Q&A: Free Choice
Free Choice
Question
Hello Rabbi,
A thought came into my head that I had to ask about: if we have free choice, that means my will, or something like it that is above nature, affects nature. For example, I move my hand. If I trace back the chain of cause and effect, it would seem that my will affected some molecule in the brain, and from there the whole story unfolded until my hand moved. (I don't think “molecule” is the right term, but you understand what I mean.) It comes out that this molecule moved without a natural cause.
My question is this: why can't we assume the same thing when a person prays for something, or even without prayer? Maybe there is some higher power or something like that that caused the “molecule” to act, and as a result I won the lottery, the plane crashed, or anything else.
Thanks in advance for addressing this!
Answer
This question has been asked here about twenty times. In short: you can assume anything. The question is whether it actually happens in practice. Free choice does occur (in my view), whereas divine involvement does not (I do not see any indication of it whatsoever).
Actually, it sounds very plausible to me, in light of our tradition and in light of the fact that our free choice affects nature, that something happens when people pray and some molecule moves around out there in the air and affects things.
Why don't they do research on this once and for all, instead of focusing on nonsense like curing diseases and a stable economy??? 🙂