”, at least he is able to be clear about what his aspirations are. But if the person is passive about his response, he has no aspirations in life. What happens when a person lives with no aspirations? Living “from the inside out” with no aspirations, he will gain nothing.

If one lives “from the outside in”, we explained earlier that he still may have his aspirations in life, even if he is not clear about what they are, and although he is simply “grabbing” onto whatever spirituality he can each day, at least he is putting some inner content into his system. He may have aspirations of becoming a Torah scholar or a tzaddik, or he may be materialistic and he wants money and various desires, etc. But at least he has an aspiration for something.

Here, however, we are coming to discuss a third kind of person – someone who lives with no aspirations at all. How does he survive? He lives with an empty void inside him, and he is dragged after various stimuli around him, and it is never about trying to bring some content into himself. It is simply so that he can get rid of his boredom which gnaws at him.

A person may be interested in something which causes him to gain money or prestige, or a more spiritual form of honor, or any gain of some sort. Whatever the case, at least he is entering the endeavor in order to gain something, even if he is not exactly sure what he will gain. But here we are speaking about a person who is empty from any inner content, and he is not interested in trying to get any form of content. Even if we get him to enter some endeavor, he is simply following some emotional attraction he may feel towards it. If you ask him afterwards what he gained from it, he says, “It was a way to kill an hour.” He has no concept of trying to come ‘fill’ himself with any content.

Example 1 - Emptiness In Children

Most people do not have this total level of emptiness, but you may notice this emptiness many times in children who are not enjoying school, who have “no taste for learning”. Slowly as times goes on, the child has a hard time with the school, with the teachers, and with the parents. He simply has no pleasure in whatever he is learning. The child then becomes bored from morning until night, or from the afternoon and onward.

A young child cannot find a job to work in, so if he isn’t learning anything, what is there for him to do? Nothing! Where is he found, then? He isn’t found anywhere. He has no inner world of his own yet, and he is disconnected from his external surroundings as well, so he is not even absorbing anything from his surroundings. Not only doesn’t he have an inner world to get vitality from, he can’t even get vitality from the superficial side of his life! He is found within an “empty void” inside himself. He will be “dragged” after any stimuli attracting him.

This “empty void” comes from the element of air\wind, and he will be “dragged” after external stimuli due to the element of water. Hence, when a person is dragged after anything that attracts him because he is inwardly empty, this is a problem that stems from water-of-wind, which we are discussing here.

In the example we gave of this problem, a child is not making it in school, he has no taste for learning, he isn’t getting along with his teachers and parents, and he has no aspirations for learning. What can we do to help this child? Some people will try to find a group of friends for this child. Others try to get the child to draw and paint. There are all kinds of pastimes which may help the child find his place, and indeed, there are children who have found their success in these pastimes and activities. But if what that doesn’t work…?

The child wakes up in the morning and he feels like he has nothing to get out of bed for, because he is inwardly empty. If he finds something that temporarily relieves the emptiness, he goes towards it. Any form of noise or disturbance will greatly interest him, and he will be pulled after the outer stimuli - and that’s where he is.

Example 2 - Emptiness In Adults

We have explained that this problem is often found in children who aren’t enjoying their studies. But it is not found with children, it is also found in some adults.

Even someone who “sits and learns Torah all day” may have this terrible inner emptiness and feeling of boredom, if he is sitting and learning Torah all day only monotonously and without feeling inwardly connected to his learning. He has no “taste” in his learning, and he also lacks structure to his learning. Why doesn’t he go to work and find a job? This may be due to all sorts of reasons. But the truth about his situation is that he is really a person who doesn’t have anything to do with his life! He gets up in the morning and really has nothing to do.

Some people like this will wake up very late in the morning. Others will always get up on time because they have a stronger inner “wind” which moves them, so they will not sleep late, but even this kind of person can feel like he has nothing to do. He may fill up the time by chatting with others, or by catching up on the news – anything that “drags” him. He has a terrible inner void inside him – and he is not even searching of a way to fill it. All he is interested in is “how to kill time”, so he will be “dragged” after whatever he is dragged after…

Whether it is a child or an adult, this is a situation where we can put a sign that says, “Here is this where this person is buried”. A person who keeps going in this way has basically ended his life.

