We began the Ramchal’s chapter describing the characteristic of “watchfulness”. The main thrust of the section is that it is necessary to think about our actions that we normally take in advance of the actions occurring. So we prepare for life’s challenges by thinking about the potential challenges we will have and the past challenges we have had. After we are mentally prepared for all situations and circumstances we can be confident that we will prevail in those challenges that we encounter. Ramchal compares being unprepared for life’s challenges to a blind man walking along a river bank. The danger is near and the chance of catastrophe is greater than the chance of survival. I think it is clear that we must be watchful and to do this we need to begin by analyzing the situations life throws at us before they happen. There was also a discussion about how to cope with daily issues and we tried to use R’ Wolbe’s ideas about Seder. R’ Wolbe’s main idea is that Seder is a system / routine that we live by so that in case of a challenge we have a framework from which to react. In other words – the Seder is not for the sake of Seder rather it is for clarity when we need it.
The class was shortened due to the long davening for Rosh Chodesh Chanukah. (20 minutes)
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