Fixing Your Earth [Laziness] - 001 Moving Out of Non-Movement

דע את מידותיך הדרכה מעשית – עפר-עצלות מפורט 001 עפר דעפר דעפר 

Two Opposing Elements: Wind\Movement and Earth\Permanence

With siyata d’shmaya we will learn here about the element of earth, the root of the trait of laziness.

As a general description, there are two “pairs” within the four elements – the elements of fire and water, and the elements of wind and earth.

The Vilna Gaon said that the elements of fire and water are Heavenly elements and more associated with the Next World. The elements of wind and earth are baser elements which are more associated with This World. Man’s body was taken from the earth, and when man received a soul, he became a “talking spirit” (ruach memalelah), which is rooted in the wind.

Laziness - Stifled Movement Caused By “Heaviness” In The Soul

Wind is the root of movement. Wind is the motivating force in everything. Earth, by contrast, is the element of permanence and serenity, and it is the element which is the antithesis of wind\movement. When earth’s nature of serenity is in its rectified form, this is the genuine serenity which is called “menuchah”. When it is impaired, this is what we call “atzlus”, laziness. Therefore, earth is the opposite of wind in two ways: either because it is serene [the rectified use of earth], or because it breeds laziness [the impaired use of earth].

Laziness is when a person stifles his power of movement. If one totally stifles his movements, this is a deathlike state. At death, the wind\soul of a person returns to Hashem, and the body returns to the earth. When a person’s movements are stifled only on a partial level, this is what we know as laziness.

The trait of laziness should therefore be more precisely defined as a partial stifling of wind\movement in the soul. 

When one needs to move more (based on his personal needs for movement, which vary according to each soul) but his movements have become restricted, due to the nature of “heaviness” which comes from the element of earth, this produces laziness. Laziness comes from the aspect of “heaviness” in the element of earth, and this is what lays behind the definition of laziness we explained above, that laziness is a partial stifling of movement. It is really the “heaviness” of earth which, when it dominates, causes a partial stifling of movement in the soul. This heaviness of “earth” in the soul, when it meets the “wind” in the soul, can slow it down – and this is what we know as laziness.

The Five General Functions of the Soul

The soul generally consists of five functions (in order of lowest level to highest level): (1) Action, (2) Emotion, (3) Speech, (4) Thought, (5) Will.

Let us explain these levels, from the lowest to the highest.

How Laziness Affects Action

When the element of earth is impaired, it will generally manifest in the “actions” of a person. Action is the lowest use of the soul, and earth is the lowest of the four elements. Our Sages also equate the element of earth with the power of action. Earth activates the potential of the elements of fire, water and wind, bringing them into the realm of action. The “world of action” which we live in is generally associated with the element of earth.

Although the element of earth is generally manifest in the world of action, the aspect of “heaviness” in earth also exists in the subtler areas of the soul - will, thought, emotion, and speech. Actions, though, are basest function of the soul, and therefore the earth’s “heaviness” is mainly manifest in one’s actions, the “heaviest” force in the soul [which weighs a person down and which is closest to physicality]. Thus, the element of earth mainly corresponds to the level of action.

The heaviness of earth mainly settles on the area of action, but it can also show up in the subtler areas of the soul. Therefore, we can detect laziness in the will, thoughts, speech and emotions – where the element of earth can produce stifled movement, resulting in laziness, within the above areas of the soul.

The Effect of Laziness On The Character Traits

Laziness is also character trait. It is mainly manifest in the area of action, but since it is also one of the character traits, it also exists on a potential level within all of the areas of the soul. Its results will be seen in the area of action, but it exists on a potential level in the other areas of the soul as well, for it is a character trait.

Therefore, although we have explained that laziness is manifestly manifest in the area of action, it also exists on a potential level, as a character trait, in all areas of the soul. So while laziness can mainly be seen in the area of action, it also exists on subtler levels when it comes to the areas of speech, emotion, thought and will. It can be detected as slowed movement in the soul, which breeds “laziness” upon the soul.

As a result of this, when laziness takes effect on various character traits of the soul – such as the traits of joy, enthusiasm, love, etc. – what will happen? The particular trait in question will become somewhat constricted - either totally, or partially. The laziness will slow down the soul’s movements within the particular trait. This will be detrimental to the inner makeup of the soul. So, besides for the fact that laziness bears negative results – it causes a person to act lazy – it also has subtler detrimental effects. It will weigh down a certain character trait.

