Question:
I have read other sefarim on hisbodedus, in addition to studying the approach of the Rav on hisbodedus. Now that I’ve read all this information anyway, how do I avoid becoming mixed up between all the different paths of hisbodedus that I have read about?
Answer:
If a person reads many sefarim and attempts to practice everything he’s read in it, like if he’s gone through the sefarim of Chabad and Breslev, and the sefarim of Reb Yisrael Salanter, and another seven sefarim after that – although each of the above sefarim are all the true words of our Sages, the problem with reading so many sefarim is that it creates tremendous confusion. Compare this to mixing together a bunch of ingredients that should not be mixed. Although each ingredient is fine, mixing them together creates a horribly tasting food.
Let me emphasize the following so that this point should be very clear. Generally speaking, the deeper that a person becomes and the better he understands deep matters, he will be able to read many sefarim and hear many paths of Avodas Hashem without becoming confused, knowing how to properly combine the information that he has learned, without damaging himself. If a person does not possess deep understanding, though, the more he reads and hears [about serving Hashem], the more he will become mixed up, confused, and he damages himself.
I cannot determine for each person how well he/she understands things. All I can say is this general idea, that if a person does not have deep understanding, it is detrimental for a person to read/hear about many different paths in Avodas Hashem. It is this point which I emphasized here (in the Inner Silence Series), so that you should be made aware of it. (And of course, if someone does possess deep understanding and he goes through all the information found in the many sefarim and shiurim that are out there without getting confused, and he knows how to properly combine the many details he has heard about - this is wonderful and praiseworthy.)
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