Chapter 11: Mixed Motivation
On “The Good Place” Eleanor can’t make up points while that’s her main motivation, Chidi can’t fall in love unless he’s sure he has the right motivation, and Jason has purity of motivation and no ability to translate it into appropriate action. On the podcast, Jon and Rebecca explore when pure motivation might necessary and when mixed motivations or even bad motivations are just fine!
Texts
(Go to Jewish Lexicon on this site for more on Jewish terminology, names of texts and other background. The links here in the citations take you to the specific quotes in their full source contexts.)
What is complete teshuvah?
It is when the thing that you did wrong comes to one’s hand, and it is in one’s power to do it and one separates and does not do it because of teshuvah. And not from fear and not from a failure of strength/power/capacity.
For instance? If a man had improper sexual relations with a woman and after a time found himself alone again with her, and still loves her, and has the same physical capacity and is in the same city where he wrong with her, and separates and did not do the wrong thing — this is a complete ba’al teshuvah/master of teshuvah.
… and if one only did teshuvah in one’s old age or at a time when it was not possible to do what one had done, even though this is not an elevated teshuvah it is still effective teshuvah and that person is a master of teshuvah.
Mishnah, Berachot 9:5
… “And you shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5) — “with all your heart” means with your two natures, your yetzer tov/good nature and your yetzer ra/bad nature.
Deeper Dives
For an exploration of mixed motivation in the context of global service and justice work, listen to this conversation between Rabbi Dr. Daniel Roth and Ilan Fluss.
For the purist take on motivation we referenced from Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, Mikhtav Me-Eliyahu, a translation of selections from his short essay on giving and loving is here.
