Daily Tanya – Chapter 29 Part 3: Source of nightmares (Tuesday, 30th Shevat)

30^th Shevat

3.      Contemplating all one’s thoughts, speech, and actions:

• Even one who is clean of any severe sins from the times of his youth, nonetheless, he too can bring himself to broken heartedness through fulfilling the instructions of the Zohar to constantly calculate one’s spiritual status.
• From the day that one was born: One should perform a deep introspection of his soul and spiritual state regarding each of his thoughts, speech, and actions, from the day that he was born [and became responsible for his actions] until this day.
• Thoughts, speech, and action, not for the sake of heaven: He should contemplate whether all of these thoughts, speech and actions came from the side of holiness or from the side of impurity, heaven save us. This refers to any thought, speech, and action, which was not for the sake of heaven, for the sake of fulfilling His will and worshiping Him. This indeed is the meaning behind the side of evil, which is a side that is not the side of holiness.
• Thoughts of holiness connect one to the heavenly chambers of holiness: It is well known that whenever a person thinks thoughts of holiness he becomes a chariot at that moment for the chambers of holiness, from which all of these holy thoughts come from.
• Thoughts of impurity connect one to the heavenly chambers of impurity: The same applies regarding impure thoughts, that one who contemplates impure thoughts at that moment becomes an impure chariot for the chambers of impurity from which all the evil thoughts derive from.
• The same applies regarding one who speaks or performs actions of good or evil.

3.      Contemplating one’s dreams of nonsense and vanity:

• Another matter that one can contemplate and take to heart [to bring him to a state of broken heartedness] are the many dreams that he has when he sleeps which are filled with vanity and matters of the world.
• Soul not going above to heaven: These dreams of vanity occur because one’s soul is not being elevated above to heaven upon him sleeping, as it states in the verse “who will go out to the mountain of G-d, only those who are of clean hands.”
• The side of evil attaches to the persons soul during his sleep and causes him dreams of nonsense: Now, being that the soul is not going above to heaven during sleep due to its spiritual blemishes, this invites the side of evil to send its forces to attach to him during his sleep. They are the ones who enter his mind and cause him to dream of matters of vanity and of this world.
• Nightmares: On occasion, these forces of evil scoff at the person and show him in his dreams matters of deception, and cause him pain during his dream, as written in the Zohar, see there in length.