Truth and Peace

There are two terms that work hand in hand, and are a very integral part of the Teshuva process. They are אמת, truth, and שלום, peace.

The desire of every human being is to reach a level where he feels happy with peace of mind. To achieve this goal, it must begin with an urgency for truth.

This begins by being honest with oneself. This takes a certain degree of courage to admit one’s own shortcomings. There must be a recognition of areas needing improvement. A big problem today is lack of motivation. One must recognize the need to push himself to do more.

It also includes working on character traits such as anger and jealousy, and giving in to pampering ourselves too much. We need to be honest about these areas needing improvement.

In addition to the above, we have to be careful not to lie or pretending to be sincere when we are not. Our greatest leaders would sacrifice everything, rather than be involved with any kind of falsehood.

When one has principles that he is not willing to compromise, this is a form of seeking truth. He cannot be bought with flattery or money. He is defiant in standing up for what he believes and he does not rationalize.

When one is truthful in all these areas, and he works hard to achieve the truth, Shalom will come his way. My rebbe used to ask how we would like to sit on a chair. If we know that we are sincere and uncompromising, we will sit comfortably on that chair. But if we know that we are fake and completely selfish, but put on a show so that others will get a good impression of us, the chair will feel like “pins and needles.” We will have trouble living with ourselves.

This is really a Teshuva message. If we do what is asked of us in diligent manner, we will achieve real Shalom, and real peace of mind.