A Great Mountain of Fire

Once, Rabbi Nachman came into the house.

He said, "What can you do when there is a great mountain of fire right in front of you? On the other side of the mountain is a wonderful, precious treasure. But you can only get to that treasure by passing through the mountain of fire--and it is absolutely necessary that you get to that lovely, wonderful treasure."

A few days later, Rabbi Nachman spoke about this again. He laughed and said, "I already have learned what to do about this."

Sichot Haran #191

Do Not Seek That Which is Hidden from You

When you expand your mind to see divine messages in everything in the world, do so in a measured way, so that you don’t go out of the boundaries of holiness. Just expand your thought in this way on the level of your human intellect,

And also, don’t look into this on a level higher than where you are—“do not seek that which is hidden from you” (Chagigah 13).

“You Have been very great, You have clothed Yourself in glory and beauty.”

In other words, when you want to take something from the world, which is the garment in which God clothed His glory and beauty--i.e., the “feet” [of divinity] that are clothed in this world--that should be done “You have been very great”—the word “very” is a kabbalistic allusion to the “left” side, which is the source of constriction.

That is to say, constrict and limit the expansion [of your attempt to see divine messages in everything].

Likutei Moharan 54

Remember the World to Come Always

Remember the world to come always. Cause your mind to cling to that future world—both in general and in particular.

In general, for anyone who feels the awe of God, as soon as you get up in the morning, before you begin anything else, think right away of the world to come.

Then go into detail

You see, this whole world is a disguise for the low levels of holiness. Our world is the feet of holiness. That is why the verse says, “and the earth is My footstool” (Isaiah 66:1).

All of the levels of holiness, even the highest levels, reveal themselves in this world. But really, their essence doesn’t come out in this world. All that comes out is the light shining on that plane that we call “the feet.”

But that plane of “the feet” actually reveals itself in this world.

Every day has three things in it: your thoughts, your words and your actions.

And the Holy One, blessed be He, constricts His divinity from the most Infinite to the most intimate, to the most core of the physical world that His entire Being is standing on.

And God sends every person thought, speech and deeds that are just right for that day and for that person and for that spot.

And in those thoughts, and words and actions that God brings to a person, He hides hints in them to bring that person close to God.

So you have to think about this profoundly, you have to expand your understanding, you have to understand what those hints are in detail, hidden in your thought or words or deeds every day that Hashem, be He blessed, has sent you.

Whether it is in your work, in your business—whatever Hashem, be He blessed, sends you every day, you have to go into it deeply and expand your thought on it, until you understand the hints that Hashem, be He blessed, is sending you.

Likutei Moharan I 54

Guard Your Memory

It is so important to guard your memory. Do not fall into forgetfulness, which is the death of the heart.

And the main type of remembering is to constantly remember the world-to-come. Don’t think, heaven forbid, that all there is is one world….

Likutei Moharan I 54

A Holy State of Consciousness

With the mitzvah of the Hannukah flame, we draw onto ourselves a holy state of consciousness, which is the olive oil, the awareness: we are constantly aware of the world of spirituality—in general and [even] in detail.

Kitzur Likutei Moharan 54:16 (from V’hilchata k’nachmani)

A Person Has to Pray to God

A person has to pray to God, clinging to Him intensely.

But if sometimes you cannot pray with such cleaving to God, don’t say that because you can’t concentrate properly and cling to God in your prayer, and your prayer will not be accepted, that you won’t pray at all.

R. Chaninah ben Dosa said that “when my prayer rolls smoothly in my mouth, I know that it has been accepted…” (Berachot 34b). [At other times, his prayer wasn’t smooth in his mouth—but he prayed at those times too.]

If you pray and cling to God, then your prayer is smooth in your mouth and it is accepted. If not, heaven forbid, the opposite holds true.

Still, don’t let that discourage you. Instead, always pray.

And if you cannot pray and cling to God properly, pray with all your might.

And when you pray and cling to God properly, then you will lift up all of your other prayers as well.

“I pleaded with Hashem at that time, saying” (Deuteronomy 3:23).

“I pleaded with Hashem”—constantly, whether clinging to Him or not.

