Your Mind: Written in Hashem’s Handwriting
Opening Our Sages teach in the Talmud: “Just as people’s faces are not alike, so their minds are not alike.” Look closely at these words. Why did our Sages pair these two things, the face and the mind? They could have said that people’s voices are not alike, or that their strengths are not alike, or that their character traits are not alike. But they put the mind next to the face. What does this pairing mean? Your Face: Hashem’s Image You Can See The Torah says: “Hashem created man in His image.” Both the early and the later commentators explain that this “image” is not something physical. It is a spiritual structure, and it shows itself on the outside through the face. In the morning, you do not walk up to the mirror and say to yourself, “I would rather have a different face.” That is not because you are so pleased with yourself. It is because deep inside you know, even without thinking about it, that your face is what it is, and it is not yours to change. It is a gift. It is a signature. It is Hashem’s own handwriting on you. To change your face so that it looks like someone else’s face is not setting yourself aside. It is erasing yourself. Your Mind: Your Inner Face Here is the new idea. It is simple and deep at the same time: your mind is your inner face. Hashem’s image in you shows itself on the outside through your face. In the same way, it shows itself on the inside through your mind. It shows in the way you grasp things, the way you understand them, and the way you feel inside your mind that something is true. Your intuition, the angle from which you see a matter, the point that you notice when others pass over it in silence: none of this is an accident. It is the inner expression of the image of Hashem that was engraved in you. The Zohar, the classic mystical text, teaches that there are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah, matching the six hundred thousand souls of the Jewish people. Every soul is a letter. If a letter is erased, the book is missing that letter. Your mind is like that too. It is not just “your thought.” It is your letter in the Torah scroll of your generation. A Note: Truly Setting Yourself Aside Is Not Erasing Yourself But stop for a moment. An obvious question comes up. Haven’t we learned to set the self aside? We learned to put our ego to one side, and not to hold on to our opinions out of arrogance. How does that fit with what we have just said? Here we need to make a sharp distinction. The setting aside of the self that the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, speaks about means setting aside the ego. That is the voice that says, “I am greater than you,” “My opinion matters more than yours.” But there is a basic difference between setting aside the ego and erasing the image of Hashem in you. True humility is knowing that your mind is not your own. It is an emissary sent by the Mind above. And because it is an emissary, you have a duty to protect it. When you erase your own mind so that you can think like the majority, you are not setting yourself aside. You are doing the exact opposite. You are putting your wish to please other people in place of the will of the One who gave you this mind. False humility is handing over what was given to you for safekeeping.
Putting It into Practice
So what is the inner work? It is not to dig in and hold on to an opinion out of stubbornness. It is not to brush aside the words of your rabbi or your friend. It is one specific thing: do not shame your inner voice. When something inside you says, “I see this differently,” do not cover it up right away because the majority says otherwise, or because someone greater than you says otherwise. Listen to it. Check it. And if it holds up, give it a voice. Hashem signed His name on you, on your face and on your mind. Do not erase His signature just to please other people.
Questions and answers
Q: Why did our Sages compare people's minds to their faces in "Just as people's faces are not alike, so their minds are not alike"?
Rabbi Landau answers: Our Sages teach in the Talmud: “Just as people’s faces are not alike, so their minds are not alike.” Look closely at these words. Why did our Sages pair these two things, the face and the mind? They could have said that people’s voices are not alike, or that their strengths are not alike, or that their character traits are not alike. But they put the mind next to the face. What does this pairing mean?
Q: How does being created in Hashem's image show itself through the face?
Rabbi Landau answers: The Torah says: “Hashem created man in His image.” Both the early and the later commentators explain that this “image” is not something physical. It is a spiritual structure, and it shows itself on the outside through the face. In the morning, you do not walk up to the mirror and say to yourself, “I would rather have a different face.” That is not because you are so pleased with yourself. It is because deep inside you know, even without thinking about it, that your face is what it is, and it is not yours to change. It is a gift. It is a signature. It is Hashem’s own handwriting on you.
Q: How is my mind my inner face, a reflection of Hashem's image?
Rabbi Landau answers: Here is the new idea. It is simple and deep at the same time: your mind is your inner face. Hashem’s image in you shows itself on the outside through your face. In the same way, it shows itself on the inside through your mind. It shows in the way you grasp things, the way you understand them, and the way you feel inside your mind that something is true. Your intuition, the angle from which you see a matter, the point that you notice when others pass over it in silence: none of this is an accident. It is the inner expression of the image of Hashem that was engraved in you.
Q: Doesn't setting the self aside mean erasing my own opinion?
Rabbi Landau answers: But stop for a moment. An obvious question comes up. Haven’t we learned to set the self aside? We learned to put our ego to one side, and not to hold on to our opinions out of arrogance. How does that fit with what we have just said? Here we need to make a sharp distinction. The setting aside of the self that the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, speaks about means setting aside the ego. That is the voice that says, “I am greater than you,” “My opinion matters more than yours.” But there is a basic difference between setting aside the ego and erasing the image of Hashem in you. True humility is knowing that your mind is not your own.
Q: What should I do when my inner voice says "I see this differently"?
Rabbi Landau answers: So what is the inner work? It is not to dig in and hold on to an opinion out of stubbornness. It is not to brush aside the words of your rabbi or your friend. It is one specific thing: do not shame your inner voice. When something inside you says, “I see this differently,” do not cover it up right away because the majority says otherwise, or because someone greater than you says otherwise. Listen to it. Check it. And if it holds up, give it a voice. Hashem signed His name on you, on your face and on your mind. Do not erase His signature just to please other people.