The Trust Factor
A daily lesson that focuses on achieving unparalleled success in life using ancient wisdom in modern times.
We will be discussing critical concepts as they are laid out in the book Sha'ar Habitachon - The Gate of Trust. Written 1000 years ago, the author reminds us of the values and wisdom that have allowed humanity to thrive throughout history.
The concept of trusting in a higher power that exists purely for our benefit, puts us in the drivers seat with absolute confidence to achieve greatness.
Eliminate: Fear, Hatred, Anxiety, Depression, Jealousy, Greed...forever!
* Note that some terminology will be in the original Hebrew or Aramaic which I will always follow with the English translation.
The Trust Factor
Episode 53 - Towed Cars and Divine Tests: Finding Meaning in Life's "Coincidences"
Have you ever stopped to question whether coincidences actually exist? The Trust Factor podcast boldly challenges this concept, revealing how our universe operates on divine orchestration rather than random chance.
This episode explores the seventh and final criterion for building trust—understanding that everything in our world has predefined limits established by Hashem. While humans remain constrained by limited perception of past, present, and future, the Creator exists beyond these temporal boundaries, having already decreed every detail of our existence. Nothing can alter what has been predetermined—not in quantity, quality, timing, or location.
The host brilliantly contrasts this perspective with secular theories about creation. Science may point to a Big Bang, but cannot answer what caused that initial explosion. This limitation of human understanding highlights the need for a higher orchestrator who set everything in motion through an elaborate system of cause and effect stretching back to the beginning of time.
Most powerfully, this episode dismantles the very notion of coincidence, revealing it as merely a term we use to explain away what we don't comprehend. Everything happens for specific reasons, often connected to our own actions across lifetimes. When we commit to spiritual growth and immediately face obstacles—like having your car towed after deciding to attend morning prayers—these aren't setbacks but divine tests of our commitment.
Consider how transformative it would be to approach every challenge with gratitude, recognizing it as perfectly designed for your ultimate benefit. Through this perspective, even life's greatest difficulties become opportunities for growth, leading to what the host describes as "a life of bliss." Ready to see the hidden pattern behind everything that happens to you?
Good morning, my friends, and welcome to another episode of the Trust Factor. This is the podcast, the only podcast, that guarantees life improvement using divine age-old wisdom. We're going to do a little bit of reading to remind ourselves about the seventh criterion in a little bit of a different perspective, and it's going to touch on another one of the ingredients in the secret sauce of success in life. Let's read the seventh and final quality for a person seeking to gain trust to pay attention to is as follows it should become clear to him that all the phenomena in this world, whether they are beings that exist here inherently or events that occur incidentally, have a defined limit, meaning that Hashem has already decreed beforehand all the details that pertain to every being and every event. We've said in the past he knows the past, the present and the future. For us, it's a mystery. We have limited understanding of what happened in the past. For us, it's a mystery. We have limited understanding of what happened in the past. We think we know the present, but we have no idea about what is coming in the future. For him, that is not the case. He is the orchestrator. He has seen this movie many times over. He lives in a world of infinity, of perpetualism. He lives in a world that is unrestricted, unconfined by the limits of time and space. Nothing can be added to or subtracted from that which the Creator has decreed for any of those phenomena, in quantity, quality, time and space. No one can increase what he has decreed to be of little amount, nor can anyone decrease what he has decreed to be of great amount. If Hashem decides you're going to make a million dollars this year, it doesn't matter what your partner does, it doesn't matter what your boss does, it doesn't matter what happens in the economy. You're going to make a million dollars. You have to do what you need to do. You have to show up and make your efforts, but that's what's going to happen. If you're going to lose a million dollars, my friends, it doesn't matter if you stand on your head the entire year, you're still going to lose that million dollars. Nobody, no outside source, can impact the decree made by your creator. No one can postpone what he has decreed to happen early, nor can anyone advance what he has decreed to occur late.
Speaker 1:Everything happens in its time, in the perfect time. You know, when people get married or they announce an engagement or whatever it is the right thing to say is that it should be at a right time. There are auspicious times, there are times that are better for us and times that are more difficult for us, but everything and we've said this even with regards to the holidays they all come at the perfect time. Sometimes we get frustrated because it seems to be at a challenging time, but that's by design. It needs to be challenging. We said life is boring when it's easy.
Speaker 1:Anything that occurs in a way that seems to run counter to this principle, ie any occurrence that seems to have been caused by a recent event or recent intervention of a human being, is what was in fact decreed by Hashem, by God, to occur In advance of its occurrence, with his foreknowledge of all events. The recent event or human intervention that seems to have brought about the occurrence is not what made it happen. Hashem's earlier decree is what made it happen. What's coming to mind for me, guys, is the whole concept of creation. If you speak to the secular world, they will tell you what they see with their eyes or what they think they can learn out through science, and one of those examples is creation, the big bang.
