Joy from the Four Elements - 007 Joy From Expansion

With siyata d’shmaya we are continuing to learn about joy. Through this study, we hope to extend the joy of the festivals into the rest of the year, so that we can arrive at a deeper kind of joy.

In this lesson, we will learn about the “water”-of-water [of earth] in the soul, and how it relates to joy.

1. Water – The Expanding Element

Water, as we can see, does not stay in place. Water is an element that expands, as in the verse, “Longer in measurement than the land, and wider than the sea.”[1] The nature of the water is that it widens and expands further. Just as this is true with physical water, so is this true about the water in the soul. The water in the soul makes a person to want to expand.

2. Water Can Expand and Contract

For everything that Hashem created, there is always a force that opposes it. This is called the concept of dovor v’hipucho, a “thing and its opposite.” Since water has nature is to expand, there is also a nature in water to contract itself – the very opposite of expansion - due to the rule that everything in Creation also consists of its opposite.

3. Ratzu V’Shov – Progressing and Retreating

The soul of a person follows a pattern called ratzu v’shov, “progressing and retreating”. These are like two different extremes of the soul: at one extreme, there is “ratzu”, our point of progressing, and at the other extreme, there is our point of “shov”, our point of retreat. Our “ratzu” is our point of expansion. Our “shov” is our point of contraction. These two extremes are in every person’s soul.

It can be likened to inhaling and exhaling. We need to inhale, which is contracting, and we need to exhale, which is expanding. Just as with physical breathing we are either expanding or contracting, so is our either soul expanding and contracting.

4. Joy Comes From Expansion, Sadness Comes From Contraction

The word middos (character traits) is from the word medidah, measuring. There is a measurement called amah [about 2 feet]. The Gemara describes two kinds of these measurements: an amah atzeivah (exact measurement) and amah sochakas (smiling measurement).[2] An amah atzeivah is an exact measurement which stays in place - it is contracted - whereas an amah sochakas is a measurement that can be expanded to include more room. The concept of atzvus, sadness, is therefore connected with the power of contraction, whereas simchah, joy, is connected with concept of expansion. When one is sad, his soul has contracted. When one is joyous, his soul has expanded.

In the previous lessons, it was explained that joy comes from actualizing our potential. Now we are adding on that joy is also about expanding. These are two different ways to describe joy, but they are really one and the same, as we will explain.

When a potential force begins to become actualized, the potential force has expanded. When a potential force is not being actualized, it is contracted. Joy is all about the idea of expansion. True actualization of potential is when one properly “expands”, and this leads a person to joy.

Good Expansion vs. Evil Expansion

The Sages teach that one of the traits of the wicked Bilaam was that he was a nefesh rechavah, a widened [haughty] soul.[3] A “widened” soul is describing the concept of the soul’s expansion. If this is a trait of the wicked Bilaam, it seems to imply that expansion is evil. When is expansion good and holy (whereupon it leads to joy), and when is expansion evil? When one is properly expanding, in accordance with his soul’s powers, this is holy expansion, which leads to joy. When one is expanding past his soul’s actual limits, like it he is using his powers too quickly or in a high amount, this is evil expansion, and it does not lead to joy. It can be likened to a miscarriage.

For example, Chazal state that “Beautiful utensils, a beautiful home, and a beautiful wife expand a person’s mind.”[4] Most commentaries understand this statement of the Gemara that these things are constructive to the mind (affording a person a certain degree of peace of mind), while the Chazon Ish understood that these expand the mind in a way that is spiritually detrimental. According to most explanations, however, this kind of “expansion” is constructive to the soul. This expansion to the mind is an example of the soul’s use of water-of-water.

However, if a person is expanding in a way that is not accordance with his soul, or he is expanding too much, this is called the negative trait of taavah, lust, and it is the trait of Bilaam, the “widened soul”.

Proper Expansion – Only When Balanced With Contraction

When is expansion good? As long as one can contain dovor v’hipucho, “something and its opposite”. When one can balance out his expansion with some contraction, the expansion is kept within healthy limits and then it is good and constructive. For example, when it comes to breathing, one expands and contract, by inhaling and exhaling. Both movements are needed. So too, in the soul, expansion in the soul is only good when one is also able to contract.

