"It's no more possible to be born either inherently lofty or flawed"
Rambam declares in this final chapter, "than it is to be born
instinctively adept at a trade." What he's doing is underscoring the point
he'd made earlier on that we're all born with an ethical clean slate and
free to be as righteous or wrongful as we care to (see Ch's 2 and 6
above). For just as we'd have to learn to be a doctor, lawyer, rabbi,
etc., we'd also have to be taught how to act cruelly or kindly,
inconsiderately or sensitively, and the like. None of that is instinctive.
Now, while that's true, there's still no denying the fact, Rambam
acknowledges, that it's "possible to be predisposed to a particular virtue
or fault, and to find it easier to do certain things than others". And so
some people are more studious by nature and thus find it easy to sit still
for hours at a time to study Torah, while others are more active and could
go to great lengths to help others. Nonetheless, that same studious person
could spend hours reading heretical things, while the active individual
could apply his or energies towards doing harm.
The point is then that despite our inborn proclivities, we'd each have to
decide (with or without others' input and influence) how to apply our
instincts. Since neither makeup nor penchant automatically leads to
righteous or wrongful outcomes.
But it goes deeper yet. For don't forget that we're expected to be even-
tempered; so we'd have to channel our moods, too. Thus if you're hot-
headed by nature, for example, you'd be expected to channel that into the
sort of bravery that's called for to save lives, for example, rather than
allow yourself to slip into irrational anger or cruelty.
Nevertheless the bottom line is that we're all morally clean from the
first -- no one is impelled to be either righteous or wrongful. And that
we can channel our inclinations.
Understand that this is a radical statement about self-mastery and
personal power, since it implies that we can control ourselves and needn't
acquiesce to the idea that we're "doomed" to this or that, as so many
think. But we'll get back to this latter idea soon enough.
