Guarding the eyes
During my Noahide path in pursuit of applying G-dliness into my life. I distanced more and more from this world and its doings, not so long ago I was starting to notice how some people at the gym dress and behave, as my values changed along the way, their behavior and unmodest clothing became inappropriate to me, for a short amount of time I felt like I was visually harassed on busy gym hours and even on the streets by the insta-type of women who were shaped and curved to their satisfaction, wearing tight clothing and looking around to see which men were giving them attention with the eyes. Now, I never had any problems when it comes to loyalty, and can easily guard my eyes against staring at other women than my own. On my path of increasing my g-dliness every day, I got more conscious of all these women showing off, as I do see them my programmed behavior is to immediately look away when curvings appear that are appealing to my animal soul, as I’m probably one of few men in the gym who doesn’t look at other women that way. As soon as they felt the lack of my attention it almost seems like they put extra effort into sticking out their behinds and searching for a spot in my line of sight.
Consulting my fellow Noahides
As I felt it became somewhat of an obsession to deal with this, I shared my findings with my Noahide fellows. It is so important to have a group of like-minded people that have only the best of intentions for you, so everyone thinks along the line of how to deal with certain issues. Sharing is caring so I immediately gain insights that lead me to going there early and avoiding certain hours. Maybe take my wife along, all kinds of ideas were discussed and advised. The suggestion from a very dear sister to take my wife along made me think, and then it hit me, I was trying to escape from society like a Buddhist monk does, instead of setting an example like Joseph, amid Mitsrayim raising his children according to the will of Hashem, he was setting that example to the ungodly. This was all a test and I was already making that difference, setting that example to other men, not realizing it was all a good thing made me tense about the situation, thinking about hiding while being in the exact place where I was needed.
Ungodly places
A gym is a place where people come and physically work on themselves, many people go there with the best of intentions, so one doesn’t need to refrain him or her self from going there. It reflects a society of Mitzrayim 2.0 perhaps but it would be different to visit a club, erotic places, or parties that revolve around the usage of drugs, nakedness, and high levels of alcohol consumption, that would be completely wrong of course, so I can now go to the gym at any hour and I will be focussed on the difference I am making. What I came for in the first place is to take care of the body Hashem gave as a loan, providing the soul transportation and the blessed opportunity of 3 garments to work on, thoughts speech, and action. I was doing pretty good with that last one but I didn’t feel or realize that for a short amount of time. Sharing thinking reading and not giving up are key to growth, especially when we feel like things are not going as we want them to, thats when great gains are won through the persistence of pursuing G-dliness.
The Animal Soul
I immediately realized that it was me I was disappointed with. The Baal Shem Tov explains how your fellow man is a mirror showing you what needs to be done inside, I had felt like failing to notice the curves that appeal to my animal soul, the nefesh behamit, who never really gave much attention to it, all of the sudden have changed to someone that forcibly had to look away constantly. Had I created for myself a growing weak spot? I realized the importance of the animal soul, if female curves weren’t appealing, men would not reproduce and my wife would feel very lonely at times, this amongst many other features like eating and drinking all have a crucial part of survival to our physical existence, in Asiyah for humans as a whole. I can honestly say I once again experienced major growth after minor discomfort, using the sefirot Chochma Bina and Daat to regulate emotions to form intelligence passed on by our creator, through his Torah, written and Oral, and Kabbalah mysticism.
By: Yoeri Schepens
Sources: gym@zandvoort
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