Here is another example from our physical world. A person needs to work by day, and sleep at night. There is a verse, “Man goes to his action at morning, and to his work until evening[5], and there is a statement of the Gemara, “Night was not created except for sleep.”[6] The daytime is meant for action, and nighttime was given for rest. In other terms, the day is the time for expansion, while the nighttime is for contraction. This is because there must be a balance between expansion and contraction.

The Gemara says that a person cannot go without rest for more than 3 days[7], meaning that a person cannot keep expanding. But a person cannot either sleep all day, because “sleep is like a sixtieth of death”[8]. A person cannot be in contraction mode all day. Every person needs both, expansion and contraction, and the balance between them.

The evil trait of lust, taavah, is whenever has “expanded” too much in his soul [by going over the limit with his various desires]. It is also a kind of expansion which isn’t balanced by any contraction, resulting in too much expansion, at the expense of contraction.

Thus, we need the correct balance between expansion and contraction.

Using the Power of Contraction

Within the power of contraction itself, there are two important parts to understand.

One part of contraction is the power to establish clear boundaries for our soul. Another part of contraction is the ability to allow for shrinking, as the Gemara says, “It shrinks, and this is good for it.”[9]  

Let’s explain more about the second aspect of contract, which is its aspect of “shrinking”. Just as expansion enables actualization of potential, so is contraction (the essence of atzvus/sadness) a return of the actualized force, to its potential state. The Sages define this concept clearly in the statement, “Building of children is demolishing, and demolishing of the elderly is building.”[10] The building of children is represents expansion that is imprecise, without any contraction to balance it, which eventually leads to destruction. The destruction of elderly people, which leads to building, represents the power of contraction, a return to the potential state, which enables the expansion to remain intact.

Thus, the power of expansion in the soul is only ‘one side of the coin’, and it is only proper when balanced by the power of contraction, the power to establish boundaries.

Expansion/Fire and Contraction/Earth

In terms of the elements, the power of contraction is rooted in the element of earth, whereas the power of expansion is rooted in the element of fire, which returns something to its potential form [just as fire reduces anything into ash and turns it back into earth]. Hence, when the soul’s elements of earth and fire are balanced, one can actualize his potential forces (expansion), as well as return a force to its potential state (contraction), and this balance leads to true joy.

Example of Expansion Balanced With Contraction

The Gemara says that one of the Sages, Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya, expounded every word “es” in the Torah. According to Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya, every time the Torah says the word “es”, it is coming to include something else. This is an example of the concept of expansion.

However, when he reached the verse “Es Hashem Elokecha Tira”, which says that a person must fear Hashem, he couldn’t expound the meaning of the word “es”, because there is nothing else that a person should fear except for Hashem (thus the word “es” in this verse could not be coming to include anything). After this, he stopped expounding the word es, and he retracted all of his teachings about the word “es”. His students asked him, “What will happen to all of your other teachings about “es”? He responded, “Just as I received reward for expounding, so will I receive reward for abstaining from expounding.”[11]

The depth of his words was that when he expounded the verses of es, he was using the power of expansion - of actualizing a potential - and when he stopped expounding the word es, he was using the power of contraction, by returning the actualization back to its potential form. When he was explaining the meaning of es, he was using expansion, and by refraining to explain es, he was contracting.

He was saying that he will receive reward for both, for explaining and also for stopping to explain, and the depth of this was because the expansion and the contraction are really ‘two sides of the same coin’ that are each needed. How are expansion and contraction both ‘two sides of the same coin’? It is because, as mentioned earlier, there is a rule of dovor v’hipucho, that “each thing is also comprised of its opposite”. The opposites are both integrated with each other [each completing the other].

Based upon the above concept, we can learn that true joy comes to a person only when a person expands and he can also contract: when he can actualize potential, and he can also return the activated potential back to its potential state. One can only build a structure if he also knows how to demolish when he needs to, and one can only demolish properly if he knows how to build. The idea is that a person must know how to “expand” when he needs to, and also know how to “contract” when he needs to.

Thus, the idea of “expansion” only brings joy to a person if he also knows how to contract, when necessary. If a person cannot stop himself from expanding, he will not arrive at true joy.

