Everything in Yiddishkeit is very, very big. The Ribbono Shel Olam is big, which means that every mitzvah He gives us is bigger than we think. We have to begin to expand our way of thinking about the avodah of shmiras einayim. We tend to think that that whole avodah of shmiras einayim is, simply put, not seeing things that we’re not allowed to see, and only seeing things that we’re allowed to see.
That’s certainly true, and that’s definitely the body of that mitzvah. But as we develop in our avodas Hashem, we have to begin to see things from a broader perspective. Shmiras einayim is not just something that is a particular aspect of life. Rather, there is an entire lifestyle which is called the lifestyle of shmiras einayim.
There is a way of a person living in the world where they are being affected by their surroundings. Going through life where you take in everything, and everything affects you, and you are the receiver of everything around you – this is called a lifestyle without shmiras einayim. Even if your eyes are closed the whole time and you don’t actually see anything, but the very fact that you are taking in influences from the outside and you don’t have an inner voice and an inner direction and a drive within yourself, that’s called a lack of shmiras einayim.
What does it mean to have a lifestyle of shmiras einayim? This is when a person operates throughout the day with a sense of purpose, a sense of mission, a sense of inner drive, and with a feeling and a compulsion that you are here to affect – you are not here to be affected. That’s what it means to have shmiras einayim in a much broader sense.
Callout, not part of article itself: We are here to affect the world, not to be affected by it.
There was a Yid that once came to Baal Hatanya with a whole laundry list of needs that he wanted a blessing for; parnassah, health, shidduchim, and so on. After he finished his whole shpiel, the Baal Hatanya responded, “You’ve told me everything you need, but you have not yet told me what you’re needed for.”
That’s the difference between no shmiras einayim and yes shmiras einayim. Living a life where it’s all about what you need and what the world can provide for you; taking in from the world, that’s a lifestyle of superficiality. That’s a lifestyle of no shmiras einayim.
Our avodah is to embrace the truth, which is that we are all shelichim, messengers of Hashem, and we were sent here from a higher place for one purpose and one purpose alone: to turn this world into a dira b’tachtonim, into a place for G-d’s presence. That’s why we’re here, nothing more and nothing less.
When a person goes through life with that sense of purpose, that sense of mission, without allowing visions and sensations of the world to enter him and to influence him, but rather he/she is influencing the world. When you are influencing the world, there’s simply not enough time for the world to influence you. Hashem should bless each and every one of us that we should merit to live a lifestyle of shmiras einayim, and with that comes all the brachos in the world.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 21.
