"See, I have placed before you blessing and curse." Thus opens this week's Torah reading of Re'ei (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17), as Moses reiterates, once again, the doctrine of Free Choice.
Freedom of choice. Without which, as Maimonides reminds us, religion is meaningless, morality a non-concept, a Torah superfluous.
In fact, not only have we been granted a free choice between good and evil, but also the option of which level on which to make this choice. A choice of choices, if you will:
a) There is good and there is evil. Blessing and curse, light and darkness. G-d created both. We choose which of the two, or whichever combination thereof, shall define our existence.
b) In truth, there is only good. G-d is the source of all reality; and since G-d is the essence of good, only good is real. Just as there's no such thing as darkness--only light or its absence (which we call "darkness")--so too, there is only good or its absence. Or rather--since no place is devoid of His presence--good or its concealment. So the choice between good and evil is not a choice between two realities, but a choice between being and non-being, between reality and illusion.
c) Since "choice", by definition, is the free and uninhibited assertion of will; and since the intrinsic will of the human soul is for life and well-being; the only true choice there can be is the choice of good. But we have been granted freedom of choice, which means that we can choose not to choose; what we call "freedom of choice" is in fact the choice to exercise choice or to abnegate choice. When we do assert our true will--when we do choose--we invariably choose good.
Which is it--a, b, or c? That's up to you. That is the true meaning of "free choice": not that you may merely chose between two or more options presented to you by a higher authority, but that it is you who determines the level of reality upon which you conscious life unfolds. It is you who determines the distance between your life and its Source, and thus the form which "Free Choice" takes in your experience.
Choose your choice.
