Chassidus explains why.
The goal of spiritual growth is not only to know the truth.
It is to improve your personality so you can reveal more goodness in the world.
Why?
Because creation means experiencing yourself as separate from the Creator.
That feeling of separation makes it possible to also feel alone, afraid, ashamed, and uncertain.
Without emotional skills, the nervous system naturally develops survival patterns to regain a sense of safety.
Chassidus teaches that this was part of the design of creation.
The Creator did not create human beings only to receive goodness.
He created us to become co-creators by developing the emotional skills that transform separation into relationship.
The deeper our capacity for relationship becomes, the deeper intimacy and pleasure become.
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That is why Chassidus places so much emphasis on daas (felt knowing).
Faith becomes daas through curiosity, analysis, and repeatedly recognizing patterns in your own life.
One of the most important patterns to recognize is how you seek safety and control in your relationships.
This idea has deep roots in Chassidus. The Chernobyl Maggid (student of the Besht) taught that every thought belongs to one of seven categories. He said this teaching came through ‘external inspiration’ and not a feeling he experienced. The point is that our thoughts follow patterns, and those patterns can be recognized.
Many of those patterns are adaptive nervous system responses. They helped you survive difficult experiences in early childhood, but they can also make trust and intimacy more difficult as an adult.
Fight believes, “If I become stronger, more right, or more intimidating, I’ll be safe.”
Flight believes, “If I avoid this, I’ll be safe.”
Freeze believes, “Nothing I do about the situation will matter.”
Fawn (people-pleasing) believes, “If everyone is happy with me, I’ll be safe.”
These patterns can become so automatic that they feel like your personality.
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If you believe the Creator is good, ask yourself:
Where do I resist goodness?
Where do I hide from responsibility?
Which survival pattern do I rely on most?
What belief keeps repeating beneath it?
When do I stop being curious and assume I already know what will happen?
If you do not believe in the Creator, ask yourself:
What patterns keep shaping my relationships?
What kind of person do my beliefs help me become?
Am I as curious about evidence that challenges my worldview as I am about evidence that supports it?
Daas does not begin with having all the answers.
It begins by becoming curious enough to analyze your life and recognize patterns.
The more patterns you recognize, the more you begin to trust that your life is not random, but part of the Creator’s plan.
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As trust grows, the need to control begins to weaken.
Fight no longer needs to prove itself.
Flight no longer needs to avoid.
Freeze no longer believes nothing you do about the situation will matter.
Fawn no longer needs everyone’s approval.
Instead of trying to create safety through control, you begin finding safety in your relationship with the Creator.
That relationship gives you the inner strength to develop emotional skills like curiosity, compassion, healthy boundaries, and self-forgiveness.
As those emotional skills grow, trust deepens, your personality changes, and your survival patterns become weaker.
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From there, your relationship with the Creator begins to deepen because awe begins to grow.
Awe is a blend of three feelings.
Sadness, because goodness could be more revealed.
Fear, because your choices matter.
Wonder, because acts of goodness give the Creator pleasure.
The deeper your awe becomes, the deeper your relationship with the Creator becomes.
Chassidus teaches that the deepest pleasure is intimacy with the Creator.
Survival patterns teach us to trust control more than relationship.
Daas teaches us to trust relationship more than control.
Without daas, knowledge stays in the mind.
With daas, truth begins to shape your personality, your relationships, and the way you experience the Creator.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught that every person has a role in preparing the world for the Messianic era.
One of the deepest ways we do that is by building a genuine relationship with the Creator.
Awe opens that relationship.
Joy deepens it.
The more we replace control with trust, and survival with relationship, the more we become the kind of people who can help build a world of revealed goodness.
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Chassidus was reignited by Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov (the Besht) about 300 years ago, after much of its inner wisdom had been lost to most of the Jewish people.
