Was She Ever at Reb Yoel’s Shiur?

Was She Ever at Reb Yoel’s Shiur?

We all heared Reb Yoel explain it so many times:

1) Bechirah (Free Choice) applies specifically when two things are equal to you.

2) If there is a reason to choose one over the other then it is not free choice as you are being “forced” to pick the one with the advantage.

3) and the most powerful idea about Bechirah: that when you choose between two things that are equal, you are expressing your deepest self, that your essence, which is must deeper than your rational mind, is investing itself in the choice. In the words of Chasidis: Bechirah derives from, the essence.

I know all this, yet I wonder if these ideas are too esoteric for the average person to understand. I wonder how to best express these profound ideas. Would anyone actually “get it”?

It turns out that the behavioral scientists are beginning to discover these truths.  

Below are excerpts from a TED talk on hard choices that are consistent with the three points mentioned above.

1. "When alternatives are on a par, it may matter very much which you choose,but one alternative isn't better than the other. Rather, the alternatives are in the same neighborhood of value, in the same league of value, while at the same time being very different in kind of value. That's why the choice is hard."

2. "Imagine a world in which every choice you face is an easy choice, that is, there's always a best alternative. If there's a best alternative, then that's the one you should choose,because part of being rational is doing the better thing rather than the worse thing, choosing what you have most reason to choose. In such a world, we'd have most reason to wear black socks instead of pink socks, to eat cereal instead of donuts, to live in the city rather than the country, to marry Betty instead of Lolita. A world full of only easy choices would enslave us to reasons."

3. "When we choose between options that are on a par, we can do something really rather remarkable. We can put our very selves behind an option. Here's where I stand. Here's who I am, I am for banking. I am for chocolate donuts."
4. 
   

https://www.ted.com/talks/ruth_chang_how_to_make_hard_choices?language=en

Don't Transcend, Create

Often, people are afraid to enjoy the present moment because they're afraid of the future.

They think it would be irresponsible to be fully in the moment despite the many responsibilities and obligations that are sitting at their plate.

They are afraid to savor the moment because they are afraid of what the future will bring.

The Kabbalah teaches that G-d transcends time the Hebrew word for the name of G-d includes three words past present and future all those combined into one that's because the understanding is that G-d transcends time. Yet in order to create the world G-d creates a limited expression of himself one that is invested with in time and space and within nature that name is called Elohim. which means that G-d operates on two levels: the transcendence G-d and then G-d's ability to create which necessitates limiting himself, and investing himself within the confines of time and space.

In some ways, the human being too transcends time. Although there is but one moment in the present, I have a choice, where to place myself in time. I can live in this moment or I can think about past traumas, be affected by past events, or, I could be distracted by the future. In some ways then, I do transcend time. I could be in this moment, I could be in the past, I could be in the future.

I must learn from G-d, I must learn to invest myself in the limited moments. I must learn to exist within this finite moment. I must treat the present moment as if no other moments exist. I must use the power of Elokim, of investment within time and space, to create the moment. I must understand that you create my world, to create the create my life, I must master the ability escape the transcendent self and invest in the limited self capable of investments the moment.

Because a meaningful life is nothing but the culmination of many meaningful moments.