Now we can understand more about the soul’s water-of-water [of earth]. The element of water, by nature, expands.  Water-of-water is when there is continuous expanding. Water itself expands according to how much it needs, but water-of-water keeps expanding. Since expansion brings joy, a person who uses his water-of-water will derive great joy, but only if he knows how to balance his expansion with some contraction. Most people, when they expand, will expand too much. One needs to balance this extra expansion with some contraction.

Several Ways To Understand The Concept of Rejoicing In Suffering

Chazal also refer to this concept (joy from the balance of expansion and contraction) as those who “rejoice in suffering” (someiach b’yissurim).[12] There are many different ways to understand the concept of rejoicing in suffering.

1) One reason is because the suffering cleanses a person from his sins. One can rejoice in the fact that suffering is purifying him from the harmful effects of sin.

2) An additional understanding of this is because a person can rejoice in the fact that he is acquiring the power of endurance (savlanus), the power to bear through suffering.

3) Another understanding is because the suffering purifies and subjugates the body, and this in turn reveals the light of one’s neshamah. This gives a person joy amidst the suffering. As an example, the Gemara says that some of the Sages became sick in the stomach, which purified their bodies and cleansed their souls.

4) Another understanding is because when a person reveals the power of emunah (faith in G-d): the fact that “everything which Hashem does is for the best”[13]. When one contemplates this, he can draw joy onto himself, even amidst suffering.

5) On a subtler level, it is because a person can rejoice even amidst suffering because he recognizes that everything is ultimately the will of Hashem.

6) Another understanding of the concept – one that applies to our current discussion - is because in order for a person to have joy from “expansion”, he must also undergo some “contraction”. Thus, suffering enables a person to contract [since pain causes a person to contract more into himself and to become more inward], and this ultimately enables a person to derive more joy from his expansion, because now he will have a balance between his expansion and contraction. This particular understanding is the very depth behind the concept of rejoicing in suffering.

How To Balance Our Expansion With Contraction

Now let us apply this idea practically.

All of us have merited to some degree to attain some recognition of our souls. Some people, by their very nature, are more inclined towards contraction, which is also called gevurah (restraint). This means that their souls are more rooted in middas hadin (the attribute of judgment). Others are more naturally inclined towards expansion, which means that they have a soul which is more rooted in middas hachessed (the attribute of kindness).

One needs to know what his personal soul needs are. One needs to know which things expand his daas, which settles and calms his mind, providing him with yishuv hadaas - as opposed to things which are merely taavos, unnecessary desires. Then one needs to figure out what the boundaries of these needs are, and how much he really needs of it - as opposed to the way of thinking of the world, which seeks all kinds of pleasures and comforts for their own sake. One will have true joy when he knows how to ‘contract’ his ‘expansion’: when he knows how to place limits on his expansion and on his comforts.

Most people, by nature, are expanding more than necessary – they are pursuing too many comforts which are beyond their true needs. This can either be a result of (1) The environment today, which has an unhealthy pursuit of too much pleasure and comfort, or (2) if a person has a lot of money to spend, so he pursues every kind of comfort available which money can buy, or (3) If a person is simply drawn towards many different taavos/desires that are available today.

The more a person recognizes his soul, the better he can recognize which kinds of “expansion” give him yishuv hadaas (a settled mind), and which kinds of expansion are simply unhealthy taavos.

The following is a very subtle point, but it is very fundamental. One should be prepared at any moment to “contract”, by being willing to give up any of his desires, in deference to the will of Hashem. There is a very fine, subtle line between “expanding” when we need to, versus “expanding” when it’s not necessary. One can know how to draw the line when he is willing to submit himself eat any given moment to do the will of Hashem. Only when a person is prepared like this, can one truly “expand” in the right way, and thereby derive true, holy joy from the soul’s power of expansion.

***

Q&A With The Rav

Q1: The Rav used the example of sleep to illustrate the idea of contraction. But what happens when a person has difficulty sleeping? Does this mean that he cannot “contract” right now (and therefore it’s possible for a person to be a in a situation where “contraction” simply isn’t possible)?