For example, if a person is lazy, his joy may also be lessened. Or, he may feel less loving. Joy and love are both emotions that come from inner expansion, and when laziness dominates, these emotions are constricted and the soul cannot expand as much. As a result, a person will experience less joy even when he is experiencing joy, and less love even when he’s experiencing love, etc. The laziness doesn’t let the soul expand, and the character traits will be prevented from expanding as they normally do, remaining in their potential state, unutilized.

Many times, when a person is lazy, this has a detrimental effect on his character traits, and when he attempts to fix his character traits, he doesn’t realize that the problem is causing from the laziness, and instead he thinks that there is something wrong with his love, joy, etc. The laziness is preventing his character traits from performing properly.

Since laziness is a character trait, its effect on the character traits is clearly felt, because that is where the laziness mainly settles.

Laziness In Speech

Laziness also affects a person’s speech. The Chovos HaLevovos says that the lightest part of the body is the tongue, meaning that a person can speak freely. But when laziness takes hold of a person, it weighs down his speech as well.

A classic example of this is the mitzvah to speak words of Torah. When one is lazy, he will be lazy when it comes to speaking words of Torah as well. When learning with his chavrusa, he may be too lazy to say what he’s thinking.

Or, when learning Torah privately, he may be too lazy to verbalize the words. The ideal way of learning Torah is to verbalize the words when learning it, and the Baal HaTanya said that it is an actual obligation, for the Gemara says that one must verbalize the words of Torah with his mouth, so that it should become “alive” in his mouth. A person may be learning with a sefer and he is thinking about Torah, but he is not speaking words of Torah, because he is being prevented by laziness.

Another example is that a person may be too lazy to give a compliment or an encouraging word to someone else, when the other is going through a difficult time. This is also an example of laziness in speech.

Another form of laziness in speech is when a person speaks slowly. There are some who speak slowly because they have a deliberate thinking process, and they think things through very well before they speak, carefully choosing their words. Others, however, will speak slowly because they have a dominant element of earth in their souls, and the trait of laziness produced from earth is manifest in their speech.

(Laziness doesn’t always affect the entire spectrum of the soul. In some people, laziness is only present in their actions, and in others, it shows up in their speech, and in others it will show up in their emotions. Others will have laziness only in their thoughts, and others will have laziness only when it comes to their will.)

When laziness manifests in speech, a person’s speech is slowed. A person may seem to be a very calm person who always speaks slowly and calmly, while in reality, the reason he speaks slowly is because he is weighed down by his element of earth. If a person is always speaking very slowly, it may either be stemming from a calm mind, which is a quality, or it may be stemming from a heavy element of earth, which is detrimental.

How Laziness Affects Thought

Laziness can also be manifest in a person’s thoughts. This is a more expansive topic.

Every person thinks, each on his own level. The three thinking abilities are called chochmah, binah, and daas. Although laziness affects the entire spectrum of the soul, we can possibly say laziness mainly affects the power of thought, causing a person to be “lazy” in his ability to think.

The Sages state that “A person is thought” (“adam da machshavah”) - man has the power to think and reflect, and this is a power that is constantly active. However, it is well-known that a person does not use much of his brain. Whatever is known about the brain today is only a small part of the brain, which the scientists admit to. There are many more parts of the brain which people do not use, and for the most part, these parts of the brain are asleep. One of the main reasons of why so many people are “asleep” in their brains is because they are simply being too lazy to think.

People are trained to do actions, but they are not that trained to think, and that is what they are used to since childhood. Those who merit learn Torah throughout the day, are usually using their minds to think, each on his own level. But if a person isn’t learning Torah that much during the day, or even if he’s sitting and learning Torah all day in the beis midrash but he is not trying to exert his mind that much, he isn’t using the potential of his mind, and he won’t be aware of his mental capabilities, because he isn’t using them. Even if he is aware, he may still be using very little of his ability to think.

Therefore, in most people, there is a laziness which prevents the person from using his thinking, because they have never trained themselves to get used to thinking, which further limits their active mental abilities. This issue has many bearings on one’s ability to think. There are two issues here – an issue of quantity, and an issue of quality. One issue to consider is how much a person is thinking, and the other issue is the quality of one’s thinking – how well he can think. When one hasn’t trained his mind to think that much, not only isn’t he thinking, but the quality of his thinking will also decline. His comprehension will therefore become very narrowed and limited.

