Strength doesn’t have to look like anger, or dominance, or even competence. Strength is persistence. Strong means that even at moments of shame and discomfort, whether it is at work or in your personal life, you are focused not on yourself, but on solving the problem. A strong person doesn’t allow himself to become part of the problem; when there is a problem, he takes himself out of the way, and does whatever it takes to resolve the issue. If you can’t solve the problem yourself, you get out of the way and ask the Divine Higher Power and other people for help. You maintain your composure, and keep going.
Discipline isn’t necessarily taking on new regimens and drastic self-improvement plans. It is staying in the trenches when you are under fire. A soldier does not say, “Hey! I’m done with this! I’m outta here!” If he did that, he could get shot by enemy fire right away. Do you know who your enemy is? It’s your ego. It’s letting negative feelings take over and suck the life out of you. Do not give up. The only way out is through.
Go deeper into this subject: Vice Advice Part Eight: Melancholy & Depression | How to Find the Leader In Yourself | Are You Driven? | Netzach: Endurance
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SOULGYM I MASTERCLASS
Live with Rabbi Simon Jacobson
The Kabbalah of Action: Do First, Understand Later
March 25, 2025 @8:30pm
Live Stream | Podcast
The rock group Genesis has a well known song called “The Carpet Crawlers.” The refrain goes like this:
“The carpet crawlers heed their callers
‘We’ve got to get in to get out
‘We’ve got to get in to get out
‘We’ve got to get in to get out”
I first heard the song in 1977. These words made a profound impression on me, and I never forgot them.
2000 years ago Jesus, imbued with Jewish wisdom, said (or the Gospel writers record him as saying), “Pick up your cross and follow me.” By “cross” is of course meant hardship. He did not say to lay down your cross. He did not say to go around your cross. He said pick it up, carry it. That is the “going through.”
The English poet William Blake alluded to this reality in his own way in a poem that appears childishly simple, yet is imbued with this wisdom of the ages:
“Man was made for Joy & Woe;
And when this we rightly know
Thro’ the World we safely go.
Joy & Woe are woven fine,
A Clothing for the Soul divine;
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.”
(“Auguries of Innocence”)
Blake was trying to point out the necessity of a world of troubles for the refinement of the inner person, the soul. And he was expressing the inextricable closeness of joy and sorrow in this life. We go through life “safely” when we KNOW this, because then we don’t try to wiggle out of troubles but rather accept that we must go through them.
I have come to believe that the desire to go around pain instead of through pain is the universal human failing. It leads to all manner of other woe. Each of us has a different way of escaping. Sometimes hitting rock bottom is the only way to enlightenment on this issue. I have seen that sometimes the most hardened criminals become angelic in the time before their pending executions. It took that hard of a jolt to help them see straight.
Thank you Rabbi Jacobson for your words reminding us of this indispensable, classic wisdom: going through leads to getting out. The goal is to learn the lessons which enable that.