How Your Actions Shape the Soul: A Powerful Teaching from the Or HaChaim

The verse states: “Reuven, you are my firstborn, my strength and the first of my vigor, excelling in dignity and excelling in power” (Bereishit 49:3).

The words of the Chaim ibn Attar on this verse explore a profound relationship between a person’s actions and the spiritual condition of the soul.

The Or HaChaim explains that a person’s inclinations and desires are deeply influenced by the spiritual state of the soul. If the soul becomes attached to impurity or drawn toward a particular transgression, it will begin to crave experiences and behaviors that correspond to that same spiritual condition.

In other words, the soul is drawn toward that which resembles what it has already absorbed.

If a person feeds the soul with negative actions, unhealthy desires, or sinful patterns, the attraction to those things grows stronger. At the same time, the person becomes increasingly distanced from goodness, purity, and spiritually uplifting pursuits.

This is a cumulative process. Every negative act strengthens the pull toward more negativity and weakens the person’s connection to what is good.

As the Or HaChaim teaches, according to the type of evil that clings to the soul, so too the soul will desire things of a similar nature. The more a person fills the soul with elements of spiritual darkness, the stronger the craving for that darkness becomes, and the further the person moves away from goodness.

Every Action Has a Spiritual Root

The Or HaChaim then introduces a fundamental principle, that nothing in this world exists without a spiritual root.

There is no action, no object, and not even the slightest movement in this world that does not rest upon a spiritual foundation. Every physical act is rooted in a deeper spiritual reality.

This principle is especially significant regarding things that God has prohibited. Anything that the Torah defines as forbidden carries with it a negative spiritual root, and one who attaches himself to it draws that harmful spiritual influence into the soul.

This means that actions are never spiritually neutral. What we do shapes who we become. Every choice — whether toward good or toward harm, leaves an imprint on the inner world of the person making it.

The Soul Becomes What It Repeatedly Chooses

The message here is both powerful and deeply practical.

Human behavior does not remain external. Repeated actions gradually form the inner life of the soul. Good deeds refine the soul and increase its natural attraction toward goodness. Harmful deeds do the opposite: they make negativity feel increasingly natural.

A person who repeatedly chooses kindness often finds that kindness becomes easier and more instinctive. A person who repeatedly gives in to destructive patterns may find those patterns becoming stronger and harder to resist.

For this reason, spiritual growth depends so much on consistent choices. Our actions do not merely express who we are in the moment, but they actively shape who we are becoming.

The Or HaChaim teaches us that every deed influences the soul directly. For this reason, one must be exceedingly careful not to defile the inner self through harmful actions, because they can draw a person into a negative spiritual world and distance them from holiness, clarity, and goodness.

At the same time, this teaching is deeply hopeful. Just as harmful actions strengthen negative inclinations, good actions strengthen the soul’s connection to holiness.