Advice – Awe and Devotion 3

AWE AND DEVOTION. 3. If you wish to savor the taste of the hidden light – the secrets of Torah that are destined to be revealed in time to come – you should meditate and speak to God. Express everything in your heart before Him. Examine yourself and judge yourself. Weigh up all the different things you are involved with. In this way, you will be able to banish your extraneous fears of forces other than God – these are called “fallen fears” – and you will be able to elevate your fear and experience the true awe of Heaven.

When a person neglects to examine and judge himself, he is examined and brought to judgment from on high. God has many ways of executing His judgments. He has the power to clothe them in anything in the world, because all things are His messengers, and He can use whatever means he chooses to execute His judgments. … But when a person examines and judges himself of his own accord, the decree above is removed. There is no need for him to be afraid of anything. He is already sufficiently aroused and spiritually awake without needing things of this world to shake him. This is what is meant by elevating fear to its root. He is afraid of nothing except God. Because of this, he will be worthy of the hidden light (Likutey Moharan I, 15).