Natural Instinct For Chomriyus Living Reflectively Not Reflexively AND Becoming Consistent Through Chazara And Hasmada

At the end of the first paragraph, Ramchal writes aval hato'eles, that the purpose, which is to be had, to be attained from this sefer, יצא מן החזרה עליו וההתמדה, from the constant review and reinforcement,

כי יזכרו לו הדברים האלה הנשכחים מבני האדם בטבע וישים אל לבו חובתו אשר הוא מתעלם ממנה.

In one phrase here, Ramchal imparts a fundamental insight. We know a person has a yetzer hatov, a person has a yetzer hara. I think we generally sort of understand that to mean two similar but opposing forces. There's a netiya that a person has to chomriyus, but there's a counterforce that a person has a netiya to ruchniyus. And Ramchal here is telling us, but there's a fundamental difference between how those two netiyos operate, how they manifest themselves. כי יזכרו לו הדברים האלה הנשכחים מבני האדם בטבע. Ramchal says it's the natural thing for a person to forget. For a person to forget what's important in life, what's enduring in life, what life is all about, what he should be focused on in life. That, it's not an anomaly if a person forgets. It's normal, it's natural that a person forgets. כי יזכרו לו הדברים האלה הנשכחים מבני האדם בטבע. A little bit further in the hakdama says Ramchal,

ראה אין דברי החסידות ועניני היראה והאהבה וטהרת הלב דברים מוטבעים באדם.

Yiras Hashem, ahavas Hashem, tahara, they're not reflexive, they're not devarim mutba'im ba'adam.

