We have to know that all of the levels of spirituality are not external to us. They already exist in our neshamos and are part of parcel of who we are. The problem is all of the "junk" that obstructs our neshamas ability to shine. Every morning we have to reconnect to that place deep inside of us where all of the levels of spirituality already inhere. Once we do, all of the good will emerge.
[R' Charlap ztz"l page 32 - and this Torah and all of the many Torah's I quote in his name should be a zchus for his grand-niece אביבה זהבה בת מירל and her family!]
I am sometimes asked for advice about life decisions. When giving counsel, I take two things into account. 1] The body - What is best for the body. 2] Primarily - What is best for the soul.
When boys used to ask if they should stay in Israel for another year and learn I WOULDN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION [which of course my detractors would attribute to my limited intelligence]. What is better for your soul - another year in the spiritually nourishing environment of Yeshiva or living in a secular money driven environment where success is defined by how much money you have in the bank and not what type of person you are. Either way he will have food to eat and a warm bed. OF COURSE the neshama needs the purifying air of Jerusalem. Such a boy is often pressured to return because when all that matters is the body, well then go for the gold - and Jerusalem might be the City Of Gold but people here aren't making much of it.
When you decide whom to marry, where to send your children to school, where to vacation etc. try to connect to that part of you that has all of the greatest spiritual qualities, that part of Hashem that constitutes the real you [known in Chasidus as חלק אלוה ממעל] and then decide. You will see your latent spiritual qualities beginning to appear. You might even achieve ruach hakodesh. Then you will email me thanking me for writing this post. Then I will humbly assure you that my wife ghost writes just about everything on the blog. Then you will wonder if I am serious. I will then assure you that often I am serious but in this instance I am not. Then you will say - "I thought so, nothing you write sounds like what your wife would write". Then you will wonder how two people soooo different are married to each other. Then I will share with you a few secrets about marriage.
:-)
