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Getting to Know Yourself (Da Es Atzmecha) To properly grow, you must first know who you really are. This work, based on a lecture series given in Tel Aviv, teaches us to see ourselves as pure souls, and not be disheartened by flaws, which are in fact nothing more than superficial “garments” over the soul.Once this awareness is achieved, we learn to feel love toward the rest of the world, and finally, to discover Hashem deep within us.
Published in book format in Hebrew as דע את אצמך
"Getting to Know Yourself" can be ordered from your local Hebrew bookstore
Author's Preface
(Specially written by the author for the English edition)
Your life's mission requires you to know your self
as well as your Creator. The knowledge of the self is only an
intermediate path for attaining knowledge of the Creator,* which is the goal.
Which of these should come first? Logically, self-knowledge should
precede knowledge of the Creator. Practically speaking, though, there
is one approach that begins with self-knowledge, and another that begins
with knowledge of the Creator, and each approach has its merits.
If one places self-knowledge before knowledge of the Creator, his method
is sound and solid. On the other hand, as long as he is focused on
acquiring self-knowledge, he lives without a relationship to his
Creator, and his life lacks real inner vitality. In addition, there is a
concern that he will spend his entire life on self-knowledge without
ever attaining knowledge of the Creator, as we see with some people who
engage in spiritual work. Furthermore, if one has already begun to
attain a sense of his Creator - even if only occasionally and certainly
if more so - his soul will demand greater and greater knowledge of the
Creator, and he will not be capable of setting that goal aside for years
until he manages to know himself well.
On the other hand, if one gives precedence to attaining knowledge of the
Creator, he is akin to one who builds a second floor before having a
ground floor. A common result is that he loses touch with reality, and
does not properly relate to the world we see with our physical eyes.
Not only will he never achieve genuine knowledge of the Creator, but
since he lacks the stepping stone of self-awareness, he is liable to
suffer from emotional instability. He lives with only heaven, not
earth; with delusion, not reality.
For this reason, Da Es Atzmecha ("Getting to Know Your Self") is an
important prelude to the Bilvavi books. When you think about who you
are, you need to be able to filter out the outer layers that are not
really part of "you." Otherwise, the "you" that you will try to connect
to Hashem with will not be the real self. It will just be some false
self-image that you have combined from various elements. Only after
removing all the inner "noise" and the façade that taints your
self-concept can you effectively commence with the work of making that
true self closer to Hashem.
Hence, each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. Each person
must understand these advantages and disadvantages and also have an
adequate measure of self-knowledge in order to sense which approach is
most suited to his soul. One who truly seeks truth will be guided by
the Master of Truth to choose which approach to adopt first and which
later. Note that we said "first" and "later," because self-perfection
requires both self-knowledge and knowledge of the Creator.
One who chooses to start with self-knowledge should also devote a few
minutes daily to attaining knowledge of the Creator; conversely, one who
has chosen to start with knowledge of the Creator should also devote a
few minutes daily to acquiring self-knowledge.
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