CS, you asked how I was taught to get in touch with my neshama. And if I wasn’t talught how by my Rebbe, what did he teach me?
The problem with your question, as with a lot of other things that you and other Lubavichers write, is that aside from being taught a certain derech – ostensibly the derech of Lubavich – you are also taught that the purpose behind those teachings is universal and accepted by all.
So to answer your question, I was most definitely NOT taught to get in touch with my neshama, and I don’t believe that there is a need for that. Furthermore, a lot of “getting in touch” with one’s neshama is not a Jewish concept. Look at how the world is a mess because of people who “are in touch with themselves”. How does a person know that he is in touch with his neshama and that it is not merely his nefesh habehamis telling him that he is. As long as a person has base taavos and the like, he can’t judge where he is at.
So what does my Rebbe, and his forebears teach me? Not to try to get in touch with my neshama at all! To perform mitzvas and to learn Torah with yegiah and to be besimchah that I can do even the smallest mitzvah and learn even the smallest amount of Torah. Let the RBSO deal with my neshama; I have to deal with my machshavah, dibbur and maaseh in this world.
I could give you a number of very good sources on the matter… but then you’d probably figure out where exactly I belong. And if you want to know why I’m scared of that, the answer is that I don’t want to denigrate my chassidus by publicly claiming that I am a sort of spokesman of theirs.
One important question that I have: can you please provide a source – Lubavicher sources are fine here, although it has to be a primary source and not something a teacher in sem taught you – where it says that a person has to be in touch with his neshama? I would even like a source that says that a person has to know what state of righteousness he is currently at. Who cares where I am at the moment, it’s where I’m headed that matters… isn’t it?