There’s an axiom at work in my life, but whenever its dynamic comes into play I tend to resist it. Before I can rise to a new level in my relationship with G-d and my self-work, I’m going to experience something of a fall.
It doesn’t have to be major, but there is going to be something. Because there is this principle at work: “The fall that is for the purpose of rising.” So I know that this is the way that it must be…and, even so, I have a hard time accepting it.
Rebbe Nachman taught that if I’ll just stay aware that this is a necessary preliminary stage to moving forward, I won’t get so thrown. Resisting the dynamic, denying its reality, leads to even more suffering and a prolonging of the fall, whatever form it takes.
The main thing is to remember that if I’ll only be patient…
“There is a lot to say about this, because each person imagines that this concept doesn’t really apply to them… They assume that it’s only relevant to those lofty individuals who rise from level to level spiritually all the time, not to simple people like themselves. But the truth is that all spiritual dynamics exist universally; it’s as true for a regular person as it is for a great tzaddik… Before rising to a new level, there is going to be some kind of a fall.”
The main thing is to remember that if I’ll only be patient and hold on, all of my falls will be transformed and help me rise to a new level. They bring me to humility, they bring me to honesty, they bring me to recognize just how dependent I am on G-d’s mercy…and they teach me patience with myself.
(Based on Likutei Moharan I:22)