How Laziness Affects The Will

Laziness also has a detrimental effect on the will of the person. When one is lazy, the laziness prevents him from actualizing his willpower.

If a person hasn’t yet begun to improve his spiritual state, his connection to materialism and his sins will block his heart, and he won’t be able to actualize his spiritual will to improve. The purer he becomes, the better he will be able to actualize his will. However, this problem is not always when it comes to the spiritual. It can affect a person even a more basic level, of simply not having enough willpower for anything. This is a problem that affects even the “animal” level of the soul, and it is not always related to a spiritual will. We can see that some people have a very active willpower, whereas others don’t express any aspirations for anything, and they would need something compelling to motivate them.

There are also other reasons why a person wouldn’t be motivated. A person may simply be too lazy to even want something. It may feel too burdensome. Just as a person doesn’t want to carry a heavy package, so would a person want to avoid a will for something, if it feels like a load upon him that he’s not interested in having. This is not the same issue as a person who wishes to throw off all his responsibilities. Here we are speaking of a different issue, where a person doesn’t want to deal with too much, so he avoids it. He doesn’t want to bear the weight of wanting something, so he doesn’t try to awaken his willpower.

Even more so, sometimes a person doesn’t want to activate his will because he’s afraid that it will contradict a different will he has, and he doesn’t want to face his own conflicting desires. Subconsciously, he will deny what he wants, because he doesn’t want to deal with contradictions in his will. Part of the reason for this is due to laziness, because he doesn’t want to exert his mind. He is not prepared to deal with his own willpower, so it is a form of laziness.

Laziness: Inactive Potential

Thus, when a person is having difficulty accessing his own willpower, part of the reason is due to laziness, of not wanting to deal with internal conflict. The result is that a person doesn’t try to activate his potential.

There are two forms of laziness – either when a person doesn’t act at all, or, when he performs his actions too slowly. The first kind of laziness (refraining entirely from performing) is referred to as atzlus, while the second kind of laziness (performing slowly and slothfully) is referred to as “atzaltayim”. In either case, the laziness is preventing the person from utilizing his potential, keeping his soul’s power in a dormant, inactive state.

Understandably, this can be explained in further detail, but it will suffice for now with the general description of laziness explained until now.

Impaired Earth-of-earth: The Unwillingness To Act

Laziness comes from the element of earth, and there are aspects of all four elements in each of the elements. Therefore, in earth, we can find earth, water, wind and fire. Let us begin by first seeing what laziness produced by “earth”-of-earth is, and how to repair it.

As mentioned above, there are two basic manifestations of laziness – when a person does not act at all, and when a person acts slowly. For a person who has a strong amount of earth-of-earth, his laziness will take on both of these forms – he will act very slowly, but also, he will often not want to act at all.

Now we shall understand this deeper. As mentioned earlier, a person is mainly earth and wind. What is the initial perspective of our soul? Is it action, or serenity? Here is an example that brings out the idea. There is day and night. In middle of the day, the natural perspective of people is action and movement, and by night, the nature of people is to seek serenity, not action and movement. Our question is: What is the natural state of our soul? Does it initially seek serenity, or action and movement?

The way to define it is as follows. In our world, the main perspective [of the soul] is movement, for we live in a world of action, but in the Next World, which is “entirely Shabbos”, the perspective is serenity (menuchah).

To give a general description, when it comes to the personal makeup of one’s soul, if a person’s main element is wind, his nature is drawn towards action and movement, but if his main element is earth, his nature is to seek serenity.

Earlier, we explained how earth\laziness affects the five general areas of the soul, which are: action, speech, emotion, thought, and will. The nature of earth-of-earth, when it is left impaired, causes the initial perspective of the soul to avoid even the tiniest, subtle desire for any movement. When this nature is rectified, it is called menuchah, which is true serenity, and when it is impaired, it is laziness.

When earth-of-earth remains impaired, the initial perspective of this person’s inner makeup is that he will want to avoid any movement. What will happen from this, as a result? He will not even be aware of the necessity to do any action right now, even when he has to. Any time he will want to do some movement or action, subconsciously, he will feel opposition towards it, so he will not want to do it.

