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Walking by "the way" said by a Chazal usually implies The Way, walking by the way means walking along the path of learning Torah. It is not to be interpreted as taking a tea break, --interrupting-- the studies and looking out the window, but as --ceasing-- the studies to admire the tree or ploughed field.

Now, this makes sense. Still the 'the simple' reading - that we are talking about someone who interrupts his studies to admire nature, makes sense too. I have been thinking about this, and wouldn't

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"guilty against his own soul"

be the result for a person who is not focused on one task at a time - i.e not putting all of his heart and mind into the studies, so that he is easily distracted from them by the trivial. Such a man would most likely find himself lacking both knowledge and faith, and there for be guilty against his own soul for lack of feeding it?

But for a man who has the dedication, focus and determination to study Torah, for him it would be to 'terminate' his studies that incur the guilt against his own soul?

Dov

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I have been thinking about this, and wouldn't

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"guilty against his own soul"

be the result for a person who is not focused on one task at a time...

I agree. "If you are driving with one hand while shaving with the other, you are performing poorly in both tasks"

Another angle on this saying by R"Yaakov: "guilty against his soul" - can it mean "guilty against the intention of his soul"? Is it a hint to the separation between the intention and the action?

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Is it a hint to the separation between the intention and the action?

Would that actually make any difference? Wouldn't the guilt be there just the same? Because if my intention and my action are divided I am still performing poorly at both tasks?

Can my action or my intention be "wholehearted with G-d" Shoftim 18:13)if it is divided?

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Originally posted by Dov:
...if my intention and my action are divided I am still performing poorly at both tasks?

Well, it is possible that you have two intentions and one action for each intention, like in the example with driving and shaving: the first intention is to get to your destination, and the other intention is to get there neatly shaved. (let's forget for a moment that the ultimate intention is to get there safely ...) Back to the R"Yaakov's example, the primary intention is to walk The Way, and there is also a momentary (temporal) intention to let the mind absorb what has been consumed by distracting attention from the studies to the nature.

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Can my action or my intention be "wholehearted with G-d" Shoftim 18:13)if it is divided?

Yes, I believe it can. Once again, as I mentioned in the other thread, we owe it to the Zachal to avoid pulling their sayings out of the context. In this case, we can only guess as to why he said it and to whom he said it. If he directed it to a lazy student, then the meaning of this is obvious and true. if he did not direct it to anybody in particular, then it is a worldview that can be argued. Indeed, we know in our days that the way our brain works is it memorizes material better and for longer term if we layer the information by taking short breaks: to look around, to jog around the block; to eat a fruit/chocolate/ice cream, etc. Then if we look and suddenly see the beauty of a tree - why not admire it for a moment? It does not make the action of looking separate from our intention of learning.