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11 Insights of Highly Successful Individuals

You can introduce this topic by saying that you are involved in a Jewish Philosophy course and that you have an assignment to share the following thought. Can they help you? It'll take a couple of minutes.

1. Ask them: What do you think a religious person would say in answer to the question: what does G-d want from us?

   They may answer: Being good, doing His mitzvos (commandments). Making the world a better place. Being Holy. Doing His Will. Believing in Him.

   If they do not answer, suggest that the above answers are common.

2. All of the above are true. However, in order to really get to the answer the following will help.

   Judaism teaches: G-d's relationship to us is like that of a parent to a child. If we can understand what a parent most wants for his / her child, we can understand what G-d really wants for us. Does that make sense? So, what do you think parents really want for their children? Let them tell you what they think. Then show them that they agree with the following:

3. Bottom line - parents want their children to be happy. They want them to be healthy and good as well - but to be healthy and unhappy isn't enough; to be good but miserable isn't enough either!
   • When a child smiles and laughs with joy, it gives the parent a shot of pleasure. On the other hand, when a baby cries and won't stop, there's nothing worse than that for a parent - it eats him up!
   • We also use this principle to our advantage to get what we want from our parents! For example, a child might turn sour on her parents when they don't give her the car for the evening (ever done that?!).
4. Judaism says that G-d relates to us like a parent. He wants us to be full of joy, to have all the pleasures in the world, and to be in touch with the beauty of life.
5. We can logically deduce that G-d must be interested in out pleasure. In Jewish thought, G-d is Infinite. An Infinite Being lacks nothing (otherwise it wouldn't be infinite - infinite means unbounded).

   This implies that there's nothing we can do for G-d. G-d isn't lonely. Our prayers do not provide Him with any comfort. It's not that He gets an ego boost every time someone says how great He is. It's all for our benefit. We pray because it's good for us; we keep kosher because it's good for us. We're not doing G-d any favours.

6. A further indication is the following: Man was placed in "the Garden of Eden." What do you do in a garden? Take a hot Sunday afternoon - you get the deck chairs out, sit in the garden and enjoy ... maybe take care of the flowers... a garden is a place where we enjoy & take pleasure in the world. This is what we're in this world for, too. The world is for us and we're here to enjoy it all we can. That is what Judaism is all about - how to enjoy life and the world!

Note: This insight is one of the "reassurances." This means that it reassures people about something that would otherwise turn them off from Judaism. In this case, people in general look at Judaism as a bunch of don'ts and can'ts, which they perceive will sap the pleasure out of life. This insight explains that Judaism is all about getting pleasure, not taking it away. This can change their whole view of what Judaism is and reassure them that Judaism is relevant to them. When put together with the other insights (e.g. definition of happiness and love) their misconception is "defogged."

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Insight #3: The Pleasure Principle

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