“At that time, saying.” When a person can pray and cling to God, when his prayer rolls smoothly in his mouth, when he is saying them easily because he is praying and cleaving to God, then all of his prayers rise to God.
Likutei Moharan 99

The Torah of the Future

by R. Nachman of Breslov

The Zohar teaches that in the future the Torah of the hidden Ancient One will be revealed.

The Torah is received principally through our mindfulness.

Our mindfulness is Moses. It is the messiah. It is “the wise man [who] has gone up with the city of mighty men” (Proverbs 21:22). A person who possesses this aspect of Moses, of the Messiah, is able to receive the Torah. He can draw forth the illumination of the Torah and teach it to others.

The revelation of the Torah comes from the union of [the two expressions of the Infinite One called] the Holy One, blessed be He, and the In-Dwelling. “Listen, my son, to the rebuke of your father, and do not reject the Torah of your mother” (Proverbs 1:88). “Your father” refers to the Holy One, blessed be He. “Your mother” refers to the Congregation of Israel [which is the In-Dwelling] (Zohar Yisro 85, Pinchas 213).

They are united when the spirits of Israel rise, like water rising.

And the wise man can take the souls and lift them, like water rising. “He who takes souls is a wise man” (Proverbs 11:30).

From this union, the Torah is born.

When the wise man rises with the souls, “with the city of strong man rises the wise man,” then “He brings down the strength of its security.”
Likutei Moharan 13

Wondrous New Things

If even a simple person sits before a holy book and gazes at the letters of the Torah, he will be able to see wondrous new things. When he gazes at the letters, they will begin to shine and combine, as did the letters upon the breastplate of the cohen gadol. Then he will see new things, wonders and combinations. He will even be able to see things that the author did not have in mind.

A great person can see this without effort. But even a totally simple person can come to and see such new things, if he will sit and gaze at the letters of the Torah.

But do not make this into a test, for then you might see nothing at all.
Likutei Moharan 281

Creating a Container of Space and Time

Looking at something creates a container—the container of space and time.

Before you look at something, it is indeterminate. But when you look at it, it gains definition….

And that is the meaning of “trust.” “Trust” is a type of looking: you look to and hope in God alone, and you trust in Him…

And when you look toward Him with trust, you create a container—the container of space and time. God’s energy flows down from above without cease, but it is outside the realm of time. So it could be that you need something now, but it will only come into the world in two or three years.

But when you look [toward God] with trust, you create a container of space and time for that energy, so that it will come when [and where] you need it. “The eyes of all look towards You”—and as a result, “You give them their food in its time” (Psalms 145:15).

from Likutei Moharan 76

Giving Someone the Eyes of a Tzaddik

In a number of places, the Talmud tells of a case in which someone did something wrong, and a holy man “placed his eyes upon him and he turned into a heap of bones” (Berachot 58, Shabbat 34, Bava Batra 75, Sanhedrin 100).

What does this mean?

The answer is that when a person does something wrong he doesn’t see how far the damage reaches.

But the tzaddik, the holy person, does see, because he has the “eyes of Hashem.” We see this from the verse, “Hashem’s eyes [look] toward the righteous” (Psalms 34:17), which can be translated homiletically as “Hashem [gives His] eyes to the tzaddikim.” And so the tzaddikim possesses the eyes of Hashem.

And we learn from a verse that “the eyes of Hashem travel across the entire world” (Zechariah 4:10; Chronicles I).

Thus the tzaddik sees how far the damage of a sin reaches.

And so this is what the Talmud is saying. The tzaddik “placed his eyes upon him.” He gave his own eyes to the other person so that he would be able to see with the eyes of the tzaddikim.

“And he turned into a heap of bones.” The word for heap—gal—is also related to the word meaning “be revealed.” And “bones” is related to the word meaning to squeeze tightly—particularly, to squeeze one’s eyes shut tightly, as in the verse, “and shuts his eyes from seeing evil” (Isaiah 33:15).

So the phrase can now be rendered, “The tzaddik gives the man who committed a sin his own eyes of a tzaddik so that his closely shut eyes can now see.” Now he sees the damage that he caused, which had been hidden from him before.

And there is no great punishment than seeing the damage than one has oneself caused.

Likutei Moharan 98.