Speaker 1:You know the theory that there was an explosion that occurred. They have no idea when. It could have been 100 billion years ago. It could have been 500 billion years ago. It could have been 300 million years ago. 100 billion years ago, it could have been 500 billion years ago. It could have been 300 million years ago. Even between themselves, the scientists have no consensus in terms of when that explosion happened. But the real question is if there was an explosion and if they can prove through science effectively that the world is expanding and continues to expand. There was a result of an explosion that occurred eons or whatever it is ago. What caused that explosion that they have no idea about? What they could tell you is what they can assume happened through their discoveries. What caused it? What brought it into being in the first place? They have no idea.
Speaker 1:It is just that all decrees issued in advance, with the Creator's foreknowledge, have causes that he utilizes to bring them about, and those causes have others, earlier causes. Hashem God brings out outcomes in this world through an elaborate system of cause and effect. He, however, foresaw from the beginning every one of those cause and effects and in fact set them in motion to make his decree unfold. My friends, we don't understand why things are happening, and that's why the secular world brought to bear this term called coincidence. There is no such thing. Coincidence does not exist. It is what somebody uses to explain away something that they don't understand. What we understand is that God causes absolutely everything to happen in the right amount, at the right time in the right place, and it is all based on this concept of cause and effect.
Speaker 1:We're going to continue to bring this up throughout the podcast because this refers back to what we talked about earlier about, measure for measure, you did A and caused B to happen. This entire existence was created for our experience, for our existence, for our existence. Therefore, everything that happens in this world happens as a direct or indirect result of one of the things that we've done, either good or bad, either in this lifetime or in previous lifetimes. We have no idea. Sometimes it's hard for us to even connect what we did a week ago or a month ago or a year ago to something that's happening today. That's almost impossible for most people to say, oh, I must be dealing with this because of something I did back then. Oftentimes you can make the connection. Sometimes it's clear as day to you that you see, you say you know what I knew I shouldn't have done this, because this would have been the outcome. Or, thank God, I did this because look at how much I'm benefiting from it today. But the reality is 98% of the things that occurred to us in our lives we cannot connect back to what it is that we did, because oftentimes they're in a different existence altogether. They could have happened many lifetimes ago.
Speaker 1:But nothing goes unpaid in this world. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything is accounted for, absolutely everything, and that means that we have to be careful with our actions. We have to make sure that the actions that we do, the things that we do in this world, are constructive and are good and are meaningful and purposeful and that align with his will. When you do that, you know that the effect will be positive and good as well. When we're consumed or when we're busy doing negative things and bringing darkness into this world, god forbid, the outcome of that can only be continued darkness. My friends, there has to be an accounting. This is a world of justice, and so we may not see it right away, and that's part of the challenge. Part of the challenge is that he doesn't give us eyes to see it. We've said if you take a dollar and put it in a charity box and you got a hundred dollars immediately delivered, it would eliminate your free choice. You would sit in front of a charity box all day long giving charity because you can see the net positive effect of it.
Speaker 1:The challenge is when you don't see the net positive effect of your positive decision or your positive action and it causes you to contemplate did it really work out? Was it right, was it good? How did I benefit from it? Sometimes, rarely you see it, but oftentimes you have no idea. And even worse, when you see it, but oftentimes you have no idea. And even worse when you do the right thing, when you do his will, when you step up and you're faced with a challenge to make a decision, to go left or right, to choose good or bad, and you choose to do right, but the effect of that, seemingly, is bad.
Speaker 1:I've heard the example from my Ralph given many times. You decide to go to shul, you decide you're going to start praying early in the morning. Now you're going to commit yourself to this concept of prayer. You haven't been doing it in the past and now you're committing yourself to it and you're going to rise up early in the morning because you're not even a morning person and you're going to start wrapping tefillin and you're going to start praying with intent with a minion, with a quorum of 10 people, and you commit to doing it. And on the very first day that you go to synagogue to pray, you park in the front of the synagogue and when you come out, your car is towed.
Speaker 1:How difficult is it for us to recognize and to say this was a challenge. This is a test, because I decided I'm going to improve, I'm going to up my game. My friends, it doesn't matter what you do, especially if you're in professional sports or in your business. When the time comes to get out of your comfort zone and grow and become bigger and better and stronger, it always comes with a challenge, always, and this spiritual growth and connecting to your creator is no different. You want to grow spiritually, you want to grow emotionally, you want to grow as an individual, in your relationships or with your relationship with your creator. It's going to come with challenges Once you know that, now that I've told you that you can smile when you come out of the synagogue and your car's not there and you know that.
Speaker 1:Now that I've told you that you can smile. When you come out of the synagogue and your car's not there and you recognize that it's been towed, you look up to the heavens and you say thank you, I got it. I know why you've done this and I'm not going to be upset. I'm going to be happy, because there could be nothing better for me than to have to deal with this right now. My friends, imagine the power of living a life where that is your outlook. When everything seemingly bad happens to you, that becomes a life of bliss. Have an amazing day. We'll pick up tomorrow.
