Question:
I have some questions about the four elements of the soul. 1) The Rav has said that one needs to recognize his\her main element, such as by seeing what his strongest character trait is and what his weakest character trait is. This shows a person what his root element is. For example, if a person sees that he has a lot of displays of conceit or anger, it shows that his primary element is fire. How can a person identify this? Does a person also need to figure out his second-to-most dominant element in order to know his most dominant element? And how can a person figure out anything about his element of water, which only contains one character trait, lustful desire? 2) In order to figure out one’s worst character trait, does a person discover it from knowing his strongest character trait, or his weakest character trait? For example, if a person’s strongest element is fire and his weakest is wind, on one hand he will have a problem of being highly conceited (fire), but on the other hand, he will also be very inactive, because he doesn’t have that much wind and therefore he doesn’t want to move that much. [So which of the above is his weakest area?] 3) The Rav has said that we balance out the strongest element through its opposite element, even though the opposite element is this person’s weakest. From where does a person get the ability to use his weakest element to create a balance in his soul, being that it is his weakest element? Furthermore, even if a person has two elements that are equally strong, one of them has to be the root, and the other one has to be the branch. How can the root element balance out the branching element, being that they are on two different levels?- Are the four elements all ‘wrapped’ like a garment around each other, or are they mixed with each other? (The words of the Hagahos Maharitz on the beginning of sefer Nefesh HaChaim seems to imply the latter). If the elements are all mixed into each other, is it like a physical mixture, i.e. that a person will have 50% fire in his soul, 30% earth, etc.?
Answer:
(1) 1- The process of clarifying one’s personal soul is long, and deep. It does not begin with recognizing your worst character trait. One needs to first recognize all of the abilities in the soul, first the positive powers and then the negative powers. One needs to identify his strongest point, and then organize the rest of the abilities in his soul, in order of how they much they dominate. After that, a person needs to analyze his strongest point and see what powers (kochos) and character traits (middos) are contained in it. Within this area, a person should see which koachpower is the strongest, which is second-to-strongest, etc. As part of this clarification process, a person also discovers what his worst character trait is.
Clarifying the strongest element needs to be done on two levels: How much it manifests (kamus), and the quality of much it manifests (eichus). In order to figure out the first part (kamus), one needs to see which element, ability or character trait he encounters the most and struggles with the most, in his daily life. In order to figure out the second part (eichus), there are many different ways to know. At first, one needs to figure out these two factors: How strongly connected you feel to a particular element or ability or trait in the soul, as well as how much stability you feel the particular element or ability or trait provides for you in your life. Understandably, throughout each part of the clarification process, you should try as much as possible to uncover as many specific details as you can, so that you can arrive at a more precise conclusion.
2 – Going deeper into the root, the main character trait of one’s mainly dominant element is also connected with one’s second-to-most dominant element, and so forth. But when it comes to how the abilities are actually revealed in the soul, a person is comprised of the four elements, and at the root, each element stands on its own, but at the same time, the primary element also branches out and mixes with the other elements.
3 – Regarding your question about the element of water, you should know that lustful desire is not only the trait contained in water. Water contains many other additional aspects (which are explained in the series of “Understanding Your Middos”, דע את מידותיך – מהות המידות [specifically, in classes 31-65 of that series], and in the series of דע את מידותיך הדרכה מעשית – מים (“Fixing Your Water”). So it is upon a person to clarify which ability contained in water is his strongest. Another possibility is that one’s element of water is producing a negative character trait that is actually coming from his opposite element, fire, which can show up as either conceit or anger or any other fire-related trait. Besides for this, Rav Chaim Vital in sefer Shaarei Kedushah lists other character traits that result from the element of water [such as jealousy and envy]. It is possible that one’s worst character trait is coming from any of the resulting traits of his primary element.
(2) Usually if a person hasn’t worked hard to repair and balance the abilities in his soul, his worst character trait will become awakened by his strongest element. This is because one’s strongest element is the most active and plays the leading role in the various factors that influence one’s soul.
