The way the evil inclination gets into people is by "first come first served". It is the power of delusion that after it is in one, has a defense mechanism. If one tries to take it out after it has already entered, it brings one into even worse delusions.
You would hope that perhaps Musar [the idea of Rav Israel Salanter of learning Medieval Ethics] would be solutions to the problem of the evil inclination. But this does not seem to be a very satisfying solution.
Physics.
Eventually I noticed something like that in Musar itself. Mainly from the Middle Ages there was Benyamin the Doctor author of maalot Hamidot. [That used to be part of the regular set of classical Musar]. Then I saw something like that in Ibn Pakuda's Obligations of the Hearts.
Then eventually I saw the Rambam. [This is not to saw the rambam's Guide was not in Shar Yashuv. It was. But while in Shar Yashuv I simply was too busy with Gemara to pay much attention to "Hashkafa" World view issues.
In any case nowadays I am thinking the the Rambam was thinking something along the lines that is pretty much spelled out in the Guide that Physics and Metaphysics brings to love and fear of God and he sees this as a cure for the evil inclination.
The idea is to be connected with God's wisdom as it is revealed in his Creation. You can see this idea in the Ari [Rav Isaac Luria] who holds that as great as the Oral Law is still it is on the level of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. [That is in the beginning of the Eitz Chaim]. So while you might hold then why not concentrate on the Eitz Chaim itself? The problem with Kabalah seems to me to be more clear when you look at people that learn kabalah. There clearly seems to be some kind of problem. Perhaps they are simply not ready? But also I think that what Rav Yaakov Emden was saying about the Zohar that there are a few parts that are authentic but a lot is not. [I forget the name of his book on this subject but it is fairly well known.] So in terms of learning God's wisdom it seems best to go to what is more or less crystal clear--not people's opinions.
You would hope that perhaps Musar [the idea of Rav Israel Salanter of learning Medieval Ethics] would be solutions to the problem of the evil inclination. But this does not seem to be a very satisfying solution.
Physics.
Eventually I noticed something like that in Musar itself. Mainly from the Middle Ages there was Benyamin the Doctor author of maalot Hamidot. [That used to be part of the regular set of classical Musar]. Then I saw something like that in Ibn Pakuda's Obligations of the Hearts.
Then eventually I saw the Rambam. [This is not to saw the rambam's Guide was not in Shar Yashuv. It was. But while in Shar Yashuv I simply was too busy with Gemara to pay much attention to "Hashkafa" World view issues.
In any case nowadays I am thinking the the Rambam was thinking something along the lines that is pretty much spelled out in the Guide that Physics and Metaphysics brings to love and fear of God and he sees this as a cure for the evil inclination.
The idea is to be connected with God's wisdom as it is revealed in his Creation. You can see this idea in the Ari [Rav Isaac Luria] who holds that as great as the Oral Law is still it is on the level of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. [That is in the beginning of the Eitz Chaim]. So while you might hold then why not concentrate on the Eitz Chaim itself? The problem with Kabalah seems to me to be more clear when you look at people that learn kabalah. There clearly seems to be some kind of problem. Perhaps they are simply not ready? But also I think that what Rav Yaakov Emden was saying about the Zohar that there are a few parts that are authentic but a lot is not. [I forget the name of his book on this subject but it is fairly well known.] So in terms of learning God's wisdom it seems best to go to what is more or less crystal clear--not people's opinions.
