Progressive Failure

Freud called crouch down & leap the regression that precedes progression.

that the Baal Shem Tov once told about Yom Kippur ( I once heard a rabbi tell this story during Yom Kippur).

There was a poor man who was on his way to shul on a Friday erev (evening) when Yom Kippur was to begin, when a wheel on his wagon broke down, and he ran off the road into a ditch.

No matter how hard he tried, he and his horse could not get the wagon out of the ditch, and he ended up spending all of Yom Kippur in the ditch with no one to help pull him out.

At first he is despondent: "How will G-d include me for another year in the Book of Life if I am not there with the others for Yom Kippur? I have failed!".

He eventually decides though to make the best of his situation. He, in effect, being uneducated, with limited knowledge, holds his own Yom Kippur right there in the ditch, and simply does the best he can with what he knows.

They eventually find him the next evening and take him to feast: happy ending.

And things actually improved for him next year!

Success is like an idol for so many people. It's, in effect, a 'replacement theology' for them.

They may say to themselves-'once I am successful everything will be alright', and that thought replaces their relationship with G-d.

What happens though if you are successful at something that is bad, or of the yetzer hara, or is harmful to other people?

There are many people who maybe successful at things that do not enrich the world; that are instead destructive; and the thing is that once they are successful at that particular thing, it is so hard for them to turn back from it.

Many people never consider teshuvah until everything else in their life fails. As long as they were successful at whatever it is that they were doing they remain pointed anywhere else but at G-d.

This is not to say that one cannot be successful and aspire to G-d.

For so many though it is one of the other.

I suppose the High holidays is a good time to reconsider what it means to be a success.

My goodness it is the first time I know my failure is not even bad! Truly the L-rd is good all the time, not just a saying, but truth He puts in the universe. That even we fail and fall He still brings us out! You all are just wonderful people who bring G-d's Word to us in such a special way. The Rebbe is so good!

What I believe is, for me, every 'failure' is a backward motion in order to go forward.

Gentle as you go ...

...and I usually do. Can someone help me out here?

And I still fail to understand what you mean, even though I'm a recovering addict. (or perhaps BECAUSE I am one) Are you saying it's better to just take that full leap out of your current reality or keep one foot in the past, just in case? Please explain--it's a great topic.

I felt very uncomfortable with this Thought for the day. When I first read it, I understood "failure" to be that leap into the future. I wondered about the "one foot in it's place as the other moves forward" and felt that this was an impossible way to ascend - or at least a very slow ascent!. I recalled a dream where I was climbing up and around in a spiral tower, trying to reach the summit. Finally becoming exhausted and not knowing if I was half way up or half way down, I decide to jump over the bannister. The outcome? I suffered a minor pain to my leg as I stood up and walked out the door into bright sunlight! This dream had a very profound effect on my life - essentially tearing me out of my current situation, which was very bad - and propelling me into a bright, new future from which I have never looked back! I believe that to "crouch down and jump" is about trusting your own judgement and believing in yourself and is the very essence of what one needs to propel oneself forward!

Like the previous commenter, I would like to understand what is meant by this article.

Thank you,