Rabbi Nachman teaches,
Everyone must search very hard in order to find a true teacher who can help him attain great wisdom and Godly perception. This requires an outstandingly great teacher who has the power to explain this deep wisdom in terms comprehensible to the simplest people.
The lower a person’s level and the further away he is from G-d, the greater the teacher he needs. Thus when the Jewish people were on the lowest of levels in Egypt , sunk in the forty-nine gates of impurity, they needed the greatest rabbi and teacher of all: Moshe Rabbenu. For the lower down and further away from G-d a person is, the greater the teacher he needs. He needs a master craftsman who has the ability to bring the supreme wisdom of Godly perception within the grasp of one as lowly and far away from G-d as himself. The sicker the patient, the greater the doctor he needs.
One should therefore never say, “It is enough for me if I attach myself to someone respectable and God-fearing, even though he may not be on an outstanding level. First let me simply be like him!” This is a mistake. On the contrary, the more a person recognizes his own lowliness and great distance from G-d, the more he should search out the greatest and most outstanding doctor for his soul and strive to draw close to the greatest possible teacher. For the lowlier the person, the greater the teacher he needs.
Likutey Moharan I, 30
With permission taken over from: Daily Dose Of Rabbi Nachman