Example 3 – The Person Who Forces Himself To Work At A Job He Dislikes

This is also the common case with people who continue to work at a job that they don’t like. The person stays at his job even though he hates it, because he knows that he needs to support his family from it, so he forces himself to go to this job every day. With the more he stays there and forces himself to work there, his soul begins to feel empty inside, and he becomes “dragged” into that place even though it doesn’t suit his personality. In many cases, this also leads to melancholy, or overworking, or entering into all kinds of disputes with other people, and a host of all kinds of problems. But what is the root of the problem? It is because he is terribly empty inside himself.

(The truth is that if most people would absorb the truth about themselves, they would also feel this emptiness. If you get to know the reality on this world, you can discover that there are many people who have many fantasies, which they fill their emptiness with. One person fantasizes about a nice home, another fantasizes about a car, a third fantasizes about family, etc. Many people do not have a real, spiritual source of vitality (chiyus) to live from. They are inwardly empty, and it is their fantasies which keep them going. What results from this? The results from it are very clear….)

Example 4 – Older Adults After Receiving Their Pension

We spoke earlier of the common phenomenon of children and teenagers who aren’t succeeding in their schools, because they feel empty and terribly bored all of the time, and this lands them in all kinds of situations, as we can all recognize, Rachmana litzlan (may G-d have mercy). But this problem is also not uncommon in adults. An older adult gets his pension after many years of work, at the age of either 62, 65, 67 or so, and now he’s out of his job – whether his pension comes early or later – now what’s left for him to do? What does he do now from morning until night?

Some people are fortunate to have had a set time for learning Torah every day, and they continue to do so after they retire from their jobs, and sometimes they learn even more Torah than before. But if a person did not previously have an inner, spiritual world of his own, and he did not have a connection before this to any Torah learning, and now he is at a mature, older age – what does he do?

In a better scenario, he finds something to involve himself with which will benefit others, such as donating a building, etc. He tries to fill himself with some kind of content that will benefit others in some way. But what if he finds nothing to do? He gets up in the morning and just has nothing to do!

What do older retired people do when they have nothing to do? They sit on the seats on the autobus and stare out the windows. Old people usually don’t have that much desires or aspirations for This World, so what are they left with? They are just empty inside, and they become dragged after anything even remotely of interest. If the telephone rings, the person immediately jumps for it, and if he misses the call, it really bothers him: “Who could have been calling me??” If he can’t figure out who called him, all day he will wonders with curiosity: “Who could have possibly called me…?” He has nothing to do, and he is subconsciously looking for various ways to relieve his boredom.

What is really taking place inside him? There is nothing there but an empty void, which causes him to move towards any stimuli in his outside surroundings, as long as it is even remotely of interest to him. Sometimes a person is interested in something in his surroundings because he is paying attention to his surroundings and he has some feeling of value and importance for a certain thing - but at other times, he is interested in anything in his surroundings even when they are completely silly things which have no importance.

Once I took a taxi and it was an older taxi driver, and, as is the way of many taxi drivers, he began to converse with me about his life. He said to me, “You have no idea how happy I am that you hailed me down.” I asked him what exactly he meant. He said to me, “At my age, the fact that I can do something to help another person in any way, is what gives me the energy to live.” He said to me that he gets the energy to live from driving people to the airport, knowing that because of him people are making it on time to their flights. This is somewhat better than most situations – he feels like he has a reason to live because he knows he is helpful and useful to people.

But there is a lot more to life than this, and it is so far from the truth! At least this person is deriving his sense of being alive from a positive source, but when one lives with this perspective, he has nothing of his own to keep him going. For every half hour or hour that goes by, he has to read something in the news, either something he hasn’t yet read or even something he already read – something, anything, to pass the time and fill it with something.

With children, this problem of emptiness exists usually by those who have left “the system” - or even by those who are still in it, but who are floundering within it. With teenagers, it is the same case. With adults, the problem is found by those who have not found a taste in what they do – whether it is in their Torah learning or, if they are working, in their job – so they find themselves terribly bored. And, as mentioned, the problem is more commonly found with retired adults who have already received their pension.

Only a few individuals in their old age can find something of content to fill their time with - but most people in their old age find themselves with nothing to do. If you go to an old age home, what do you see there? They find someone to light menorah for them on Chanukah and sing songs to them, exactly as in kindergarten. (This is besides for the issue of returning to their child state, which is a separate point to discuss). They find nothing to do with themselves.