However, one needs to know that there are two possibilities. Sometimes a person’s strongest element will a negative character trait that stems from that element, and sometimes a negative character trait will be stemming from his opposite element. This is because “two opposites bear one root”, and therefore, each element can either awaken its direct byproduct or a byproduct of its opposite. For example, if a person’s main element is fire, his worst character trait may be conceitedness or anger. Or, it may be lustful desire, which is a product of his opposite element, water. And the same is true vice versa, as well as with all the other elements. Therefore, even if a person finds that he has a certain negative character trait, that is not a proof of what his primary element is [i.e. if one’s worst character trait is anger, it doesn’t necessarily mean that his primary element is fire]. It’s very possible that it’s exactly the opposite. That being the case, a person needs to do thorough soul-searching, in order to discover what triggers each of his character traits.
After a person has work hard at truly clarifying what his strongest element is and he has also worked hard to uproot his worst character trait, he needs to repair and balance the other abilities in his soul, which so far haven’t been balanced. He can be helped by making use of his strongest element, in order to do it.
(3) Here are some reasons why and how a person can balance out his strongest element, by using his opposite [or weakest] element.
1- One reason is because “two opposites bear one root”. Therefore, a person can discover his strongest element by seeing what his weakest one is. This can be used to repair any ability in the soul.
2- Another way is through making use of the power of free will to choose. Through utilizing the power to choose, one can choose which ability of the soul he will use, and which one he will not.
3- An additional reason is that sometimes, a person’s strongest ability isn’t yet repaired, while his weakest ability is already repaired (relatively speaking, when compared to the strongest ability which isn’t yet repaired). How do we define if an ability in the soul is repaired or not? Part of the definition is if a person is able to use the ability when the time and place calls for it, in a way that it doesn’t backfire on him. In this way, a person is able to use the ability as he wishes.
4- Another reason is that a person’s strongest and weakest elements are not necessarily defined as root of the soul verses branch of the soul. Rather, on one hand they are two independent elements from each other, and on the other hand, they also mix with each other, as stated earlier. Therefore, it is possible for a person to use his weakest element, in order to attain a balance. And even if we do define the weakest element as the ‘branch’ of its ‘root’, the primary element – we can still ‘move’ ‘branch’ and thereby repair the root.
5- Additionally, the ‘strongest element’ of the soul does not mean that this is an element which totally controls all of a person’s soul without any means of restraint. The other elements are certainly active and are also affecting the soul. So we can certainly use any of the other elements in order to repair any issue in the soul, according to their abilities.
6 – Each of the elements is comprised of all four elements. Even the strongest element is comprised of the other elements, so the other elements will always be manifest to some degree, doing their respective work. When a person uses his opposite element in order to strengthen his strongest element, he is essentially balancing out his opposite element that is found within his strongest element, using it correctly. For example, if a person’s strongest element is fire and his weakest element is water, his fire also contains water, and this is called his “water-of-fire”. When he uses his element of water, he is really balancing out his “water-of-fire”. From then onward, his “water-of-fire” will be of good use to him, because it has been balanced. Since it his opposite element, it will still do its respective work, but now that is has been balanced, it will be beneficial to the person.
(4) 1- There are two different viewpoints. According to one viewpoint, the four elements are offshoots of the other [fire downgrades to wind, wind to water, and water to earth]. According to another viewpoint, the four elements are clothed in each other. According to another viewpoint, they are mixed with each other.
2- Generally speaking, the soul cannot be defined as if it’s a container that holds 100% of various soul abilities, for example, 50% fire, 30% earth, 15% wind and 5% of water. That is not the way to understand it – rather, each ability in the soul is measured by itself, according to how it manifests and how much it influences the soul, and according to one’s nature and temperament, as the Creator has designed the person. It is only possible to view the soul in terms of “percentages” like this with regards to how much the various abilities of the soul are mixed with each other. The mix of the different abilities in the soul is expressed in the relationship between the different abilities, in their amount and in their quality, as well as in how each ability influences the other. Even more so, the mix between the different abilities in the soul is able to change, according to the amount of balance that exists currently in one’s soul. Alternatively, when one gives balance to different abilities in his soul, this also changes the mix. Meaning, even if we can measure the percentages of how much each ability in the soul is manifest, the balance between the abilities can change, and then the percentages will change, because the current relationship between the different soul abilities has changes.
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