What if I don’t want to play by the rules? Ever the individual I want to forge my own path. My relationships will be based on common wants shared feelings and my inner sense of right and wrong. I am not talking anarchy just about creating my own structure based on what’s right for me. The Torah describes this person as saying (Devarim 29:18) “I will have peace in the freedom of my heart I will go.”
I have encountered people the “flower children” of today who take this approach to life and to relationships. Most of us have an inkling that this approach won’t work. Why not?
Basic Premise of Survival
A deeper look at the universe will help us understand. Human beings require certain fundamental things. Air food shelter and clothing are nonnegotiable. I can decide to sleep on the beach under the stars or in the forest under a canopy of leaves but chances are that I won’t last very long. My existence is sustained by acquiescing to the natural laws of physical need that Hashem built into creation. Each creature requires its own environment and sustenance. Without those there can be no survival. In the animal kingdom the encroachment of humankind on their turf has even led to the extinction of certain species. One can ignore the laws of physical need for only a very short time before seeing the impact on one’s ability to survive.
At the next level there are premises that govern human interaction that are hard to do without. The Rambam states in Moreh Nevuchim that a human being is societal (medini) by nature. When we stop to think about the multitude of interactions between people that brought the food to the store and put it on my table we see the natural law of interaction. Just see the results of a two-week sanitation workers’ strike and our dependence others is driven home. Put on the light or turn on the faucet and then think about how we rely on other members of society to do their jobs. The laws of ownership respect for the individual and trustworthiness among other things affect our ability to exist no less than the laws of physical need. The Rambam says that if a person were to withdraw from society and try to live the life of an animal he would likely not survive even a day.
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