God's command to Abraham, "Go forth from your land, your birthplace, and your father's house" (Genesis 12:1), reads like travel instructions. Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, in his commentary on Parashat Lech Lecha, reads it as a map of the soul.
He identifies three stages of spiritual transformation, each corresponding to one phrase in the verse. The first stage: breaking raw physical desire. "Go forth from your land" (artzekha, which shares a root with artziut, materiality). A person must sanctify their eating, drinking, and bodily drives. The word Elohim (God) has the same gematria as ha-teva (nature). And when a person breaks the grip of brute nature, they shatter the hold of "other gods" and access the "Living God."
The second stage: breaking inborn character flaws. "From your birthplace" refers to the negative traits a person carries from birth, quickness to anger, jealousy, pride. These are harder to uproot than physical appetites because they feel like identity itself. But conquering them unlocks love of the Creator.
The third stage: releasing ego and false honor. "From your father's house" means abandoning the pride that comes from prestigious ancestry. A person must find their glory not in lineage but in the holiness of their own actions. As the Psalmist says, "Bow down to God in the glory of holiness" (Psalms 29:2).
Rebbe Elimelech finds the same three stages encoded in the Song of Songs (4:11): "Sweetness drops from your lips, bride, honey and milk under your tongue." Sweetness is awe, the first stage. The bride is love, the second. Honey and milk represent deeds that are beautiful to all people, the third. The entire spiritual journey, hidden in a love poem.
God said to Avram: 'Go forth from your land etc' (Gen. 12:1) ~ it seems to me that behold, a person needs to serve the Blessed Creator in three levels, one after the other, which are (1) at the outset one needs to break the strength of desire, the natural desire found in a human due to the nature of humans. Examples are eating and drinking, and such, so that one's eating will be in holiness and purity, through that one breaks the strength of "other gods" (elohim acherim) since "gods" has the same gematria as "the nature" (hateva), and one the forces of "other gods" are broken, one merits to come to the level "living God" (E-lohim chayim". (2) A person needs to break the lower traits that they have. From the moment one comes from their mother's womb, there are those who have worse traits than others, for example, they are easily angered and so on, and the rest of their traits are worse than the traits of their fellows. And after the breaking of the lower traits, one merits to come to the [level of] loving the Blessed Creator. (3) And after all this, one needs to come to the third level, which is making oneself splendid, as explained before in parshat Noach, that all Noach's deeds were beautiful and splendid, just as the tanna said "all that is a splendor etc and splendor for him from other people." And this is a hint of "go forth to yourself from your land [eretz]", a hint to the first level, which is the desire of the materialistic corporeality which is natural in the [human] raw material, and one needs to go out of that [level]. "And from your birthplace" is a hint to the second level, which are the ugly traits that are born in every human. "And from the house of your father" is a hint to the third, that behold, the essence of the lower splendors come to a person through their arrogance and self-boasting of one's ancestors, if one is the descendant of great people. And a person needs to come out of this ugly trait to glorify oneself after what is good in the eyes of both God and humans, as explained. And this is [the message in] "bow down to Ad-nai, in the glory of holiness" (Psalms 29:2), meaning, to reach glory and splendor in making holiness splendorous, which is the level of splendor. And this is [the meaning of] "sweetness drops from your lips, bride, [milk and honey are under your tongue] etc" (Songs 4:11) - also a hint to those three levels. "Sweetness drops" is a hint to the level of awe, [since] "myrrh drops" (Songs 5:13) is explained by our sages z"l with "do not read myrrh but etc" (Shabbat 30b:6). And "your lips bride" is a hint to the level of love, like a bride is beloved by her fiance. And "honey and milk under your tongue" is a hint to the third level, that all one's deeds are like honey and are splendid for all people. Or it can be said "sweetness drops" - behold, when a person begins to enter in the service of the Holy and Exalted that person needs to be in awe, and due to the fact that one has not yet fixed all they need to, therefore they speak things explicitly and without shame, and afterwards, when they come to an additional level, behold they get embarrassed of speaking about their deeds, just as a bride whose deeds are done secretly, and this is because God's awe is in that person, and after that when they go to an additional level behold they are modest in all their deeds, and this is "sweetness drips", a hint that one begins at the beginning of their service, and then they leak [their] words, as explained, since their awe is not complete. And after that, "your lips, bride", meaning, that their words are said with embarrassment and their deeds are hidden as a bride's. And after that, "honey and milk", meaning, words that are sweet as honey and milk, they are "under your tongue", that one is walking modestly, absolutely. Or one can say "go for yourself" - it seems to me [we can understand this] through the way of a hint: a person needs to research, and search, and seek, always in order to see the greatness of God in every thing that their eyes see, and through this they will merit that the Holy Blessed One will give them intelligence and understanding to succeed and comprehend the upper worlds. And the way to reach this level of being able to observe the greatness of God is to fix one's traits first and foremost, since the Exalted Holy Blessed Name created the human with all sorts of traits, and each and every single trait has a side and a piece that is towards holiness, and also towards the opposite, God forbid, as known. And a person needs to break into their choice so as to use their traits only to holiness, and then they will merit to understand and observe the greatness of God. And the Exalted Holy Blessed Name opens for that person the springs of wisdom, to conceive and comprehend in every instance with the one's higher understanding, more and more, what one's mind eyes have never seen. And this is "go for yourself", as its simple meaning, that is, you should observe yourself always so as to separate yourself from your corporeal traits [artziut] so as you can switch them to good, as explained. And this is "from your land [artzecha], to bring them only to holiness. "And from your birthplace" meaning, a person who behaves with disgusting traits then from that person come evil results, God forbid, since a trait gives birth to another similar trait, through "a transgression brings about a transgression" - and this is "from your birthplace". "And from the house of your father", meaning, sometimes certain traits get imprinted in a person according to the environment that happens to the person, from the parental forces that insert those traits into the person. One needs to get out of those and make them enter into holiness, and this is "from the house of your father". And then you will be able to merit "to the land that I will show you", that you will merit the higher mind, and the higher land that I will show, a place you have never seen. And this is "leave גול your way to Ad-nai" (Psalms 37:5) - meaning, as explained above, since גול comes from the expression for revelation, התגלות, that your way and your traits will be revealed: you will scrutinize them and you will see that all of them are "to Ad-nai", and you will "trust in Him", meaning, when a person observes and scrutinizes the greatness of God, this is called "trusting". "And He will do" - meaning, then the Blessed Holy Name will do new doings, something you have never seen and never understood, and He "will bring about your righteousness like light". And sit with this to understand.
