Q&A: Ideas and Ice Cream
Ideas and Ice Cream
Question
Hello. Suppose you hate God, and you feel like eating ice cream. Then God decides to play a trick on you: He suddenly creates a binding idea that says it is forbidden to eat ice cream. It is important to note that you will receive no punishment if you eat ice cream, and no reward if you refrain from eating it. Would you eat the ice cream?
In my view, there is no reason at all not to eat the ice cream. So what if an idea exists? Why should you care?
You might say, "It is objectively the right thing to do." But why assume at all that the "right thing" has an objective aspect? Wouldn't it make more sense to say that we have certain goals that we are "programmed" with, and that the right thing derives only from there, from the goal embedded within us? And even so, suppose you are still convinced that this is objectively the right thing to do—why should you care? Since when do human beings care about what is objectively the right thing to do? In my opinion, for you to care about something, emotion must always be involved (in the case above, that would be your craving for ice cream). And I imagine that if you had not been educated in childhood to love the Holy One, blessed be He, and do as He commands, and then one day someone told you in a dry tone that there exists an idea saying that one is obligated to hop on one foot when going to the bathroom, I am convinced you would shrug and keep going to the bathroom on two feet. Why? Because no emotion is involved. Emotion is what motivates, not knowledge of ideas. And in my opinion this makes the whole use of that concept unnecessary, etc., and sorry if this looks more like an article than a question.
(Just so there is no misunderstanding, I am writing this from the International Space Station, and the Sabbath has not yet begun here)
Answer
Suppose you think there is no point in keeping God's commands. And suppose that everything you do is only what you crave. And suppose God commanded you not to eat ice cream. And suppose you love ice cream. Then you would not eat ice cream. Right.
Discussion on Answer
I didn't understand. Why wouldn't you eat ice cream? Or was that said ironically? I asked whether the very existence of the idea is enough to make you do something (even without any emotional charge)
Sh, I assume he got confused and that he actually would eat ice cream. But that's only *if* he thinks there is no reason to listen to God.
Why would he think from the outset that there is a reason to listen to God?
Sh, my answer is yes. I would obey the divine command. You assume not, and therefore your conclusion is that I would not. I didn't see a question here (as you yourself noted). What is your question: why do the truth if all you want is pleasures and to satisfy your feelings? Indeed, there is no reason in the world to do it. Just as there is no reason to be moral if you think there are no values, only pleasures and feelings.
But I think that if something is true, it should be carried out regardless of feelings and pleasures. That's all. See columns 120 and 122 and the discussions following them.
Okay, a different question: how do you know at all that binding ideas exist? After all, the Torah itself does not say this (it seems that in the Torah it is only about reward and punishment, "if you walk in My statutes," etc.), so where does this idea come from? After all, when I command something, nobody assumes that I am pointing to some idea, so why is it different when the Holy One, blessed be He, does it?
Sh, I don't understand what you want from me. The Holy One, blessed be He, commands, and in my opinion His commands should be kept. That's all. What ideas need to be here?
What actually is the point of keeping God's commands? (Is it written somewhere in the notebooks?)