It’s a new season of The Good Place! On the show, Michael keeps sneaking down to earth to intervene in the four humans’ lives without their realizing, in order to get them all to Australia to learn with Chidi and participate in Chidi’s and Simone’s new study. On the podcast, Geoff Mitelman and Jon Spira-Savett explore nudges, neuroscience, and near-death experiences (and whether Michael thinks “nudge” and “noodge” are the same thing).

Text:
Rabbi Moses Maimonides, Mishnah Torah, Laws of Teshuvah 2:4
(Follow this link to see in original context — the whole of chapter 2 is the core of Maimonides’ definitions and psychology of teshuvah)

Among the ways of teshuvah are for the person doing teshuvah:
to shout out continually before the Divine in weeping and supplication
to give tzedakah according to one’s capacity
to distance greatly from the matter where one erred
to change one’s name, as if to say “I am someone else and I am not the same person who did those deeds”
to change one’s actions completely to the good and to the straight/right path
to exile oneself from one’s place, for exile/displacement cleanses from wrong because it causes one to be submissive and humble and less arrogant/low of spirit.

Deeper Dives

• Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR, Yom Kippur sermon: “CLIFF-HANGER” — how Yom Kippur simulates a near-death experience in order to help us grow

• Brian Gallagher in Nautilus, “Can Neuroscience Understand Free Will?" (maybe be behind a paywall, accessible with free trial)

Learn more about Geoff and Jon on our Hosts page!

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