Utilizing Your Da'as - 001 Editor's Intro

The book Getting To Know Your Thoughts spoke at length about our abilities of Chochmah, Binah and Da’as. The author wrote in the introduction that Da’as really needs its own separate work. Although Da’as was discussed in Getting To Know Your Thoughts, (especially in Chapter Eight) we merely scratched the surface.  If we want to complete the study of our mind’s power in order to understand our soul, then we need to learn Da’as in depth,

There are three basic parts to our da’as. Firstly, there is an ability in our mind to separate information, which is called da’as d’havdalah. Secondly, there is an ability in our mind to decide between information, which is called da’as d’hachraah. And, thirdly, there is also an ability in our mind to connect to the information, which is da’as hamechaberes.

In addition to this, there are also different ways how we use our da’as: We can use it turn over information (da’as hamis’hapeches). We can also use da’as to overcome desires and imagination. There is also a force in a person to desire intellectual knowledge, and this needs to be understood. We also need to learn how to expand our da’as, as well to be aware of its limits. In addition to this, there are three kinds of impaired da’as which a person should become aware of.

This is a summary of “Da Es Daatcha”, and it focuses solely on building our power of da’as. It should only be read if you have read and worked on the concepts in Da Es Machshavosecha, as it is entirely based on that sefer.