The seven lamps of the head

To gain spiritual understanding and awareness, you must sanctify the seven “lamps” of your head: your mouth, nostrils, ears and eyes.

Guard your mouth from speaking any falsehood.

Sanctify your nostrils with the fear of Heaven, as it is written: “...he will scent the fear of God” (Isaiah 11:3). The way to sanctify the nostrils is through meekness and humility. You must be patient and not let anger burn inside you, even if people treat you badly.

Use your ears to listen to the words of the Sages: believe in what they say. The way to sanctify your ears is through discretion and loyalty. If people tell you secrets, be sure to keep them and not reveal them to anyone.

Lower your eyes and avert them from evil.

Sanctifying the seven “lamps” of the head can bring you to complete spiritual understanding and awareness. Your heart will then burn with passion for God, because the activity of the mind generates heat and fervor in the heart. The more you occupy your mind with thoughts of Torah and devotion, the more your heart will burn for God. The deeper your understanding, the greater your fervor will become. This fervor purifies the heart, protecting it from becoming inflamed with evil desires, which merely pollute it. When a person’s heart is pure, he will never be at a loss for words when he speaks to God. He will always find new words and new approaches.

One who sanctifies the seven “lamps of the head” can attain awesome levels of perception of God. These heights of understanding are a blessing from God which is bestowed from above without any preliminaries and introductions. This is the gift of ruach hakodesh: holy spirit.

Likutey Moharan I, 21

 

Taken from The Essential Rabbi Nachman.