Ever heard of the "Little Albert" experiment? I took three weeks of freshman psychology just over a half century ago; that's where I heard about it. They wanted to prove that humans work just like Pavlov's dog and can be trained. So they took a little baby who liked white rats and terrorized him with loud sounds every time the rat came near. They were able to demonstrate that little Albert (not his real name, but Google "little albert experiment" if you want to know more) eventually became terrified of rats even without the loud sounds. Beautiful. I wish I could say that is why I dropped, but I actually dropped because the course required too much reading. I loved listening to science and math lectures and then doing word problems; reading long winded articles about the human condition; not so much.
Of course, some people were understandably disturbed by the ethics of the experiment and a set of rules governing use of humans and other motile multi-cell life forms has evolved. Never fear, though, psychologists have figured out other ways to terrorize children. My favorite is the marshmallow experiment. The "marshmallow test," a psychological experiment by Walter Mischel, assesses a child's ability to delay gratification, offering a choice between one immediate reward (like a single marshmallow) or a larger reward (like two marshmallows) if they wait.
Besides making fun of a soft science, which is the custom of those of us in the hard sciences (especially physicists, as we consider all other sciences to be soft), I really do have a point. Chazal tell us (brachos 61b) that the world was only created for the completely wicked, such as Achav ben Ohmri (aka Ahab, husband of Jezebel) and the completely righteous, such as Chanina ben Dosa. Achav ben Ohmri chose to take all his pleasures the moment they were available. He is your classic one and done with marshmallows and every other physical pleasure; so HaShem created עולם הזה for him. Chanina ben Dosa, on the other hand, took only what he needed to maintain his health and strength to perform mitzvos in service of the Creator; so HaShem created עולם הבא for him.
It is clear from this gemara that evil and righteousness is all about intent and not actions. True enough, evil people will generally commit acts that normal, civilized people would consider, well, evil. Righteous people will act in ways that normal, civilized people would consider noble. But most of us -- me, anyway -- are not that consistent. True enough, I strive to have the right intentions and actions, but sometimes I just grab that marshmallow. How can Chazal say that the world was only created for the perfectly righteous and the perfectly evil? I think that is why the gemara gave a general statement followed by examples. Achav ben Ohmri and Chanina ben Dosa were able to perfect themselves to be consistent in their choices. They are our role models that a person can become whatever they want.
We say each morning in davening: who, in His abounding kindness, creates anew the world each day. In truth, each moment of our existence is a newly created reality for us to choose the marshmallow or service of the Creator. As we make each choice, we choose for that moment, but also change who we are and the kind of person we are. Our choice at moment 1,345,577 is influenced by the choices and experiences of those first 1,345,576 moments. That means each moment is both itself and also the sum total of our lives up till then. HaShem in His infinite mercy and kindness allows us -- through t'shuva -- to convert the previous moments of our life from evil to good (or, chas v'shalom) the opposite.
We are not perfect -- yet. Neither Chanina ben Dosa nor Achav ben Ohmri were born righteous nor evil. They chose. We can, too.
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