The Divine method for success#2

This is intended as a partial response to Michael Haimson. Let me know which objections you think still stand

Intro: Dibros' need for motivation

In his intro to the Torah, Ralbag presents Torah as a divine method for success. Key to this method are the Dibros -a ten step approach to implementing the divine method in real world conditions. As Ralbag explains it, these “steps” follow a specific order-one must first liberate oneself from an opposing method for failure and then incorporate a method for success. While this explanation seems to make some intuitive sense, it also fails in an important way. The reader naturally asks himself-what exactly is the experiential basis for this approach of the Ralbag and where do we see evidence for this basis in our own lives? Surely if we were enslaved to a method for failure, the consequences should be readily apparent in our own real world experience! Only the reader who has been persuaded of the failure of his current method would ever become motivated enough to do the hard work of seeking liberation via a new method for success.

In reality this evidence is embedded in the premises of Ralbag, these merely need to be revealed. Let us begin with the first Dibrah- Lo Tachmod.

Lo Tachmod- liberation from Ego centric methods for failure

In his treatment of “Do not Covet” Ralbag identifies the root cause of failure- egocentrism. One who covets, by definition, formulates a world ordered around himself. In order to appreciate the immeasurable destructive power of such an act, we must consider the way in which success must be pursued.

Successful people, be they craftsman, professionals or whatever, succeed by virtue of planning. This commitment to planning is hard won. It is not accidental that so many businesses fail. We want to believe that our dream, beloved to ourselves is realistic, will be beloved to all and will necessarily succeed. Rarely if ever is this the case. Underlying this fantasy is a deep egotistical vision typical of a spoiled child. The spoiled child is accustomed to a world seemingly revolving around themselves. Their parents thwarted the normal emergence of respect for the power of causality and a magical sense of “planning” emerged. Since the spoiled child is accutomed to resources magically coming their way, they are insufficiently critical in their "planning". They expect a world in which desires are easily fufilled, without careful attendance to strategic causal factors.They mistake immediate gains based upon fortuitous circumstances as necessary conditions. The successful person then,is for the most part, one who has learned to forgo immature dreams in favor of well articulated plans.

At the macro level we saw this in the internet bubble.The fundamental premise of the bubble was that the internet released man from the laws of economics. The result was that the fantasy bubble burst, leaving so many businesses in bankruptcy, thousands of dreams shattered. More recently we saw this in the credit industry. Here too the false assumptions that loans could be somehow spun to poor risk borrowers, in contradiction to economic realities. The result again was that the fantasy bubble burst, leaving so many businesses in bankruptcy, thousands of dreams shattered.

It is experience of and a healthy dread for such magical thinking, the notion that one may merely dream without taking account of underlying strategic causal factors, that is the bedrock of success. The chazal crystallize this lesson into a dictum in Pirkei avot- אין בור ירא חטא- a dreamer without experience has no dread of magical thinking.

As pleasant as the tactical “benefit” coming from "coveting" may be- it comes at the expense of strategic loss. Such an act disregards much more strategic principles than the two bubbles mentioned earlier. Both the internet and banking fiascos involved disregard for market principles in specific domains-the internet and banking. The one who covets disregards a more fundamental notion- the very existence of law universal in its application to man. If one denies the reality of law, a principle equally applicable to each and every instance, in what way is rational planning possible at all? How is a mind to maintain planning if it falls prey to magical thinking in the most fundamental premise- the universal applicability of the law?

The pyrrhic victory involved in coveting then is dreadful to the experienced man. How could one not dread disconnecting oneself from the core tool in the battle against magical thinking that has been the source of all failures? It is here that we see the fundamental principle of failure underlying Lo Tachmod. To give in to coveting is to strengthen the very basis of magical thinking-the law applies only where it is useful to me personally. This principle is deeply repugnant to any practical person who has considered the root cause of failure.

The wise person is on the contrary ever vigilant to never, ever give in to magical thinking. The internet is not and cannot be a magical source of wealth outside of known market principles. The mortgage industry is not and cannot be a source of wealth outside of known banking principles.Indeed Goldman Sacks,precisely because strictly adhered to its time honored principles largely avoided the crash of the mortgage market. Warren Buffet succeeds because of legendary adherence to carefully scrutinized principles,in all times good and bad. Universality of law lies at the very core of the mind ordered to success, coveting promotes its exact opposite.