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Pride and Humility:
- The humility of the Tzaddik brings him to the level of Nothing. This
is what gives him the power to atone for sins (4:7).
- A person who is truly humble becomes stripped of all his material aspects
and merged with the Infinite. He then attains the awareness of how everything
that happens to him is only for his benefit. To know this is to taste the
life of the World to Come (Ibid. 9).
- Pride brings poverty (Ibid. 8).
- Humility is the foundation of true repentance. The essence of repentance
is to feel your own lowliness and insignificance, to be aware of the wrong
you have done, and to understand that even the suffering and murderous opposition
you may have to encounter in your quest for the truth are perfectly just
(6:2).
- A person may have fasted a great deal and undergone harsh personal
discipline and self-mortification. Even so, he should not arrogantly assume
that he has attained the level of a Tzaddik, with the power to bring about
redemptions or to accomplish great feats through prayer. If he examines himself
carefully he will see that in spite of all his fasting and asceticism, his
physical desires are still firmly lodged in his body -- not only his own
desires, but even the lust his father had at the time he was conceived. As
soon as he recognizes this he will be overcome with trepidation and he will
no longer delude himself with the thought that he is a Tzaddik. Instead he
will turn to the true Tzaddik to ask him to intercede on his behalf; he will
bind his own prayers to the Tzaddik, and in this way he will restore prayer
to its rightful place, which is with the true Tzaddikim. They alone understand
the secret of prayer and the way to elevate prayer. God yearns for the prayers
of the Tzaddikim and sends an eloquent flow of words to their lips (10:4).
- There are certain arrogant people who not only refuse personally to
go to the Tzaddikim to ask them to pray on their behalf, but who also try
to prevent others from going as well. Such people deprive God of the prayers
of the Tzaddikim for which he yearns so strongly (Ibid.).
- Pride is a form of idol-worship. The way to crush it is by drawing
closer to the Tzaddikim (Ibid. 5).
- To break one's pride is the foundation for attaining wisdom, long life
and vitality. The severe face which God shows is sweetened, and one attains
faith, joy, the understanding of Torah in its revealed and hidden aspects,
and ruach hakodesh, the spirit of holiness (Ibid. 11).
- A person who is arrogant cannot even open his mouth. He lacks the faculty
of speech and is unable to speak words which radiate with light. When words
of Torah pass across his lips, not only do the words themselves fail to radiate
within him and draw him to improve, worse still, the Torah itself becomes
coarsened and dimmed on his lips (11:2).
- Arrogance and sexual immorality are connected. A person who succeeds
in resisting temptation and extricating himself from pride will attain the
light that will illumine his path to repentance. In the end he will reach
an understanding of the depths of Torah (Ibid. 3).
- There is a form of humility which is the ultimate in arrogance. This
is when a person acts humbly because he knows that people look down upon
those who flaunt themselves. All he wants is to gain their respect and approval.
His humility is for show: he really wants honor. It takes a good deal of
intelligence and self-examination to rid yourself of pride: you must cleanse
yourself of it completely. As our Sages said: `Be very, very lowly in spirit'
(Avoth 4:4). The exile of the Jews from our land was caused by `seven idolatrous
temples' (Gittin 88). This is a reference to pride. Even today people are
still chasing after honor and prestige, and this is why the exile has still
not ended (Ibid. 7).
- Torah can only be acquired with meekness. There are four distinct
areas where you must break your pride: you must be humble before those who
are greater than you, before those who are on your own level, and before
those who are less than you. And at times -- if you are the smallest of the
small -- you must make yourself humble even in front of yourself: you must
look upon yourself as if you were on a lower level than you actually are
(14:5).
- There are many different things which make people arrogant. You should
be very careful about all of them. Intelligence, power and material possessions
are the three main things which give people a sense of superiority. You must
rid yourself of any trace of arrogance you may have in these three areas.
Whatever intelligence, power or wealth you have been blessed with should
give you a sense of meekness and humility (Ibid.).
