The Trust Factor
A daily lesson that focuses on achieving unparalleled success in life using ancient wisdom in modern times.
We will be discussing critical concepts as they are laid out in the book Sha'ar Habitachon - The Gate of Trust. Written 1000 years ago, the author reminds us of the values and wisdom that have allowed humanity to thrive throughout history.
The concept of trusting in a higher power that exists purely for our benefit, puts us in the drivers seat with absolute confidence to achieve greatness.
Eliminate: Fear, Hatred, Anxiety, Depression, Jealousy, Greed...forever!
* Note that some terminology will be in the original Hebrew or Aramaic which I will always follow with the English translation.
The Trust Factor
Episode 72 - Escaping the Information Vortex: Finding Peace Amid Chaos
Ever feel overwhelmed by the endless stream of devastating news and mindless content competing for your attention? You're not alone, and this struggle isn't new – it dates back to humanity's very beginning.
This episode makes a powerful connection between our modern information addiction and the Biblical story of Adam and Eve. Despite having access to paradise, they couldn't resist the one thing forbidden to them: the Tree of Knowledge. Today, we face the same temptation in digital form, constantly scrolling through news of wars, disasters, and "influencers" seeking our clicks rather than our wellbeing.
The world has always faced chaos and destruction – "In every generation, they stand over us to destroy us" – but our current compulsion to monitor every detail creates unprecedented anxiety. News outlets profit from negativity, social media capitalizes on our attention, and we lose ourselves in an information vortex that distracts us from real life and genuine connection.
Most revealing is the symbol hiding in plain sight: the Apple logo on our devices – an apple with a bite taken out – serves as a daily reminder of humanity's original downfall through forbidden knowledge. This isn't coincidence but a profound opportunity to recognize our pattern and break free.
True success and happiness come not from knowing everything happening everywhere, but from trusting God's divine plan and being selective about the information we consume. By recognizing this age-old wisdom applied to our modern context, we can reclaim our peace amid a world that often seems on fire.
Ready to break free from information addiction and find genuine peace? Start by being intentional about your media consumption and remember: you don't need to know everything to trust that everything is in divine hands.
Good morning everybody. Welcome to Monday on the Trust Factor. This is the podcast that guarantees your success when you implement the divine age-old wisdom that we teach. My friends, the world seems to be like it is on fire, and for good reason. That's because it is. It's craziness. There's absolute mayhem going on everywhere we look, and it started, I want to say, about 10 years ago, but it's gotten what seems to be out of hand, and the problem is not that the world is out of hand. I mean, that's clearly a problem. I suggest that the bigger problem is that we are allowing the craziness that goes on in this world to consume us. When there's no craziness going on in the world. We're still in a constant state of desire. We still find ourselves constantly desiring information. We need data. We are an information age driven by consuming more and more data, and that, my friends, is not a good thing.
Speaker 1:I wasn't really intending on going in this direction. I was hoping to get back to the book, which I think we'll do tomorrow, but I think it's very important given the state of the world, specifically the wars that are going on in Israel and the instability in the geopolitical area right now. It's just craziness and I think it bears having a discussion about it, because if you want to talk about trust in God, this is it. I mean, this is spectacular. Such an opportunity for us to be able to grow out of this devastation and destruction If we succumb to it. How do you succumb to this craziness that's going on in the world? The answer is you bury yourself. You bury your head and your attention full-time in trying to keep your finger on the pulse of what's happening, whether it's in Israel and other places in the world. I'm not saying it's not important. I'm not saying you shouldn't want to know. We have friends and family and loved ones, and there is only one, israel, and we are all consumed with its well-being. Yes, I get it, but, my friends, who runs the world? There is a God who runs this world and if you just look back at our history, if you just take a brief review of Jewish history since our inceptions, my friends, this is nothing new. This is what we've been dealing with since day one. People have come looking for our destruction. There's a song that we sing Bechol Dovador, omdim Alenu Lechalotenu. In every generation, they stand over us to destroy us. This is nothing new. It's just that right now.
Speaker 1:We're living in a time and an age where media reigns supreme, where they are so busy feeding you information and we are so busy consuming their information that it is a distraction from real life. And even if you're not consuming the information, even if you're not looking all day long at wars and geopolitical issues, you're scrolling away, you're flicking away. Your kids are doing it, you're doing it, I'm doing it. We are all guilty of it. It is the flavor of the generation, my friends, but it is not a good thing. It is a very destructive thing. Look at your children. It's hard to see it when you're looking at yourself, but look at your children who sit there.
Speaker 1:If you merit to have children, if they're still young enough to be living at home there, if you merit to have children, if they're still young enough to be living at home, watch them scrolling away on their devices, on their technology, craving more and more and more information. They just cannot get enough. Now, okay, you can explain it away as a child. A child wants to learn, they want information. Give them as much as you can and they'll take it. I get that we need to educate our children, but there is a time and place for all those things, and there is a time for everything. Everything related to technology and the desire for information is being overdone.
