The Divine Image (3)

Freedom And Its Ideological Antagonists

If we think back to one of our earlier lectures, we will recall the central philosophical triangles which make up the Star of David.  The first triangle demonstrates the assumption shared by many philosophers, that man is linked to types of chains.  The first is a chain connecting him to God, which we will call Fatalism, and the other a chain that tying man to the world, which we will call Determinism.

     Fatalism is an essential component of Islamic thought, which maintains that all is preordained and consequently man is not free.  Interestingly enough, one can live two totally opposite ways of life based on this belief.  On the one hand, Fatalism can bring man to total despair and indifference.  On the other hand, the Fatalist belief can lead one to bring people to total fanaticism, such as the suicide groups which we have witnessed in recent years.  Everything is set in advance anyway, and so it becomes possible to perform the most daring acts without danger.

     Judaism, in contrast, believes that man is an architect who participates in the construction of his own world, and in the building of the world in general.  Thus, the Rambam writes in the Laws of Repentance: "This is a great principle ... as it is written, 'Behold I have placed before you today life and goodness, death and evil,'" - in other words, life and goodness are indeed in the hands of man.  "And it is written, 'Behold I have placed before you today a blessing and a curse,'" - in other worlds, the choice is yours.  "Whenever man desires to do a human action, he does it, whether good or bad.  And regarding this issue it is written, - and this is the Rambam's proof - "I hope that this will be the state of their hearts."  This is the ultimate proof that human freedom exists: God says, "I hope;" this is paradoxical in the extreme.  When God says "I hope," it means that this choice is not in His hands.  Here the rabbinical phrase "Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except the fear of Heaven" receives its most strange and paradoxical interpretation.

     We will discuss the question of foreknowledge and free choice later on.  At this point, I will relate only to the Rambam's statement.  The Rambam teaches us that "Every man is given the choice, if he wishes to incline himself towards the good and become a righteous person, he may, and if he wishes to incline himself towards evil and be an evil person, he may."  This is Judaism's approach.  We must accept this truth and not be misled by "this thing that the simpletons among the nations of the world and the majority of the fools [lit: Golems] among the Jews say", that Fatalism is a reality, and everything is preordained.

     The Rambam uses two interesting terms here: simpleton [Heb: tipesh] and Golem.  In Jewish law, a golem is a vessel which has not yet been completed.  When one who subscribes to a different opinion is a Fatalist, we may call him a simpleton.  He has reached the end of his religious development, and believes completely in the tenets of his religion.  Thus, for example, most of the theories of Orthodox Islam are Fatalist: everything is in the hands of God, and one's actions will not make any difference.  Such a person cannot be accused of being a bad Muslim; one can only claim that his opinion and position are false.  However, when a Jew is a Determinist, he does not make this claim as a Jew.  In taking this position he proves that he has not reached the end of his Jewish development.  Therefore he is essentially a Golem; his religious development is not yet over, and he is mistaken in his understanding of Judaism.

The Pinocchio Ideal

The golem's mission to become a person, is the great mission of mankind.  We are not a being but an evolution.  Two Jewish psychologists spoke of this idea, each in his own way.  Erich Fromm wrote about the difference between two ideals, that of Being and Having.  In the first the goal is "to be" and in the second it is "to own."  Silvano Arieti, an Italian Jewish psychologist, stressed a third ideal, which he formulated not as "to be" but "to become."  Man is not born a whole and perfect entity; he must continue to form himself.  When he came to America after the Holocaust, Arieti understood that this is the inner content which made the story of Pinocchio a universal children's story.  For him Pinocchio expressed the idea that we are not born perfect, but that we evolve and become.  We are like wooden puppets who have to become people.  The story of Pinocchio is a kind of symbolic archetype of this evolution.

     This idea is expressed in various ways by classical Jewish philosophy.  The Rambam expressed it through the Midrash, which states that the store of souls before birth is not identical to the one after death.  The divine image is not something we are born with.  It is something we must reach by walking in God's ways.  That which is truly human in a person, must undergo an evolution.

     One of man's big problems is his tendency to look at the here and now, which essentially expresses the desire to be, without effort and evolution.  To become, means that one must occasionally forego the now, for the sake of the future; sacrifice current desires for the goal that one has set, for an ideal, or even for oneself, for something that one will need tomorrow.

     It seems to me that the difference between having and being is easy to understand.  However the transition between being and becoming is difficult.  In this context, Arieti mentions the great danger which was described in the book "The Lord Of The Flies."  This is a cruel world created by children.  Cruelty is a danger which lurks on our path, indeed on the path of all those who cannot educate themselves.

(This lecture was translated by Gila Weinberg.)