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Ever heard of a commitment device? Basically it is a method of ensuring we succeed in an area where we would otherwise fail. A common one is to buy an expensive gym membership as a way of motivating us to go to the gym. I came across one example of a commitment device that was where a general set up his army with their backs to a body of water, thus preventing them from retreating. He was committing them to an attack. And it worked. The story reminded me of God parting the Red Sea for the Children of Israel... and made me wonder, "Does God use commitment devices?" I think He does. And I'll tell you why.

(Препратки: Arcana Coelestia 6472; Exodus 14:14-31)

6471. There was a certain spirit, not an evil spirit but one of those who imagined that they had greater knowledge than others about matters of faith, and who instructed many others, even in the knowledge that everything good and true comes from the Lord and that man cannot by himself think or will anything good. This spirit was brought into the state in which he had no thought or will that began in himself; for in the next life people can be brought into states such as this. While in that state he said that he was unable to live in that condition and that for him life was oppressive. He was told at this point that this showed that he did not like living in obedience to the truth he had taught, that this state was the one angels lived in, and that they were filled with happiness when they lived that their life did not begin in themselves. But what he was told made no difference to him. This proved how difficult it is to lead the life of faith unless the good of charity plays its part in that life.