Speaker 1:Now it is incumbent upon us to turn this around, to reverse it. If you want to be successful, if you want to be happy, if you want to reduce your anxiety and your fear and all the negative traits that come with the constant desire for information, then you have to reverse this trend, never mind the fact that the world is inundated with quote-unquote influencers, and you and I know that those influencers are not there for your benefit. They're there for your clicks. They're there for your likes and your subscriptions and all of their content 98% of the content that's coming out is people dancing around the screen, making themselves look like fools for your viewing pleasure. It is absolutely ridiculous, friends, you know that and I know that. If you want to succeed, then I suggest you consume yourself with good information. Pick the information that you're going to get.
Speaker 1:Getting information is not necessarily a bad thing. It's where you're getting your information from, and if you're listening to the news, you and I know they make their money by selling bad news. They do not make their money selling feel-good stories, which there are plenty of, but we just don't hear them. Pick up any newspaper, listen to any news broadcast, turn on your local news station and watch. If there are 10 stories, nine of them are miserable and one of them maybe has a positive tilt to it. My friends, it is sinking us very quickly and we don't even realize it.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to give you an illustration from the Torah to prove to you that what I'm saying are not my own thoughts. I'm not smart enough to come up with this stuff, guys. The Torah gives us a story right out of the gate, right up in the beginning, right To give us, and there's no coincidences. We know there's no coincidences. Why would God put this story right up front? Because it's a critical ingredient for us to succeed in life that he gives it to us right up front. In other words, the faster you learn this, the happier you will be. God tells us the story of Adam and Eve. What's the story? Everybody knows that. I'm not going to get into too much detail, but suffice it to say that we messed up.
Speaker 1:God brought us into this world. The original intention was not for us to work like slaves for our living. It was not for us to have anxiety and depression and fear. Our entire purpose of being brought into this world was to be able to bask in his glory, to be able to draw awesomeness and to appreciate who he is, and to grow and to learn and to become. To maintain perfection. Really, that's what our job was to maintain perfection. And what did we do? We blew it up at the first opportunity.
Speaker 1:God puts us in the Garden of Eden and he says in front of you is everything you could ever want or need and you can take from as much or as little of it as you wish. It's all yours. Have at it that there was one condition. God put one condition in place. He gave us one commandment. He said you see that tree over there, stay away from it. 99.9% of the trees and everything that is in this garden is yours. That 0.1%, stay away from it. It's not for you.
Speaker 1:Now you would think that if I have access to 99.9% of the world's pleasures and the things that I need and want, that the 0.1% I should be able to do away with relative ease. But clearly we see from the story that that's not the case. That all it took was a snake to convince Eve that the reason God didn't want us to eat from it was because that was the key that was going to make us like him. It was going to make us godly. We would have all the knowledge in the world and that was so enticing for us that we ran after it and we blew it up. We had a great thing and we threw it out and we're paying for it till today. Why? Because it was about knowledge. It was about show me more, tell me more, guys, it's no different than we are seeing today.
Speaker 1:We are in an information age. Back then, when the creation of the world happened, when humanity just came into existence, we were thirsting for knowledge and, at the end of the day, god said stop. You don't need to know everything. You don't need to know what's happening in the smallest nooks and crannies, the things that are happening on the other side of planet earth that have absolutely no bearing on your life. And yet today, everybody has that. It is at our fingertips. If you have a cell phone, if you have a computer, it is at your fingertips. You could see exactly what's going on.
Speaker 1:Who in this war was killed and how were they were killed and at what time they were killed and where they were sleeping and how they were sleeping and what bomb was used and how much that bomb weighed and who delivered it. It just doesn't end, my friends, and that's got to do with war. If there's no wartime, it's no different. We're just looking at every single detail of all the things that people are willing to show us and all they're doing. Especially the influencers, are just doing everything they can to take your time away from you, to have you invest and be interested in their phony lives, which is, in their mind, more important than you investing in your real life?
Speaker 1:How do I know that this is true, my friends? How do you know that there is a connection over here, that the Garden of Eden, this thirst for knowledge, is a bad thing? It's negative, it's bringing us down and today, that is one of our biggest downfalls. How do you know that? Maybe I'm just filling your head with stories, and the answer is it's very, very simple. All you need to do, for the vast majority of you, is look on the opposite side of what you're looking at, turn it on its head.
Speaker 1:In other words, take your cell phone and turn it around and look at the back of your iPhone and you will see in plain sight what God put there for you to recognize. It is an image of an apple, and we know that, certainly by the non-Jews, that their idea of the tree of knowledge, of good and bad in Eden was an apple tree. The Gemara tells us something completely different, right? But the reality is folklore and the accepted principle in the world today, or accepted idea, is that it was an apple tree. My friends, irrespective it's on the back of your phone, there's an image of an apple, and not just an apple, but an apple with a bite taken out of it. That, my friends, is your loving creator, putting the answer, putting the secrets, putting the antidote to the world's problems in your very hands. And he's telling you just turn it over, just do the opposite, flip it upside down and you will remain happy. Have a spectacular day and we'll pick up tomorrow.
