Today is the second day of creation, when the upper waters were separated from the lower waters. Chazal tell us that the lower waters complained that they also want to be close to Hashem and so Hashem gave us the mitzvah of nisuch hamayim on Sukkos. We know that this mitzvah was done -each and every time- with an incredible amount of Simcha.

One of the reasons for this great simcha is that we very much identify with the lower waters. We also would have much preffered to just stay "up there" and not have to deal with this world full of taivoh. And the water teaches us a great lesson. Because through their wanting to be close to Hashem, they were zocheh to be part of a great mitzvah. The upper waters can never be zocheh to such a thing because in order to be part of a mitzvah and make a real difference, you have to be down here in this world of darkness. We also learn that the way to be zocheh, is by feeling the distance and crying out "I want to be close to Hashem"

This mitzvah teaches us the key to life, hence the great simcha.

But of course we need to actually feel that we really want to be close to Hashem. To be sure our neshomo definitely feels it but we have to make sure that the voice of the neshomo is louder than the voice of the guf.

So Hashem spells it out for us; He tell us either you follow your neshomo down the path of life, or you follow your guf down the path of death (the guf is naturally pulled towards it's source which is the ground). Once we have the two choices clear, it's much easier to choose.

So as a preparation for the big day, I would like to try be"H to discuss the two paths that are available to the kedusha-struggler (even if you don't consider yourself an addict)

First "es hachaim v'es hatov":

Hashem, who is the source of all life and all good, loves you and wants to hold you in his arms.

You don't have to give up anything good, in order to get close to Hashem

[The following is an attempt to give a bit of a general idea of what it's like. Noone can tell you how long it will take till you see these differences, but the point is that when you're in the right direction, things START getting better pretty soon]

When you're close to Hashem and living in His world, you realize that He is in control and not you. That means no worries and no anxiety.

When you're living in Hashem's world you don't need constant validation from people.

When you're living in Hashem's world, your life has a clear purpose and tremendous value

When your living in Hashem's world, your self-worth is never questionable because you are Hashem's personal agent.

When your living in Hashem's world, you don't need distraction from reality or artificial pleasure

"V'es hamaves v'es hara":

The y'h might tell you that you're not ready at this point to make the change and it would just be simpler to continue with the old way. So we have to examine what happens when one chooses that path.

There's a whole lot of infomation on this holy network that all leads to the same conclusion. Namely that letting things continue like that, is the easy path to self distruction. It doesn't take too long to destroy yourself. In todays world it can be accomplished very quickly. {I was going to elaborate on this a bit, but I can't do it right now. Maybe later today}

Of course the message of Ubacharta Bachaim is talking to everyone. The difference is that while for others it may take a long time before they realize where they're heading, we get results a lot faster. Whichever path we choose, we are liable to get very far, very fast!!!

Our passion is extremely potent and powerful and the direction we choose to direct it to, can have great ramifcations.

I know this post is not clear, but I'm posting it anyway just in case it can do someone some good.