Risk-Taking
A Message for Pesah 2018
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Am Yisrael was frozen in its tracks.
They had been hastily fleeing the Egyptians but now found themselves at a
standstill. The sound of the beating hooves of the Egyptian horsemen
intensified from behind, as they peered forward and beheld the vast expanse of
the sea. They were trapped. They instinctively began to pray. God
reprimanded Moshe: “Why do you cry out to me? Speak to Bnei Yisrael,
that they journey onward” (Shemot 14:15). The people had become accustomed to
God’s miraculous acts of redemption in Egypt, so they expected one again at
this juncture. God’s response, however, was surprising. He informed them that this
time He wouldn’t affect the miraculous – they would. He shifted the
central force of redemption from the divine to the people. Why?
“Pascal’s Wager” is the well-known argument
advanced by the seventeenth-century philosopher Blaise Pascal. It suggests that
a rational person should live as though God does exist and seek to believe in
His existence because the potential benefits of this “wager” far outweigh its
losses. Pascal explained that if God does exist, then the believer will receive
the infinite gains of the afterlife, whereas the losses of His possible nonexistence
are only the finite pleasures and luxuries of life in this world.
As Am Yisrael set out on their journey
toward nationhood and an enduring bond with the Almighty, God carved out the
contours of that future relationship. He taught them that it would not be defined
by Pascal’s vision of the shallow conveniences of security and stability
inherent in a connection to Him. Instead, He demanded that they take risks,
put their lives on the line and prove their dedication to a relationship worth
having.
Jordan Peterson described how “we prefer to
live on the edge.” He noted that we seek to optimize risk by pushing ourselves
beyond our comfort zones in order to continue self-development. “We’re
hard-wired…to enjoy risk,” he wrote, and explained that the risks that we take
imbue us with the positive feelings of excitement and invigoration which prepare
us for future challenges.[1]
In his Skin in the Game, Nassim
Nicholas Taleb described the “experience machine” thought experiment. You sit
in an apparatus and a technician plugs a few cables into your brain, after
which you undergo an “experience.” Although you feel exactly as if the event
took place, it actually all happens in virtual reality. Taleb posited such an
experience will never be the same as the real. He explained: “If you do not
undertake a risk of real harm, reparable or even potentially irreparable, from
and adventure, it is not an adventure.” Although while inside the machine you
may believe that you had “skin in the game,” experiencing the pains and
consequences of actual life, those realities vanish once outside. Taleb put it
simply: “Life is sacrifice and risk taking.”[2]
As you reexperience the epic journey of Am
Yisrael from Egypt on this evening, pause for a moment to remember the
enduring lesson of God’s command to Moshe, “Speak to Bnei Yisrael, that
they journey onward.” Consider what matter most to you – the values,
relationships and practices that distinguish your life from all others. And understand
that truly experiencing life means taking the necessary risks for their
realization.
[1] Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (Canada, 2018), pg. 287.
[2] Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life (New York, NY, 2018), pg.
121.