Moreshet Shaul: Spiritual Self-Improvement – part I | Various Rabbis | Beit Midrash

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There are two paths to spiritual self-improvement, with varied stages of elevation. One manner is from above, and the second is from below.
How is this done from above? [It begins with] a broad perspective on the works of Creation. One is amazed by everything around us and realizes the importance of man’s ability to grasp everything and of the power of life which percolates through all the universe, in the realm of the living and the inanimate. All of this fills a person with holy bliss and spiritual elevation and brings him to a world that is fully good and fully festive, as the pasuk describes, "One who has a good heart drinks [wine] regularly" (Mishlei 15:15). The energetic life takes over his internal spirit, and he is purified and improved, until the spirit is no longer able to see the dark side of things. Rather, he is able to see only the flow of light, just the dancing of bliss and loving emotion; only festivity and happiness.
He sees immediately that what Hashem did is very good (based on Bereishit 1:31). He immediately raises himself above the trite daily nuisances, which disturb most people. His spirit becomes like a violin for the world of existence, and the tones that he captures with his strings are so fine so that he does not know what sadness is, or what worries are. The "mosquitoes" that disturb others in the marketplace are not a factor in his life.
This lofty refining of his personality purifies and refines his spirit so much that there is no place for all of the attributes that lowly, self-centered humans are affected by. It is not just that such a person sees it as lowly, but rather that he does not fully grasp the attribute. Haughtiness, lust, and pursuit of honor, which destroy spirit and body for the masses, do not serve for the ideal person even as grounds for argument.
All of these attributes, which are just creations of living beings to feel that they exist, and serve for the common person as their spiritual food, which he needs no less than the physical food to sustain him, are not necessary for the complete person to feel his own existence. He is, after all, connected to eternity, to the existence of the world. It is from this that he finds his sustenance.
There are, though, moments in which even such a person falls from his high standing. Even his eyes can become puffy and stop seeing well, and then he can sin like anyone else. However, it is easier for him to overcome the challenges by strengthening his connection to existence. Then, within a short time, all these sins fall off him, and a new spirit is renewed within him.
This path to spiritual self-improvement is both long and short. In order for such a person to become elevated in this manner, he must stand promptly on the broad platform that embraces the broadness of the world. Then he must succeed in quickly being elevated to the highest level. This is because, with this approach, there are no compromises, and there is no half a job. It is an enormous service of Hashem, which only very special people are actually able to do.
This is the path from above. The high position that the appropriate person reaches quickly removes all of the difficulty of the earlier stages from him. Things that others can acquire only with great toil are a joke for the ideal person. He passes through all the stages with one bold sprint and at once is beyond all boundaries.