"Mussar is a path of spiritual self-development. It means working on yourself, but not for the sake of your self. By refining and elevating your inner life and nourishing the soul, you clarify your inner light and thus become a lamp shedding light into the world...How it works is conveyed in a story attributed to many people, but mainly Chafetz Chaim.
When asked how he had had such an impact as a great sage and leader in the twentieth-century Jewish world, the Chafetz Chaim answered, "I set out to try to change the world, but I failed. So I decided to scale back my efforts and only try to influence the Jewish community of Poland, but I failed there, too. So I targeted the community in my hometown of Radin, but achieved no greater success. Then I gave all my effort to changing my own family, and failed at that as well. Finally, I decided to change myself, and that's how I had such an impact on the Jewish world...the task is to fill yourself up with wisdom and knowledge until you brim over, and the overflow spills out of you and into the adjacent vessels, who are other people."
--Alan Morinis,
Everyday Holiness
