Rectifying the four elements
The English translation of Rav Ofer Erez’s book, ‘Ahavat Kedumim’ is nearly ready, BH.
Here is a snippet I got sent by the translator, which is very pertinent to what we’ve been discussing recently, here on the blog:
From ‘Ahavat Kedumim’ by Rav Ofer Erez, a commentary on the Story of the Lost Princess:
All the bad character traits can be divided into four elements:
– Fire: which is the root of pride and anger.
– Air: which is the root of damaged speech.
– Water: which is the root of material pleasures and jealousy.
– Earth: which is the root of laziness and heaviness.
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Every person has these four elements or foundations, which are born within him for him to rectify. However, they’re found in a different order and in different amounts in each person. The main work a person has to do in this world is based on the primary element which is more dominant in that person than the other elements. When a person does this work and rectifies these elements, the negative power of the ‘no-good’ turns into the positive power of life, which drives him and the world forward.
The positive power of fire: “it’s good to thank Hashem”, emunah, optimism, humility and trust. Seeing the good and the positive in all things. Happiness in all that there is. Enthusiasm and advancement in serving Hashem and spirituality. Wisdom from healthy logic and seeing reality from a correct perspective.
The positive power of air: “all Your nation are tzadikim”, judging favourably, mercy, faithfulness, listening and accepting others as they are, precision, reducing speech, speaking in holiness for the sake of Am Yisrael, the power of prayer and hitbodedut, the ‘spirit of holiness’, wisdom of lofty understanding which comes by itself.
The positive power of water: “a heart of flesh”, “G-d created in me a pure heart”, love, caring, warmth and protection, simpleness, strength in giving and doing things for others, sufficing with a little and with spiritual pleasure, love of learning, delving into the depths of practical knowledge and interest in all of its aspects.
The positive power of earth: “to be happy always”, happiness, strength and lifeforce, lightness, appeasing and giving in, the power to make happy, recovery, to growth and to give life. Stability and persistence, alacrity in action and in serving Hashem, emotional intelligence, wisdom of higher emotions and awareness of the spiritual reality of others.
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What I realised from my trip to Rabbenu, is that I’ve been trying to uproot my ‘fire’ – all that powerful stuff that helps me get things done, gives me clarity, gives me courage to be ‘unpopular’ etc, because it also is the root of anger and hakpada, or harsh judgements against others. (And, myself.)
However, trying to live life as a fire-less person has not been working very well.
I have literally had no motivation for anything much, no energy, no ‘passion’ for life.
The above explains all this pretty well – and the overlap with my list of things I’ve ‘lost’ is notable.
So now, I’m trying to figure out what to do with all this.
How can I keep my ‘fire’ without being an angry person with a lot of hakpada?
Not simple. Not simple at all.
This is part of the reason I get so fed-up with influencers who are full of theoretical advice that sure, sounds so good in ‘theoretical world’, but when you try to follow it in practise, there is always a ton of obstacles and complications that have to be acknowledged and addressed in real time.
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B’kitzur, while I am trying to figure more of this stuff out, I am not in a very sociable mood.
And it’s hard to discuss this anywhere except here on the blog, because 99.99999% of the world don’t do hitbodedut, and are convinced that every ‘issue’ they encounter is someone else’s problem.
Especially, the psychos.
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Tov, I will do more hitbodedut, see what comes up.
Maybe, the answer is to not so much ‘suppress’ the fire, but to try to channel it in a more positive way, and to just keep resorting to the Rav’s prayers for dealing with anger, when it starts spilling out too much in that negative direction…
As I’ve said so many times in the past, those prayers literally get my anger to ‘melt’, as soon as I say them.
Of course, you have no idea what I’m talking about, because you never get angry…
(Or if you do, it’s ALWAYS justified, and 100% someone else’s fault. Right?)
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Sigh.
What happens when you don’t acknowledge the anger is you get all passive-aggressive, tilting at windmills that mostly just exist in your mind, holding grudges for years and years and years, and generally feeling spiteful and vindictive.
But covering all that up with ‘pretend nice’ and ‘over-helping’.
BTW, this is the perfect recipe for ‘martyr mommies’, who run after their children firing poisonous barbs and trying to control them whilst feeling upset that they don’t appreciate everything I’ve done for you!!!
May Hashem save us.
From our own bad middot.
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Of course, you have no idea what I’m talking about, because you never get passive-aggressive, and every interaction with your children, and others, is only and always coming from a place of wanting what’s best for them.
Right?
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Man, no wonder my eyes have been playing up the last few weeks…
BH, those people in our oh-so-fake world who actually acknowledge that yes, I also have some bad middot that need some work, sooner or later, they will probably gravitate to Rebbe Nachman.
Because he’s the only one that really sets out good, workable advice for what to do with all the bad middot, tachlis.
Which you can sum up as: honest hitbodedut for an hour a day, then 23 hours of doing azamra, or seeing the good – especially, in YOURSELF.
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It’s a very sensitive balancing act, with most people stuck at the extreme poles of not really ‘checking in’ to see what they need to acknowledge, work on and rectify – but also, not really believing in their ‘good’, either.
That’s why narcs are often so hard to deal with, because they have to ‘stay perfect’ whilst knowing full well that they aren’t – that NOBODY is – which means they have to project all their really heavy, poisonous inner crud on to other people.
How different the world would be, for the good, if more people would actually just follow Rabbenu’s advice, of doing regular hitbodedut.
