Rabbi Akiva used to say:
"All is foreseen, and yet freedom
of choice is granted."
of choice is granted."
~ Pirkei Avot 3:15
You are free
to comment on the above text freely with your own personal thoughts and
reflections, and/or use the questions below to inspire your written responses.
1. The above perek sounds contradictory. After all, how can there be freedom of choice if God already knows the future? How can freedom of choice and God's all-knowing-ness be reconciled?
2. Reflect on your own life. Do you live more in a "freedom of choice" mode? Or in an "everything is foreseen" mode? Can you give an example or illustration from your own experience to elucidate on this tension?
Probably not how Akiva approached the problem, but perhaps with similar conclusions, I see this as the central paradox of the scientific world view. The closer we come to objectively understanding the nature of the physical world, including the activity of the nervous system, the less room there is for freedom of choice, or even freedom of thought - there seems to be no space for a disembodied "will" to influence the motions of atoms without violating the laws of physics. And yet it is impossible to deny the subjective truth that we do make decisions, thousands of them every day, from the trivial to the momentous. And even if this subjective truth is an illusion, we must believe it and live our lives as though it were true. The alternative is both amoral and depressing.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting Dan, thank you!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's like a big picture, kind of cosmic thought of All is foreseen--- like G-d sees all but we have free choice in so many ways --- especially in how we react to what happens around us.
My thoughts were a little more literal. It made me think about the choices one makes between good and evil. Like the Boston marathon bombing, a person chose the evil path. That said once the choice of evil was selected, the path was sealed. I do believe that G-d gives mankind the ability to select how we choose to live our lives and the level of morality we live. But I also believe that there is an element of fate that you cannot change. My scientific brain rebels but my spirituality believes in fate.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great line to choose! I like this idea because it affects our everyday lives. I see this as meaning that G-d foresees all situations that lead us to the point where we can make a choice. We cannot choose all of our circumstances in life, as that is determined for us, but in every small moment, we get to choose our next action. The two can be reconciled because while we may know that all is foreseen, that does not permit us to stop making the best decision possible, expressing our free will every day.
ReplyDeleteWell said Alli. I really like the way you articulated that.
ReplyDeleteOne interesting interpretation I've heard of this before is that G-d is beyond time and space. So it's not a contradiction as it is G-d knowing the future because he is (in) the future just as he resides in the past, present, and beyond the spectrum.
ReplyDeleteI am trying this one more time. What do I mean? I have written two responses to this week’s perek and each time, the post has vanished. Perhaps that falls somewhere between all is foreseeable and freedom of choice. In any event, here is my contribution.
ReplyDeleteMy approach to this perek is different than some since my “god” (a term that seems to have a different meaning for each person that uses it) is not one that is interactive, all knowing, all powerful or any of the attributes that often are used. Thus, I fall squarely in the “free choice” arena subject to human-made conditions (such as economics, politics, religion, distribution of wealth, war and peace) and the randomness of the universe (biology, place of birth, family).
As for the perek, I find it to be an attempt to deal with the inherent conflict between fate (as determined by a deity) and freedom of choice. If fate exists, then what is the meaning of any choice that we make? If all is foreseeable (pre-determined?) then however I respond to a situation is “as it is to be”. Indeed, how could we punish people for their actions if those actions were part of a pre-determined, grand plan?
Rabbi Akiva and the other rabbis, as well as all of us, are faced with the dilemma of explaining this seeming conflict between an all powerful, all knowing god. A god that says in Genesis that the seeds of Abram will be slaves for 400 years and then, as we are told in Exodus, letting that happen before eventually, after 430 years, hearing the cries of the (to be) Israelites. There are other examples of this knowing god in the Torah, but we don’t have to go back that far to wrestle with the concept of all knowing and all powerful. We have too many modern day examples the wars, the famine, the persecution of peoples, genocide including but not limited to the Holocaust. How do we reconcile the god of the Torah and of the tradition, with the state of the world in history, modern times and, based on the acts of humans, in the foreseeable future?
The fact that Rabbi Akiva makes a statement does not, in and of itself, mean that there is any truth in the statement. For me, Rabbi Aklva’s statement is an invitation to exercise our free will and see where we come out on the subject.
Of course, I do respect each and every one of your points of view and I do wish that we could continue the learning on these points in person where there could be a more complete exchange of ideas. It is the difference of approaches, thoughts and experience that add to the richness of these types of conversations.
I really enjoyed everyone's comments and insights this week and agree with Ron that an in-person discussion could really enhance these discussions. My perspective this week is that of a "challenge". Maybe choice is granted to us to challenge us to make the "best choices". Just because "All is foreseen", it does not preclude our responsibility in paving the path to getting there.
ReplyDelete