A: Trouble with feeling asleep doesn’t mean that a person cannot “contract” right now. Rather, trouble with feeling asleep can be a result of any of the following factors: (1) The person was overly active beforehand. Too much activity can sometimes prevent a person from falling asleep later. (2) In other situations, trouble falling asleep can be a sign that the person’s body doesn’t require sleep right now. (3) It may also be a result of bothersome thoughts or emotions, which are disturbing him and therefore keeping him from falling asleep.

Q2: How many powers in the soul are there? Are there 4 elements, or are there 16 elements?

A: There are 4 general forces in the soul, which are the 4 elements. They are the roots of all other forces in the soul. Within each of the 4 elements, there are another 4 elements, adding up for a total of 16 branches. Each element also contains many different properties. For example, the element of fire can illuminate, and it can also burn. Fire will always have these qualities, but when it comes to “earth-of-fire”, the fire will not only illuminate and burn, it will also cause “scattering”, because the “earth” within the fire causes fire to have a “scattering” effect, just as the earth itself is a scattered element. “Water”-of-fire will add an additional aspect to the element of fire, by adding properties of water to the fire’s properties, and “wind”-of-fire will add properties of wind to the element of fire, etc.

Q3: What does a person do if he’s stuck in contraction mode and he wants to get into expansion mode, like if he’s stuck in earth or sadness?

A: This is a very important and fundamental question, and it has a very important and fundamental answer. Every person has a point he is always opened towards [i.e. reading or listening to music]. One can always expand towards that point, even if only a little, and this will be helpful to him to create some “expansion” and come out of his “contraction” mode.

Q4: What if a person is in a situation where he is so contracted – because he is so sad that he cannot find anything he’s open to right now?

A: That can only happen when a person is in a very deep depression! In a normal case, any person should be able to find a point that he’s open towards, and he will be able to create some expansion for himself. But if a person is in a very deep depression, he will need to take medications and he will need psychiatric assistance, along with doing inner work with his soul.

Q5: If a person becomes sad whenever he thinks of his troubles, is it better for him to avoid thinking of his troubles altogether? Or should he try to force himself and learn how to rejoice in his suffering?

A: Sometimes a person should “run away” from his troubles, to a certain extent. One certainly doesn’t need to be focused all the time on his troubles. Only a person who cannot stand any bit of suffering at all should run away completely from thinking about any of his suffering. But the average person, who is able to handle a bit of suffering, is able to learn how to cope with his suffering and to deal with his troubles, and at times, he can also “run away” a bit from his suffering, by engaging in various activities that will take his mind off his troubles. There is certain validity in doing this, at least for a short amount of time. In a usual situation, a person will need to learn how to cope with troubles and learn how to accept his suffering with love, and at other times, he should also take his mind off it and ‘run away’ a bit from his troubles.

Q6: If a person doesn’t love to cook, should she force herself to cook even though she doesn’t feel like cooking right now, or should she ask someone else for help?

A: Is your question based on this lesson or is this a separate issue?

Q7: Yes, because the Rav said that one can learn how to rejoice in his suffering, but I am not sure if I should do this, or if I should just take my mind off it. I have the option of either facing my suffering, by forcing myself to cook even though I’m suffering right now and I don’t feel like cooking – or, I can work around having to cook, such as asking someone else to cook for me.

A: A question like this is very complex. It seems that there is also a separate issue here, the fact that you hate cooking. We need to know other factors in order to answer this question, such as why exactly you don’t want to cook, if you are being affected by something from your past, etc. Also, even if someone else would cook for you, would this bother your husband and children…? So there are other factors which we would need to know, in order to answer this question. Usually, as a general course of action, it is not advisable to run away from a difficulty, and it is better to cope with it, at least somewhat, instead of completely running from it.

Q8: If the element of earth brings joy by actualizing one’s potential, how do we explain sadness, which also comes from the element of earth? Is sadness the result of earth when there is no actualization of potential?

A: Sadness either comes from a lack of actualized potential, or it can come from too much ‘movement’ of the soul, which is too much ‘expansion’, and this causes the soul to revert back to its potential state, when there is no more actualization. In either scenario, whether there is absence of actualized potential, or whether the actualized potential has reverted back to its potential state (due too much expansion/actualization), there is currently an absence of actualized potential. Thus, sadness always comes from a lack of actualized potential, which is an issue in one’s element of earth.