Free will does not mean you choose every detail of life.
You may think you freely chose the color of your clothing, but from a Chabad Chassidus perspective, that is not free will at all.
Personality, mood, taste, culture, habit, memory, and nervous system patterns shaped that choice.
That is human nature.
Not free will.
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Rabbi Yossi Paltiel explains that the Lubavitcher Rebbe taught free will much deeper.
Free will is Divine.
It is not merely permitted by The Creator, it is given by The Creator.
The Creator placed a piece of His freedom inside the human personality.
But that freedom is given for one place:
where The Creator asks something from us.
Where there is a mitzvah/commandment, responsibility, truth, relationship,
and a real choice between what human nature wants and what The Creator is asking.
That is free will.
———
This is a meaning of:
Everything is in the hands of Heaven except awe of Heaven.
Awe is not panic.
Awe is the beginning of relationship with The Creator.
It is sadness because His goodness could be more revealed,
fear because my choices matter,
and wonder because The Creator is infinitely greater than me and still asks something from me.
A human relationship begins when curiosity is expressed.
Relationship with The Creator begins when awe is felt.
That awe begins through meditation on His greatness, His goodness, and the fact that He is recreating me every moment.
Then, when I trust that He is good, awe opens into deeper joy. – based on a teaching of the Alter Rebbe.
———
So the real question is:
Will I live with awe, relationship, and responsibility before The Creator,
or will I let craving for relief, fear, shame, comfort, anger, ego, numbness, or habit choose for me?
———
Now look at how this works inside.
Strong feelings, trauma patterns, habits, old fears, shame, body reactions, comfort-seeking, and the need for approval are real.
They can create a craving for relief.
Fear, anger, comfort, control, avoidance, numbness (feelings don’t matter), hiding, and people-pleasing can feel like the fastest way to escape discomfort.
But craving relief is not the same as losing choice.
Unless someone has seriously lost touch with reality, there is still some ability to pause, notice, ask for help, learn, practice, and choose the next step.
That does not mean the choice is easy.
It means the choice is still happening inside the person.
Strong feelings reduce clarity, but they do not erase responsibility.
———
Free will begins when you notice the pull toward ‘relief’ without becoming owned by it.
I feel fear, shame, avoidance, control, people-pleasing, or the old pattern waking up, but I do not have to obey every feeling that passes through me.
That pause is inner strength.
Meditation matters because it trains that pause.
It teaches you to notice a thought without becoming the thought,
notice a feeling without obeying the feeling, notice discomfort without running for instant relief,
and return to what The Creator is asking from you.
———
This is also why prediction does not erase free will.
A close friend can often predict what someone will avoid, chase, fear, repeat, defend, or run toward.
That does not mean the friend is controlling them.
It means the friend understands the pattern.
A therapist can sometimes predict how someone will react because trauma patterns, nervous system states, habits, and shame responses are real.
That does not mean the therapist is controlling the person.
It means behavior has structure.
Prediction is not control.
The Creator knows the whole story from outside the story.
He knows every pattern, wound, fear, strength, choice, and possible path.
But His knowing does not force the person to choose.
The person is still choosing from inside their own life.
The Creator knowing the story does not erase your choice inside the story.
———
That is why free will is real, even when the choice is hard, the feeling is intense, and the old pattern feels familiar.
Free will is real because the choice still passes through you.
Cravings can influence you.
Patterns can pull you.
Feelings can make the moment harder.
But the question is still yours:
Will I obey human nature, or will I return to what The Creator is asking from me?
———
Free will is not the absence of craving for relief.
Free will is Divine strength revealed while the craving is happening.
The craving comes from human nature.
The freedom comes from the Divine piece The Creator placed inside the human personality.
That Divine piece is not separate from who you are.
It becomes expressed through the healthiest parts of personality:
compassion,
healthy boundaries,
humility,
relationship,
and responsibility.
Compassion means I can care without becoming controlled by fear.
Boundaries mean I can say no without becoming cruel.
Humility means I can admit that my feelings are real, but they are not the final truth.
———
That is why free will is not about choosing clothing colors.
It is about choosing compassion when anger wants control,
boundaries when fear wants people-pleasing,
humility when ego wants to be right,
and what The Creator asks when human nature wants instant relief.
That is free will.
More guides:
In the world of souls there is no physical suffering or physical pleasure, you feel emotions, move through thought, and continue as the personality you practiced being in this world, some begin with feeling very lonely and others feel connected. – Chassidus teachings
After all of humanity learns to act righteously consistently, the era of resurrection of the dead begins for all nations, people who live more morally now will resurrect earlier on in that era. – based on Maimonides
Many individuals will spend decades or longer making reparations to those they harmed in this world, during the world to come era.
World peace begins when enough Jewish people return to relationship with the Creator.
Laws of Kosher protect species from being uprooted and struggling to repopulate – teaching of the Ramban
This is what it means to believe in a Creator that is good.
The Jewish people are feminine in relation to The Creator:
receiving, internalizing, praying, studying, appreciating, and revealing His presence through teaching Torah.
Gentiles (non-jews) can express a masculine function when they use their power and stability to support justice, morality, peace, and the Jewish mission of revealing The Creator’s oneness.
The Creator gave Adam and Eve 6 commandments:
https://nextself.ai/spirituality/the-7-noahide-laws/
The Creator doesn’t change when you give Him pleasure:
https://nextself.ai/spirituality/creation-means-the-creator/
Commandments allow you to feel awe and pleasure at the same time if you have the right meditation:
https://nextself.ai/spirituality/why-so-many-commandments/
Psychology behind the suffering being built into creation:
https://nextself.ai/spirituality/infinite-creator-wants-creation/
“To heal from generational trauma, you’ve got to find deep meaning to suffering, you find the deepest meaning when you believe in a Creator and trust He is good.”
Thank you for making it this far.
If you want to go deeper into this work, explore the NextSelf 2026 and 2025 Indexes.
It organizes the core ideas on awareness, compassion, boundaries, and how they build real relationship and responsibility with The Creator.
