Weakness of will
Hello Rabbi.
I recently heard a conversation by the rabbi in which he casually mentioned two options for understanding weakness of will: Option A – The very fact that a person wants A and does B indicates that his will is not really where he thinks it is, or rather, he has additional desires (for example, lust) that are sometimes more disciplinary than the will he attributes to himself.
Option B – A person truly wants a certain thing but does it because of weakness – weakness of will (weakness in execution?)
Personally I don’t feel that the first option is the right one although I don’t understand the second option! From a purely logical point of view if I don’t do A even though it’s only up to me I probably don’t really want it wholeheartedly! What goes wrong in the process?
I would be grateful if the rabbi could explain to me (or refer to an accessible source if the rabbi does not have time) the mental and conceptual logic of the second option and the way the choice works according to this option? What is the cause if not a will against me?
I hope I was clear, thank you and good night.
You were completely clear. It’s hard for me to explain it here because the matter is very delicate and difficult to unfold here, what’s more, I myself don’t have a complete grasp of it.
In short, it means that a person has a choice whether to choose. What is gained by this? If, for example, a person is faced with a dilemma of eating pork. He chooses not to choose (or does not choose to choose), and now he is dragged by his instinct to eat pork. It turns out that he did eat pork and was not forced to do so, but it is not true that this is what he wanted. As a matter of fact, he did not want to eat pork. But since he is in a state of not choosing, now the decision is no longer made according to his will.
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