We should understand that this problem we are describing is usually not of that much practical use to most people when they are in the prime of their life. It is a problem that may exist in the people in your surroundings, and it is also a problem which may exist, chas v’shalom, in just about anyone who does not live his life correctly [when he lives life very superficially] who may reach such a pathetic inner situation.

Our Sages say something that takes this idea even further. If a person on This World wasn’t sufficiently connected enough with Hashem and His Torah, even if he would be placed in Gan Eden when he gets upstairs, it may feel like Gehinnom for him!

Why would it be Gehinnom for him? It’s because of exactly according to what we have been explaining here. He is placed in Gan Eden, and what is he supposed to do there? Should he learn Gemara for 2 or 3 hours? Then what?? Most people who leave work after they receive their pension aren’t able to sit and learn Torah all day, because they never got used to this from beforehand. They can be sitting with everyone in Gan Eden who are being taught the greatest secrets of the depth of the holy Torah, but since they never connected with Torah learning, what is there for them to do…?

Repairing Water-of-Wind

This is the problem which stems from the element of water-of-wind which we described here – the root of inner emptiness. The person is empty inside and there is essentially nothing for him to do. The “void” itself comes from the element of air\wind in the soul, and upon this void, the element of water can “drag” a person after many different activities because he has nothing to do. Water-of-wind is the impaired force in the soul that drags a person after all kinds of outer stimuli due to the empty void inside him.

It is possible to deal with the aspect of the impaired “water” – the nature of being dragged after various stimuli [by learning how to go against this nature]. But the main part of the issue here is in the element of air\wind, where the empty void is coming from.

Every Person Experiences Some Emptiness

This “air”, this empty void (the chalal) which can become manifest in the soul, exists in every single person – and the only question is how much, and in what way. Every person has times in his life where he feels empty inside. A person can feel it whenever he is bored, like if he has 2 or 3 hours to himself after he is finished doing what he had to do, and he doesn’t know what to do with this time. But sometimes a person can just feel bored with his whole entire life, because he finds no “taste” [enjoyment] in living.

In either case, every person feels inner emptiness sometimes. The more superficial of a life a person lives, the less he knows how to fill his time properly. The more inwardly a person lives, though, he can feel a deeper feeling of emptiness – he feels a sense of nothingness with his entire life.

If a person is deeply connected to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, to His Torah, to the neshamos of the Jewish people, and to the depth of his own private soul, he has more of an “inner support system” which will greatly lessen his feeling of emptiness. This still cannot completely fill the soul’s inner void, but it can still fill it to a prominent extent. The less a person is connected to his inner world, however, the more of a presence the inner emptiness will have, and as time goes on, it will only continue to fester. This will not necessarily lead to the total level of emptiness which stems from water-of-wind, which we have described here, but the very attitude of the inner emptiness will still exist.

We need to deal with the “water” aspect here, the problem of becoming “scattered” to different directions, as we explained about in the previous chapters when we discussed the element of water. We also need to deal with the “wind” aspect here, the empty void in the soul, which is found in every person to some extent. When we learn how to fill this empty air\void in the soul, herein lays a key aspect of healing for all the areas of our life.

The Fundamental Question: Am I Connected To Anything Eternal?

Every person on This World will one day leave it, and go the place that he will go to, according to the level he reached. Most people who leave the world – do they have what to do in Heaven? No – they don’t. It is a huge, fundamental transition for the soul to go through. Even if a person kept all the mitzvos and did the will of Hashem, what is there for him to do in Heaven? In our own language, we say that a person on This World is always gathering “precious stones” and “diamonds” through his many acts of mitzvos. This is true, but what will a person actually do when he gets upstairs?

Any person who wishes to live a true, eternal life must prepare for it already on This World, by connecting himself to at least one thing that is not dependent on This World. This is not referring even to separating from the gruff materialism of This World. Rather, we are referring here to a connection to something which you will always be able to have, wherever you are, in any situation, time and place. The Vilna Gaon said that every person should know one tractate of the Talmud by heart, so that wherever he goes, he will have something to review.

