Welcome to Emotional Wellness Daily. In our previous lesson, we discussed a concept that Rav Wolbe develops, which we’ll call selfish spirituality. Spirituality, and the need for it, is an instinct. Just like there are animal instincts, this is a human instinct. That's why there are so many people that are religious throughout the world, because they have a natural instinct to connect to a higher power.
But instincts are selfish. They're there to protect you, and they don't work with any thought process. That's why more people have been murdered and maimed in the name of religion than anything else. One might ask, How could that be in the name of religion? In the name of God? And the answer is that it could be in the name of God and religion, but at the same time, be a totally selfish and egoistic-driven concept.
This is important to understand because we're talking about emotional wellness. We're talking about the drive of a person to come close to God, which is necessary for our emotional wellness. That's one of the fundamentals of our approach, that spirituality helps with mental health. But spirituality can, like any other instinct, be misused.
Rav Wolbe develops this concept over three to four pages in his sefer Alei Shur, and brings down the famous story of Rav Yisrael Salanter, who was once on his way to shul on the night of Yom Kippur, but never ended up there. On the way back from shul, they saw Rav Salanter sitting next to a crib with a crying baby. He had passed by a house and heard a baby crying. It turned out that mother left the baby behind with a sister to go to shul. Rav Yisrael heard the baby crying and went to help. Rav Wolbe says that Rav Salanter wanted to teach us a lesson-that the mother has a responsibility and that's her mitzvah. That's her way to connect to Hashem, although it might not feel like that. Furthermore, her going to shul was not just not a Mitzvah, it was an Averah. It's a sin because these actions come without thought. She was not thinking, “I have a responsibility to take care of a child, and to leave a baby alone is is dangerous.” No, it's being driven by an instinct. And instincts don't think. He says further that this selfish spirituality is actually counterproductive. The goal in spirituality is to connect to the higher force, to connect to God, and the Gemara tells us that people don't go up to God. God comes down to them. The proof is Har Sinai. God says, I dwell amongst the humble. Therefore, the way to God cannot be through an egoistic drive. An egoistic drive is the opposite of humility, so it can't cause a Godly connection. Rav Wolbe says that at the depth of this selfish spirituality, it’s the polar opposite of humility. It's totally egoistic, it's totally instinctive. It does not have a whiff of humility. So therefore, he says it doesn't have any true connection to God, because the Shechina does not dwell in ego. God doesn't dwell in ego.
Rather, the person who humbles himself and distances himself from ego becomes the receptacle God.
All we have to do is look around today to see all of those people doing horrific acts in the name of God. But it's not holy, it's sinful, because it's not driven by a thought-out process.
This is extremely important because many people get caught up in their selfish spirituality but it comes with a lot of collateral damage, and it doesn't do well for religion in general.
Have a wonderful day.