Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that anyone who wants to taste the Or HaGanuz (אור הגנוז), the Hidden Light that God stored away from the first day of creation, must elevate the quality of fear to its source. And the method is strikingly practical: judge yourself before heaven judges you.
"Through judgment, the king will establish the land" (Proverbs 29:4). "Land" corresponds to fear: "The earth feared" (Psalms 76:9). When you evaluate your own actions with honesty, when you "conduct your affairs with judgment" (Psalms 112:5), all false fears fall away. Only the fear of God remains.
The logic is elegant. When a person does not judge themselves, they are judged from Above. "When there is no judgment below, there is judgment Above" (Devarim Rabbah 5:4). Heavenly judgment needs agents to carry it out, so fear clothes itself in everything around you: fear of authorities, fear of thieves, fear of illness. These fears exist because divine judgment has attached itself to those things in order to get your attention.
But when you take stock of your own life, when there is judgment below, the heavenly court has no reason to intervene. Fear no longer needs to hide inside external threats. It returns to its pure form: reverent awe of the Creator.
The source of this purified fear is daat (דעת), holy knowledge, which resides in the heart: "God has not given you a heart to know" (Deuteronomy 29:3). When you do the work of self-examination, your heart becomes a vessel for genuine knowledge. And genuine knowledge opens the door to the Hidden Light, the mysteries of Torah that will be fully revealed only in the future but that the self-examining person can taste right now.
"He who puts right his ways, to him I will show the salvation of the Lord" (Psalms 50:23). The hidden Torah inside everyday self-reflection is the key to the greatest secrets.