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Quote of the Day: We are Free

Susan Quinn
@SusanQuinn
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We are free because we are not merely objects. We are subjects. We respond not just to physical events but to the way we perceive those events. We have minds, not just brains. We have thoughts, not just sensations. We can react but we can also choose not to react. There is something about us that is irreducible to material, physical causes and effects.

--Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

This description of the human being is so poignant to me. It’s so easy to get mired in the day-to-day yuckiness, obsessing about our difficulties, and stressing ourselves out. We forget that we are special: we have the power to think, contemplate and reason. We have the ability to learn, grow and improve ourselves, no matter what is going on. We are empowered to not only be successful (which can be measured in countless ways), but to help others achieve their dreams and overcome adversity.

It helps to remember that G-d created us in His image, and sees us as His co-creators; that’s pretty awesome stuff. In that role, we can look to each other to move our lives forward, to move the country forward and to benefit the world.

We are much more than we can imagine.

And we are free to experience it all.

This post was promoted to the Main Feed at the recommendation of Ricochet's members.

Discussion (18)

  • Front Seat Cat@FrontSeatCat

    I like that quote Susan, and I would add that we are subjects with a soul, a spirit that belongs to God. I was prompted to think of that with all this AI sh-- going on!! I wonder how free we will actually be ....

  • Rodin@Rodin

    Fascinating that you posted this, today. My post (also today) on initial thoughts on Dr Jordan Peterson's latest book, We Who Wrest With God, also takes the "man as co-creators" perspective. No doubt because Peterson is examining closely the Hebrew text and consulting with Jewish scholars. This is in apparent contradistinction with C.S. Lewis' description of God's omniscience:

    “Everyone who believes in God at all believes that He knows what you and I are going to do tomorrow. But if He knows I am going to do so-and-so, how can I be free to do otherwise? Well, here once again, the difficulty comes from thinking God is progressing along the Time-line like us: the only difference being the He can see ahead and we cannot…But suppose God is outside and above the Time-line. In that case, what we call ‘tomorrow’ is visible to Him in just the same way as what we call ‘today’. All the days are ‘Now’ for Him” (Mere Christianity p. 170).

    I pulled the quote from an article by Matthew Chicoine that I found while unsuccessfully searching for a different C.S. Lewis quote from my memory. Interestingly, Chicoine explained this quote by referencing his own experience as a father in giving his children certain choices and correctly anticipating which choices they would make. They were free to choose (to "create") but he knew what they would choose ("create"). He attributes that anticipation not to impinge on freedom, but to correctly predict its exercise. So the question really arises whether God knows the choices that will be made (C.S. Lewis) or whether God can see all of the potential choices and, by knowing mankind correctly, predicts its exercise?

  • Susan Quinn@SusanQuinn
    ReplyingtoRodin

    Rodin (View Comment):

    Fascinating that you posted this, today. My post (also today) on initial thoughts on Dr Jordan Peterson’s latest book, We Who Wrest With God, also takes the “man as co-creators” perspective. No doubt because Peterson is examining closely the Hebrew text and consulting with Jewish scholars. This is in apparent contradistinction with C.S. Lewis’ description of God’s omniscience:

    “Everyone who believes in God at all believes that He knows what you and I are going to do tomorrow. But if He knows I am going to do so-and-so, how can I be free to do otherwise? Well, here once again, the difficulty comes from thinking God is progressing along the Time-line like us: the only difference being the He can see ahead and we cannot…But suppose God is outside and above the Time-line. In that case, what we call ‘tomorrow’ is visible to Him in just the same way as what we call ‘today’. All the days are ‘Now’ for Him” (Mere Christianity p. 170).

    I pulled the quote from an article by Matthew Chicoine that I found while unsuccessfully searching for a different C.S. Lewis quote from my memory. Interestingly, Chicoine explained this quote by referencing his own experience as a father in giving his children certain choices and correctly anticipating which choices they would make. They were free to choose (to “create”) but he knew what they would choose (“create”). He attributes that anticipation not to impinge on freedom, but to correctly predict its exercise. So the question really arises whether God knows the choices that will be made (C.S. Lewis) or whether God can see all of the potential choices and, by knowing mankind correctly, predicts its exercise?

    Again, from Jewish theology, G-d is outside of time, but that is separate from his decision to not know our choices. He could have chosen to know, but chose not to. There are so many times in Torah when people did what they shouldn't have done. Would G-d have stopped them if he knew what they would do, or would he let their free will reign?

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