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A Curriculum for Wholeness I was a student in a Season of Mussar II group, and when the members of the group were ready to move on in their studies, they were adamant: each wanted to work on his or her personal spiritual curriculum rather than take another course. With encouragement from Alan Morinis and other leaders of The Mussar Institute, we were advised to at least take Path of the Soul Part I before beginning a va’ad to support study and practice focused on personal soul curriculum. It was good advice, for we discovered how much the Path of the Soul course, and its reliance on Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto’s classic Mussar text “Path of the Just,” prepare a solid foundation for work on any middot. With the readings as a guide, the text prepared us to take a more in-depth look at the types of behaviors that support continued and serious Mussar practice. We learned that we needed to cultivate greater vigilance, cleanliness of the soul and abstinence from our many distractions of daily life in order to work toward the piety toward which Mussar practice pushes us. In short, the Path of the Soul course gave us a firm footing in the principles we all needed in order to go on to tackle our personal soul work. Eventually our Path of the Soul Part I group moved into a self-designed Personal Curriculum va’ad – our only regret was that we did not complete Path of the Soul Part II before moving on. We plan to make up for that by taking that part of the course in the fall of this year. If you are seeking to move into a deeper level of Mussar practice, Path of the Soul Parts I and II, either in a local group or as part of the on-line distance-learning course starting October 24th, is a place to continue your soul journey. You will find more information or register for the course here. Sharon Schwartz has facilitated a Path of the Soul course and assisted in directing Path of the Soul via the on-line course site to groups around the country.
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