As soon as he gets some subtle will to do anything, the “heaviness” of his earth-of-earth will make its appearance, awakening the “initial perspective” of his soul, which does not want to do anything. It will overpower any desire that he has to act, and even if he does have a desire to act, he will usually deny it, in his subconscious.

Repairing Earth-of-earth At Its Root: Changing The Soul’s Initial Nature

To improve impaired earth-of-earth, we will need to treat the issue at its root, as opposed to merely working with the “branches” of the issues (the laziness per se). In the coming lessons, with the help of Hashem, we will explain how to work with the branches of laziness-related issues, such as by how to improve upon actions and thoughts affected by laziness. Here in this lesson, where we are discussing how to repair earth-of-earth, which is the root of all laziness, we need to improve it by working with this nature at its root, as opposed to results of the laziness.

The way to repair earth-of-earth is not simply by forcing oneself to do something when he doesn’t want to, or to force himself to think when we doesn’t want to, etc. Although it is true that one will need to do that as well, those are just the “branches” of the issue. What we mainly need to do here, in order to improve earth-of-earth, is to work with the root: to change the order of the inner workings of one’s very nature, by changing the “initial perspective” of the soul[which, in this case, naturally seeks serenity and avoids action and performance].

Otherwise, the heavy nature of his earth-of-earth will overpower the wind, meaning that the unwillingness to act will overpower any desire for action, and, subconsciously, a person will not even be aware that there is a need for him to move and act. This is the very depth behind the trait of laziness, in particular, when the laziness stems from earth-of-earth.

Now that we have studied the depth of the issue, we can proceed to the depth of solution. With the help of Hashem, as we continue in the coming lessons to discuss the issues of laziness, we will also examine the “branches” of this issue, in their many details. First, before getting to the branching issues of laziness, we need to understand the root of how laziness is repaired – which will involve a change in the inner makeup of one’s soul.

Solving Earth-of-earth At Its Root: Awakening Wind\Movement

How does one change the inner makeup of his soul? There are two ways of avodah, to overcome the heaviness in the soul that breeds laziness. Either one can simply try to oppose the laziness and fight it [by forcing himself to act], or, he can begin to awaken his element of wind, at its root.

In the first way, a person identifies the laziness as an inner heaviness in his soul, and he then tries to deal with this issue, using any of the various methods which can help him overcome the heaviness\laziness, which we shall explain in the coming lessons, with siyata d’shmaya; these methods are also mentioned in the words of our Sages.

But when we use the second way, we do not work with branches of the issue. Instead, we work with the root. Here we do not focus on how to deal with the laziness per se. The work here is to awaken movement, and not because we are trying to deal with the difficulty of laziness, but in an opposite manner: One should simply get used to doing various movements, for the purpose of awakening movement, and not for the purpose of fighting laziness. This should be done sensibly, in a way that one can handle.

Examples of Awakening Movement

Here are some examples.

1)     When a person is riding the bus, he shouldn’t stay seated the whole time. Instead, at a certain point, he should rise from his seat and get used to standing on the bus. (Of course, this is only possible in cases where the halachah allows it.)

2)     If a person is sitting and learning Torah, he shouldn’t sit there glued to his seat with a kind of heaviness which he doesn’t budge from. He should deliberately awaken some movement every so often, such as by getting up from his seat at times and standing while learning, or by swaying in front of his sefer on a shtender.

This should be done sensibly, of course, because if a person is moving too much, he won’t be able to concentrate well. Therefore, it is a subtle matter which requires caution. So each person should see which movements he can awaken, which won’t ruin his concentration.

Here are some more examples of the idea:

3)     While sitting and learning, a person should try to move a bit, as opposed to remaining in place the whole time. If he is sitting too long, he should stand up.

4)     If he is sitting on a bus, instead of falling asleep, he should get used to standing sometimes, so that he will be moving a bit while he is on the bus, instead of staying in his place the whole time. The idea is that a person should avoid sitting in the same place for too long, so that he gets used to awakening movement.

5)     Another example: If a person gets on to a bus, he should try not to sit the entire time, and instead, he should deliberately stand, so that he will be in a situation of movement. (Of course, this is only applicable when the halachah allows it.) In this way, a person trains his soul to come out of its nature of avoiding movement, and instead, he acquires the nature to move.