When a person’s time comes to leave the world, and they are lowering his body into the grave, what is he doing then? If he was even a bit spiritual, he probably wants to leave the cemetery and go do more mitzvos. If a person lived very superficially, though, he will think that there is nothing for him to do. He doesn’t have a body anymore, so he thinks that there’s nothing to do. But this is the perspective of the ignoramus. The situation has stayed the same as before, and it is just that now he is without his body. So, what he can do for himself now? Should he ask others to learn Mishnayos in his memory, to elevate his soul? What is there for him to do now…?

This is one of the most fundamental questions in life: To what are you connected? Are you connected only to things that are transient and which change? Or are you connected to a world that exists forever? Every person must examine himself and see: “Would I able to continue if I would be severed from everything around me (whether through death, or anything else that causes a separation from the surroundings)? Do I have what to always lean on, to continue existing and surviving?”

One person is in charge of a company, another person runs a certain place, and each person is doing whatever he is doing. One day the person will have to separate from all of this. This world is not forever. What happens to the person, after he has to leave behind everything on This World?

The following is a fundamental example of the idea. Some people are very attached with their families, and they view their relationships with their family members as the basis of their life. What happens to the person when he leaves the world? Does he wish that he would be sitting with his entire family in Gan Eden? Any sensible person knows that it is unlikely for a person’s entire family to be sitting in one place in Gan Eden, because they are all on different spiritual levels. A more internal kind of person would view this as Gehinnom, because each member in the family is on a different level and they are not necessarily matching with his spiritual level. He cannot sit with all of them in Gan Eden – that is not realistic.

To review again, this is the fundamental question that one needs to ask himself is: “Am I totally empty inside, or am I full of content inside?”

We explained earlier about a kind of person who is totally empty inside, and we also explained about the emptiness that exists in every person to some extent. A person will usually have some inner content in him, and he also has a certain degree of emptiness in him. The only question is in the percentages of how much content he has, versus how much emptiness is in him, but both aspects are always present. The more emptiness the person has, the closer he is to being dominated by water-of-wind. The less of an inner void there is in a person, the less he will be affected by water-of-wind.

Herein we come to the depth of inner avodah.

Helping Children Who Feel Constantly Bored\Empty

If we are dealing with a child who feels totally bored and empty, the way to help him is to find some activity he finds interesting, and by that means, we should guide him to get real, meaningful content in his life. Only after we provide him with an interesting outlet can we show him how to derive content from all that the “school system” has to offer.

This is a very sensitive point, because how can we provide a child with an outlet that will give him content, when he is not interested in his learning and he is only interested in other things? This is indeed a hard idea to implement, but it is the true way to deal with the situation. We need to find something he can do which he is interested in doing, and expand it for him[3], and at the same set proper boundaries for his activities, so that he can gain in the best way from it.

This will not always work in the average school system [so we may have to find him a different school].

Dealing With Boredom and Emptiness In Adults

An adult, however needs to face his inner emptiness by asking himself: “How should I live life? What will cause me to be “full” inside? A person can examine this either by living “from the inside out” or “from the outside in”, but he must avoid the life of always being dominated by an “empty void”, which drags him towards water-of-wind. (As mentioned earlier, the more inner a person is, he lives “from the inside out”, whereas the more external he is, he lives “from the outside in”.)

Even more so, though, we mentioned earlier that every person can feel inwardly empty at times. What is the way to deal with this inner emptiness?

Once again, to review, these feelings of inner emptiness, when left untreated, can lead to the impaired element of water-of-wind, which is a total inner void. A person like this will feel bored when he is home alone, and he will want to relieve this boredom by eating whatever he finds in his house – he will be ‘dragged’ after all kinds of stimuli. This is the water-of-wind in the soul at work – the void is coming from the air\wind in the soul, and the “water” in the soul is causing him to become dragged towards different things.

Upon feeling the emptiness, what should a person do about it? Some people, as soon as they discover the inner void in themselves, will immediately try to “run away” from it. If the house was dark, they will turn on all the lights in the house, or turn on the music in order not to feel alone in the house, and then nosh on some food, and then get busy with various activities that takes their mind off the boredom. The person might phone a friend or do any activity that removes his feeling of emptiness. But this is not dealing with the issue, and it is just running away from the truth.

What is the inner way to deal with the emptiness, when he feels it? The solution is not through “running away” to Hashem and to the Torah - that is surely the purpose, but it is not the solution to the problem. When a person feels emptiness inside himself, he should realize that indeed, this entire world is utterly empty! The simple truth about this world is that it is empty from any real content.

