David Goggins Accidentally Quoted a 2,000-Year-Old Torah Idea

Okay, I want to share with you a great clip from David Goggins. He's like the extreme athlete who runs like ultra-marathons and all that. Really super intense guy talking to Andrew Huberman about why he lives the crazy way that he lives. There is no get out of jail free card. This is why I say stay hard. Because when you weren't given the gifts, the only thing you can do in life is stay hard. And I know people cannot stand me. They can't stand this talk. This is all you can do. There's no magic pill or magic potion. All you can do is outwork the man that God created or woman in you. And what that looks like is unfun. That's why I said do not do a documentary on me. Because people will not see the truth. They will see what they want to see. It's I don't want to live like that. Good. Good. And [clears throat] you will live exactly the way you live now. Questioning who you are. Wondering what is possible. Wondering what you are capable of doing. That's how that looks. Or you can be me, which Am I happy? I don't know. Never thought about it. So there's a line there that he says that to me is priceless. He says, all you can do is outwork that man or woman that God created in you. Now, seemingly, if you want to get really really technical, that's blasphemy. God created you a certain way and you're going to outwork that? You're going to change that? Who are you to change what God created? Okay. So I want to share with you an incredible teaching. It's recorded in the Medrash Tanchuma, which is a rabbinic text from almost 2,000 years ago. And it's recording a conversation between Rabbi Akiva, who was one of the great sages of the period of the Mishnah. He lived contemporaneously to the the Second Temple. And Turnus Rufus, who was a Roman governor of Judea. A tyrant, an oppressor. And apparently something of a a troll as well. So Turnus Rufus comes to Rabbi Akiva and he asks him, what is greater, the works of God or the works of man? So Rabbi Akiva says, the works of man. What? How's that possible? Turnus Rufus says, God created the heavens and the earth. Can a man create the heavens and the earth? And Rabbi Akiva says, I'm not talking about the heavens and the earth. That's not even a comparison. How can you compare something people can't You're right, exactly. People can't create the heavens and the earth. So I I wouldn't even compare the two. But I'm talking about things that are within a person's ability to create. That man's contribution is greater. Now, sounds a little weird, maybe even blasphemous, maybe contrarian. Okay. Conversation continues. Turnus Rufus says, why do you guys do the circumcision thing? Classic internet troll. What's with that circumcision thing? And uh in fact, he says, and if it were so necessary, why wouldn't God circumcise the infant in the womb? So Rabbi Akiva says, yeah, I knew that's where you where you were heading >> [laughter] >> and that's why I answered the previous question the way that I did. Anticipated it. You asked me what's greater, the works of God or the works of man. I told you the works of man. I knew you were >> [clears throat] >> going for like this circumcision troll type thing. And that's exactly my point. Okay. Still trying to put this together. Rabbi Akiva brings out props. Some grain and some bread. I guess he had it around. I guess in you know, the old days had grain sitting around. Some grain and some bread. Grain meaning, you know, like wheat. Like harvested wheat. And bread, you know what bread is. Okay. So Rabbi Akiva says, this one's made by God. This one's made by man. Right, the grain, [snorts] that's natural. That's that's only That's naturally occurring. That's That's an act of God. >> [snorts] >> The bread, that's that's processed. That's human technology. People take the grain and they mill it and turn it into flour and they knead the flour into dough and they bake the dough and they turn it into bread. So he says, which one's more useful to you? >> [laughter] >> You can't eat grain. You can only eat bread. He says, that's my entire point. That God gives us the raw materials and expects us to improve upon it. And that's why I say it's greater. >> [snorts] >> Obviously, it's not greater than what God can accomplish. Because nobody can accomplish what God accomplishes. Obviously, that's not But then we wouldn't have to even say that. It goes without saying. What we're saying is, what's more important, what God gives you or what you do with what God gave you? So like Goggins is saying, all you can do is outwork that man or woman that God created in you. God created you as a certain whatever it is. Strengths, weaknesses, talents, resources, your nature, your nurture, your whole life story. Some of it's pros, some of it's cons, but that's who you were created as. That's it. Now the question is, are you going to just be that? Or are you going to be better than that? Well, who am I to be better than that? If that's how God created me, then I should just stay that way for the rest of my life. Really? The truth is that's the blasphemy. The blasphemy of squandering God's gift, of refusing to improve God's gift, of of refusing to [snorts] take what you are given and to add your contribution to make it something more than what you were given. This is an incredibly powerful thought. We are co-creators with God. Obviously, only he can bring things into being out of nothing. Goes without saying. But the question is, once he's brought it into being and he's given us raw materials. Think of yourself and your life as raw materials. What are you going to do with that? How you going to improve upon it? Or you just going to say, this is what God gave me. This is what it is. This is what I'm stuck with. It would be an affront to God. It would be an insult to do anything with it. But the reality is it's an insult not to do anything with it. It's an insult to waste it and not trying to make it more than what you were given. It's a partnership. And it's responsibility. And if you think about it, that's what all of life is. How can I develop what I was given? I can't create anything. Only God can create. But now that he's created, what can I do that's within my human power to make it greater than the way it was given to me? And that's our job. That's what life's all about. To improve upon what we were given.