Self Understanding
"Kol haposel bi'mumo posel" [Kiddushin 70b]
How do you know what character traits you have to rectify? The Mussar Masters give a key: See what REALLY bothers you about other people and then look deep into your own psyche and chances are that you have at least traces of this quality. Now you can get to work. [See for example Michtav Méliyahu 5/123]
Another insight I recently heard: When a person is sympathetic to a certain group of people even if he claims not to personally identify with their principles and beliefs, deep inside he does. I often wonder, for example, about Jews who devote their lives to championing the rights of Arab terrorists and never express the slightest amount of concern for suffering Jews. "Fairness" he will claim. One sided fairness. Of course such people generally do not read this blog. So the message for us is to look at the way we relate to others in order to understand ourselves better.
Love and blessings!
How do you know what character traits you have to rectify? The Mussar Masters give a key: See what REALLY bothers you about other people and then look deep into your own psyche and chances are that you have at least traces of this quality. Now you can get to work. [See for example Michtav Méliyahu 5/123]
Another insight I recently heard: When a person is sympathetic to a certain group of people even if he claims not to personally identify with their principles and beliefs, deep inside he does. I often wonder, for example, about Jews who devote their lives to championing the rights of Arab terrorists and never express the slightest amount of concern for suffering Jews. "Fairness" he will claim. One sided fairness. Of course such people generally do not read this blog. So the message for us is to look at the way we relate to others in order to understand ourselves better.
Love and blessings!
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