Lesson 8. Freedom of Will - part 2

Selected Excerpts from Baal HaSulam’s Article “The Freedom

Influence of the Environment

The second reason is an unchanging, direct conduct of cause and effect, related to the source’s own attribute. Meaning, as we have clarified with the wheat that rots in the ground, the environment in which the source rests, such as soil, minerals, and rain, air, and the sun affect the sowing by a long chain of cause and effect in a long and gradual process, state by state, until it ripens.

And that source retakes its former shape, the shape of wheat, but differing in quality and quantity. In their general aspect, they remain completely unchanged; hence, no grain or oats will grow from it. But in their particular aspect, they change in quantity, as from one stalk emerge a dozen or two dozen stalks, and in quality, as they are better or worse than the former shape of the wheat.

It is the same here: Man, as a “source,” is placed in an environment, meaning in the society. He is necessarily affected by it, as the wheat from its environment, for the source is but a raw form. Thus, through the constant contact with the environment and the society, he is gradually impressed by them through a chain of consecutive states, one by one, as cause and effect.

At that time, the tendencies included in his source change and take on the form of concepts. For example, if one inherits from his ancestors a tendency to stinginess, as he grows he builds for himself concepts and ideas that conclude decisively that it is good for a person to be stingy. Thus, although his father was generous, he might inherit from him the negative tendency—to be stingy—for the absence is just as much inheritance as the presence.

Or, if one inherits from one’s ancestors a tendency to be open-minded, he builds for himself concepts and draws from them conclusions that it is good for a person to be open-minded. But where does one find those sentences and reasoning? He takes all this from the environment unconsciously, for they impart upon him their views and likings in the form of gradual cause and effect.

Hence, man regards them as his own possession, which he acquired through his free thought. But here, too, as with the wheat, there is one unchanging part of the source, which is that in the end, the tendencies he had inherited remain as they were in his forefathers. This is called “the second factor.”

Habit Becomes a Second Nature

The third reason is a conduct of direct cause and effect, which affect the source and change it. Because the inherited tendencies in man have become concepts due to the environment, they operate in the same directions that these concepts define. For example, a man of frugal nature, in whom the tendency to stinginess has been turned into a concept, through the environment, perceives frugality through some reasonable definition.

Let us assume that by this conduct he protects himself from needing other people. Thus, he has acquired a scale for frugality, and when that fear is absent, he can waive it. It follows that he has changed substantially for the better from the tendency he had inherited from his forefathers. And sometimes one manages to completely uproot a bad tendency. This is done by habit, which has the ability to become a second nature.

In that, the strength of man is greater than that of a plant, for wheat can change only in its own part, whereas man can change through the cause and effect of the environment, even in the general parts, meaning to completely uproot a tendency and invert it to its opposite.

External Factors

The fourth reason is a conduct of cause and effect that affects the source by things that are completely alien to it and operates on it from the outside. This means that these things are not at all related to the source’s growth conduct to affect it directly. Rather, they operate indirectly. For example, finances, burdens, or the winds, etc., have their own complete, slow, and gradual order of states by way of “cause and effect” that change man’s concepts for better or for worse.

Thus, I have set up the four natural factors that each thought and idea that appears in us is but their fruits. Even if one were to sit and contemplate something all day long, he will not be able to add or to alter what those four factors give him. Any addition he can add is in the quantity: whether a great intellect or a small one. But in the quality, he cannot add one bit. This is because they are the ones that compellingly determine the nature and shape of the idea and the conclusion against our will, without asking our opinion. Thus, we are at the hands of these four factors, as clay in the hands of a potter.

Free Choice

However, when we examine these four factors, we find that although our strength is not enough to face the first factor, the source, we still have the ability and free choice to protect ourselves against the other three factors by which the source changes in its individual parts, and sometimes in its general part, as well, through habit, which endows it with a second nature, as explained above.

The Environment as a Factor

This protection means that we can always add in the matter of choosing our environment, which are the friends, books, teachers, and so on. It is like a person who inherited a few stalks of wheat from his father. From this small amount, he can grow many dozens of stalks through his choice of the environment for his source, which is fertile soil that contains all the necessary minerals and raw materials that nourish the wheat abundantly.

There is also the matter of the work of improving the environmental conditions to fit the needs of the plant and the growth, for the wise will do well to choose the best conditions and will succeed. And the fool will take from whatever comes before him and thus turn the sowing to a curse rather than a blessing.

Thus, all his praise and his gain depend on the choice of the environment in which to sow the wheat. But once it has been sown in the selected location, the wheat’s absolute shape is determined according to the measure that the environment is capable of providing.

So is the case with our topic, for it is true that the desire has no freedom. Rather, it is operated by the above four factors. And one is compelled to think and examine as they suggest, denied of any strength to criticize or change, as the wheat that has been sown in its environment.

However, there is freedom for the will to initially choose such an environment, such books, and such guides that impart upon him good concepts. If one does not do this but is willing to enter any environment that appears before him and read any book that falls into his hands, he is bound to fall into a bad environment or waste his time on worthless books, which are abundant and more accessible. In consequence, he will be forced into foul concepts that make him sin and condemn. He will certainly be punished, not because of his evil thoughts or deeds, in which he has no choice, but because he did not choose to be in a good environment, for in this there is definitely a choice.

Therefore, he who strives to continually choose a better environment is worthy of praise and reward. But here, too, it is not because of his good thoughts or deeds, which come to him without his choice, but because of his effort to acquire a good environment, which brings him these good thoughts and actions. It is as Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Parchiya said, “Make for yourself a rav and buy for yourself a friend.”