6)     Additionally, a person should try to avoid lying down in a bed unless he needs to go to sleep. If one wants to take this even further, he can try not getting too comfortable even when he’s going to sleep. He can try making it a bit difficult for himself [i.e. by removing one of his pillows].

To emphasize, this idea should be practiced sensibly, and not in an extreme way, so that it doesn’t throw a person out of balance. One needs to simply get used to the idea of practicing movement.

7)     One should try walking for a certain distance every day.

8)     Instead of taking an elevator, he can try walking up the steps.

9)     Taking this further, one should try taking care of doing something, even if he’s not sure he needs to do it. Instead of thinking if he really needs to do this action or not, he should just go do it. Even if he doesn’t need to do it, it is good for him to do it, because he will be getting used to practicing movement, so the gain is worth it. It is not a waste of time - as long as a person is not going overboard with it.

The Goal – “Habit Becomes Second Nature”

Understandably, when trying to practice this idea, one should not try to do anything extreme in order to change his nature. Instead, one should simply get used to practicing movements that are minimal and easy to perform.

When gets used to this practice, it gradually changes the “initial perspective” of the soul which naturally avoids movement, taking him out of the heavy, dominant nature of his earth-of-earth. As a person does it more, he gets used to more and more movement, which gradually changes the inner makeup in his soul. At some point, he will feel as if a heavy stone has been lifted from his heart. He will feel lighter, even though he has not dealt directly with the trait of laziness itself. Instead, he has dealt with the root.

There are more examples of the idea, but the point is to gradually enter into a life of movement, in a sensible and balanced way, and slowly, the “initial perspective” of his soul change, both in how he thinks and in how he acts. In this way, the person with a dominant nature of earth-of-earth comes out of his initial nature, and instead, his element of wind (movement) can start overpowering his earth, since there is a rule that “habit becomes second nature.” Eventually, if he keeps going in this direction of change, he can rectify his nature of earth-of-earth, where it becomes menuchah, serenity.

And so, a person with a nature of earth-of-earthstarts out with a “heavy” nature of earth, which avoids action and movement, and he must get used to practicing small amounts of movement, which awakens his element of wind. After he practices this for a considerable amount of time, he rectifies his nature of earth-of-earth, where it becomes true menuchah\serenity, which is balanced by an ability to move.

Rectifying The Soul’s Root vs. Trying To Overturn It

As emphasized, this must be a gradual process of getting used to movements, because if a person tries to move too much, he is acting too extreme, and the problem with this is that he may be trying to change his “soul’s root” - which cannot actually be done. If he has a “soul root” of earth and he is trying to turn it into wind, this will only prove detrimental to him, because he cannot change his soul root. Trying to go against his soul root, by taking on too many extreme changes of action, will only throw him out of balance.

The person who has the initial nature to avoid movement has a “soul root” of earth-of-earth, and since it is his “soul root”, it cannot be changed – instead, it must become rectified and balanced. Therefore, one should not try to overturn his nature of earth-by-earth by trying to totally go against his nature, such as by performing extreme amounts of movement and the like. He would by trying to change his soul root, which cannot be done.

Instead, his work is to balance out his nature, by bringing some movement into his life, which enables his element of wind to overpower over his nature of earth-of-earth, thereby rectifying his impaired earth-of-earth and turning it holy, where his earth-of-earth can now be the true, ideal serenity that is known as menuchah.  

However, even when he does rectify his nature, he should still make sure to awaken movement in his life, so that he doesn’t fall back into his old, impaired nature of earth-of-earth. Since earth-of-earth is his “soul root”, he may easily fall back it into its impaired state if he allows it dominate again, by avoiding movement. So he should still be wary of his nature to become too serene, and he should make sure that he keeps awakening movement in his life, even after he has succeeded in balancing out his nature.

In Summary and In Conclusion

Through these changes of action, the person with a nature of earth-of-earth, who once had an initial nature to avoid movement, can gain a new nature, in which the element of wind\movement becomes his primary function, overpowering his initial nature of earth-of-earth that had been confining him. This is because “habit becomes second nature”, and it enables a person to reach the ideal, balanced kind of menuchah\serenity, where one can perform action and still be able to maintain his original serene nature.