Besides for the spiritual light which Hashem sends into this world, everything here on this world is evil and empty. The inner light of Hashem and His Torah is the spiritual power that is revealed on This World is the only thing which can fill the void on this world. But we must learn to view This World as a place that is entirely empty from any real, inner content.

1. Feeling The Emptiness

One should first feel the emptiness in him, and then realize the simple truth that this world is really empty and desolate. Although it seems to us that this world is teeming with people who are going, travelling, working, and returning to places (and wasting their time too), it is all like one big playgroup of children, all playing games with each other! There is nothing here – that is the truth about Creation, reality, and life.

2. Filling The Emptiness

After a person comes to accept this feeling of emptiness, the next step is to wonder how to fill it.

At first a person should know it in his mind, and then internalize it in his heart, that this world is entirely an empty void, and that it only can be filled with the depth of life, which is:

(1)  Through deeply connecting to HaKadosh Baruch Hu;

(2)  And to His Torah;

(3)  And to the neshamos (Divine souls) of the Jewish people;

(4)  And to one’s private soul.

One should recognize the emptiness on This World, and feel it - not run away from it. One needs to experience the emptiness, to realize how this world is truly empty from anything, and from feeling the emptiness, a person can then wonder of how to truly fill it.

This kind of reflection is not meant to be a one-time kind of reflection, but something that needs to be constantly experienced, for anyone who lives an internal and truly spiritual kind of life.

Facing The Emptiness

Every person can feel an empty void in his soul, but most people never discover it, simply because they never pay attention to it. When a person does get some subconscious feeling of it, what does he do? He will probably get busy with some activity that takes his mind off this feeling of emptiness, so that he shouldn’t have to feel the emptiness. Those who do feel their inner emptiness, in most cases, are terribly depressed and need a lot of therapy. Most people never feel their emptiness because they are always running away from it, and the few people who do feel it are usually depressed, confused, down, full of difficulties, etc. - as we can all recognize.[4]

In rare instances, a person is very truthful with himself and he discovers this emptiness. How does he discover it? Because it is screaming out to us from every corner of the world! One does not have to sink to very low levels to feel it. We can feel it as a result of our very existence on this world. A person can sit and reflect with himself, and reach the truth, that indeed, this world is truly empty. You need things to live, you need a house and a dining room set and whatever you need, but even if you would have everything you need, you would still feel empty, for the soul cannot ever be satisfied.

Then, when you feel the emptiness, you can fill this emptiness with “Ain Od Milvado (“There is nothing besides for Hashem”) - even in the chalal (empty space) of the world.” From there, you can connect yourself to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, to Torah, to the neshamos of the Jewish people, and to your own private soul.

In Summary and In Conclusion

These words are not simply definitions. It is an inner journey which you will need to traverse, thousands of times! Why thousands of times? Because every time you are truthful with yourself, you can encounter this emptiness. Identify the void, and then realize that this void will only be filled with a deep connection to HaKadosh Baruch Hu[5], to Torah, to the neshamos of Klal Yisrael, and to your own private soul.

If one tries to ignore this emptiness and he doesn’t try to fill it, he will become dominated by the element of water-of-wind described in this chapter, which will drag him after all kinds of empty pursuits, depending on how much emptiness is really in him.

We cannot totally run away from the water-of-wind in us, because we will always have a physical body, which enjoys even empty pursuits. But our avodah is to make sure that this part of ourselves is only a smaller part of ourselves, and not the more dominant part of ourselves. In order to prevent this, we need to traverse the inner journey described here. This is not something you think about once, but something you must traverse thousands of times. This will lessen the water-of-wind in ourselves - although it will not take it away totally.

The experience of emptiness we can feel on this world is a part of all of our avodah. Either we will traverse it through the impaired element of water-of-wind in our souls, which will be detrimental to us - or we can traverse this emptiness in a holy manner, by recognizing the futility and nothingness of this world, and by filling this void with a connection to Hashem, to Torah, to the depth of the neshamos of the Jewish people, and to our own private souls.

That is how we can fill the void in ourselves, so that it shouldn’t activate the impaired element of “water-of-wind” in ourselves, and to instead activate the very element of “wind” itself, in the proper way.