Q&A: Free Will
Free Will
Question
Dear Rabbi, hello,
Following up on the question I asked the Rabbi by email (by mistake),
my question is about choice. It is simply that on either side there seems to be no logical room at all to claim that there is choice, and there is no way to understand the libertarian approach, because the very concept of choice is mistaken. In any case, a choice is made according to the balance of forces. To claim that a person can make a choice against that balance is not logical. It’s just that we are used to thinking this way, and as you argue, a person can go against the balance because he—that is, consciousness—makes considerations that we call spiritual, against the balance. But if we look more deeply into the process of choice in a person’s consciousness, again the question remains exactly where it was, and he will always choose according to the conscience with which he was born and by which he was educated throughout his life, and according to a spiritual balance he will go against his will. So choice, in the sense of receiving reward, will never really exist.
Answer
Forgive me, but I do not understand the claim, and I also do not remember the email discussion. I have written at length about free choice and about questions similar to yours (which, as stated, I did not really understand), mainly in my book The Science of Freedom, and also in an article that is a shorter version of it, here:
https://mikyab.net/%d7%9e%d7%90%d7%9e%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d/%d7%9e%d7%91%d7%98-%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%98%d7%aa%d7%99-%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%97%d7%95%d7%a4%d7%a9-%d7%94%d7%a8%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%9f/
I suggest you try reading there.
Discussion on Answer
Look here on the site for two columns on weakness of will.
Thank you, and Sabbath peace.
Dear Rabbi, hello,
I read the wonderful article and also listened to the series on free will, and it seems that the Rabbi really touched on the point. It’s just that then it sounds as though the Rabbi settles for an answer that even he is not comfortable with (forgive me). In lesson 14 (from the fiftieth minute), in the lecture the Rabbi reaches the point where the moment of choice occurs, and using the image of a wagon driver—where the horse (the impulse) wants to go left and the driver (the soul) right—the Rabbi notes that of course the choice will always follow the greater weight, and what a person chooses will be whichever is stronger: his spiritual values or his desires. And on that there is no choice, because it is fixed according to the situation at that time (that is, according to how he was educated, his character traits, and his desires from birth and onward). It’s only that the choice would be whether to fall asleep while on guard duty. There the Rabbi says that this question had bothered him for years, and it seemed that the Rabbi was trying to make do with this explanation, even though it sounded like the Rabbi himself feels the force of the question. Because in practice, at that same point—whether to fall asleep on guard duty or not—the same problem returns in full force: whether to fall asleep or not will depend on the weights of physical tiredness and the strength of his spiritual habits. So in any case, choice in the sense of reward and punishment would not really exist…