As I mentioned a while back, I want to do a Q&A show. Well since I've made it to episode 20, I figured "Now is a good time."
Of the questions that have been submitted, I am choosing to focus on only one for this show.
Why?
Because it is a big question that deserves a good answer.
This question was also recently asked during my last talk at my Synagogue where I did the D'var (sermon) for Shabbat Chol Hamoed for Sukkot.
After discussing that I am not, and for that matter nor is anyone else, in control of much in this world.
Ultimately in the final analysis the main control we possess is in regards to our abilities to choose the meanings of experiences, and our reactions to our experiences.
I also noted that God however, seems to ultimately be in control of everything else.
Well that raised some eyebrows. And some hands went up to politely challenge me and ask questions.
The questions were along the lines of:
"Does God control everything? And if He controls everything, then how do we have free will? And if we don't have free will, how can God judge us… since we have no choice?"
Also they asked:
"Regarding what we read in Neilah service (the closing prayers [neilah="closing"] said during the High Holyday service) the "gates of heaven are closing" and when we say "it has been written and it has been sealed", "who will live and who will die"… it does seem to put a deterministic spin on Judaism? If everything is foreseen and determined for the next year, do I really have any free will?"
So first of all, I want to point out that these questions are in many ways parallel to the free will illusion ideas posed by many atheists.
Atheists have a hard time with free will as well (i.e. Sam Harris).
For the Atheist or Materialist all is physical.
By chance stardust and quantum mechanical processes formulated our physical existence. And in the final analysis we are just a bag of chemicals with occasional electrical impulses. So, just as hydrogen has no free will, it simply must do what hydrogen can do… Human's have no free will. Rather, humans just do what humans can do. Its just physics… Cause and effect right?
Let me begin by addressing this from the view of an atheist (which I was for 30 years). I once believed that our free will was problematic, because it presumed to understand the human "mind." I use "mind" instead of brain, because it seemed odd to me to presume that our brains were the conscious part of our existence. The brain is calculable and measurable, but the mind is not and neither are our conscious states really. Hence the differences between neuroscience and psychology.
And here in lies a huge pile of tangled question webs… What is consciousness? Does it even exist? How can we determine it? How can we measure it? Are there real qualitative values as well as quantitative values?
Well, I searched, and came up confused regarding an intellectually satisfactory solution. But I found clarity in a pragmatic solution. Consciousness exists, but we cannot understand it fully (or even come close to full understanding). And ultimately I likened it to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. In the final analysis, though the results may seem counter intuitive with known data, so what?… Follow the evidence. It seemed quite evident that there is a thinker who thinks and a dreamer who dreams though they may never be found (similar to the uncertainty principle's notion that one can know the movement or the location but not both simultaneously with total accuracy).
Ultimately I figured, in general, mankind benefits from the assumption of free will. Without free will, no one should be punished for their behaviors (or rewarded for that matter.) For they had no control over themselves or any actions. And you can't be held legally responsible for that which there is no control over. Logically it follows that since humanity is not a rationally driven movement (rather humanity is emotionally driven with many destructive appetites), then it makes sence to allow for the assumption of free will if only to facilitate life and growth (seemingly a better choice… ironically.)
But what does happen when we throw God into the mix?
Many say that, "If God does exist, then man's free will does." And I understood (both then as an atheist and now as a believer) what they mean. Supposedly in the Bible God creates man, and this creation is given a set of behavioral rules (ex. You can eat of all you see, but not from the one Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.) And though mankind understands the rules and situation he and she are easily swayed by new "data" and decide to behave in the way they choose - and thus suffer the consequences.
Now to be clear neither I nor much of Judaism believe the Genesis creation stories to be literal stories of actual events. Torah means "Teacher" or "Teaching", so these stories are parables that are used to teach meaningful lessons and articulate complex ideas to a great number of people and ingrain them in their memory.
So with this story we learn that one God created everything (as opposed to chance, or numerous gods), and when man was created he was given a level of autonomy to do as he chooses, though there are consequences for his actions. Also, we learn that the "Knowledge of Good and Evil" is not inherent to man. He must have a source for that knowledge. A consequence resulting from their transgression (eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil) is that all their progeny (humanity) also share in that knowledge… We have a conscience.
Cool huh? All those complex philosophical ideas from a little parable. Hence, why great teachers love to use stories to teach.
So, we can conclude based on the above rationale, if God does not exist, then there is no rule giver, and no intentional order to the universe, nor any objective morality, nor any justification for human behavior. Things just are. Any judgements are simply based on opinion formed by the random occurrence of the existing thinker likely due to a causal relation.
Simply put. If there is no God (the ineffable God of the Torah), then the torture of children is only wrong because you don't like it for whatever reason (as noted by Bertrand Russel.) And the torturer can only be held accountable because arbitrary legal governances prohibit the action and set up arbitrary consequences for infractions of said arbitrary laws.
Even simpler… Nothing really matters if there is no God. Also, there is no objective morality to judge by if there is no transcendent God who mandates what is good or evil.
No God = No Good & Bad = Only Pleasure & Pain = Only Cause & Effect = No Free Will
So then, how about explaining all the people for whom God does indeed exist and believe therefore no free will exists? (as in the audience I was speaking to)
They might argue that since God is omnipotent and omniscient… then everything is predetermined and hence there is no free will.
Fascinating right?
So...
If man has free will, then God exists. BUT if God exists, then man has no free will.
No wonder people are so confused.
Let me now try to simplify and clarify the issues as well as resolve them.
I think this is where people get confused or hung up.
So let me try to explain with an example I learned from Dennis Prager.
When thinking of the seeming paradox of God knowing the outcome yet free will remains; Imagine you are flying at a high altitude in a plane. You look out your window and see a large, winding highway. You notice there are many cars traveling at highway speeds for much of the highway. Then you also notice a stalled car is blocking the center lane causing a major slow down in traffic. From your vantage point high in the sky, you know that the on coming traffic, though miles away, will slow down. While you know this, the drivers that are miles away, still driving at posted speeds do not know what is ahead of them… And as they approach the inevitable traffic jam (which you have known about since you are beyond of the drivers' temporal frame of reference) they get to chose their reactions. They can act a number of ways slow down, pick different lanes, or exit. Though you know what awaits ahead in the drivers' future, they are free to choose how they will handle it.
Now imagine, you can see all. And I mean all. All dimensions of reality (time again being one of them.) in their entirety. Yes, you may know all, but the freedom to chose actions and meanings of each experience rests with the mind of each individual experiencing their own reality.
I think people confuse God knowing all and God controlling all. I do not believe God chooses to control all, rather He allows for one exemption - the Human. I believe He chooses to allow us freedoms to choose within our reality's perimeters (which yes admittedly He does seem to control.) And as in the arial traffic knowledge analogy, though He knows the future - we are the drivers and responsible for our choices.
I don't know if my explanations are satisfactory for you or not. But again, on a pragmatic scale… It is far better for people to believe they can control their thoughts, speech, and actions. Also, I believe it vital to a society's growth and viability to believe that individuals should therefore be held accountable for their choices and free will induced behaviors.
Last analogy: You have a course you are walking, and if you continue to walk the path you have always walked it will lead you in the same direction. Maintaining that direction will eventually bring you to a destination. However, if at anytime during your walk you decide to significantly change direction it will significantly alter your destination (ie. destiny.) Therefore, again while our destination can be predetermined by our current direction, what is not known is whether our not a person will choose to change course and therefore alter their destiny.
So choose wisely the direction you travel, and if at any time you know you need to change directions - DECIDE - to do so, and you will change your destiny.
Thank God you are free to do so.
