Why Do I Keep Making the Same Mistakes? (The Difference Between Clarification and Correction)
You know the lesson, but you keep failing the test. Ruth Kedem explains: You aren't failing; you are undergoing "Birur." Plus, the secret of the "Garments" of the Soul.
“Hey Ruth, it’s confusing. We say the Creator sends us a Tikun (Correction). But in reality, we repeat the same mistakes and deeds. Does that mean we aren’t doing the correction? What happens to a person who doesn’t fix their ways?”
1. The Redefinition of Correction (Tikun) Tikun is not “To Stop Making Mistakes.” The Creator does not measure a person by the repetition of actions, but by the Internal Will. A person can repeat the same external action again and again—and this does not mean there is no correction. It means that Clarification (Birur) is still taking place.
2. What is Birur (Clarification)? Birur is the stage where the Light exposes to the person what truly drives them: Fear, need for control, thirst for love, survival, lack of trust, or deep habit.
In Birur, a person sees themselves falling into the same place. This is an Exposure. The Creator returns the person to the same situation in different “Garments” (disguises)—not to “test” him, but so he will see the Root of the Will acting within him. As long as the root is unseen, the person must return to the point of correction.
3. When Does Tikun Happen? Tikun happens not when a person behaves differently, but when his Internal Attitude toward the Root changes.
When a person stops justifying, blaming, escaping, or identifying with the urge, and starts to see: “This is how my Will is built.” In that moment, the Will no longer totally controls him. Even if the deed repeats, the Tikun has begun. The Real Correction is the Change of Intention.
4. The Path of Exhaustion You asked: “What about a person who doesn’t fix his ways?” If a person repeats the same “mistakes,” that repetition itself is his Tikun. There are souls whose correction is not to become “Fixed,” but to discover the depth of helplessness, the exhaustion of the Will to Receive, and the breaking of the illusion that they are in control. Only from that rock bottom is Truth born.
There is correction through Success. And there is correction through Exhaustion (Mitzuy). Whoever exhausts the desire gets very close to the Truth, even if it looks like the opposite.
5. The Secret of “Garments” (Malbushim) In Kabbalah, a “Garment” is not outer clothing. It is the Mode of Revelation.
The Divine Light is infinite and ungraspable. For it to be felt and experienced by a Soul, it must pass through filters, or “Garments.”
The Soul has three main Garments:
Thought
Speech
Action
These are the tools through which the Inner Will is revealed in the world. The Soul itself is hidden; people only meet its Garments. Therefore, a person can have a deep intention, but if the Garment (Speech/Action) is “distorted,” the Light will not pass through correctly.
The Work: The Correction is not to destroy the Garments, but to Refine them.
When the Garment is clean -> The Light passes through naturally.
When the Garment is dirty -> The Light gets distorted and is experienced as Pain, Confusion, or Concealment.
We do not fix the Light (it is perfect). We do not fix the Soul (it is pure). We fix the Garment. Meaning, the way the Will expresses itself. When a person purifies his Thought, Speech, and Action, his life itself becomes a Divine Revelation.