עד שלא יצטרכו אמצעים לקנותם אל ימצאו בני האדם בעצמם

kemo sheyimtze'u, and that stands in sharp contrast, says Ramchal, כמו שימצאו כל תנועותיהם הטבעיות. All our natural actions and reactions, they are reflexive and instinctive. Kasheina vehayekitza, hara'av vehasova, וכל שאר התנועות החקוקות בטבענו. The netiya that a person has for chomriyus is something which is instinctive, something which is reflexive. A person doesn't have to consciously think to salivate if he sees his favorite food. It's a natural instinctive reaction. Ma she'ein kein, the netiya for ruchniyus isn't reflexive, but it's something which has to be activated reflectively. And that's why Ramchal tells us, and this is such an insight, it's difficult to exaggerate the importance of this insight. If a person sort of declares neutrality, he has the yetzer hatov, yetzer hara. So we would imagine, okay, so he's gonna stay in the middle. The yetzer hatov is pulling him this way, yetzer hara is pulling him this way, so it'll be a standoff. And those two forces will counteract each other and he'll drift. Okay, he won't get that far, he won't get as far as he should get, but he'll drift. Says Ramchal, it's not going to be like that. Beteiva, beteiva if a person lives just with his natural instincts and his natural reflexes, so what happens beteiva is that דברי חסידות הנשכחים מבני אדם בטבע. Beteiva, a person does feel, he does feel hunger, he does feel ra'av, beteiva he does feel sheina. All those things are reflexive. Atzlus is something which is reflexive. Hunger, the netia lachomrius, those things are all reflexive, they're all instinctive. Which is why, if a person lives just by rote, mechanically, reflexively, it's not going to be a standoff between the two. The netia lachomrius prevails. When a person lives reflexively, so then unquestionably the sechel is the stronger of the two and the sechel can be misgaber. But the sechel has to be activated. The netia lachomrius operates on its own. It operates instinctively and reflexively and doesn't have to be activated. That's why Ramchal later in Perek Aleph, he's not the first or the last to employ the imagery of milchama. Milchemet hayetzer, we speak of Milchemet hayetzer. So what does that imagery suggest? What does it convey? So one of the things that it suggests is the constant vigilance. A person lets his guard down, so you never know when the enemy will attack. The reason there has to be constant vigilance is because again, the netia lachomrius is operative 24/7 because it's just instinctive, it's just reflexive. Chakuk, mutbah ba'adam, chakukim betiva. When a person lives reflectively rather than reflexively, so then the yetzer hatov is misgaber. When a person is focused on what's important in life and a person can take advantage of all the incredible bracha, אשרינו מה טוב חלקנו. But for that to happen, a person needs to live again reflectively. One other major element of hadracha that Ramchal imparts here in this sentence that we read before: אבל התועלת יצא מן החזרה עליו וההתמדה. Sometimes we look for elaborate Dramatic solutions to very basic problems and struggles that we have in avodas Hashem. Certainly one of the the kemidumeh most major and central struggles that a person has is the disparity, the discrepancy between what a person knows and believes and how a person behaves. I know what's important in life, I know what's of consequence, what's not of consequence, but don't you dare take the parking space that I was about to pull into otherwise I'm going to shoot you. So what happens there? There's a disparity, there's a discrepancy between what I know, what I believe, and the way I, the way I behave, the way I, the way I react. Kahena vekahena. So how does one, and it's not, okay, it can be hypocrisy, but rubo derubo it's not hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is sort of calculated, premeditated. What we're talking about is inconsistency, not hypocrisy. To diagnose the problem a little bit better, a little bit more precisely when we react again emotionally, spontaneously, instinctively, too often the emotion, the spontaneity, the instinct doesn't match what we believe, what we know, what we value. And what that means is that I know it but I haven't internalized it. It means that in that in that example I know it, I know what's of consequence, what's of divrei hevel vahavay as the Rambam would say, but I haven't internalized it. And kol zman that I only know something and haven't internalized it, it's not going to be reflected in my behavior, in my actions. So then what that suggests is the question is how does a person make that shift? How does a person progress from knowing to internalizing? And that's what Ramchal says, the answer is very prosaic. The answer isn't dramatic. The answer is very prosaic. התועלת יוצא מן החזרה עליו וההתמדה. The way a person internalizes what he already knows is by reinforcing it again and again and again, by constantly, constantly coming back and rethinking those values, those priorities, time and time again, constantly, constantly. That's how a person is able to internalize what he knows and believes. They tell the story that after Reb Yisroel Salanter had already revealed himself as it were because he felt the need to disseminate mussar, so he was once traveling and stopped at an inn overnight. So he decided that the way to take the true measure of a person, and he was right about this, is to see what the person does when he's in private and he thinks no one is watching. So he decided right the the old-fashioned locks right with the with the you had a little there was the hole right that that you inserted the key in so you could look through the you could look through the lock. So he decides in the middle of the night so he's gonna he's gonna go out into the hallway in the inn and he's gonna look to see what this supposed tzaddik is is doing. So he goes 12:30 in the night. It's in in in the the still, the silence of night and and he he goes as as silently as possible that Rabbi Yisrael Salanter shouldn't hear him and and he looks through the keyhole and he sees Rabbi Yisrael Salanter pacing back and forth. Pacing back and forth. And he's saying to himself, mimeinu lo tazua, mimeinu lo tazua. And and he sits there: five minutes, ten minutes, half hour, an hour. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter is pacing back and forth. Mimeinu lo tazua, mimeinu lo tazua. That Rabbi Yisrael Salanter was up and that he was learning comes as no surprise, but but he should have been learning Gemara, Tosafos, what? Mimeinu, he knows the Mishna already. He knows the Mishna already. Now this yesod, that the way to internalize is hachazara vehahasmada. The excitement of chiddush makes it hard to do chazara. Makes it hard to do chazara. Even when we bring ourselves to do chazara, so the goal we set ourselves is that I should remember this pshat in the Gemara, this pshat in the Rambam. But Ramchal is is explaining to us that in inyanei avoda, the goal of of the chazara is more than that. And even if there's no added insight in the hundredth time that that one repeats the Mishna, mimeinu lo tazua, but there's a tremendous to'eles in that constant reinforcement. And mistama it was that hanhaga, that that approach of Ramchal, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, which was the basis kayadu'a that that ba'alei Mussar during during chodesh Elul they would take one line from Sha'arei Teshuva. The whole chodesh Elul they would learn that one line in in Sha'arei Teshuva reflecting this yesod of Ramchal, of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter.