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 132 - The Divine Paradox: Free Will in a Predetermined World
What if everything you've been taught about free will is wrong? The reality might surprise you—we actually have far less freedom than we think. According to ancient wisdom explored in this episode of the Trust Factor, roughly 99% of our lives are predetermined. Our height, weight, family, finances—all beyond our control. But there's one critical area where we do have agency: the choice between good and evil.
This episode dives deep into the three essential components required for spiritual action. First, we must choose our fundamental orientation—will we bring goodness into the world or take from it selfishly? Second, we need specific intention, resolving to perform particular acts aligned with our chosen path. Finally, we must physically initiate action toward our goal. While these three elements are within our power, the ultimate outcome never is. This profound teaching challenges our results-oriented culture with a liberating truth: you're not responsible for finishing what you start, only for beginning with right intention.
Perhaps most fascinating is the cosmic consequence system revealed in this teaching. When we perform good deeds (mitzvahs), we create spiritual advocates—angels that defend us both in this world and beyond. These divine forces follow us throughout our existence, offering protection and support as direct consequences of our positive choices. Understanding this spiritual dynamic provides powerful motivation for choosing good, even beyond pure altruism. Ready to harness the power of choice in the one area where it truly matters? Listen now and discover how your limited but profound free will can transform your spiritual journey. Subscribe to the Trust Factor for more wisdom that will revolutionize your understanding of divine teachings and guarantee your success when implemented.
Morning everybody, and welcome to the Trust Factor, the podcast that's going to guarantee your success when you implement its divine teachings. We're back into the book, the Meat and Potatoes, which also happens to be what I had for dinner last night. But I digress. Let's get back into it To remind you. We were talking about the three different prerequisites, or the three things that need to happen in order for somebody to be able to either do a mitzvah, a good deed, a commandment, or an avera, a sin, god forbid. And what does he say? He said, just to remind you. He says that it's not possible for a person to perform a mitzvah or to transgress unless three components come together. Number one you have to make a choice. Which way am I going to lead my life? Am I going to do good in this world? Am I going to bring good things to this world and I'm going to change it for the better, or am I going to do the opposite, god forbid? Am I going to take advantage of it? Am I going to pillage it? Am I going to do whatever it takes to be able to get ahead at any cost? That's up to you, my friends. That's the first position that you need to take. Which side am I on, left or right? Make that choice. Once you've made that choice, the second that you need to make in order for you to actually make a sin or do a mitzvah, is that you need to resolve that you're going to do whatever the act may be. Okay, I've committed to a life of good means. I need to chase commandments. I need to chase mitzvahs. I need to improve my life and the world. And that's exactly what happens when you do a mitzvah. You create angels. Those angels advocate on your behalf and they follow you throughout your life and even in the afterlife. They come to your defense when you do a mitzvah in this world. So you have to decide what am I going to do? I'm going keep Shabbat. Am I going to start eating kosher?
Speaker 0:Whatever the mitzvah is that you choose to do, you have to first get it into your head. Somebody has to put it there, or you have to learn about it. And the same goes for an avera you have to learn about what it is, or you have to have a desire to do that thing, which you're not supposed to do. So that's number two get it in your head. Number three is applying the effort to actually take action with your limbs to be able to bring about your choice. Now doesn't necessarily mean it's going to come about, but you have to take that action right. That's the only thing we're in charge of. So those three things are the prerequisites before you actually get the reward or the punishment, the negative or the positive consequence of your action.
Speaker 0:Let's continue Regarding those steps that are within a person's ability and not beyond his control, which are namely, first choosing to do either a mitzvah or an avera, either to do a good deed, a commandment or a transgression, and then intending to resolve to perform the act. Those are the two things your choice and your action. You hear that's what he's clarified here that we have control over that. We have control over our choice. And then the initial action to be able to get the job done. Trusting in God in these areas that he might make us decide to perform a mitzvah or not, to commit a sin, is a mistake and is actually foolish. What does he mean? We cannot sit back and think to ourselves. God runs this world. He's actively involved in my life, so if he wants me to do something, he'll put it in my heart that I should do it, or he'll move my hand, or I'll find myself suddenly in that situation where I'm just doing the action right. That's foolish. We said God does not control your choice. Let's talk about that for a second.
Speaker 0:There is this concept of free will. We've all heard about it. That's a common conversation, a common discussion about how much free will do we really have? Do we really have any free will? And this kind of addresses it and it may even go further into it. But here's the bottom line for you guys, when it comes to this concept of free will, free choice the answer is we do not have free choice. Choice, the answer is we do not have free choice. But for one area, and even in that area it's not free. What do I mean? 98 or 99 of the things that happen to us and the people that we are and the people who surround us in this life are out of our hands. We did not choose them, they did not choose us. They were pre-ordained our height, our weight, our eye color, our parents, our children, our spouses, that's done. You have no impact. No bearing on that. How much money you're going to make or lose, god forbid. No bearing whatsoever. Now, again, this is 30,000 foot elevation.
Speaker 0:Here we can get down to nitty gritty and talk about exceptions, but generally speaking, you do not control these things. Where do you control what we've said many times? You control your choice to do good or to do bad, to do a sin or to do a mitzvah. That is in your hands. That is it, my friends. Now, even that is not free will.
Speaker 0:Why is it not free will? Because once I've made the choice to do an avera, to do a sin God forbid there's a consequence that comes with it. There's a cost to doing it. So I will lose by doing it. You may not feel that loss right away, or maybe you do, but you can't even connect it to because you're not aware. But the bottom line is nothing goes unchecked, nothing goes unpaid, whether good or bad.
Speaker 0:If you choose to do good, then you have good coming to you right. So a lot of people will do the good just because they know that the net effect of doing the good is that good will come to them. Is that the right reason to do it? It's one of the reasons it's not the purest reason, but it's a perfectly valid reason. I'm going to do the mitzvahs because I know that if I do X, then I have more of a propensity to get Y, or God will reward me instead of God forbid, take away from me. So a lot of people conduct themselves when it comes to religiosity in that fashion, because they're looking to reap the benefits. So it's not a free choice. It's a choice that has consequences, good or bad. So, as much as we have free choice to choose good or bad, left or right, even that, my friends, is not free choice and it comes with a cost either good or bad.
Speaker 0:He says, for the creator placed the choice to either serve or defy him in our control, which is what I just mentioned. As it is written, I have placed before you today the life and the good, the death and the evil. We just finished reading this in the Torah a week or two ago, where he says you shall choose life. He says to us I'm giving you the choice. This is how we know. I'm giving you life and good. He equates life with good, the death and the evil. He connects and equates death with evil and he says you should choose life. You need to choose life, my friends. That's what he's telling us. So it's in our hands. He wouldn't say it if we weren't able to do it.
Speaker 0:He says choosing life includes both making the choice in one's conscience to follow God and resolving to act on that choice. Since God has directed us to do this, it is our responsibility and therefore there is no basis for relying on him in this area. He has clearly told us, guys, that you should do it, you shall choose life. He can't choose for us. He can't create a robot and then reward or punish that robot. It makes no sense. He can't program us to do certain things and then give us consequences for those actions. We have to have that free will. At the end of the day, we reap what we sow, we eat what we kill, whatever we do, we make our bed, we sleep in it all these different sayings that you've heard a million times. You cook the food, you eat it. At the end of the day, we're held accountable. So we do good, we get good, we do bad and god forbid we get bad.
Speaker 0:He says what God did not place in our full control is the ability to carry out to completion the act of a mitzvah or a transgression that we have decided to do. At the end of the day, the outcome. We've said it and here he's stipulating it perfectly we do not control the outcome. The carrying it out to completion is not in our hands. The only thing we can control is getting the ball rolling. Push the ball. After you've pushed the ball, it'll either roll downhill or it won't, but you have to push that ball. At the end of it, all the outcome is out of your hands. The only thing that is in your hands is to start, it says, which means it's not your responsibility to finish the job.
Speaker 0:You hear this? This flies in the face of everything that you've been taught, my friends, everything your parents taught you. Everything you learned growing up. If you had good parents, they taught you that if you start something, finish it Right. If they put you in karate lessons, you're going to finish it. If they put you in ballet, you're going to finish it. If they put you in ballet, you're going to finish it. If they put you in gymnastics, you're going to finish what you started. It's very important. It's character building, right.
Speaker 0:So I'm not saying you shouldn't strive to finish what you started, and that's not what the book is saying here either. What he's saying is just because you've started it, because you had the drive and you knew it was good and you took that initiative doesn't mean that it's going to come to fruition, and you shouldn't beat yourself up if it doesn't, and you also shouldn't take credit for it when it does come to fruition. You decided you're going to build a brand new synagogue with a shul inside and a kolah, and you commit to doing it in your mind and you set the process in motion and you go to the bank and you go to the bank and you go to investors and you find the land and you do all the things you need to do. If that building is up and running and it's thriving and people are growing wonderful, you're going to get tremendous reward for that for as long as that goes on, and all the benefits that come from that generation after generation.
Speaker 0:If it doesn't come to fruition, my friends, you still get reward. It may not be on the same level, but you would still get reward. It may not be on the same level, but you would still get reward. And, if I'm not mistaken, he talks about that next. So that, my friends, we'll pick up tomorrow with. Have an amazing day.
