Six Words: Cancel, Average, Diet, Cooperation, Interference, Negative
In most people there is an inclination toward goodness and an opposing inclination toward negative behavior. In Jewish teachings, these are called yetzer ha-tov and yetzer ha-ra, the inclination toward good and the inclination toward evil. If those inclinations are equally strong, then the average of the good inclination and the bad inclination will cancel each other out. Is that perfect balance what makes someone dull?
Consider an example: you go on a diet. You ask the people around you for their cooperation. Then you have dinner with someone and they give you a big slice of warm apple pie. With ice cream on top. And whip cream and a cherry on top of that. You wonder if that is intentional interference. Is that their yetzer ha-ra on display? Or was that dessert pre-planned and they’re just trying to be nice? And how do you react? Does your yetzer ha-tov tell you to say thank you and eat some of the dessert. Or does your yetzer ha-ra tell you to eat the whole dessert and tell yourself that you’ll start your diet tomorrow?