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In the meantime, I have my work cut out for me, trying to figure out how I can maintain the ‘fire’, but ditch the anger.
As you can see, I am struggling with it.
But at least I have a ton of writing stuff I need to get on with right now, that will keep me safely ‘away’ from humanity, while I try to figure all this out.
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On that happy note, Conversations 3 is nearly ready.
If you would like to dedicate a name, a page, in the book, read on.
NEW BOOK OF THE RAV IN ENGLISH*“CONVERSATIONS 3”Topics: Technology, The Jewish Home, What’s happening with Shuvu Banim, Breslov, Geula, Eretz Yisrael, Torah, Antisemitism, Tzaddikim, The State of Israel, Iran and the Nuke, Rav Berland childhood, a pointview of history”Dedications available before it goes to print.1 Name: $181/4 page: $361/2 page: $180Full page: $360Or dedicated any amount anonymously or for any cause, for Am Yisrael, for the geula.After donation please contact us with the names to verify.We need the names by Sunday Nov 16Hurry. Spaces are limited.
Space really is limited, and that deadline really is fixed, as I need to get the book over to the designer by the end of this week.
So, if you’d like to contribute to spreading some of the Rav’s light in the English-speaking world, and preserving some of his words for future generations, in an actual printed book, now is your chance.
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Last thing: Hoshea Allen has a new book out in English, which I haven’t read myself, but looks interesting, which you can get on Amazon HERE.
Thanks for the shout out on our new book, Whispers from the Tzaddik’s Heart …
I’d like to give a shout out to “Jude” who made this amazing promo video:
https://youtu.be/3ikZ4sSmm5c
Be share to check it out!
Chalom Chalom Rivka, bh!
The link is not working.
Maybe we can translate it in French?
Behatzlacha rabah !
Tziku leMistvot
Which link isnt working?
This is an interesting series on the Mazalot. The Rabbi touches on these elements for each sign – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfkCCEbiKT5taTmI2IqAKpTcBd7saN6fR&si=p88i82DNNPmSMak0
Thank you so much for sharing this link. I listened to a couple, and it’s very helpful. BH, I’ll post this up tomorrow so more people can see them, but v. helpful for a lot of reasons.
EVERYONE SHOULD OWN A COPY OF THIS AS IT HAS EVERYTHING BEING DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW IN IT AND ALL THE DETAILS
https://breslev.com/product/anatomy-of-the-soul/
I have this on the bookshelf – where do you see the details of what we’re discussing at the moment, can you give page numbers?
MY SEFER IS A BROWN HARD COVER SECOND EDITION 2015
IN PART THREE : EATING : THE EGYPTIAN EXILE: PG 87 :
HE WRITE ” WATER AND FIRE CORRESPOND TO LOVE AND AWE ..”
PG 104: SECTION: ANGER AND PRIDE: HE WRITES: ” OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS, FIRE IS HOT AND DRY, AND IS THE LIGHTEST IN ITS PHYSICAL …”
BASICALLY THE WHOLE CHAPTER THREE: THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM: TELLS US OF THE PURIFICATION PROCESS AND HOW TO PURIFY OURSELFS WITH THE FOODS WE EAT AND WHY AND HOW TO EAT AS WELL AS WHAT NOT TO EAT.
HOPE THIS HELPS
האיש
This is a very helpful post!
Can we pre-order the book?
How can a person better understand what their “element” is so that they can rectify it?
I actually wrote a book called People Smarts that has a quiz that helps you figure out which admixture of the four elements you have, based on the stress response. Fire = fight, air = flight, water = freeze and earth = flatter. That’s just one option to consider, there are many others
YOU MAY ALSO USE YOUR NAME IN HEBREW TO HELP FIND SOME OF YOUR CHARACTERISTICS
PROOF: DID ADAM NOT NAME ALL THE ANIMALS IN HEBREW BY WHAT THEIR ESSENCE ?
האיש – show us how to do that, tachlis. Do you mean gematriot, or something else?
YES YOU CAN USE ” gematriot ” TO FIND SOME IDEAS. YOU CAN ALSO USE THE ESSENCE AND CHARACTERISTIC OF EACH LETTER. YOU MUST BE ABLE TO LOOK AT YOUR SELF HONESTLY AND RECAL EVENTS THAT MATCH THE GEMATRIA AND OR ENERGIES OF THE LETTERS. REME,BER YOU ARE ALSO DEALING WITH THE CHAMBER OF EXCHANGES ? YOU SHOULD AT LEAST FIND SOME NEW ASPECTS TO YOUR NAME. IF YOUR STILL BLESSED WITH HAVING PARENTS STILL HERE, ASK THEM WHY THEY NAMED YOU WHAT THEY DID AND MAYBE EVEN THE REASONS ?
HOPE THIS HELPS IN GENERAL
Since you’re all talking about the four elements and their spiritual significance, especially Rivky’s post itself, which speaks of their connection to middot, here’s a shiur I gave on the topic, focusing on R’ Nachman’s teaching itself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mafe_JqhFhI
Here’s the description of the workshop:
In this class, we explore the four fundamental elements of creation—fire, air, water, and earth—and their connection to negative character traits. Understanding these spiritual elements is key to personal growth and spiritual development. We also dive into the four aspects of the soul and the four humours, examining how they influence the emergence of undesirable traits. Learn how to transform these elements and improve your character for a more balanced, spiritually aligned life.
DO NOT FORGET PAGES 35 – 38 IN ANATOMY OF A SOUL
IT SPELLS OUT THE BASICS