- The more you succeed in breaking your pride the greater your attainments
in Torah will be. You will have the power to draw those who are far from
God closer, and then the glory of God will be exalted and magnified. When
glory is taken from the hands of those who have abrogated it to themselves
and restored to God alone, the awe of God spreads. Through awe you can attain
harmony within yourself, and this is the way to discover true prayer and
to achieve universal peace, peace in all the worlds (Ibid.).
- Arrogance can actually cause a person to be imprisoned (Ibid. 22).
- There are times when people generally fail to guard their tongues.
The danger then is that even those who are righteous and God-fearing will
succumb to feelings of pride. It is essential for every individual to keep
a careful watch on himself and ask if the honor and prestige he enjoys are
really justified. Otherwise he runs the risk of falling into arrogance. Pride
is the cause of the `Exile of the Shechinah' (58:10).
- The less importance a person attaches to himself, the more drawing
power he has: he is able to draw down the Shechinah to the lowest worlds
to dwell with us. This was God's desire from the day He created His universe.
Such a person has the power to draw men closer to the service of God, and
he can channel blessing and goodness to the Jewish people. And he himself
is able to draw closer to the Tzaddik (70).
- Experiencing the sanctity of Shabbat is one of the ways of attaining
true humility, which means to seeing one's own lowliness and understanding
the greatness of the Jewish people and being willing to sacrifice oneself
for them, like Moses did (79).
- A person should look upon himself as if he were less than he really
is. That is true humility. And at the very least he should not look upon
himself as if he is more than he really is (Ibid.).
- When a person is meek and lowly, no one will ever be able to shake
him or push him from his place. No one can take away his livelihood, God
forbid (Ibid.).
- Humility protects against sexual temptation. Pride arouses it (130).
- One of the ways of ridding yourself of pride is to celebrate the festivals
with open-heartedness and joy, and to honor them in the most lavish manner
you can afford (135).
- If someone is humble, it is a sign that he is bound to the Tzaddik,
because being close to the Tzaddik breaks one's pride (Ibid.)
- When a person is so humble that he is literally nothing, he can attain
Torah and greatness at the same time. Otherwise it is hard for the two of
them to dwell together (162).
- When a person is arrogant, it is a sign that he will end up in trouble.
The opposite is also true: a person who is humble and lowly will come to
great honor (168).
- Whatever glory and greatness any kingdom or leader or ruler may possess,
their true basis lies in humility. The greater the humility of the ruler
or leader, the more his power and dominion will spread (Likutey Moharan II,
16).
- Most people have very mistaken ideas about what it is to be humble.
You must be very careful not to fall into the trap of false modesty. Pray
to God about this and ask to be worthy of true humility in accordance with
His desire (38).
- In the resurrection which is destined for the future, the part of
each person that will be restored to life is the modest, humble part and
that alone. The indescribable bliss of the eternal life of the World to Come
cannot be experienced by anyone except inasmuch as true humility and meekness
are found within him (72).
- At the root of every single Jew there exists an aspect of the humility
and lowliness of Moses. Every limb of the body is suffused with them. However
they are hidden and concealed to the point that they are `dead' as it were,
and for this reason the average person does not consciously experience them
at all, and he is far from being humble and lowly in the way Moses was. But
as a person draws closer to the Tzaddik -- when he sees the Tzaddik, and
especially when he hears Torah from his lips -- he is able to develop a sense
of genuine shame and to achieve repentance. The humility and lowliness concealed
in him will then come to life, and he will attain the true humility which
is the gateway to enduring life in the World to Come.
- We must pray and plead with God to make us worthy of true humility
and lowliness. We really have no conception of what humility is. The aim
is certainly not to be slovenly and act as if we consider ourselves worthless.
Humility is the source of the life which is in every single limb. Humility
is the life of the world to come and the essence of its joy (Ibid.).
- If things are not going well for a person, he should understand it
as a sign that there is still some residue of pride within him. He must repent
and lower himself and bring himself to the level of Mah? -- `What?' Then
things will begin to go well for him (82).
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