91


A person should train himself gradually, that whenever he is about to buy an object or accomplish anything else, he should consider whether the matter really is really under his control. In this way, he will instill within himself the fundamentals of simple and pure emunah, that there is one unique G-d, the Master of all the worlds, Who alone determines every single detail (except for the fear of Heaven, as Chazal have said, "Everything is in the hands of Heaven except for the fear of Heaven" [Berachos 33b]).

One should accustom oneself, for a long period of time, to perform every act with a thought of emunah. In this way he will connect all his actions to the Master of all the worlds. His life will be saturated with emunah, and all his deeds will be linked to the one unique God. This habit will become his nature, and he will truly acquire it in his soul. Pure, unadulterated, and simple emunah will be firmly entrenched within him.

92

This is a person's avodah: to firmly infuse himself with the knowledge that the only One Who determines each and every event is the One Master of the world. We shall try to make this matter more meaningful to you, so that not only will you accept this intellectually, but you will also feel it in the depth of your heart.

A person's avodah is to first nullify the notion, and then the feeling, that he is in control of events in the world. His avodah is to weed out this feeling from its roots, to ferret it out and destroy it, until he truly feels that he has control over nothing but the acquisition of fear of Heaven, which Chazal have said this is the sole arena of free will. Other than that, every single event is determined by the One Master of the world.
http://bilvavi.net/content/view/283/32


How can Yiras Shamayim be the only arena of free will? How about Ahavas Hashem?

How about choosing what cereal you eat for breakfast? Or what job you decide to take? Or deciding on a career, chossing a wife, choosing the direction of your life, choosing your interests and hobbies and shaping yourself as a unique human being? If all that is decided for you, and you have no input at all, then that is really depressing.

Why is that depressing?

Obviously we have input, as stated in the last section, but things aren't always what they seem to us to be.

What int was saying is connected to what I posted here. It might be worth it to listen to those shiurim... [should answer a lot of questions {and cause more }]

Because then who you are, what makes you unique, and what you have always thought and prided yourself on choosing and shaping the direction of your life and your personality, turns out to be nothing but a roll of dice decided for you. If you don't find that depressing, then good for you.

You may have prided yourself on it, but it's silly to. If you've ever known a child from the day they were born you'd see that people are not a tabula rasa -- they come with a personality built right in. Sure, it's shaped and modified by experience, but you were you the day you were born.

I prefer to see things, thank you for summarizing.

What makes you want your choices is not your choice, it's your nature and nurture. If you're comfortable having your talents and inclinations and ambition decided for you, and don't find that depressing, good for you.
[I think you're confusing choice, the ability to choose which things you want, with liberty, the freedom to do what you want.
Choice is very limited to most of us. We make hundreds of minor decisions each day where our choices are automatic, based on nature/nurture preferences and previous choices. Our conscious decisions may involve more variables, but it's an illusion of choice in the end.]

Yes.