Q&A: On Happiness and Freedom, and on the Latest Post
On Happiness and Freedom, and on the Latest Post.
Question
Hello Rabbi,
A few days ago I asked our Rabbi what is preferable: a happy fundamentalist (or captive), or a suffering free person, and the Rabbi answered me: freedom. The Rabbi told me that happiness is not a value, but freedom is a value, and happiness is a means. What did the Rabbi mean by this? Is happiness not the end goal of human beings as such?
2. Regarding the latest column about idol worship: if the essence of idol worship is basically instinctual at its core, then what does accepting a god or not accepting one have to do with it? There isn’t really an opinion here, is there? The opinion is external.
Answer
- Happiness is not an ultimate end, but a goal and an asset. The ultimate end is supposed to be value-based and not self-interested, unless you are a hedonist.
2. Even an external opinion requires acceptance. A person has to live within the theory that the idol is God, and accept it upon himself within that framework. If even in theory he does not accept it as a god over himself, then this is not idol worship.