Q&A: "Weakness of Will" from the Other Direction…
"Weakness of Will" from the Other Direction…
Question
Rabbi, hello and blessings!
First of all, thank you for all your important work, which is like cold water for a weary soul.
In light of the columns that dealt with weakness of will, I thought about a kind of "reverse weakness of will" that I haven’t seen discussed. Sometimes a person chooses to do something good, moral, and proper in his own eyes, but accompanying the act is a sour feeling, as if the act was done against his will—a kind of feeling that he is bound to do what is moral and proper, even though he would like to be free… Sometimes this feeling accompanies an entire course of life and not just one choice. For example, a person who feels bound to his wife and children and to caring for them, even though he thinks he is doing the right thing, and that there is nothing he needs to change in his life…
What is the answer to this question? Is it here too that he chose not to choose? On the face of it, it seems that he does choose and makes an effort.
(Is this what is meant by regretting one’s earlier choices? And in that itself, what is the explanation?)
What do you think?
Answer
I didn’t understand the question. It’s hard for him, and he nevertheless chooses the good. Why does that create a difficulty?
Discussion on Answer
He certainly does dispute it. I’m not familiar with a feeling of regret over doing good. I am familiar with the feeling that it is hard to do it.
So then, even in a classic case of weakness of will, why not simply say that it is hard for him, but nevertheless he chooses the bad?
I’m not talking about a situation where a person finds it difficult to choose the good, and after making his choice he is at peace with himself and with his choice. I’m talking about a situation where he does the good with the feeling that he is compelled to do so, and if he had the strength he would want to "succeed" in doing the bad.
Or perhaps the Rabbi disputes my very interpretation of the case?