Rabbosai, check out the new board called "Battleworn's Corner"! Why did we create this board?
Well, there are many levels of addiction and many different approaches. For one person, looking at the struggle with the yetzer Hara as a great mission to give Hashem Nachas Ruach is a very helpful attitude and outlook that can lead to great victories over lust.
For another person (who may have tried this approach for years and seen no success - and his disease is progressively getting worse), this type of approach can be actually harmful sometimes, as we posted from Dov in Chizuk e-mail #667 (we encourage everyone to read this powerful e-mail - in case they see
themselves in Dov's story). Instead, such people need to change their focus from "the struggle" to simply doing Hashem's
will for them
today, to the best of their ability. They are not able to struggle with lust at all, because they can't control it at all. "Struggling with it" and "using it", both lead to the same thing for them.
There are also different types of personalities, to whom different approaches "speak to" more than others.
There have been conflicts in the past between these approaches, because they talk to different types of people and different levels of addiction. Therefore, we have set up a special board for Rabbeinu Battleworn, because his style of chizuk and his approach can be
very helpful to many people here, yet it can often conflict with the 12-Step (or Dov's) approach, which is for people whom "Battleworn's approach" perhaps
hasn't worked.
We thank Rav Battle for joining us on the forum once again, and we look forward to working with him. The approach of GYE -
and probably our biggest Chiddush (and maybe even the root of our success to date), stems from the recognition of the many levels of addiction, as spelled out in the handbooks, and the inescapable fact that different approaches work for different people - and for different levels of addiction.
At GYE,
we embrace any and every approach that can help Yidden break free of lust dependency so that they can have richer and more meaningful lives and ultimately a deeper connection with
Hakadosh Baruch Hu. GYE is super-tolerant of every approach that can help.
There is only
one thing that we
don't tolerate on GYE, and that is when someone on the forum puts DOWN another approach that many be working for others - and says (or implies) that this approach is WRONG. Let me explain: If you feel that a particular approach did not work for you, we
encourage you to share that.
However, never put down the APPROACH per-se, rather simply share that
"I tried this approach for a while and it didn't work for me"... and then, of-course,
please share with us what
did work for you!
With great love to every
Yid,
Guard